Ground Breaking Soon

[kodydog]

We had this storage shed delivered about 6 weeks ago. We also had this tree and another large tree taken down, stumps ground and everything hauled off.



Last week we collected all the permits from the Building Dept. Tuesday we submitted plans for this building to three different contractors for estimates to construct the shell. Rose and I will contract the electrician and finish the inside ourselves. Hope to have ground breaking in about a month.

[sofadoc]

So will there be door prizes?

[kodydog]

Door prizes at the grand opening. I'll keep you posted.

[SteveA]

Any sky lights in the new building ?

SA

[MinUph]

Now that will be great Kody, Best o luck with the new building.

[kodydog]

No sky lights. It will have recessed lighting in the ceiling. Plus one windows on each side of the building and windows in the south facing garage doors.

[gene]

Does one pass out cigars for a ground breaking as one does for a water breaking?

Very nice building. Have you figured out how many sofas need to be reupholstered to pay for it?

The grand door price is? One sofa reupholstered for the price of two!!!

It's nice to see signs of success in this industry.

gene

[baileyuph]

Good direction Kody, this facility will be exciting and rewarding as the plan starts -- Now!

I would bet your plans/progress in business will not stop with the completed building.

I have always envisioned bringing in more equipment to take advantage of higher technologies available, for example, automation in the digitizing, drafting, cutting, and even in sewing.  I am aware that sometimes that sometimes I am working with over 40 year old
technologies, it does good work, but the dream is to continue doing professional work, more efficiently which hopefully will translate into higher profits.  I surely think it will.

For example, a digitizing system that will generate a patter in no time and ultimately have the upholstery cut to be sewed in no time.

To compete against mass production, if that is possible, us types have to get it going in that direction.

I just got a corvette interior (seats actually) to do and could get a project going like this
much faster ---- I suggested to customer that perhaps a kit for me to install would make him happier but they like custom in many cases. 

As a note, I have been experiencing installing some car interiors (primarily seat work) which has been producted by experienced digital support and are they spot on!!!

This paints evidence that we are getting further behind in larger volume production.

I wish you and wife the greatest success!

Doyle

[kodydog]

Very nice building. Have you figured out how many sofas need to be reupholstered to pay for it?
gene

You made me curious so I did a little math. I figure 57.14 sofas to pay for the building. :)

The shed on the other hand... We rented (lord I hate renting) a storage unit for 1-1/2 years at $115/month. It'll take 2-1/2 years for the shed to pay for itself

I have always envisioned bringing in more equipment to take advantage of higher technologies available, for example, automation in the digitizing, drafting, cutting, and even in sewing.  I am aware that sometimes that sometimes I am working with over 40 year old
technologies, it does good work, but the dream is to continue doing professional work, more efficiently which hopefully will translate into higher profits.  I surely think it will.

Doyle

I think the extra room alone will increase production. It will also help to add to organization and efficiency. The space I've worked in this last year and a half is laughable. And the space gets even smaller when Rose is out there working with me. Not to mention the glorious thought of what air conditioning will do for production.

[sofadoc]

So is the new building going to be next to the garage that you've been working out of? And the storage shed is in the back yard?

What will you store in the shed? Bulk items like foam and Dacron?

Will you continue to use your original garage as part of your operation? Or does it revert back to being a garage for your vehicles?

I recently visited an upholsterer in Dallas who worked from his 2-car garage. He also had a shed at the other end of his alley driveway. I thought he had a nice setup. But after I left, I realized that I never saw a cutting table anywhere.

[Darren Henry]

Very excited for you Ed. That garage looks like about 20X24. A decent size---but you will be amazed at how quickly it fills up. TRUST ME LOL.

It will have recessed lighting in the ceiling. Plus one windows on each side of the building

You can never have enough light and the more of it that's natural the better. Personally I'd want to have 2 windows on each of the long sides and florescent lighting. 

[baileyuph]

The point about lighting is a very important one.  We are getting older and lighting does
become important.  Natural light plays a very important role for anyone viewing materials also.

Looks like it will be a nice building! 

BTW, I visited a truck tarp production company and saw machinery, working tables, facilities,

that sure dwarf mine.

Doyle

[kodydog]

So is the new building going to be next to the garage that you've been working out of? And the storage shed is in the back yard?

We bought the lot next door 6 months ago form the same lady who sold us our house 2-1/2 years ago. The new garage will be built there. Fairly close to our attached garage. We combined the new lot with our existing property for tax purposes. In order to construct a building in High Springs you first need an EMS address. Combining the lots solves this problem too. We also made sure we could uncombine the lots if for some reason we ever decided to sell the lot. The building will have its own power meter. It will have no pluming. The only thing shared is the phone line but that can easily be detached.

The shed is already full lol. It is 10' X 20'. It is the exact duplicate of another shed that was on our property when we bought the house. We took everything out of a rented storage unit and put it in the new shed. Shelves, cabinets and tools. And furniture. But the grand scheme is to use it for supplies and foam etc. I need to build an 8' X 8' garden shed but that will come later.

We have a lot of furniture for resale but no good way to sell or show it. Our attached garage will be good for this. It faces the road with a nice driveway. But we need to be mindful to keep traffic to a minimum seeing we live in a neighborhood.  

I wish I had more room for windows but I need the wall space for tools. I know about natural light. Whenever I need to do closeup delicate work, like pulling splinters out of my hand, I step outside into the sunlight. For some reason dark fabrics are the hardest to see when doing detailed work.

The first estimate came in today about 10 grand more than I expected. This guy is a contractor who builds some nice houses in a neighborhood around the corner from us. He does no hands on work himself so I had a feeling he would be a little high. We're waiting for two more estimates. One from a customer of ours who does most of the work himself. I'm hoping he'll be a little less.  

[sofadoc]

The first estimate came in today about 10 grand more than I expected. This guy is a contractor who builds some nice houses in a neighborhood around the corner from us. He does no hands on work himself so I had a feeling he would be a little high. We're waiting for two more estimates. One from a customer of ours who does most of the work himself. I'm hoping he'll be a little less. 

Just pay him with "store credit" good for his next 57.14 couches.

[Mojo]

Awesome news Ed.

Were you able to avoid impact fee's because you combined the lot ?

I would be very interested in how you did this as we bought the 2 acre parcel next to us and it is still separate from our home.

Our current impact fee is $ 7,500. I am just wondering if I can avoid the fee if we combine the two properties.

Chris