an exceptional day

We installed the a69 doors all day friday. It was a huge day, we worked about 14 hours on the job to get it done. Doors are a finicky thing and they require special attetion, and a special skill set. We were both very tired at the end of the day, Gagan and I that is. I suppose I should speak for myself I was very tired and sore the next day. The doors were very heavy and big and there was alot of moving them around. taking them on and off the hinges to make all the needed adjustments.
We are into a new week and now we have new goals. we back to working on job b58 and b67. I'm going to meet with the people from b58 today and possibly get more work at that job, I think some bathroom cabinetry and media cabinetry, so I'm excited about that prospect.
Today we are going to a33 to install some closet shelving. I hope to also get more work from that job, as the units are sold off. HOpefully the new buyers will want some more cabinets.

achieving our goals

Job a69 is wrapping up nicely. We have an intense day tomorrow, but I don't see any reason why we can't get it done. Both Gagan and myself will leave at the crack of dawn and drive to the job it will take us 90 mins to get there. We'll arrive at 7am. The doors that we are building for a69 are very impressive. Two out of the four are 2 1/8" thick, with glass panels. The size of the doors are daunting, the scale will really impress anybody. The good part is that all we are doing is hanging them and applying the weather stripping. Honestly that is my favorite part of installing the doors I find the hardware to be a bit boring. This job is our second municiple job, I hope we get many more. I like the municiple jobs, I like thier professionalism. The wood products are specified by architects. I like building things that are specified, it gives me great satisfaction that we can deliver goods per spec. It was a major goal of this week to complete a69 100%, and we will have done it barring and snafus tomorrow.

Esteban was able to ressume work on job b58 today. B58 is a major problem right now, the job is going no where and I mean the job site, it's like it's stagnating. I really don't like building cabinets this long before the install date. I don't like haveing all these cabinets hanging around the shop. It is a demoralizer to my team to see their work linger. I like cabinets to be built just as they are needed. However, b58 will be the best kitchen we have ever built and installed, it is a kitchen that I designed which makes me proud and all the more anxious to install and see it come into fruition. I think it will be ready for install in the next month perhaps a little longer we can only wait and see. I'm also excited about meeting the client and designer to find out about the their other cabinet needs. We have been talking about these for months but unable to make progress hopefully our scedualed meeting on Monday will finalize that and I'll be able to submit a proposal for that work.

skillers pants are the best

I love my new skillers pants. I have had them now for about two months. The are the greatest thing ever. As a mill worker I spend a lot of time on my knees. The skiller pants have pockets sown right into the pant leg for a knee pad to slide into. The new pad is a high quality gel type so it's very effective. Today I was installing a vanity and spent three hours on my knees, with out those pads my knees would have been very sore. The alternative is to have mats down on the floor. The mats can get in the way and bunched up and become a trip hazard. Or even worse a particle can slip under the protective matting and be unseen and really grind some nasty marks in a perfectly finished floor. The way the pants are made they have a twist to them so the knee pad always stays in the right place. There is also a very convenient slot for my pencil to go when I can't put it in my shirt pocket. I recommend these pants to any trades man who works on there knees and struggles with knee pads.I successfully installed the vanity for job b68 today. It went in beautifully and is yet another example of how well we do what we do. And by that I mean the whole process of designing to installing. On Friday Gagan will bring the counter top over and install that. The counter top is also wood with an under mount sink, we are doing several of those nowa days.Tomorrow will be a very physical day for me as I install a69. It will be the beginning of installing four enormous doors, 96" tall. I'm sure my back will be sore tomorrow I'm sure. Then on Friday I will be installing two more, and replacing the door jamb. Actually after installing the doors tomorrow I may have to run up to NH to the hardwood dealer to get some needed material for the Gagan to work with Friday, The timing is good because the hardwood dealer is open late on Thursdays. My only concern is that Betsy may not start. That's are van by the way. She is having difficulty starting right now. If she breaks down in the next two days I'll be hurting.

week 13

The week is going thus far pretty much as planned. We had a staffing absenteeism on Monday, considering that it's surprising that the week is going so well. We received our glass for job a69 which is great news, that was the one long lead item that could really slow things up. We've ran into a small snafu with the wooden counter top, for job b68. The cabinet vanity will still be installed tomorrow, we will have to return a little later with the top. It is an under mount sink and so it's tricky to make that opening in the wood. We have to make a template and use a flush cutting router bit. Which is fine but the wood grain tears at two points in a circle and it is easy for the bit to rip out an enormous chunk of wood, ruining the top. Making the top template is no cinch either, it requires the careful skills of a pattern maker. Note to self: a cnc machine would really shine at making templates. As it turns out Gagan is showing a great skill at making the hole for a sink in a wooden top. Which is good because we have another one coming up made from teak.
We are preparing for a big install at the end of this week. Four huge doors and one window beginning on Thursday and going maybe until Saturday. I've got to buy some 4x4 mahogany post so we can start building the side and end panels for an exterior cabinet job a61.
I Looked at a new job today, I'm so curious as to what we are going to build next.
The designs for c74 are going quite well. I have submitted my first copy and received very good feed back. It's always a pleasure to work with people who have a lot of input. I know that they understand what they are getting. It does seem hard to get the criticism that can sometimes come with the feed back, that takes patience and understanding on my part. In the long run it's better for me.

Today we had our 2008 q1 fun event. I think that for 20 minutes the team and myself actually had fun together and forgot about work. Well the whole 1.5 hours event was fun for everyone but the 20 min refers to the entire group engaged in an activity together. This is powerful stuff. Why? When a team is tougher either working or playing the progress of the team effectiveness is growing and improving, only then. We have a very solid team right now. And I hope we stay together.

New Job c74

Recieved a deposit today from our newest client job #c74. There we will be building a wall unit for the entertainment equipment. This is a job where we will prove our skills that we sell not just cabinets but emotions. I don't say that like I'm some crazy artist and i don't intend on building some crazy artsy cabinet. I talknig about building a cabinet that has good function, fits the space, and has architectural interest. The clinet told me today that they live in that room, to me that means that they want to feel something special when they are there. something that they can't get in the outside world. I want kidder blaisdell cabinets to help creat that feeling.

It looks like we'll be doing some more work at our old friend, job#a33. It isn't clear how much right now. I'd love to go back in there, that was a great job for me I got so much persoanl satisfaction from that job.

My staff and I had a training day event today. For those who don't know what that is, it's a two hour event where we cross train each other about our work. It's good to get the painting guys have a sense of how to work in the production and vice versa. Today our trainging day was focused on changing the blades of the jointer and the planer. We have one training day every 4 weeks and they usually fall on fridays.


Looking ahead there is company fun event for the first quater in 2008. that is to be on Tuesday march 25. Wow how this long month is plowing by.

Job a72 is completed and sitting idle in my shop, funny thing is that the client paid extra because they said they needed it in a rush but now it just sits. That makes two jobs that are sitting unistalled in my shop. It's hard to manage cash flow when that schedualling stuff happens.

successful day

We got the doors for a69 assembled today. It was tough and go for awhile when I was making the knives. Making a pair of matching cope and pattern style knives was not at easy as I thought. We all learned something from the experience so in that sense it is good. I pushed the crew hard today, somedays are like that, where you have to set the goals higher and really strive. In this economy I'm focused on doing more with less. It could be the only way to survive in the future. The doors look so good, people will be blown away, if I'm blown away then certainly the average person will be as well. I think also that the installation of the doors could lead to a good contact, the lock smith, who is one of the larger copanies in the area. I met them today and the seemed like a real on the ball sort of company, I need to figure out a way to find out more about them. Perhaps they'd be interested in a door line, which is something that I'm capable of producing with the same machines and skills that build cabients.

monday grind

literally, I did more profiling today. I'm getting better at it. Though you may not see it, I really am. Today was super challenging I tried making a set of cope and pattern knives for set of doors. It was a mess, my wheel and guide are different sizes and all the widths didn't match up. I ended up having to customize the template while i was making the knife, how very unprofessional.

Today started out with a very positive upbeat staff meeting, I'm starting to think that the location of the meeting has something to do with that. We held our meting today by the window where the sun was shining in. I think it affected everybody, usually we have been holding the meeting on the other side of the shop.
Esteban held the meeting today, And again it was his ad lib that really left an impact on the other guys. Esteban has leadership skills, I think slowly he has been getting the confidence he really is a smart guy, I haven't reminded him of that lately.
We are working our way thru job a69 and b68. Things are going well. The real test of my profiling improvement will be on Wed. when we put the tooling to work. I think we can have these parts built by the end of this week, starting on Monday we'll be waiting for the glass only. We should squeak by the deadline. The install of b68 will have to be put off till early next week. shouldn't be a problem I think the client will be OK with that.
I feel like I came across a little snippy to a new client today, thru an email. emailing takes a conscience effort to insure proper meaning, and it so easy to miss communicate feeling. Definitely no place for sarcasm.

I made the second molding today from the knives I made on Sunday, everything went well. The molding came out perfect. I'm very excited about this because it opens up so many great opportunities differentiate ourselves in the market place.
Gagan and I moved the other jointer out into the shop today maybe we'll start to use that more and the second line of production will come in to play.
Late yesterday afternoon we finished c66. I know I've said this before but that cabinet came out so well. I can only imagine that the client must be so pleased, I certainly would if I had that cabinet in my house. One of the things I took from that job was the value of prefitting all the doors and drawer fronts in the shop. We used to fit those on the job site with primer only and then bring them back to the shop to be finished painted. IT worked well but it took longer and it is hard to fit a door and drawer fronts when the cabinet is installed. When we do it in the shop the cabinet is laying on it's back and it is much easier and faster. We also discovered how it easy it is to get the remote controls to work thru doors that are solid. We bought a part at Radio Shack for 39.95 that worked very well and was a sinch to set up.
I had to go to Raybern today to pay our bill and buy some more supplies. Raybern is a great business. They are located in Somerville Ma. in Teele Sq. They supply us with hardware that we use in our cabinets. Oddly enough they are the supplier of lacquer paint products which we use exclusively in our finishing department. I always have my eye's open for new clients when I'm there. Weather it's home owners or contractors. When i pulled up to Raybern today I noticed a contractors truck with the name H.B. Pratt builders or remodelers. I took down there company name and went inside with business cards ready to go. At the desk after some small talk I introduced myself to this prospect who utimatey was grateful for me doing so and may have a job for us to do. It made me realize that one, going to Raybern although I despise for its waste of time zI could have the stuff delivered with little aggravation could also be one of my best sources for meeting new contacts, as it is the primary shopping place for highend hardware and attracts the target client of mine. So as I try to live the modo of 08 which is "Delegate in 08", I should be concerned about the impact on who I can meet at these places that I don't want to goto anymore.
I met with a women today who wants a new entertainment cabinet built for her living room. It is a perfect job for me and my company. We could execute that with ease and perfection. We are building cabinets like the one she wants so well now, I don't think she could anyone to do it better. People just can't picture the difference between Kidder Blaidell cabinets and the competitions cabinets. I learned that it would have been useful to have pictures on my PC ready for viewing so she could see the difference. If I only had a picture of c66 to show her. I learned that today, that having pictures at my finger tips can be a very useful tool for educating my customers at how far in depth we are when it comes to building cabinets. And how beautiful our cabinets are. What we sell is an emotion, not only a cabinet but an emotion that you feel every time you come home from work and live with our cabinets.
I looked today at the possibility of doing a kitchen cabinet in Milton, the only road block I see is I don't get to meet the client. right now I'm only talking to the Designer. I don't think that the designer can sell my work, it'd be tough. If I can only get the designer to get in front of the home owner for 30 mins. I'm sure I could sell our work, I'd the laptop ready to go with all the needed pictures to convince the client that she couldn't get better cabinets or service anywhere else, because I know that she can't. I'll be bidding both those jobs, and also be keeping my fingers crossed, we need the work.

I ran my moldings yesterday, from the new profile knoves that I made over the weekend. They came out very nice, the blades worked very well. TOday we are installing the doors and drawers at c66. IT is going beatifully, c66 is such a nice cabinet for sure the best one we have nade this year.

profiling

Over the weekend I spent several hours profiling. Which means making knives that we run on the shapers to make moldings. I'm just starting out and really have little knowledge or experience of what I'm doing, but I remain very interested. made two sets of knives one is for a chair rail and one is for door casing. Both of which are for job a69, a municipal job. Some other cabinet shops say that they turn away municipal jobs because of the lack of professionalism found there, that and the fact that they don't pay anything until the job is done. Well if they saw how unprofessional some of the jobs that I find myself on than they may reconsider. I'm proud to be on municipal jobs and I think that my work will stand a long time and get great use and be admired by many. Today it's a town hall vestibule tomorrow it may be the state house or the office of the governor. I treat it as an "a" job. which means it gets the utmost attention to detail and highest level of service. The profiling went well the first set of knives took 2.5 hours and the second set took 1.15 hours, so there is a learning curve. My profiling machine is old and difficult to use but it does the job. I'll learn on an old machine and fight my way thru the mistakes and build up my strenght so when I have a new machine I'll be smooth as glass. It takes finesse to profile you don't just jump out of the gate and make beautiful knives it takes lots of practise. Some day I'll be making my own knives of designs that I make for every type of molding and detail that goes into my cabinets making my designs very unique and hard to duplicate without serious study. Other people may have profile machines but what they don't have is the vision that I have for cabinets, they don't have the same library that I've read to get the vision, they haven't studied cabinets like I have. talk is cheap, the proof is in the pudding It may take a life time to get where I want with my cabinets, and uin that sense I may not have enough time to get it done. Life is short.

One another topic, my newest employee challengd me today at the weekly staff meeting. I was telling Ventura are painter that if he was next on the chopping block if he didn't follow the instructions that I gave him at the by-annual reviews. Gagan asked me quite matter of factly do you think he undestands you? I was at a loss....... The answer is no probally not. Good for you Gagan, we might as well not play games here and pretend he undestands. Sometimes I just get going and forget that he doesn't speak english. It is that kind of frank feed back that I need to run a successful buisness. Its hard for me to take intially but we're the better for it. I hope you decide to work for me for a long time Gagan becasue you don't B.S. and you will call it as you see it, and not worry about me lashing out at you, which is the case with so many other employees both past and present. Scared to talk back to the boss afraid that he will pull the trigger. Well if I'm going to pull the trigger than the sooner it happens than the better. I don't like lashing out at anybody and it is something that always try to work on. Just today Esteban glued up some oak stair treads with some badly colored wood after I asked him not to. I almost went off on him but I didn't. I'm very happy about that I just sucked in a big breath and let it not get to me and calmly asked him to fix it. my problems shouldn't be emotional it just make us look bad when the boss is freaking out and being irrational.

Another compliment

One of our clients walked slowly up to our newly installed cabinet and was looking at it intently and said "You guys are good at this". Truer words could not have been spoke. No one is trying harder than Kidder Blaisdell at designing, building, finishing, and installing cabinets. And no other companies like ours are working this hard in the trenches.
C66 is not completely done yet but we are close and man what a great cabinet that is. I so proud of that cabinet it flows so well, the time spent in design was well worth it. My first renditions of that cabinet were not that pretty. We had to do some difficult moves to execute that job. Lots of different size cabinets combining to make one seem less cabinet. I have to give alot of credit to Andy who did the touch-up, he does a really nice job. We chose to build the cabinet in a difficult fashion in the interest of aesthetics. Not many cabinet companies would do that. We really care about how it looks when it's done. We did a new move with the crown and I think it worked brilliantly. The crown is made from three pieces, the complexity is subtle. and the molding seems to be in harmony, it maybe tad to big relative to the overall cabinet but that is arguable. The finish on the cabinet is absolutely stunning. it is as smooth as glass I think it's one of our best pieces. And there is only more to come, it is the good fortune of our future clients.

Attention to detail

We recieved a great compliment today,

Job b64 had us today installing a music cabinet. Just myself and Andy went, the install went very smooth other than it raining today forcing us to switch vehicles with Sondu and Gagan who are installing c66 and could have used the bigger truck. The install took less time than I thought and was easier than I thought. I used the power plane alot today, I think we need to buy another one of those. We could have used a shop vac today as well and we should probally buy another one of those while we are talking about the tool purchase wish list. I'd like to find a smaller power plane that is lighter. The client at one point said to me: "I just can't stand work people who don't care about what they are doing. I could tell that you really care about what you do by your attention to detail." I take that as a compliment, it isn't how I'm dresses or how I can talk it's how attentive I am to the details that evokes feelings that I care about what I do. This is a very important point and it should be brought up at the next marketing meeting. Which is march 26. Also for that meeting I'd like to stress that it is not what we do but how we do what we do that is more important.

Thankfully the riengs of job a69 have come in, I was hoping and thinking they would. The job is not quite ready for us. Which gives me a little breathing room. I'll be able to give other more pressing jobs my attention, like a66, b67, b68, a72 just name a few. b67 being the largest project, a66 requiring special attention as it's a different kind of piece, it is fabrication and delivery only.

C66 seems to be progressing very nicely. We could improved on a couple of areas. our client doens't have hardware which means I'm reluctant to install the fronts becasue we'd then have to put the blue tape on the doors which stinks becasue it leaves marks where the adhesive residue remains. And the timing of the drawers is not really going great we could really use them right now, I better call and make sure those are coming. We can put the drawers slides on now that is not going to change, and the shelves. I haven't seen it yet since the crown molding and base has been installed so I'm anxciouse to see, we tried a new approach with the crwon molding, Sondo says the install was easy and Gagan says it looks killer, that is some good feedback.

c66 is going well, we are I think over the hump relative to the install. All of the major cabinet parts are on-site and I think in, everything fits which is good because remaking major cabinet parts is a real drag and very time consuming not to mention expensive, also in the eyes of the consumer we are incompetent. It appears as thuogh we have some snags, some of which could have been caught back in the shop when we dry fit the cabinet. Some of our mistakes just have no reason for happening. We over looked the cut on two of the base cabinet tops, meaning that we had to return those parts to the shop and cut them and then paint them, bring them back to the job and install. all the time losing prescious time. We are lucky that this job is close to our shop, in fact that is a real advantage. Perhaps I should consider that when estimating.
We are also doing a little face lift on a vanity at job c66. It also is going as well as expected, I really don't like that kind of work, it's just that working around old plumbing is stressful, in the end the bathroom will be the better for it.
Tomorrow I will be installing b64, that is going to be high stress, another very demanding client, who will accept nothing less than perfection. It should only take one day as it is just one cabinet. But it is a bamboo cabinet, a different material than the normal stuff so repairs are going to be very tricky.
A69 is right on my heels wanting to know when I'm going to be installing, that also is very tricky. I'll have to make a few custom knives to pull that job off. Which isn't a problem but again it just takes time, which is something I don't have.
My first of five service calls is happening tomorrow. I'll be going to job a47 I think was the number for a consultation of the problem. we'll think of a game plan to service the problem. I know I said a few days ago that i wanted to do the service part for good reasons, but I don't think I have the time.
Best news of this week is that we have an old employee join us again, and man it is like a breath of fresh air. I have become so lieniant with my people and whats expected of them. That this new person Gagan is his name is showing these guys a work ethic that I don't think they new existed. I could not off asked for something better to happen to my team than Gagan's return. I have forgotten what was like to have him work for me. My buisness is the better for it. And for any of my staff reading this I say this: if the tide comes in all the boats rise.

Working with my staff is one of the rewarding parts of being me. I wouldn't otherwise have the chance to get to know these people if they were not in my employ. Working with other people is a challenge, the road with another person is always slower it requires patience. Andre is a great helper so that makes it easier for me he'll do what ever I say without complaining. I wish I knew porteguese or he spoke better English. I could have prepared the van better for that install, we were short a few tools. It's hard in the winter because you can't leave glue or caulking in the truck over night it will freeze up, so we are constanly moving tool boxes in and out. We have all these different jobs going on and it's hard to keep the tools of the van organized.
We are in a tough week. we have many demands and lots of deliverables. In addition to trying to install three jobs I have three service jobs. By service job I mean going back to completed work and tweaking things here and there. What is important about that is that we are willing to do it. If any of my clients have a concern about there cabinetry as long as they have been reasonable with me I'll take as good as care of them as I can. I am thinking that I should embrace the service as much as possible and do it all myself. It is such an important part of my company and what we offer. It is the service that makes us different and if I pass that down to an employee than I take the chance of clients being displeased. I think from the clients point of view if the principle comes out to do the service then they are ciked, and they know that I take them seriously. Also I can monitor the qualiity of my finished work and see how it stands to the test of time. So I urge my clients to call me back if there are any problems, I can use that info moving forward.

C62 is fully installed except the hardware. Now that I can look back at it all I can see what i could have done differently. You know hindsight. I would have timed it differently, we started on a wed. and we were rushing to get it completed by friday afternoon. We had to leave at 3:30 on thur. I really wanted to stay until 5pm or 6 if the client would allow. But Andy had plans for 4pm, foolish me I should have told him not to make any plans. I certainly feel much closer to Andy after working side by side with him.