Houses in Progress
We're rocking and rolling, firing on all cylinders, pedal to the metal, letting the goose loose. About 6 weeks ago I bought 44 acres, and with the help of the recession, we have been jamming on all the building fronts. I mention 'with the help of the recession' because it is solely due to the fact that great subcontractors are looking for work, looking to please. As opposed to 2004-2007 when I was building the foundation of my business, when the best I could do was field a team of bad news bears, getting cheated over and over again by subs/employees who completely had me over a barrel - we built a good house since the inception of the business, but the amount of work and management it took to get it done with team I could afford was really beyond description. Presently - Cottage 17, building lot is cleared, foundation is in, slab is poured, and the house is framed.
It's a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1300 sq ft cottage on just about 9 acres outside of Barryville. This house not spoken for yet.
And the same thing over at Cottage 19 - a mini-house with just under 1000 sq ft on 5 very pretty acres.
It's going to be a very sharp house, with particular attention paid to the details.
And then we got Courtney and Bronson's house going up. 5+ acres, little stream running through, and a real nice piece of land that rises and falls. Also some nice stone walls.
And here is Richard and Nancy, who are planning to buy the Barryville Cottage, and they promise I can use their house in the rainforest mountains of Ecuadar.
And my main man Juan, one of the consistent bright lights over the last 7 years - Juan has worked for me since the beginning, leaving for just a few months in 2005, - he's returning to his family in Guatemala in October, after have been away for 9 years. He has two children he hasn't seen, he's earned enough money to build a small apartment complex, and return to his home with a financial cushion and a very good handle of english, which is an advantage anywhere.
Anytime I hire someone new, I always make them work with Juan for a few days and that tells us a few things about the new person - do they know how to work hard? and do they know what they are doing?
Just like a bad egg that takes long lunches and sneaks a joint when no one is looking can move a business in one direction, a hardworking ethos among the crew can make it very uncomfortable very quickly for those who don't desire to contribute evenly or honestly.
A butterfly I found.
And the Barryville Cottage.
And the old lonely road that leads to the houses we are building.
And Peter's gothic cabin -
And my addition at my house on Crawford Rd, Eldred.
It's late, I'm tired, and the baby, wife and Cat are upstairs. Played volleyball at Jill Wiener's farm tonight, outside of Callicoon Center. Joe and Viv from Global Home in Jeffersonville were there, Darren Wisemen from McKean Real estate, and a few other notables were present
Blogging
Interesting article in the NYTimes on Sunday about Blogs. I remember well all the hype surrounding this new form of discourse, dialogue and conversation. But as I searched for blogs over the years to regularly read, or browse, I saw a lot of the same thing, - that being outdated, hardly-posted blogs, abandoned and left hanging loosely in cyberspace, never properly bid goodbye, or saluted farewell. Now the Times comes out with some interesting stats - Only 7.3 million blogs out of 133 million have been updated in the last 120 days, meaning 95% of all blogs begun, lay wasted alongside the road of high hopes, and grander ambitions. And of the 7.3 m, only a fraction of those have been regularly tended to over the past half year. I think a lot of it has to do with difficulty to get comments going - where we were a little different was we never allowed comments, for fear of what was to be said, so we never used that as a measuring stick. We've been writing for over 20 months, and have accumulated over 200 different posts. But finding something to say, remotely interesting, is definitely a challenge, and I think we all here at the Catskill Farms blog benefit from a sort of renewal every couple of months, with new houses, new talented customers, and new construction projects. And that type of enthusiasm, simply measured by the ability to find something interesting and new about our journey every few day - can't be faked or accomplished without real passion. And that's what separates us from the pack - our passion for the idea of simple country living, restrained but fine design, and our military precision that we attack our goals on a day after day basis.
Cottage 21
I have to stop blogging after drinking, because I have an inordinate amount to say after a cocktail or two, usually to my detriment (or someone else's). Oh well, the blog visit stats are through the roof, although I think Lisa said the other day that she is now locking her car doors at night. Here's amazing Cottage 21, all dressed up and ready to party.
Arts and Crafty - with big stone pillars, tapered columns, and a lot of bells and whistles. Front porch pond view.
And into the kitchen with Hickory cabinets and black countertop and open wood painted shelves and farm sink.
Big open living room with 1x12 white pine shiplap, stained min-wax Early American.
And looking from above at the twirling fan, and windows.
The loft space houses a bedroom, with duel barn doors. We used some 1x8 beveled siding on the exterior of this interior wall, and then stained it white.
Porch view.
Money Shot.
Big spindles, clapboard siding, 2 barn beams and a sconce and radiator that share a hue.
Living room, waiting for that house warming party that is scheduled for the not so distant future.
Really love this shower, but have yet to fine an angle that captures it truely.
And the downstairs, pretty traditional full bath, looking out into the yard.
And the side shot, perfectly tended to.
We've come a long way - our first few houses we didn't have the money, time, resources or professional relationships to even consider such a tight presentation.
My how times have changed.
BUSY Weekend
Appointments at 11, 1, 3 and 5 today. Appointments all day tomorrow. 2 new customers signed up this past week. Courtney and Bronson are in the house, signing their contracts for a house currently under contruction. Mike and Natalie are in the house, sending up a deposit for TBD land and cottage package for the future. Vicky and Thadeus showed some serious interest - so much so, I'm presently waiting for the phone to ring. Richard, a musician and insurer of fine art, is real close to reserving his spot, selecting Albert's barn as a live work play studio on 3+ acres. Rock & Roll Catskill Farms.
