Yeah, I see a light at the end of the tunnel, maybe a week and a half and I will be ready for clients. Cleaned out a bunch of tools and junk out of the lobby that I no longer need, and I caught a glimpse of what it became. I want to get in there tomorrow and button up a few things before my fishing trip, but I may be busy with home stuff tomorrow, too. I have the luxury of choosing my poison, since I know i cannot get it all done before i leave.
I have to admit that by the end of the wall repairs that I was lazy-ing out and winging a few wall repairs that i hope work, and not chip. The paint really made an improvement in the lobby, and by a happy occurence I found a gallon of matched paint in the basement that was 2/3rds full and still good. Which is a good deal, because I ran out.
I am having some good times looking around and trying to figure where I am going to hang some of my art, posters, etc. Those start going up next week, should be a fun part again.
I don't know if anyone else noticed, but my checklist on the second post is complete sans health department inspection... almost there.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 08-17-2012).]
Floor is primed and ready for tile. It goes in tomorrow morning, I just need to rent a 100lb. roller to finish the job. By the way, I encourage anyone reading this to go to Google and search "100 lb." and before you type anything else, look at google's suggestions.
Yikes.
Anyhow, the lobby is just about finished. Just gotta put trim back up and glue in 3 pieces of carpet. I am going to try to go forthe repair first and spend $0 and see how it looks, as opposed to over $500 to install all new carpet in the lobby. I know, its not what i wanted to start, but I am effusing money right now and its a little shocking to look and se how much I have dropped in the last month. I knew going in a little bit of debt was going to come out of it, but longtime followers of some of my other threads know I spent a while in debt and dug myself out, so its a peculiar feeling to get right back in debt again after that.
I need a display counter.. I have looked at used but I can get a new one for almost the same cost. I was also thinking about building one since I have a lot of leftover wood and trim, as well as display glass that is extra. Still have a couple days before that decision must be made.
The plumber and the city are coming in at 930 am on Monday morning to give me an estimate, and look at the meter and whether it can be replaced for (hopefully) free. I don't have $250 to upgrade it, and thats what the lady on the phone was talking like.
Three handwashing sinks and a mopsink are on their way, I still need to buy a wall faucet for the mop sink. One of my sheet metal guys is making me a nice backsplash for it in stainless.. he is happy to work for trade. Our tape measures never match in measurement, though. Hmm. Well, once these are installed I will be ready for my inspectors to give me the final hoops to jump through and we are done. Projected open day: September 11th, but as we all know these kind of things are prone to getting pushed back by good old "hurry up and wait."
Going to the Cincinnati/Green Bay preseason game tonight since it was in my backyard. Have a little fun with a friend and get started on that floor tomorrow.
More to come.. I will take pics/video of the floor after it is finished and set up.
Just taking a break. Got about 3 hours of work left on the tile. All the procedure rooms are done, just need to do about 15 edge pieces, then I do the hallway and I am done. I am hoping to be done before 3 am. I have to get the roller back to the rental place by 8am or get charged double.
Caffeine, Nicotine, and this grilled chicken i am cooking up is going to see me through.
edit:finished late, or early, depends how you look at it. 7am...i officially did floors for 16 hours yesterday and this morning and now I smell like am icy hot factory, with only an hour break for dinner. hands hurt too much to type more.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 08-25-2012).]
Yikes. Plumbing estimate was almost 10% of the cost of the entire building. I need to find a licensed OH plumber that wants tattoos and will work labor for trade. Shoot, $3200-$3500 is a lot of money for three sinks and a mop sink.
Yikes. Plumbing estimate was almost 10% of the cost of the entire building. I need to find a licensed OH plumber that wants tattoos and will work labor for trade. Shoot, $3200-$3500 is a lot of money for three sinks and a mop sink.
Plumbers seem to have a very tight racket going on. Every plumber I've ever gotten estimates from were within a few percentage points from each other. This is vastly different than electricians, GC's, etc, who seem to be all over the place with pricing.
On average, the plumbers seem to charge about 1000 per fixture. Dunno why, but that seems pretty much the rule of thumb....
Page not available.. was it good stuff or scary stuff? I bet scary stuff.. Needless to say, not my stuff, because the shop does not have any social media accounts yet. (Coming.. my wife is in charge of that when the time comes.)
quote
dsnover posted:
Plumbers seem to have a very tight racket going on. Every plumber I've ever gotten estimates from were within a few percentage points from each other. This is vastly different than electricians, GC's, etc, who seem to be all over the place with pricing.
On average, the plumbers seem to charge about 1000 per fixture. Dunno why, but that seems pretty much the rule of thumb....
Yeah, that seems really steep in my opinion.. I mean, MAYBE if he was paying for the fixtures, I would maybe say that was reasonable. All the handwashing sinks and the mop sink came in today. they're BEAUTIFUL! Stainless Steel is taking over my shop and i love it. My sheetmetal guy came in and made some stainless countertop covers for me. I also got some of those brushed stainless electrical plate covers for the floor receptacles, so they will not break when stepped or rolled on.
I was there tonight until 130 am. Cleaning. In my haste to get some garbage out i scraped a tile and now I have to replace it. Good thing I have 4 extra boxes of the stuff. Everything is about ready to go (sans plumbing of course) all that is left is new carpet in lobby, move in my equipment and decorate. Oh, and inspections all next week.
I have probably put 50 man hours into the flooring alone. Its my baby. The results are in today, and made it all worthwhile. I stripped, mopped and sealed the floors, 3 coats of sealer in every room. (Satin) It looks fantastic, shiny enough to reflect things but not obnoxiously mirror-like when you use the high shine sealer. I was feeling a little down about a few spaces here and there inbetween tiles.. but I went to big lots today and their floors had huge crevasses between all the tiles and it made me feel tons better.
Still have to strip and seal the hallway and the bathroom, but both procedure rooms and the clean room are now sealed and beautiful.
Plumber is supposed to get back to me tomorrow.. I believe we are trying to get a variance because of the age of the building concerning the vents being 6 inches above the drains. The layout of the place just will not allow for it in the front procedure room without a lot of money and a degree of ugliness. We will see what happens, either way i know i am going to get hosed (pardon the pun) on the plumbing. Yes sir, i am gonna get downright soaked on the cost.
I am going to try to get down there early enough to seal the hall floors and jet by 3:30. Gotta get some time in at the restaurant, need the $$$. 12 days until opening day. i hope.
Tried to make my plexi sign today and messed it up big time. There goes $12, I ruined it. Story of my life today, not a thing going right. About to crawl under a rock and try to start again tomorrow. Don't see the roof repair getting done today at this rate, this sucks.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 01-29-2013).]
Plumbing inspection on Thursday, Health Department on Friday, Opening Party on Sunday, and Open Monday at 11am. Hopefully gonna get some sleep between now and then, but I am starting to have my doubts.
Plumber disappeared for Wed through Saturday last week. No work done. I was red hot, I was supposed to have an opening party on Sunday, but I had no water supply to the bathroom. How do you have an opening party in your store when there is no toilet? Yeah.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 01-29-2013).]
Plumbing Inspection @ 9ish tomorrow morning. I have a long night of burning midnight oil, finishing drywall, priming a wall I just had to build in the sterile room, hanging a backsplash, tearing up the ruined tile and hopefully putting new tile in. Gonna head right back over there after a late supper and probably gonna be there until the inspector shows up.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 01-29-2013).]
Well, ,looks like I am going to have to label my green soap and alcohold sprayers.
Heh, I did that on purpose. I heard through the grapevine that if you don't leave the HD an easy target they find a more difficult and expensive one to have you fix.
So.. that's it. I am 100% legal. I have filed all my paperwork, I have all my permits, licenses and paid all my fees. All that remains is "other madness". Speaking of which, I open the doors at 11 am Monday morning for business.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 01-29-2013).]
Congratulations! I admire your energy and tenacity. You have already demonstrated that you have what it takes for your business to succeed. As your business grows never stop asking yourself the question, "Does this (decision, action, etc.) move us closer to our long-term goals, or farther away?" My best wishes for your long-term success and satisfaction with the path you've chosen. One final word of advice: No matter how hard it gets, don't look back. And try to have some fun along the way, too.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 09-28-2012).]
The opening party was a success, although not a RAGING party. We fed everyone, gave tours, hung around and talked. Artist and piercer from the local shop buzzed the party, got an eyeful of the competition. They were nicer than I expected them to be.
Tomorrow I open at 11am, first day of being open and available to the public. Can't wait, although I have to admit it will be hard to leave my dogs all day. May be working on something where they can be kennelled either out back or upstairs while I am working so don't have to be alone for so long. Most days they will be getting about 7 hours of naptime without us. Mondays and Wednesdays maybe even a little longer than that.
The thing that bugged me the most was the extra leftover food. I am gonna be eating those sandwiches all week!
Anyhow, I suppose this is where the thread ends.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 01-29-2013).]
The opening party was a success, although not a RAGING party. We fed everyone, gave tours, hung around and talked. Artist and piercer from the local shop buzzed the party, got an eyeful of the competition. They were nicer than I expected them to be.
Tomorrow I open at 11am, first day of being open and available to the public. Can't wait, although I have to admit it will be hard to leave my dogs all day. May be working on something where they can be kennelled either out back or upstairs while I am working so don't have to be alone for so long. Most days they will be getting about 7 hours of naptime without us. Mondays and Wednesdays maybe even a little longer than that.
The thing that bugged me the most was the extra leftover food. I am gonna be eating those sandwiches all week!
Anyhow, I suppose this is where the thread ends. *sniff*.. my first completed project on a Fiero website is for a business.. (typical me) I do have some pictures coming, and video, sometime tomorrow night. Not much else to say beyond that in regards to starting a business here in Ohio.. we put our minds and bodies to the task (the wife and I) and we completed our work. No telling how business is going to play out for a while, but I am confident my ability combined with good location, everything is gonna work out just fine.
Special thanks to Ang84Indy for showing up to the opening party and actually closing it down with us. Always a pleasure, always good company. Also thanks to everyone here for all the support and encouragement. We did it!
Regarding the bolded: Nope, not by a long shot. I'm quite certain that this thread will go on for quite a few more pages, as you are now going to face the hard parts. Getting the doors opened was 'the warmup' to government meddling and regulations. I pray for much success for you!
Your next hurdle will be the annual 'tithe' to the Government, in the form of taxes, so-called 'inspections for safety', ongoing business licenses, and whatever else your local, state, and federal task-masters come up with over the next few years....
Congratulations! You are now one of the precious few who have decided to start a business in a hostile economic environment! You have guts! + for you!
Well I am back. No real business to speak of, I got some stuff done i needed to do. I had several people come in, get some prices, and a lot more lookey loos outside. Sadly no sales on day 1. Well, no shock there, really. It's gonna take some time. I am just about to upload some video to YOUTUBE, more to see here in just a bit.
It took until Saturday to get our first business, but it was a good day. Did a couple tattoos, booked our first featured artist gallery opening (November 3rd) and got a lot of work done we were trying to do. Today I painted the sign, still have a little work to do on that. I figure i got the time, why pay someone else to do work i can do?
Could use to be a bit busier, but I am not disappointed. I get more lookers and talkers daily. Even the other local shops have come in to check me out. One is just starting up, the other is getting ready to close down. They both wished me luck, but I have stated my position on that previously... we make our own.
Only complaint right now is there is no time to get things at home done. like mowing and cleaning up the yard for winter. Still working Sunday brunch at the restaurant, so working 7 days a week kinda does that to you. I am also not eating very well, I need to get ahold of my personal habits and tweek them a bit.. I am just not used to the new schedule yet.
So far, a bit slow.. but with a couple appointments looming, can you believe I will probably make an (exceedingly tiny thus far) profit in the first month of being open? If I can get a couple walk-ins before Novermber 1st, that profit will be bigger.
That seems worth celebrating, so I am splurging and drinking me a beer. w00t
