Operation new office in 4 days

[Jims5543]

Procon I could use your crew here. Although my co-workers and I are doing pretty good.

Long story short:

- Hurricane Frances destroyed my office
- I could not find affordable office space let alone any office space
- I purchased a house along a busy 4 lane commercial road and set up shop
- I was there 16 months and a city Occupational license inspector knocked on my door.
- Inspector informed me I was in violation, to which I responded "so is any other Land Surveyor that operated from his home. There are many in this town.
- I was ordered to appear before the City Council
- The City ordered me to Vacate the office / home in 2 days or else fines would be levied.
- I have had since Wed. Afternoon to move to a new office.

I signed a lease for a new office on Tues. anticipating my impending doom. What I did not expect was a demand to clear out in 2 days.

So the race is one. We finished framing all the walls this evening. Tomarrow we drop some networking cables, phone lines, a receptical or two and then we throw up the drywall and try to get our first coat of mud on it.

Sat. a.m. we sand the drywall and skim on another coat of mud. While it is dying we buy the carpet and tile needed for the flooring, and the paint for the walls. Sat. p.m. sand the walls one last time (hopefully) prime the new walls and start painting the existing walls.

Sat night (late) we paint the primed walls and call it a night.

Sunday, we lay the tile. As that dries we lay the carpet. Once the carpet is done we go back and grout the tile.

Time for furniture. - Sunday night, move in the bare necessities to function. Monday, business as usual.

some pics:

Before we began:


We had to cut 60+ 2x4x10's down to size. I rigged up this jig to make the job go by in about 20 minutes.


Some walls are going up:


More progress:




My co-workers decided to make a doorway just for me. The short jokes just never end and never get old.



Updates coming when I have time.

[Jims5543]

Day 2:

We ran all our network cables, phone lines and electrical drops.

We purchased 60+ sheets of drywall and placed it in the office. That was not fun, especially the 12x4 pieces.

We got the great idea to strike a deal with a drywall contractor working next door. We negotiated $330 for them to hang our drywall so we could work on wiring and other things. The crew never showed up so we ended up behind scheadule and busting butt to get back on scheadule.

We got 80% of the drywall hung along with some mud on the walls. We go again at 8:00 tomarrow.

Pics of progress:

Drywall starting to go up:




Throw in some Mud:



Doorways were no fun. Dodging the saw blade became a game:


Yes!! we have an office:


My wife picked out the colors and made me break out of my "comfort zone" no greys or blues. Wait until you see the color scheme.


More tomarrow night after a full day of work.

[Jims5543]

BTW - We used green board because there was no regular 4x8 sheets of drywall to be had in town. It seems there was a massive run on drywall this last week. We bought what we could use, now!

I also ordered carpet and and tile to be picke dup tomarrow. My tab so far has run about $2500 to do up this office. I predict when all is said and done I will have sunk $3500-$4000 into the place. Good thing I have a 5 year lease and 5 year option.

[RickM]

Nice work. I haven't seen wood used for office space in well......ever. Good luck. If you have problems getting wiring or electrical supplies let me know.

[rcecale]

Place is looking pretty good, Jim. This is getting pretty interesting. I love these threads where you can monitor the progress. Keep the pics coming.

Randy

[Joeaksa]

Good job and excellent progress. BTW, what is the stuff in the green bottles? A new type of Red Bull that you guys are using to speed up the process??

JoeA

[Jims5543]

Day 3:


Rick - I do not like metal studs. They give a hollow feeling to the inside of the building, every noise seems to scho in the walls. Wood was chosen by me, on purpose. Call me old fashioned, I just like the final product better.

Well, we ran from 7 a.m. until 12 midnight. What a day. I picked up the carpet, tile and associated glue, grout, etc.. that goes with it.

We are about 75% with the walls. The mud was not drying (so much for 20 minute mud) we determined it was the humdity and cranked up the A/C and closed the doors. Now we are cooking. We got a lot done today.

All the carpet is precut and ready to be glued down. It is rolled up and out of the way for now.

I called a good friend who is a tile installer by trade and he will be here at 10:30 in the morning to lay the tile in the reception area. We are only laying 275 s.f. so he should blast right through it.

We need to work on a couple of corners still in the morning then we need to work on the inside of the 2 offices. All the common areas will be done 1st. We hope to be throwing paint up on the office walls by noon time.

I hope to be able to grab a u-haul tomarrow to start the moving process. The plan is for the carpet to get laid while we load the truck at the old office. Then move on the the fresh carpet.

Wow!! The last 3 days have been a blur. I am running on pure adrenaline. I had to cut back on the beer and move on to massive amounts of Red Bull.

Some pics:

Carpet rolled up and ready to go:


My sone checking up on us:


The tile stacked and ready to go:


There there walls are getting some color on them!


Photo taken at 12 midnight, these are my co-workers and the most dedicated guys I know. I am very lucky to have them working for me.


The coloers my wife picked, I do not know if this pic will do them justice. I am really happy with the colors, really soothing and rich looking. I might have to increase my prices now.


My wife stopped by while the baby napped in the car, she could not resist to help, she painted a couple of walls and I caught her here cleaning up a little. I told her she looked like one of those chicks on the trading spaces show, overdressed for the task at hand.



Back at it at 7 a.m., I am off to a shower and pass out for 5 hours.

I hope to post up our success tomarrow night.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Good job and excellent progress. BTW, what is the stuff in the green bottles? A new type of Red Bull that you guys are using to speed up the process??

JoeA

A pic just for you Joe. Like I said I had to stop w/ the beer and run with the Red Bull. I think I drank 5 of them today.

We killed 2 cases of Yuengling in 2 days, thurs. and Fri. I came in this morning and announced no more beer for me. The one guy had a hang over so he popped about 6 tylenol and washed them down with a berr at 9 this morning. These construction guys kill me.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by procon
Two days, WTF?
From the looks of things you have it well in hand, nice framing! Besides, you're saving a quite a bit of $$$ doing it yourself & you know it's done right.
Look on the bright side, you didn't have to hang the celling.

Edit: Kind of hate to rub it in, but this would have been a good weekend to be at the mountain house.

We know about being in NC this weekend and would have loved to race up there. Oh well.

We had this brilliant idea to tie the top of the walls off to the drop ceiling. I ran to home depot and bought some self taping screws and we drove them through the header into the metal runners in the ceiling.

Man I am pooped, time for that shower.

[Jims5543]

1st left 3rd house up hill on left #180

[Jims5543]

Day 4:

We did it!!


Thanks Jay!! I do not think we could even get up to the house. I guess I am trading on my Dodge for a 4x4 of some sort. Thanks for the pics, while initially we are pretty bummed out we could not be there to enjoy it, we know there will be other opportunites. Thanks so much Jay for taking those pictures.

Its Sunday night at 7:30 and I am home. We did it!! We did not finish the office 100% though. We are up and running in the new location but have some more work to do.

We need to finish off my office and my office managers office. We need to grout the tile finish phone lines and move non-essentials from old office. Phines do work just do not have handsets where needed yet.

But - We are up and running and ready to rock tomarrow.

Pics:

The carpet in the drafting area is in.


The tile is in:


My friend gave up his Sunday off and drove 1.5 hours to come and help me out with my tile work. Here is his setup.


Here he is at work, he makes it look easy:


We moved in the essential furniture. And set up shop in the drafting area. We hope to have everything in its place by mid week.


We also made sure we had our Redbull, this is very important.

[Jims5543]

Day 5:

We were open for business today. The only hiccup we had was the voice mail needing to be redone and the e-mail being down. We were told by the phone company the internet acess will be up and running on Tues.

We grouted the tile this afternoon. I also picked up a contractors pack of floor molding for the front area. We painted it and it is ready to be nailed up. We threw another coat of paint in the reception area it looks nice now.

I started installing the alarm system, we pulled it out of the house. It should be up and running Wed.

We sanded and threw another coat of mud on my office walls. Then it is onto my coordinators office. Once his is ready for paint we are going to paint it all at once and be done with it.

We pick up the A/C parts we need Tues and install them Wed evening.

By friday everyone should be in their own spots and we should be donw working on the place.

As far as I am concerned we did it. We were open for business today, taking calls and processing orders. It was business as usual.

I was on TV this past weekend on the local city station. My sis-in-law said I looked very professional and my lack of reaction and my not grandstanding like most do when in front of the city council made me look like I had my crap together. It made the city look petty and out to get me.

This is all for the best, I now have an awesome office in a great location. I stand to profit from 60-80K on the sale of the house. The rent is a much needed write off for my taxes. The only aggrevation is the fact that the city only gave me 2 days to get out. Bah!! I drove past the inspector who brought this on to me in my Porsche after the hearing. (he had to walk across the parking lot to his office) He beat me in his little world, I win outside his pathetic little playground.

Pics of progress, not much has changed. I look foward to decorating the place and being done. My wife is going at 100MPH getting stuff to pretty up the place.

This is how you remember what wires go where on the alarm control panel:


My office is almost ready for paint. We hung plastic over the doorway to keep the dust out of the rest of the place.


My coordinators office:


The tile has grout:


Reception area will be set up Wed. a.m.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by procon
Jim, the new space looks great, love the colors!

Safe to say, without 4WD you wouldn't have gotten far of the main drag. However, rather than trade you might consider looking for a cheap 4x4 & just leave it up here.

You're more than welcome for the pics, my pleasure.
Only wish you & the family could have been here to enjoy.
Winter isn't over yet!

BTW: Good buy.

I am having a hard time deciding what to get. That ugly Subaru Baja is a contendor. Maybe a Rav 4 AWD will do too thay can be had for a decent price. Just finding a 4WD one is the trick.

My brother saw the pics and died. We were joking how he could have snowboarded down the mountain via our access road.

We will be up there next Thursday. Make sure you stop by. I have your number stored and I will call you Thursday.

We plan on gettin out and seeing the town a little this time. We will be there Wed night (late) until possibly Sunday morning laying flooring. No rest for the weary. I owe these guys a good time when we are there.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by procon
BTW: If I can save you the haul, you're welcome to my Bosch slide saw, compressor, trim guns, etc.

We have everything we need in the house already. We left it there and trust me this suprise construction has spread us thin on tools. The only thing we are lacking is a jam saw. We tried 3 places to rent one and no one has one.

We are going to rent one here and bring it up with us. Unless you have one or know where to rent one.

We forgot out compressor last trip so I bought a wal mart cheepo one. It is doing the job.

We have all the tools on place there. We are all so beat up from this past weekend. We are going to make sure to take off next weekend and relax before heading up there ro finish the floors.

It lloks like the forecast is for some really mild weather when we get there. I hope so, as much as I would love for snow we really need to get this floor done and would love some 60° weather.

I am heading off to bed to pass out now. I have been heading to the office at 6 in the morning to get a head start each day. I am pooped.

[Jims5543]

Jay, we leave Wed. Afternoon. I'll call you when we get in town. Hey! Call your A/C guy and see if he can come out Friday of Sat. next week and look at my air handler. It needs help. It will not shut off. I will pay CASH for his efforts.

If he needs to go look at it now tell him where the house is and he can go in the crawl space and have a look. You access left of the porch steps in the front.


DAY 7 - We are done!!

We are at the 1 week point and the office is done as I type this. The only thing left to do is decorate. We are well on our way with that. We procured some historic surveying photos and are having them printed and framed to display in the reception area and the rest of the office.

My receptionist in her area. My wife has some chairs on order and I am ordering a table from my local furnature store. I want a plan table for clients to lay out their plans on when they come in. I fond I can get them in and out faster if we stand. So this is what I am after.




My office is done. I need to get a picture of my new desk. Very Pimp.




Scotts office is done, he is my second in command and this is his 1st office ever. He used to be a construction worker and has been the best employee I have ever hired.


My wife and I spent Valentines day painting the last 2 offices. We did not get out until 10 at night. I think I owe her bigtime for this.



Jamie laying the carpet. He is a jack of all trades. He also makes a great Field Crew Chief.


Scott getting ready to move into his 1st office.



It is amazing what these guys did with me. We had to put in 2 drops this evening for the A/C it looks like we need to run it tomarrow it was pretty hot here today. The flooring in the back storage area was finished this evening as well. Pics tomarrow. My clients have responded well to my move. I was nervous that they would be pissed I moved 1 town away. I just had to get out of that City and their BS.

Something funny happened today. EVERYONE that picked up their surveys paid on the spot, usually they mail in a payment. Maybe my new digs gives the impression that they must pay on the spot.