Counting couches

[sofadoc]

I have been hired to recover the patient room sofas at a nearby hospital.

The administrator took me to one of the rooms, showed me one sofa, and said "They're all just like this one". He didn't want to go from room to room disturbing patients.

After my bid was approved, I told him to let me know how many, so I could order the fabric.

3 different staffers attempted to count them........they couldn't do it. They came up with 3 very different answers. Finally, I had to go back and count them myself. It was really easy. I just went from room to room counting "one....two....three.....four...." and so on.

One nurse tried to help me count them, but she got distracted every 30 seconds by another staffer, or a patient. They all seemed annoyed, and couldn't really see the importance of giving me an accurate number.

I did notice however, that when it was time for one of the nurses to go get lunches for the other nurses, she was VERY diligent in taking their orders. Making sure there were no mistakes.

[SteveA]

Sounds like a nice account and it seems no one will look over the work with a magnifier.  Will you have to wait 3 months to see a check ?
SA

[sofadoc]

Will you have to wait 3 months to see a check ?

It depends on what time of the month I hand them a bill. It can be as little as 2 weeks, or as long as 45 days.

[kodydog]

One nurse tried to help me count them, but she got distracted every 30 seconds by another staffer, or a patient. They all seemed annoyed, and couldn't really see the importance of giving me an accurate number.

There are either 5 or 20. At this point what difference does it make.

Nice job Sofa. That will fill your backlog. Do they want them done all at once?

[MinUph]

Nice job Sofa!!

[baileyuph]

Will you use the vinyl treated for medical facilities?

Hang in there.......

Doyle

[sofadoc]

Will you use the vinyl treated for medical facilities?

I tried to sell them on anti-bacterial vinyl. But they chose regular.

There are 31 couches. The kind with the pull-out seat, so visitors can spend the night with their loved ones.

They're very simple to re-cover. But they're also very heavy (the 2nd heaviest sofas that I've ever lifted in my life). And each one has 86 assorted screws and nuts & bolts to remove and re-install.

[Darren Henry]

Nice contract 'Doc. Sounds like time to find a couple of G.R.U.N.T s to run them back and forth---maybe do a little stripping,clean up etc...

[baileyuph]

All 31 of these sofas the same?

Any way of installing prepared upholstery on site?  Similar situations for me have been done that way and it reduced the overall time. I did 137 items for one of these upscale senior living places that way and made good money.  It took two months to get the pay, which today is hard to understand.  But, when it came it was good.

Who said being an upholsterer was easy........

I have learned that Best Furniture, as one manufacturer, caters to that type of market and it would be interesting to see their price list.  Their product does considerable thinking "outside the box" and their quality looked to last a while.

Back to the new contract, the ones that have been worked by my shop have had a target date but flexibility was there if needed.  But long hours were endured to make the money and get back to other customers.  

Make the money Dennis.

Doyle

[byhammerandhand]

Sounds like justification for a new impact driver!

And each one has 86 assorted screws and nuts & bolts to remove and re-install.

[sofadoc]

Sounds like justification for a new impact driver!

See Hammer's other topic about "Favorite Tools"

Nice contract 'Doc. Sounds like time to find a couple of G.R.U.N.T s to run them back and forth

The hospital is 1.5 miles away from my shop. I toyed with the idea of renting a big truck, and loading them all at once. But I found it easier for my "grunt" to roll them(on a dolly) from the room to the loading dock and onto my pick-up truck, where I haul them back to the shop one-at-a-time. While I'm hauling one back to the shop, he is fetching another one down to the loading dock. This way, HE is the one wasting time with lazy nurses and slow elevators instead of me. Its worked out great so far. I was able to move 10 sofas from the hospital to my shop in under 3 hours. A big U-Haul truck wouldn't have got the job done any faster, but would've cost a lot more.

[Darren Henry]

How many are you planning to do at a time? Personally I would stock pile what I can have done and delivered by Friday close so that they can have all available furniture for the weekend, and reload Monday morning. When our father was in palliative care,my sister ( lives in the same small town) had the M-F "visits", and I bunked in on weekends from 1 hr away. That little hospital was far busier on the weekends [according to Sheila and the staff that worked there] and I can attest that those "beds" were coveted. If he'd have just been in for a hip replacement instead of in-operable cancer---I'd have been told to crash at his place! Someone else needed it worse.

Just saying. Shrug.

[Mike]

will you get a deposit for materials?   I would think you will only delever so many sofas and then tuen in a bill a start moroe sofas? and so on .....

[sofadoc]

will you get a deposit for materials?   I would think you will only delever so many sofas and then tuen in a bill a start moroe sofas? and so on .....

I turned in a bill for 10 sofas today.

How many are you planning to do at a time? Personally I would stock pile what I can have done and delivered by Friday close so that they can have all available furniture for the weekend

They try to send all the minor surgeries home by Friday afternoon, so their capacity is lower on the weekends. No big rush to get them by Friday.

But next week I start the maternity ward. Babies come when they damn well want to. So there will be no rhyme or reason as to when they need sofas the most.

There was another topic posted here recently about "Just when you get ahead......". Well this is a prime example. The new roof on my building is going to cost around 12 grand.

[Mike]

that sux, is your roof leaking? my last house had a roof leak a tile roof I  removed a lot of tiles and founs rotton plywood in a valley and had to replace the wood ...tarpaper.... sealer replace tile ..   I couldn't afford a roofer and permits ect. month later I sold the house and held my breath with inspections.