Nest - Property Services
My friend Eric, who runs the go-to local insurance shop that insures pretty much anything one could need insured, also runs (along with his wife and full-time employee) a property services company named Nest. I think it's a good addition to the local services landscape, one that seems logical and needed and we've invited them to advertise on our website (first ever) and give our clients a shot.
Offering pretty much the gamut from a fully managed property including house check-ups and responsibility for all day to day needs of a house, to one-off tasks such as firewood delivery (and stacking, hopefully), room painting, snow plowing, house checkin's during long absences, etc…
Like any company we refer (and there aren't many), we recommend trying them out on smaller projects and see if they meet expectations and take it from there. With our homes being modest in size, I believe the value lies less in full-time, whole house management, than with the 'go to guy, one-stop shop' for your country's house many one-off needs - be it lawn care, snow plow, firewood, chimney cleaning, furnace maintenance, power washing, exterior painting, landscaping facilitation. One call, wallah, taken care of (at least that's the what the marketing asserts).
We've been asked many times to do this job, but we just don't have the resources (emotional or time) to tackle the smallest of projects and to be honest, we have surprisingly found our clients and companies like Nest have better resources the smaller the project becomes.
Nest - Maybe it's something you've been thinking about.
7 Years, 682 Blog Posts
They say that like 99.9 % of all blogs are abandoned, living lives of quiet desperation - unread, un-updated, and un-taken down. Just out there in cyberspace, casualties of lost enthusiasm. Of big plans scaled down. Of hyperbole tamed.
So our 2 blog posts a week, for 7 years, stands out as a remarkable effort of retained enthusiasm and effort. It's one of those things that just can't be faked, and one of the first things to go when a business hits a bump of prosperity or outlook. On the same hand, it's one of those things that can be out prioritized as a business grows and demands on time grow severe.
The Blog of Catskill Farms is a regular testament to our legitimacy, our survival, our progress, our focus and our belief that our clients get what we are doing, not just with our homes, but our general approach to business and life.
Very few marketing efforts trust their clients and potential clients enough to tell the truth. The personalization of our message, from Me to You, is an easy thing to take or leave - and luckily for us, enough families choose to take it to keep us in business for 11 years.
And to me, as the writer and editor, its a neat way to organize my thoughts and efforts when so much is won and lost on a daily basis.
Construction Progress
Barn 7 sold on Wednesday.
Cottage 45 is shaping up, with the interior painted and the kitchen going in.
And the Hudson River Renovation turning a major corner.
Our Projects
Stone Ridge Farmhouse ion 20+ acres- 2200 sq ft plus a finished basement.
Olivebridge NY 2100 sq ft Barn 9 on 5 acres rising beside this Old Heifer ('who's calling me old?' "Actually, who's calling me a heifer?")
Hudson River Modern Rehab
1390 sq ft Cottage 45 in Barryville.
Barn VII, 1750 sq ft, in Barryville closing tomorrow.
Mini Barn in Barryville - all 720 sq ft of it.
1800 sq ft Farm 24 in Woodstock NY.
Then we got Cottage 46 starting in December in Rhinebeck.
And Cottage 47 starting in Narrowsburg in November.
And Barn 10 starting in Narrowsburg in December, unspoken for.
That's a lot of construction.
