Hello to all. I wanted to introduce myself. I didn’t see a place to do it so I hope “General Discussion” is okay.
I have a small carpentry and drywall business in northern Michigan. I usually work by myself doing a variety of jobs, but mostly remodeling.
I’m happily married with two sons, in my mid thirties, and enjoy long walks on the beach. *Grin*
I’ve been lurking here for a while and really enjoy the (sometimes heated) exchange of ideas. I’m looking forward to spending some more time here. A great bunch of people.
True North
Replies
Welcome to BT.
How's things up where you are.
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
It has been a very, very slow winter, but I've put out four estimates in the last three weeks, all for fairly good sized projects. We'll see how it goes.How are things in your area?
Depending on my memory, worst jan/feb in 35 years.
Now at least there's some action in March. With the accpt'd bids, should make most of April. May should be full. After that...........beats the #### outta me.
Ah, the beauty of being self employed. Wanna bet as soon as golf league starts, they'll be ringing off the hook? Seriously, sure hope so.
Where abouts in Mi.? We've got some regulars all over the state.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
"Depending on my memory, worst jan/feb in 35 years."I'm sorry to hear that. Jan/Feb were the hard months for me too. I really went through a lot of soul searching about why I live in this area and about staying in business, etc during those months.Hope it gets better for you, True North
Your local wealth may be inadvertantly tied to the stagnant US auto industry as well. That's what fuels much of the industry and resultant white collar jobs here.
Things are looking up. Hopefully they continue.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Hello , welcome to breaktime! Long walks on the beach? Save that for match .com, lol
Hello to you too. For those who miss your introduction it would be nice if you filled out the profile info. How far up in Mich?
Oh yeah, my profile! Thanks. I'll do that.I'm about 30 miles east of Grayling, if that's a place you know. Maybe 2 1/2 hours north of Flint.True North
Edited 3/3/2007 4:05 pm ET by True North
Brain Freeze. Spent the 13 years in TC and I cannot remember what is east of Grayling.
Welcome True. How far are you from Onaway? I have a property up there and assuming I ever get the financing to repair it I need ALOT of drywall.
I'm about an hour away from Onaway. In fact, I was born in a little (now long gone) hospital there. I actually live between two little towns; Mio and the lesser known Fairview.Onaway is not too far to go for work, especially for someone who hangs out at Breaktime!True North
I dont pass your house when I go up M-33, do I?
Do you drive through Fairview? I'm across the road and a bit west of the school in Fairview, right on the main road.True North
Yeah, go right through. I'm trying to picture the school.
M-33 goes around the corner, running north/south then turning west through Fairview. The school is around a 1/3 mile from the blinking light in the middle of town, on the north side of the road.Next time you got to Onaway, you really, really need to stop for some coffee and homemade pie. Plan on it. My wife and I would be thrilled!True North
Edited 3/4/2007 3:47 pm ET by True North
Its gonna take me two days to make it up next trip. I got to stop and see blue, and now I have a pie invitation.:>)
I don't know how to bake pie, but I can make cookies!
Some form of peanut butter and oats is my specialty.
blue"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
I really want/need to get back up there and get my financing in place, but i'm supposed to be closing on another Ferndale Property this week.
I sure would like to see your project before you get to paint, just seems like there's always something in the way.
Don't feel like you have to rush Mark!
The school project is not going to be a rush job. Last week we went through a community fact finding exercise designed to create a blueprint for the future of the central business core. Our building just happens to be the largest building in that section. There were some specialist liasisons there from the community development office of Michigan State Housing Development Authority and we discussed some various financing operations available under state and federal programs.
The consensus was that we are eligible for some very substantial programs at both the state and federal levels but he warned that I need to start the lengthy red tape processes prior to spending even $1.00 of the repairs on the project.
So, it looks like I'm several months away from doing anything other than administering this process, developing a business plan and perhaps getting all the junk desks, computers and dirt swept out!
blue"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
The more we post the more I think I should meet up with you. How are you making a living during the admin process? What needs to be done to get a hold of the financing you're talking about. I realize your project is much larger than the one i'm working on but maybe there's some grants I might qualify for.
Making a living? That's a great question. I'm really not.
Frank is still pounding out there and we are partners. That has helped somewhat with some of the expenses. Not much though. He needs the money to make his bills a lot more than I do, so I take as little as possible out of the cash flow he has generated. I can say this though, that boy has done everything and would do anything to make a go of it, but as you know, things are dismal there in Macomb county.
I agree we should have met already, simply because we have the common interests with regard to real estate. I was sending strong hints before you made the purchase in Onoway, but you didn't get them, or were already too far along in your planning on that property. We all have our different goals and objectives and I decided that if you read the hints and didn't respond, then you obviously were following your heart in some different direction.
On the other hand, I have intentionally left out some substantial segments of the entire picture here. I'm somewhat of an open book but I'm also a poker player. I have to be careful if I want to capitalize on the winning hand. The only reason I'm even telling you this much now is because we've attained some mileposts and the cat's out of the bag anyhow. If someone wants to know things, they are already public.
I haven't learned too much about the type of programs that might be of mutual benefit quite yet. I was thinking this week would be the week where I took that next step. From what I've already been told, I'm fairly excited....so is Gandalf. There are some surprises too that we are hoping will materialize....something that came up unexpectedly. We need to have that sitdown in Lansing to see what the rules and regs are to formulate the program that we are hashing out.
As far as surviving the next few months....as soon as we get the fed and state program info, we'll know how to formulate our capitalization plan. One very important aspect of that plan will be to put a project manager on a payroll to do the things necessary to bring this baby home. I guess you might imagine that the project manager will be me. I've already got enough commitment from investors to stave off starvation and if I really wanted to push it I could survive a couple more years without working at all without losing anything to the creditors.
I would like to meet you and share some stories though, so lets plan on doing that as soon as possible. Perhaps when I travel downstate, I'll ring you.
blue
"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Sorry, I must not have caught the hints (I guess sometimes i'm a little blinded).
If you get down here before I get up there by all means give me a call. Like I said, I wanted to get up north the past few weeks while I was slow and almost everyday I had some little stupid thing that kept me down here.
As far as the Onaway project goes, I still like the property and would like to make it go, I have been offered about half of the repair money privately which should make the remainder easier to get.
I figure should worse come to worse, i'll either sell the property at a slight loss for a writeoff (certainly not a great option but i'm willing to admit and learn from errors), or get it going as planned and hopefully have a workable cashflow property.
I'm just a little concerned right now cause contracting is real slow and while I am living, I have to be careful that i'll have enough money to get the project going.
Refresh me about the Onoway property.
It's single family and in a residential neighborhood right? Anything special about Onoway?
blue"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Onaway is actually an old house set up as a triplex.
Whats special about Onaway? Not much, the town does have industry, there is an Iron Works and they recently added city sewer in hopes of attracting more industry.
How did I find it? We went on vacation last year and doing what I do I can never not look at real estate. I found this house that started out for sale at 39k. By the time I saw it it was listed for 12k. I got it for $8500. I figured for that price I could do something with it, my main hope is to turn it back into a cashflow property (it was really poorly managed and became the local drug house).
If nothing else the wife loves the town so if I had to I could always just keep it for ourselves.
This house is located one block off of mainstreet so I still believe it would be a good cash flow property due to its location.
Onaway is located at the SW corner of Presque Isle County. Thats where Rogers City is located and draws alot of vacation traffic. RC really doesnt want industry so that makes Onaway a good alternative for such things in the county.
I would contact the Rural Development Authority in the county to determine what programs are available. Your property fits several needs for low income people in need of assistance. It is affordable and it is located in a walkable community. Those are two key components for someone living on the edge. The RDA will have a list of people needed living accomodations and subsidize their rent. They set a maximum living allowance of 30% to be used for housing. This is the threshold that they believe is sustainable for low income earners. Also, the top rent you can charge is up to you, but if you want to enter into their program, you will have to be charging within a range that is the norm for your area. It's not a very hard number to hit though and I think your property, if renovated properly will easily fit into the program.
I am not involved in that program yet, but I have researched it and if I ever decide to become a landlord, I would most likely give it a shot. There are a lot of people in this town renting with assistance from the RDA and it's not unthinkable that the entire school will used for that purpose. The long term benefits of being in a program such as that are certainly something worth analyzing.
Do a little research on the michigan.gov/mshda site. I think you'll find something.
blue"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Thanks Blue, i'll give it a shot.
Welcome to BT.
Later. I gotta go help my 9 year old finish his Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car. The races are tommorrow.
He won last year and went to district finishing 4th with about 12 troops participating.
Some were joking..."Hey, that is no fair, his dad is a builder."
This year we are making a pick-up truck that is hauling a load of 2 x 4s.
We have something like that here. It's called the Jackpine Derby. There are some quite stringent rules, and the competition is fierce. You can buy "regulation" rough bodies at the local lumberyard here and add your own sweet mods. A friend of mine hasn't missed one for thirty years.True North
It's good to have you. I look forward to a heated exchange of ideas.
Dave
Hello!
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
It's been sort of like the Welcome Wagon here.
Look for the coupons in the mail.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Hi TrueNorth. You'll find a good crowd here. No one asking to go get a board stretcher or the like.
Welcome to BT.
Best to you and yours, Chris.
Some say I know too much? Can you ever?
just pick up the beer tab.....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
And I thought a few nice compliments would get me passed that. I'll spilt it with ya'.
Best to you and yours, Chris.
Some say I know too much? Can you ever?
Edited 3/4/2007 2:47 pm ET by CarpentrySpecialist
have you any notion how big the beer tab is for this crew???Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I'll give you the honor of buying the first round. After all. Picking up the beer tab was your idea.Best to you and yours, Chris.
Some say I know too much? Can you ever?
There's a guy (IdahoDon?) with a signature that goes something like "Beer was invented so carpenters wouldn't rule the world"That gets me every time. I just think it's hilarious.
I see yur the kinda guy that has all the angles figured out...
off to the john when the barmaid drops off the order and what not...
I already bought picked up the tab at one time mr cheapskate... Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Now I'm hurt. LOLBest to you and yours, Chris.
Some say I know too much? Can you ever?
make mine a coffee...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
You mean there is such a thing as a board stretcher?? I could really use something like that. Think of the possibilities! With that and a left handed crescent wrench...True North
You'll fit in just fine here! LLTABest to you and yours, Chris.
Some say I know too much? Can you ever?
Welcome to the fray, Sunshine!
Mongo
Hello, new guy.
_______________________________________________________________
I used to be schizophrenic, but we're OK now.
Hi True North.
I'm up here in the big woods myself. I happen to be probably as far north as you but as far east as possible. If you want, you can write me a letter and drop it into the Au Sable and float it too me. I'm a few hundred yards north of the mouth on Lake Huron.
Thread hijack alert:
Recently someone mentioned something about DDT. As we all know, bald eagles were one of the concerns regarding the proliference of ddt. Well, the bald eagles have been making an impressive rebound. I've seen three different ones in the last two days.
Here's a pic of two perched on the icy mountains that are on our shoreline right now. The birds are two dark specs between the trees. You probably can't see them, but they are there. The interesting point I'm getting to is that one of those eagles made a play at some buffleheads that were swimming about thirty yards offshore near them. I was excited to witness this as I have never seen an eagle making a dive into the water with their talons.
The eagle missed by the way. These two were mature eagle. The one I saw today was an immature.
Sorry about the large size. I don't have any program I know of that is easily used in resizing on the machine yet. I will load my favorite program soon.
blue
"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.
Blue, are you close to Tawas or Alpena?
I'm in between Tawas and Alpena.
I'm in Au Sable, which borders Oscoda.
blue"...
keep looking for customers who want to hire YOU.. all the rest are looking for commodities.. are you a commodity ?... if you get sucked into "free estimates" and "soliciting bids"... then you are a commodity... if your operation is set up to compete as a commodity, then have at it..... but be prepared to keep your margins low and your overhead high...."
From the best of TauntonU.