My customer yesterday owns an internet jigsaw puzzle business…I thought that was kinda cool. That was the restringing double hung windows job.
Unique job for unique customers in a cool Arts and Crafts house.
Today I worked for a Professor of “musical theater”, etc. at a local university.
Tomorrow I look at a repeat job for a bunch of “rocket scientists” (actually a NASA and Aerospace engineering contractor). Job: relaminating breakroom tables. Have to go through security, get a clearance, wear a badge, etc. Funny.
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I recently submitted a bid to reroof William Shatner's residence on his horse farm here. It's part of an addition project and I haven't heard if it's a go or not, yet. I'd like to meet him.
I've done a lot of work for our ambassador to England. The Queen stays at his house when she visits. We had to flash a machine gun attachment on the garage roof. Probably the richest person around here.
Done several jobs for Trent Lott's son.
Done work for 4 out of the last 5 governors of KY and the potential next one. The one sitting is the exception, but there's still time.
Put gutters on and roofed several Ky Derby winner's barns.
Worked for a several Hollywood movie types.
Roofed a house for the Cobra golf clubs guy.
And the winner of my all time favorite customer is Bill May of Lawrenceburg, KY. Kept a fridge full of softdrinks and water in the garage - took orders every Mon morning- and took everybody out to lunch more days than not and tried to pay me for a minor warranty problem because he called a couple of days after the warranty was officially over.
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http://grantlogan.net/
I've never met a man that was owed as much as he thought he was.
but were any of them 'interesting'?;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
but were any of them 'interesting'?
You missed the point of my sarcasm. Bill May is an interesting guy. The others don't send me too much. http://grantlogan.net/
I've never met a man that was owed as much as he thought he was.
are those the Stave puzzles?
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
No. The stave puzzles are amazing though.These folks just make any picture you email them into a typical jigsaw puzzle:http://www.portraitpuzzles.com
You want interesting huh?
This is fresh on my mind
We went out of town yesterday and today to do some faux beams in a great room, job is for a car dealership owner, hell of a nice guy in spite of his occupation!
While we were unloading these 24' long beams and hanging them from the ceiling his 85 year old mother stops over(she lives right next door to her sons new home) and asks us if we'd be interested in having some strawberries and ice cream when we got done with the heavy work - I accepted on behalf of everybody there - I'm not nearly as shy as people here at BT might think!
We got the beams up and temporarily fastened and headed next door for strawberries and ice cream. I think she hand cranked the ole ice cream maker!
I think we made her day by coming over and she defiantly made ours!
Very "old school" woman, I see why her son is such a nice guy.
I've been in homes of billionaires and multimillionaires but that don't make all of them interesting. Just like the rest of the population some are interesting and some of them are not. Money, fame, careers.......... don't do it.
It was nice to see good ole small town Iowa woman are still there.
Have to go through security, get a clearance, wear a badge, etc
I've been in a house like that and we had a guard with us the entire time, by "entire time" I do mean the entire time - go to the bathroom and there he is right there with ya! You don't even get to bring your truck near the house. Unload the stuff you need into a truck provided to you by them and driving by them.
I'm all excited tonight, we finished the job up early and we don't have to go back to work until Monday, boss said when we got done we could take the rest of the week off - with pay! With him that usually means we'll be working OT, nice to finish on the good side for a change.
Doug
Edited 7/18/2007 10:27 pm ET by DougU
Got to go soon to look at a built in gutter problem at Stephen Kings home.
That should be interesting!
My FIL knows him from a while ago. Says he's very down to earth.
Let's hope he doesn't write you into one of his novels, although The Slateman has a certain ring to it for a book title.
Got to go soon to look at a built in gutter problem at Stephen Kings home.
Probably just a plugged gargoyle--little syrup of ipecac should do the trick!
Which house of Stephen Kings?!
A guy near me worked at his place in Maine for a couple of years....apparently quite a lot of interesting custom woodwork.
His main residence on west Broadway ,Bangor.
I redid the whole slate roof on the home next door that he converted to his Library
I love your quote on your profile- I might plagerize it from time to time
Edited 7/19/2007 3:22 pm ET by theslateman
Know that house well--from the outside. Driven many a visitor by there for the Looksee/photo op; that, and the Paul Bunyun statue. Any chance you know who made the fence? It's Fantastic. 1313 Mockingbird Lane. All those W. Broadway houses are great, reminds me of similar ones in Skowtown and D-F, from what? 1870's? Palatial homes in what are now much smaller/less significant 'shire' towns. The only reminders of their glory days when Lumber was king.
someadeez stories got my memory juices flowingI think one of my most memorable customers wasa an old lady who was named Mary, I think.So was in her sixties when I did her work, but she looked no more than 35. A very pleasent 35 at that. Well preserved enough thaat my wife was mildly concerned.Mary's folks wer Basque. Her father had come over from Spain in the thirties and worked sheepherding for seven years saving his dollars to bring his family to Colorado with him40-50 yearas later, her owned the back side of a mountain for all his sheep.
Anyone who has skied Telluride has seen what used to be his property.Mary had lots of stories about him. she told me almost daily that my mannerisms reminded her of her daddy. She told about how they never spent money on credit - cash only! They bought a Ford back when you could get any colour you wanted - as loing as it was black.Her latest car when I worked for her had also been paid in cash the day she bought it. She told me about how hard it was to convince the salesman she did not need financing. She had to atually whip out a wad of green and start counting, telling him, "You just let me know when you have enough there"She painted the exterior of her house while I roofed it and built a deck for her, and installed a skylight too.Her mother was still alive. She was no more than four feet tall and not bad looking herself for a woman neaaring ninety. The old man had made his own bells for the sheep. He also made bunches of them into windchime type works of aart. Mary gave me one of them that is still hanging in our garden today.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Then there was an old man who was a deaf-mute. He had been a cross country truck driver. He had some great stories, bt I can't repet them here, 'cause you can't read the sign language to be able to listen to me...;)BTW, he had a great sense of humor - lots of practical jokes
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I've heard who made it before, but the name doesn't stick in my mind. I'll ask the caretaker today since I didn't make it over there yesterday.
I thought I'd seen it in a magazine- perhaps Fine Homebuilding a number of years ago.
Whenever I drive by - could be a dozen times a week- there are always people out front doing the photo shoots!
A lot of those homes are Second Empire homes from the 1860's and some are later.
Where do you hail from?
I finished framing a roof line for a NBA center. He was league MVP a few times over in Europe, he played for some Italian team. He got signed by the Toronto Raptors and blew his knee out a little while after that. One of very few people I have looked up to talk to, he was 7' something.
Anyway, he now is building houses and the one I met him on I was roofing it. I talked with him after work one day, stating that he is going to have to finish framing the front roofline so we can finish roofing. He said "we would but we don't know how." So I did it for him.
It was a fun little project, an octagon on top of another one. Took me and one other guy two days.
Matt
Edited 7/20/2007 6:10 am ET by Stilletto
for a NBA center.
Several years ago, I did some gutter repair on Sam Bowie's house - ex-Knicks center. The reason I got called was one of my buddies was arching all the door openings in the house for him so he didn't have to duck thru them. Must be tough to be 7'1" in a 6'8" world. http://grantlogan.net/
I've never met a man that was owed as much as he thought he was.
I believe he had all his doors made for 7'6" finished height. It was actually very comfortable to walk through.
Matt
Can't speak to that, but as to the reverse--who's interesting that's done work for me: on some siding and roofing/chimney repair I had a meticulous carpenter (big Italian guy) and his helper (little Mexican teenager) who did great work. Brought a good boombox. Mornings they played opera; afternoons it was Mexican pop.
They aren't "celebrities", but I occasionally work for two semi-retired multi-millionaires. One was a senior executive at several large computer companies and finished his career as the CEO of a local high tech company. The other one founded a couple of high tech companies - then started his own bank.
These guys are great to work for. They want good work and are willing to pay a fair price for it. You may have to justify what you do, but they never try to do things "on the cheap". They both like to show up at the job once in a while. They don't want to run things but they like to see how things get done - and they aren't too proud to lend a hand if needed.
I've also done jobs for some of the newly rich thirty-somethings who have made a bundle on their stock options (Google, Yahoo, Apple, etc). They usually have a hard time understanding that their management and/or technical expertise doesn't extend into every facet of their life. I never argue with them and have occasionally just done it their way and let the wreck happen. Then, they get to pay me extra to do it right. - lol
Not of the celebrity class most of you are speaking of but for interesting at times I work for this 92 year old lady.
She still answers the phone in a business manner detailed and to the point.
She'll stand up on a chair to get into a cupboard and lift a box of books while I'm feeling like walking around waving my arms shouting 'Don't Do That!'.
And always insists that I stop and eat lunch which she cooks even tho I tell her I don't like to slow down and eat when working.
She's really something else.
"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity." Thoreau
And always insists that I stop and eat lunch which she cooks even tho I tell her I don't like to slow down and eat when working.
That was my point in my earlier post - these are the really interesting people - dont have to have a fancy job or a lot of money to be of interest!
Sometimes its nice to just slow down and have the lunch, besides it'll help you fight off anorexia.
Doug
Yeah, sometimes the old folks can be a real trip. Never miss a chance to stop and take some time with 'em (with the exception of the senile ones).
Sometimes its nice to just slow down and have the lunch, besides it'll help you fight off anorexia.
..
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"If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep." -- Dale Carnegie
I know a older lady i did work for, She called she had a leak in her roof, I told her i would fix it but i gotta see her pics, She was a Copacabana dancer Best friends with Lola Falana, She has pics of her with Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Sitting on Sammy Davis jr s lap, She was so beutifull its incredible and even in her 70s still has a figure, Im the only one she ever told her storys or showed her pics, I loved hearing storys about Frank Sinatra in vegas.
Recently looked at a deck for a guy who translates Japanese medical patents and research, into English, for major drug companies. Does everything over the internet and has lived all over the world.
Years back I did a cabinet install on an island in Lake Michigan for a family. Father was the owner of a large insurance and investment agency in Chicago. Some very down to earth people. One night I was working late, and the wife stopped to see the progress. We talked a little, and I joked how someday maybe I would build one of these for myself. (the footprint of my house would fit in their living room, and this was their vacation home)
She laughed a little, but then said, "Hey, 30 years ago we didn't have 2 nickles to rub together. My husband's mother was an orphan, and my husband worked 3 jobs to put himself through college. In fact he sold his Harley to buy me the engagement ring."
Lots of interesting people to work for, both wealthy and not.
Bowz
I'm making up for a few years of deferred maintenance on the Victorian i restored years ago, then sold to my renter. She paid a guy over $2000 to do some work, he skipped out, so she asked me if i'd be interested in hauling my lazy butt up down the valley to work on it. I'm having a blast putting it back to good condition and getting paid well for it.
I've replaced a lattice wall and changed out a screen door, fixed a couple electrical problems, and am presently sanding down/painting the posts and adding railing to the deck and balcony and making new gates. She just told me to go ahead and make the railings however i wished, trusting it'll be tasteful without breaking the bank. The variety is wonderful, it's all T&M, and i show up when i wish, about 25 hours a week. And she supplies the German-chocolate brownies!
Her wind-chime collection has just about pushed me over the edge, though.
A few years back I get a call from a friend of a friend of a customer, and I go to look at building some cabinets for a doll collection. The older couple, newly retired, lived in large but fairly modest house at the end of the street. They were both very Midwestern, a little chubby, short, and dressed like the native Nebraskans they were.
As I walked in the entry, I spotted a modern bronze sculpture that looked familiar. On the other wall was a large painting, familiar, signed Picasso. It was the real deal. The house probably had 25 million worth of original contemporary art in it - Mondarian, Warhol, Lichtenstein, DuChamp, Rothko, French, German, Russian, all known, all over the place. Every room, the kitchen, the stairway, the back stairs, and a spare bedroom chock full of more, just so they could rotate stuff and not get tired of it. No alarm system or anything, all very modern art, but these ultra down to earth folks that just loved this stuff and lived with it all everyday. Some of the nicest people I have ever worked for.
Two years ago they called, wanted some help moving the doll cabinets to a smaller house, so I obliged. I asked if they would have room for all the paintings. "Oh we gave all those away, or most of them." The next day the paper had news of a 20 million dollar gift to he local art museum - these nice, unassuming people had cleaned house, and now everybody can enjoy what they lived with for years. Who knew?