Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

Construction continues to move at a breakneck pace at Cottage 7 on Schumacher Pond Rd in Yulan, NY, just outside Barryville, NY. I really like the southern end of Sullivan County - with the big Delaware River separating NY from PA, close to Milford PA, Port Jervis NY, Narrowsburg NY, and Bethel NY.

I think we started building this house in March and here we are already roughed-in with our plumbing, heating, and electric - 'roughed-in' is the industry term for the unsexy but vital work that goes into the walls before you 'close 'em up'.

6 weeks into construction and the insulation is up, wall coverings are up (both wood and sheetrock). Now we finish the sheetrock, which is the beginning of the project slowing down, since a rule of thumb in construction is that the last 25% of the project takes as long as ther first 75% - mostly because it is more detailed oriented, lots of moving pieces and subcontractors coordinating the lighting, kitchens, faucets and heating. Also, in the beginning, lots of different subs can be working together on the site at the same time, while at the end, lots of times it's just one trade at a time. Painters, trim carpenters, floor finishing all take a week or two and most must be in the house alone in order to produce good work.

And, here's Ana and Pablo from Argentina in front of their large beamed fireplace and mantel. The beams, which came from a barn we took down in Bethel NY, are literally 12" x 12" and over 120 yrs old. It's neat to have a piece of history in these new homes. http://www.thecatskillfarms.com/ .

Here's the future kitchen - the wires hanging out of the walls are for the stoves, dishwashers, vents, outlets and what have you. Note the wood plank ceilings that will get painted a shade of white.

And the new staircase, under a run of plank ceilings, leading to the bright dining nook, which leads out to the back deck.

Even though all our customers believe us when I tell them construction will only take 4 months, I think when they see what that means in terms of progress on a week to week basis is shocking.

Happy Mothers Day to our Mothers - Robin in Farm 7, Julia in Barn 1, Emily in the McInnes Cottage not yet built, Christine in Farm 9, Ellen in Farm 6, Nancy in the Old Bayer Rd farmhouse, Dukhui in Farm 5, Angie in Farm 2, Karla in Farm 1, and Leslie in Farm 3.

One other thing before I go hit the links, I don't know how the 'rankings' started appearing at the end of each blog post, and I am trying unsuccessfully to remove them - the last thing I need is any additional critiques - as a home builder to demanding clients, I get enough feedback as it is.

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Well, we started this blog about the same time we started our Highland Farms project in Eldred, NY, sometime last October. 5 or 6 months later we have pretty much hit our goals of early spring sales for Mauricio's Cottage 5, Steve and Christine's Farm 9 and David's Cottage 6. Can't say it was all roses - shitty weather, ice storms, war with my ex-excavator Hank Andryshak of HSA Homes and HSA Excavation out of Goshen NY over his corner cutting, attempts at shoddy work and bad attitude, 3 building inspectors, a change in the town supervisor, a meltdown in the credit markets - but we made it. Actually we didn't just make it, we really made it and we hit the spring running with a full plate of excited future customers lined up, good cash flow, and a solid business infrastructure.

And I even had time to take care of a little personal business - Lisa's 5 months pregnant. I've been saying for years there needs to be more Petersheims in this world. Well, I'm doing my part, if a bit belatedly.

I know I've blogged these pics before, but here is sweet Farm 9 and manly Cottage 6 in all their glory.

Tonight I go to the planning board for the first review of my new project just up the road. We hope to open up 7 big new home sites.

Once we get these built we will have built a total of 22 new homes in the Town of Highland New York. That's a lot for this po-dunk town.

I'll be in big trouble for this blog post because I gave my word to never post pictures of Lisa without her approval.

Old Stormy, who we adopted a few weeks back, is feeling right at home. It's pretty funny because now when anyone comes to visit us we immediately need to pronounce three disclaimers - one, that the big log house we live in and rent is 'not really our style', that 'we aren't really gated community types', and now 'we don't usually chain our dogs up under porches.' It's a lot to communicate to new guests.

Here are some pics of Lisa getting storm ready for a big walk. Lisa has probably taken this dog on more walks over the past 3 weeks than the rest of his life combined (my cat just stepped on my keyboard !!#%$&).

Stormy is quite patient as Lisa figures out the harness. I can predict the trouble I'm in, mostly centered around her outfit - cozy pants, white sneakers, leprachan jacket and Jackie O shades.

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In a development I never expected, we are ceasing our marketing and saying no to any new clients. With Dean signing up for a new cottage, and Albert signing up for a farmhouse on 10 acres, we now have a 6 house waiting list, not including the 3 houses currently under construction. Accepting any more clients would only result in disappointing current ones, and that is without a doubt a bad business decision. The perfect element to this activity is that some families are ready, willing and able, others want to start in the summer and other want to wait till the fall - so it should work out perfectly.

Considering we are a finely tuned machine at the moment, and have access to more good labor than ever before (thank you slow economy), we are motoring right along.


Here is Cottage 7 with the roof on, windows in, house wrap being installed on the exterior, and the interior is completely framed, plumbed, heating lines run, and plumbing finished. This morning we passed our 'rough-in' inspection with flying colors and now we plan the fireplace and insulation installation. Turning the corner of this home in just 5 weeks.

Cottage 7 will look familiar to some of you since it is inspired by Cottage 1, which in turn was inspired by a little house on Rt 55 between Eldred and Bethel. We like to keep things very unique for our homeowners, but at the same time don't see a problem reusing a great design. As long as all the elements vary, the houses will remain unique to each individual homeowner.

Cottage 1 had a standing seam metal roof and cedar shake, Cottage 7 has 1x10 beveled siding and a black architectural shingles roof. The siding is being painted moonlight white, and a dutch door is decorating the front door. Cottage 7 changed some walls around and moved the dining room to the rear of the house, eliminated the full bath on the first floor and decided to add a bath and a partially finished walkout basement.

People love these cottages. It's a lot of bang for the buck.

Here is Cottage 8, a mini house, with about 800 sq ft of above grade living space broken into a fireplace room, kitchen/dining room, sitting room, a cathedral ceiling, and a closed in sleeping loft. It's a really great use space.

To allow a little extra room, we are completely finishing the basement area, with walk-out doors, lots of windows, a bathroom and a sleeping room. In the end, Rob and Leah took the money they saved by buying smaller, and allocated that budget to stonework, cathedral ceilings, finished basement, etc...

It's going to be a fantastic house. Cozy, perfect and inexpensive to maintain.

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