Farm 69 - Change the name? And other thoughts.
So the time has come for a tough decision. I knew the day was coming, but until it arrived, the decision was easy to ignore.
Farm 69. Just writing it out, makes it easy to understand why the number represents a sexual innuendo.
I remember when we sold Cottage 13 to Dean back in 2008 or so and we had a conversation about it and he said 'what the hell, let's go for it." And he suffered no ill health, bad luck, etc... by living in Cottage 13.
But, does Farm 69 fly just as easily? Weirdly, I'm sitting in my screened porch with my dog at my side in Milford PA and there have been a bunch of squirrels zipping up and down the big pine tree about 60' away, making a bit of a racket with their zippy clawed ascents and descents. My eyes aren't the best anymore, but I looked up and what do I see but 2 squirrels humping 100' off the ground - very appropriate to set the tone of the post.
I mean, if i didn't have a 13 year old, I never would have thought twice about it, but rarely a day goes by that some innocent signage - exit sign, license plate, football jersey, year a movie was made - that the number doesn't come up and I don't hear some snickering from the gallery. The thing is at this age, they don't seem to have put a visual or understanding as to what they are laughing at, they just know it's about sex so that's all they need to know to react to it.
I think those of us who have more maturity use this number without 2nd thought, live in houses numbered 69, stay in hotels on this floor without remarking, take Exit 69 with no hesitation. But, as someone who has succeeded because there isn't a detail I don't sweat, I'm considering this one.
We have a lot of houses we are finishing up shortly. 2 Ranches in Saugerties, 2 farmhouses in Saugerties, 1 Farmhouse in Narrowsburg, 1 Barn in Cochecton. While you read daily about the scream for help in terms of employees and subcontractors and vendors, we are fully staffed here at Catskill Farms, and have been able to add members to both our employee list, and as importantly, teamed up with 2 small construction teams who come with 3-5 people per team, self-manage, and are learning our system quickly. That's been a real help. A god send. A life saver. More than that, these guys are here to stay - they love the work, they love our culture, how organized we are, how quick I pay, how little interaction with 'the public' is needed,
So, as we enter the real final leg of the first slew of homes we sold back in July 2020, I look back with pride and astonishment of how we kept it together, how we grew, and how we improved.
The Year of Disruption
There are few things we try to do these days that doesn't entail a nasty negative surprise, an unavailable product, a delayed shipment, a harried vendor. It started with pressure treated decking and wood last spring, spread quickly into appliances, hot water heaters, basement floor stain, electrical conduit or machine parts to repair equipment. What wasn't in short supply was engorged in price - with some framing materials up 800%.
We were busy as all get out, and were building right into the teeth of this angry inflationary and shortage sea serpent. I basically just closed my eyes and forged ahead hoping the increased volume and increased sales prices would offset the increased prices. So far, that has been the case, but it has been shocking at times, and actually quite hard to track.
I've spent my last 2 weeks - besides building 25 homes, leading a new marketing campaign, managing 12 employees and host of other issues - trying to get a washing machine repaired at one of my rentals in Phoenixville Pennsylvania. I'm 24 calls, 4 site visits, 87 texts into it, and still no final solution or resolution. It's a microcosm of what we've been dealing with. Just hard to look good right now, regardless of your tan or fitness level.
My son and I are engaged in completing the construction of a 2500 piece Land Rover lego set. It's taken us months or more since he's only with me every other week, and he has a short attention span and it's a bit tedious at times, and it's a lot of pieces. But it's cool, and I can't say it went that smoothly from a father and son perspective, but we powered through the anger, frustration, impatience etc... and reached the end with a well-built machine that seems to be put together more or less as designed. 800 pages of design instructions. There's something to be said and learned from that, however indirectly and unintended.
Been taking down some books as of late - Band of Brothers, Beyond Band of Brothers, News Junkie. Just finished No Ordinary Time, a 30+ hour audible book about the Roosevelts by the historian who wrote the Lincoln biography Team of Rivals.
Production, Sales, and what have you-
Like I said in a previous blog post, I always to the hardest job - I look for what can't be delegated, scanning all nether regions for problems that need my intervention. The latest in our inability to keep up with our painting needs. The problem with constantly fixing the production bottlenecks- was siding, tile, hvac, framing, - now those have been remedied with hard fought additions to our team - but solving some but not all only creates a bigger bottleneck where the remaining ones reside.
For years it has been painting, aggravated by the fact that everything we build needs to be touched by a paint brush. All siding, porches, interiors - It's complicated, and quality matters. And weather makes it harder.
There is nothing that bothers me more - no spur in my saddle, no bunch in my underpants, no poop on my shoe - than a house under construction sitting still not moving forward in some manner and fashion. So, today, I gathered my team and we painted a house. Sprayed it. Worked out good. Methodical, good quality, lots of progress. Hot as hell in my spray suit.
On the sales front, we have a few closings coming up - a ranch up in Saugerties, a rental property I've owned for a bit in Barryville. Did 2 deals in Olivebridge on some new homes.
Been getting a lot of use out of my pool. Why I chose to embark on this very complicated construction project when we were so busy is beyond me, but it's mostly done and mostly awesome. Of course my blog has a photo size limit that constantly blocks my best attempts at creative blogging. Been warm, and one day I did the rookie mistake of trying to tan some untanned regions, and I went to far, now I'm burned and can barely get my underwear on over my burnt upper thighs and buttocks.
Another One Sold in the Catskills
A pretty house for sure, on 9 acres in Cochecton NY. I owned this land since 2004, and it just sat there as I worked my way through expansions in Ulster and Dutchess counties. Then we circled back, and built 2 homes on 20 acres, in central Sullivan County.
When I first started out in 2003, this neck of the woods - central Sullivan County in towns such as Jeffersonville, Callicoon, North Branch - were our focus, but then it migrated south to Barryville area, and west to Narrowsburg area, then north to Ulster county towns like Woodstock, Saugerties, Stone Ridge and Kerhonkson.
This particular design is special to me because it is the very first design I ever built, back in 2003, in Narrowsburg. I was driving down the road to Fremont NY to a farmhouse renovation I was doing and kept passing this abandoned but cute hundred year old farmhouse along the way, and eventually I adapted with the help of an architect into the very first new old home of Catskill Farms. That's 20 years and nearly 300 homes ago.
Farm 60 is quite striking, with nearly 2000 sq ft but an additional 1000 sq ft walk out basement. This was sold/contracted early in the pandemic, and is one of our last homes sold before prices really rose. So we left some money on the table and the homeowners got a good deal, which is fine. I think we offer/offered a lot of value over the years.
The difference between now and then couldn't be vaster, but as far as I know, those early homes held up pretty well. Back then, as well as now, a part of my job has always remained the same and that is sourcing and staffing to building end - back then the challenge was to source one, and now it's to staff 25 at a time, but in the end, I was able to find a path to growing the team, and improving our homes. And let's be honest, after 20 years and hundreds of homes where there is a true dedication to making each one better, the homes end up being pretty awesome.
Went on vacation at last a few weeks back to Turks and Caicos with my son, sister and a friend of my sons, and a good time by all was had. Tough to turn off after 14 months of endless focus and work, but even worse, was reentering the 24/7 stress-arama when I returned. The endless problem solving and work had become so integral to my life during covid, it was a like a frog in boiling water - just happened, stage by stage. So to leave it, then reenter it, was a shock to the system, as well as healthy awareness of the mental toll that type of workload can take on a person. All in all, all good, but all work and no play can make jack a very dull boy.
Rugby team we fell in with.
