Homes being built, and meandering thoughts
Lucas has a constant stream of high school peers sleeping over. Plenty of space, lack of parental helicopting, close to town and close to school make it a go-to stop for those with an invite. After homecoming, we had 16 kids sleep over. Everywhere I went the morning after there was a kid - indoors, outdoors. People with previous sleep over experience got the inside track on the most comfortable spaces, and probably more importantly, zeroed in on blankets and the like.
Just waiting on the couch to arrive - I didn't realize it when I ordered/designed it it was going to take 4 months to arrive. Love the new Japanese floor chairs with adjustable seating positions.
Prepped breakfast of eggs and pancakes and milk for pre-game meal against Abbington this afternoon.
Packed a big lunch for them since they will be gone all day. I like flexing the Dad as Mom thing - I think I do it pretty well.
Football season is off and running and Lucas Petersheim made his varsity debut against Wallenpaupack when our team - Delaware Valley Warriors - took a big lead. Popped his varsity cherry. He was pretty excited.
We have one more sale to finish this year, a Barn home on nearly 5 acres just outside Narrowsburg. In maybe a first for us in Sullivan County, this family moved their life upstate and enrolled their kids in the local rural high school. We seen that a few times in Ulster, but not as much in Sullivan. This 3500 sq ft beauty is turning out to fit the needs of a wide-range of families - the first floor primary bed/bath ensuite is a good look.
We have 4 homes we are completing that aren’t being actively marketed but will be shortly. Enough sales for one year, and with a tax bill that is hovering around $750,000 coming due shortly from 2024 earned income. Even though we aren’t the most expensive home supplier in the counties we work, and I feel we offer a ton of value, because at heart we earned our stripes during a much more difficult upstate economic environment, so learned to be uber-efficient just to survive. So, during pre-covid times, this ability helped us stick around for 17 years, and during and post covid times, it allowed us tackle more business, and expand our profits per house - which after 20 years of ekkking by, was well earned.
The thing about the sunk cost thing, and the sunk cost fallacy, is even if you don't fall into the fallacy and exacerbate a costly situation, extricating yourself - even if it's the right move, stings. It's not as if doing the right thing - properly evaluating risk vs return - eliminates the pain of the sting. But I guess just like a bee sting, it lessens and dissipates before you know it, whereas staying in the fight prolongs the resolution and possibly the result is a long felt amputation.
As we slow down, purposely, some very neat opportunities have been coming our way in which I have the time to entertain fully, which is a big switch from moving along from one to the next with no time to monetize or even consult on post-build projects. And we are just getting started on a 5 lot subdivision in Kerhonkson.
The garage door went in at my house, so that's all finished for now.
Did a ton of weeding Friday, then closed down the pool on Saturday.
This is definitely bear poop on one of our driveways. The nerve - raid our dumpsters, poop on our driveway. Hard to scale it in the picture but it's about the size of a dinner plate and 2" + thick.
All in all, it's a period of decompression after nearly 3.5 yrs of leaving it all on the field, 24/7. Quite the run.
Ranch 70 Leaves the Building - SOLD
Another week, another house sale. Bringing these projects to conclusion with surgical precision isn't easy, and we've spent a lot of time getting a program done that is both efficient, and effective. Considering we nearly always go into so random piece of woods and build a home, the challenges are endless, variable, and unpredictable. The project in Olivebridge - that 9 home project 2.5 years in the making - has no cell service, and to get it, means traveling at least 5 miles. Now that some of the homes are connected to the street and the internet, we've been able to wi-fi call, but that's still a bit of a logistical juggle. But challenge that come, is only a barnstorming brainstorm idea away.
Ranch 70 is the right home for the right property. The Owners spent part of the build climbing Mount Everest or something similarly challenging, and then used the rest of their time to design and collaborate on a lot of good looking fun choices in the home, from appliances, to paints, to wall coverings kitchens and tile. Not to mention lighting and plumbing.
I'm more or less an expert with pairing the right homes with the right land at this point, and more than that, I'm skilled at making sure the house is put on the right spot on the land. Hard to fake. Get it wrong and you get stuck with a spec house till you lower the price far past the pain point of losing money. And losing money after spending a year on a project is enough of a spanking to keep you from trying again.
This home is on just under 5 acres, on Lot 9, of a 9 lot subdivision just down for Tetta General Store which was recently passed down from grandparents to Primo, the grandson, who did amazing things reinventing the general store into something modern and fun.
Doing one of my favorite things today and that's taking a new survey with some landmarks such as stone walls, large oaks, paths that the surveyor marks on the plans, daydreaming and strategizing about driveways, elevations, houses, neighbors, internet, and property lines.
Problem with small business, or any business, is it's always a rubiks cube of problems to solve, and issues to confront, and conversations to be had, and ... lessons to be learned. Has anyone learned more lessons than me on a daily basis for 25 years? Probably not. Lessons about what to pursue, and what to let be. Lessons about when to engage and when to retreat. Lessons about who to trust and who to verify. Lessons about how to lose gracefully and how to win and 'let them up easy', as A. Lincoln instructed his military staff when dealing with the rebels.
My dog Lulu would never forgive me if I did these woods explorations without her, so though she's unaware of the excitement in her near future, soon she will be rewarded for being such a good dog with an hour or two in the woods.
Farm 75 Leaves the Building - SOLD
Ranches have been all the rage, and many times when I go to build something different we get a client or two who pass because they 'love the Ranch'. But as a builder of a diverse portfolio, we like to keep it fresh. In the recent project in Olivebridge in Ulster County, we did 3 Barns, 2 Farmhouses and 4 Ranches. We sold the last Ranch today and the last Farmhouse last week. I have two homes left up there, and we are going to sell them as finished projects ready to move in.
The American Four Square is a very recognizable home to anyone who loves quintessential American architecture. You see them in a lot of small towns, you see them in the Sear's turn of the century catalogue, you see them in Leave it to Beaver, Its a Wonderful Life, and other shows where American values hold sway. Like a lot of our farmhouses, they benefit from a floor plan and construction efficiency because of the floor plans, where the 2nd floor takes advantage of the foundation the same way as the first floor. Meaning, many don't have the vaulted ceilings which require a foundation and a roof line but don't give you any more space. I'm not throwing shade at vaulted room - we build them all the time, but looked at through a sq ft of floor plan size, it's takes a bigger shell to achieve the same square footage when you play around with 2nd height open areas.
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This home weighs in at around 3000 sq ft. Full bath in ground floor, and 2 on 2nd floor. We built this around the corner (figuratively not literally) maybe 8 years ago, and it was fun to reinvent it again with the new homeowners, who jumped on board pretty early - don't remember exactly when, and had a hand in the whole design scheme from tile to plumbing and lighting fixtures to paints, stains, counters and kitchens.
NY Philharmonic
Opening night at the NY Philharmonic at Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center- its 183rd year or something like that. Prime seats in a home crowd of philharmonic fanatics, few tourists to be found. I found it a little confusing when to clap or not but following the crowd was easy to do. Having never seen a professional orchestra for 2+ hours it was fascinating to watch the hard work of the 100+ member ensemble. Some were working hard the whole time - the small strings and the like, and others joined for just a note or so like the harp, gigantic drum, etc... Interestingly, the ability to see the musicians detracted from the music they were making and the eyes diluted the ears, so with eyes closed, the large nuanced sound of the band was intense. Forgot my cuff links and had to have a pair delivered to the hotel, which is of course old hat to much people but a new idea for us country bumpkins.
