New York House Press
On of my favorite regional magazines just gave us a big shout out - NY House Shout Out. What's neat about this shout out is what has been profiled in the past. Mostly super high performance NYC skyscrapers. And here we are - little ole us, with our small little homes.
Men (and Women) at Work
So Tito was up at Mitchell doing his final paint touchups. And the Electricians were over at Farm 15 running the underground primary and secondary electric. And Norm was over at the Shack cleaning it up a bit with the big machines. And our spray foam insulation company was finishing up sealing up Cottage 31. And Orange and Rockland Electric was hooking up the electric at Cottage 33. And Curtis and Edwin were taking care of some loose ends at Cottage 29. And the other BCS employees were finishing up the interior at MicroCottage 2 (floors and wood plank ceilings). And Casey and Janice here at the office were working on an 800 envelope Ecotech Sprayfoam mailing. And James is upstairs managing the 9 projects via phone and computers. And Lisa is in the kitchen over at the Hills Country Inn in Callicoon Center, helping Amy cook for a catering event, and prepping for the big NACL theater farm event on Sunday. And me, little ole me - I'm just sitting here remembering the days when I had a lot less to do but was a lot more busy. They say good help is hard to find, - but towards the benefit of both my sanity and my customers satisfaction, I think we are operating on a level I've aspired to for years. Now home to Lucas, who is obsessed with both choo choos and dinosaurs at the moment (although he has his first chore each day, and that is to help me feed Jake each evening - I hate to tell him he probably won't always be as enthusiastic about his chores as they grow in number as time goes on).
Way up on the Hill
Marcus and Courtney have built a house up on a hill on a few acres outside of Callicoon NY. It's a nice spot, to be sure. Now, I don't mean to blow our horn again, but cheese and crackers we only started this dang thing in late June. 800' driveway, full design, 900 ft of underground primary and secondary electric, literally moving a couple of tons of earth to carve a homesite out of the hillside, 3000 sq ft of customized design with wide plank floors, a lot of beadboard and wainscotting, etc...
Final site meeting walk-thru this weekend. Count it - 4 months. That's fast anywhere, and triply impressive up here in nowheresville.
Like I said, I would pit our team up against any team, any where. It's not just a matter of talent, which the team has in great supply - it's also a matter of attitude. You figure if 35 companies and 130 individuals working for those companies all give just a little extra effort, go the extra mile, at the end the customer reaps the benefit of these little extra efforts which cumulatively add up to something of real value - a lot of times the value is a little hidden, since it is a result of powering through the 100 unforeseen issues and problems without passing along annoying little change orders to me or my clients. Norm may stack some cool boulders we found on site, John may snake a switch to a new location, Tito may knock 'em dead with his final paint review and touch ups, the King brothers may address some heating or plumbing issue without using a box of tissues.
It's always a big synchronized dance on the final few days with too many trucks, too many people, shitty weather, and lots of chaos - just how I like, borderline chaos. I love this picture below for its subtle reflection of our precision. Floors all covered with paper, and high traffic areas with cardboard as well. Cardboard on the countertops. Protection on the refrigerator, and even thicker masonite underneath that heavy beast.
Lots of great colors. Pushing the envelope a bit on the jazzy nature of the selection but never going too far. I'll tell you what - it's a lot easier to build a big house than a small house. A big house you can scatter shit around and work in places other people aren't. Small homes everyone is just right on top of each other.
Looks messy, but to my construction management eye, it's all looking good.
Up the stairs.
2nd floor laundry with Curtis overseeing.
Job and Bryan cutting some trim on the front porch for the final push of fine carpentry.
One of the two wings of the house.
And the other.
Looking in towards the master bedroom, with his and her sliding barn doors at the closets.
Deck off of this bedroom.
And there you have. More pic next weeks after we pull back the covers.
Cottage 34 Commences
It's not everyday that my style and garment selection syncs right up with the exact same color palette as the new siding on my office, but here it is - see it for yourself. A perfect match. The fact that my new LL Bean sweatshirt does not nearly represent my elevated fitness stature accurately is something I have my assistant currently complaining to LL Bean about. I mean, they should at least put in the description - 'Great new sweatshirt made of lightweight materials that will turn any body into a rounded caricature of itself! Buy two for $39."
Anyways, body issues aside for the moment, we have begun another house. Yes, that's right, we have begun another house. Sure, I'm aware I live in the middle of nowhere. Sure, I'm aware that the region and nation is suffering through an economic calamity, and sure I'm aware that these are hard times indeed. But we have 6 homes under construction, a 5 home waiting list, and are working 5, 6 & 7 days a week to keep up with our aggressive scheduling. It's an extraordinary fact - the fact that it's a story that is almost unprecedented and uncopied across the entire nation, well, that just makes it all the more extra ordinary.
What it means for us is that we can continue to perfect our little cool houses because nothing assists improvement more than practice and we are getting all the practice we need. For instance, at Cottage 34 on Aspen Way outside of Narrowsburg, NY we have this really cool homesite, with a 425' driveway and the house set pretty perfect on the piece of land. So we hit some rock when we did some digging - not all that unusual, but always adds a hiccup to the best laid plans. A couple of interesting things occur or don't occur when we hit rock - the first thing that doesn't occur is a change order to the customer. Typically, the phone call would be made - "Ah, yea, Bryan, you know that budget we were talking about - well, we hit rock (or water, or ledge, or whatever), and we are going to need to rent a machine that costs $2500 a day, well, anyway, then we need to truck away the stone, then we need to pound a little for the septic, well, you get the point - here's a bill for $12,000." On the first day of work. That's a typical homebuilding experience and why the adage 'twice the cost and twice as long' is a common cautionary refrain.
With Catskill Farms, doesn't happen. Norm tells me we hit some rock, I tell him to rent a machine, without missing a step we are pounding away, using the rock we excavate for the driveway base and just going about it so efficiently and without the tears and crying and carrying on that accompanies most unforeseen site conditions with other companies that the extra costs just kind of slip away.
In a way, we have aspired to reinvent the construction process. No change orders based on 'unforeseen site conditions' such as rock, water or what have you, a process that has for years been right on the money when it comes to timing and scheduling, and a process that does not include a penny of budget more than agreed on, unless the client wishes to discretionarily spend. The above pic shows the precision drilling to enable level solid ground for the house footings. It reminds me of my last dental visit, after failing to go for a few years.
Chip the rock, pile the rock, move the rock, spread the rock and before you know it, you not only have a hole ready for a foundation and a house, but you have a driveway as well. Talk about green - building a driveway with material from the site. It doesn't matter how deep the well goes, or if we hit rock or water, or if it rains everyday, or the price of plywood double unexpectedly over the course of two months - we pay for it. and we also finance construction.
So, let me get this straight - Catskill Farms pays for building my customized house so I don't have the cost or aggravation of a construction loan, Catskill Farms takes on the risk that is standardly borne by the client (site conditions such as rock, water, deep wells, unconventional septics, etc...), Catskill Farms delivers it pretty much on time and pretty much on schedule. It's an unheard of proposition for this area, where construction torture is a well-honed and developed and accepted way of doing things up here.
Our entire team is serious. they are young, aggressive, hard-working, talented individuals, and it took me 8 years to put it together. I have fired more people than I care to remember, not because they were all bad at what they did, but because they were not great at what they did, didn't work hard enough, had their head up their asses too many days of the week. Although many times we need to be patient as we increase the caliber of the team, be assured there is never a minute that goes by without a trade by trade vendor by vendor evaluation of price, product and service. And why shouldn't it be that way? Just because we are in the sticks doesn't mean we should accept shitty service, although that can be the default attitude.
And, in the end, our housing concepts have always been a little ahead of the pack, but the team is what makes it a viable enterprise. Many a good idea has failed for lack of proper execution. There's James, Project Manager, walking over the new driveway. He lost a similar hat late night in Vegas at the Builder's Show 2009.
And our mason working in tandem with our excavator, without missing a step.
In the end, I'd pit our team against any team, anywhere. We have practiced and honed and concentrated on every element of the process, down to the tiniest details and process. Like I've mentioned before - We try hard, and the results are the proof in the pudding.
