Moving On - (and Why We Are In Business)
3:13am Friday.
Well, if any of you know the Josh Rouse song Moving On, you could hum it now.
Although it's been fun (not really actually), I know a lot of our clients read this damn blog and that's why it's pretty strategic in what I cover - though it may seem like I'm shooting wildly from the hip, that would belie the fact this blog medium has served as my one-two punch of Catskill Farms' envied marketing effort, the other being the website. This blog was started almost exactly 5 years ago, with nearly 700 posts, I believe. It has consistently covered the good the bad and the not so good and the really good. So obviously, it's content and subject matter is thought out to a degree.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that its time to refocus on the art of building homes and leave my legal drama behind because the last thing I want is for the 7 homes we are currently building (and their respective future homeowners) to be overshadowed by my drama, since this is about them, not about me. I just happen to be one the players, as well as the writer of this blog, so I have some editorial sway.
And that gets to my point (at least one of them) - this company was started in 2003 because I saw an opportunity - clear and simple - to provide a better, easier, less stressful process and product for families, partners and individuals wanting to move upstate, or buy a home up here. Before Catskill Farms, the high expectations and high demands that our clients used to achieve the success in their lives had to be discarded, put aside, dumbed down in order to do something upstate. After Catskill Farms, those attributes that attributed to their success could be used with us to collaborate on something great. No more torture, no more life-changing lessons in upstate casualness that really doesn't seem that cute when you have a couple of hundred grand on the line.
Our business model was about maximizing the upside, and minimizing the downside, -for our clients. And by minimizing the downside, I mean having us here at Catskill Farms fight all the battles with the subcontractors, the vendors, the realtors - we pitch the battle, we filter the pain. And the whole idea was to provide a good experience. It was that simple - we wanted to provide a good experience. Granted, it took several years before our business goal and our real life efforts married up, but it happened, and now it's commonplace.
People always wonder why Catskill Farms succeeds so wildly, when it's owner is commonly often described as an ass. To my business mind, it's because we are focused on the client, to a degree that is actually unfathomable to most of our competitors - I don't mean focused in a lovey dovey huggy type of way (although when it is that way its always nice) - I mean focused in a 'we are going to get you in this awesome home as fast a humanly possible and nothing is going to get in our way and we are going to live up to our word precisely".
The sustained seriousness of our approach is uncommon. And people pay good money to be part of it. And we respect that respect.
All for now. Off to Miami Beach.
(this caterpillars long row to hoe here at the Ashokan Reservoir reminded me of my business journey - what a long way we've come.)
oh boy
Beaches. Babes. Sunsets. Palm Trees. Sun tans. Niceness. Bicycles. Basketball. Late Evening Tennis. Air conditioning. Ocean. Bay. Ocean Drive. Italian pub. 15th floor. Sunshine. Beaches. Babes. Sunsets. Palm Trees. Sun tans. Niceness. Bicycles. Basketball. Late Evening Tennis. Air conditioning. Ocean. Bay. Ocean Drive. Italian pub. 15th floor. Sunshine. Beaches. Babes. Sunsets. Palm Trees. Sun tans. Niceness. Bicycles. Basketball. Late Evening Tennis. Air conditioning. Ocean. Bay. Ocean Drive. Italian pub. 15th floor. Sunshine.
Stone Ridge Farmhouse and Halloween
Halloween Party at a local karate place. I'm just saying, if going to these events for the next 15 years is going to make up a large part of my existence, then god help me. Fun enough for Lucas, but they kept it so dark I had to use my iphone flashlight app to read my newspaper.
Damn deer.
John Deere and the leaf fest.
Stone Ridge Farmhouse framing. Should be nearly done by now.
Oh, and I called Central Hudson 8 times over 2 days, my roofer 4 times over 3 days, my excavator 6 times yesterday. And I even raised my voice 3x.
Guilty as charged.
Port Ewen River Renovation
Probably one of my strongest talents is moving on, so let's move it along for now. The last thing I want any one to think is that we are losing any speed in our homes and homes to be. Oh, just the opposite. Our over-riding mantra is always 'keep it moving'.
This Modern Ranch on the Hudson is just about gutted.
A big chimney/fireplace was built right in the middle house blocking the point of having a house on a river - to see the river. It's never an easy decision to take down something like that, but now that we did, I don't think anyone is second guessing the decision.
Pre-fireplace demolition.
Photo title - "A Carpenter in the Morning Light"
