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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

another day in the work shop

We are in the middle of a very hectic week. Mainly we are trying to wrap things up at job b80, it is taking longer than I would like. Then we will try to install c83 on Friday, we will try to make phase one a one day install.
Then right away next week we need to install a cabinet in the bathroom at b67 so the contractor can template his tub slab, I am nervous about that because the cabinet could get damaged during the rest of construction.
job b58 will be coming into completion but I still have much to do. The molding is ready for pick-up and then we can paint it, once it is painted we can install and possibly be finished with the kitchen cabinets.

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Monday, July 21, 2008

spying the competitors

I saw one of my competitors installations today. I am not going to say who it was but let's just say that they have much more time in the market than I do, and henceforth have a stronger name in the industry. All of their cabinetry that I saw today was primed only and being installed by a sub-contractor. The primed material was primed once and sanded once. So there was lots of sand thru, and it will require another coat of primer by the site painters.
There was a lack of a scribe where the base cabinet met the floor and now they will be forced to install some kind of a molding. The mill work was very unorganized, there were parts all over the place. Doors here, shelves over there, misc. parts lying about. Obviously they don't use the phases of the install that I do. I mean really does the client care when the shelves and the doors are delivered? No, so why bring them to the job they will just get in the way and likely to get damaged. When a sub-contractor installs the work you are bound to have confusion unless the sub has had ample time to study the plan and not only that but study the install syntax. Very seldom have I ever seen an install syntax. And that is why I use the install lists. Even I who have designed the cabinets from the start need a list, imagine just handing my cabinet plans over to an installer and saying you figure it out.
Anyways, the cabinets didn't look any better than mine, I don't know why they are so liked by this client, it tells me that the client just doesn't know who I am yet

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work in progress

At todays staff meeting we discussed in depth the 50k foot view of the company. It is important that the team knows what i know about the company. Without that information we simply cannot execute as an effective work group.
We went over the important jobs that are coming up this week. We have two new "a" clients that must be executed flawlessly. These are the first jobs of some of the areas best builders, and we need to be putting our best foot forward, it will call for extreme ways in quality inspections. The jobs are not big, but they are important.
I want to tell about the latest job I just bid to Halsey Builders, What is interesting here is that I met Halsey at Raybern of Somerville. I have said this before, but Raybern is a great place to meet new contacts, and if I ever don't want to go there because it is boring and I feel like I have more important things to do then all I need to do is remember that I can meet new clients there.
the a61 benches are coming along good, a76 is under construction, b80 install is starting today, we have a busy week full of installs and design work. I have a lot of work for the farm team and will be relying on them to bring it on home this week.

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Friday, July 18, 2008

manufacturing

It is hard to grasp all of the work that we have going on in one moment.
Esteban is still working on b76, we had to have make some sample doors, and now do a rush a job for FH Perry. Fh Perry is one of the premier builders in the area, we are willing to oblige. Gagan is still working on the teak benches. The benches remind me of when I was working on the schooner Larinda about 15 years ago. They are very difficult pieces made from solid wood. Nowadays most everything we build is an assembly of wood boards 1-2" thick and plywood and MDF. The benches are solid wood all the way through.
We are having trouble with our air compressor, it continues to fill up with water and the drain at the bottom is plugged up. I bought some new dynabride sanders and went to plug them in to the air line and got sprayed with water. This is very unnerving because water in the air lines will damage all the machines that we have in the shop.
I unbolted the compressor from the floor and as we were jacking it up to replace the drain we snapped of the regulator at the tank leaving the threaded pipe sheared off flush with tank still in place. After a couple hours and two trips to the hardware store we were able to get the pipe out and reassemble the regulator, put on a new drain and get the compressor up and running again. Without the compressor we are dead in the water, I was in panic mode during this repair. I should have done the repair on sunday when we are closed, only problem is that the local hardware store is closed. It takes a fraction of the time to go to the local hardware store than it does to go to lowes or home cheapo or something.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

work in progress

This week we will be starting some new projects. The ceiling panels for a82 will be completed and ready for painting. Gagan will move into building the latest project for a61 two teak benches. He will spend most of the week doing that. When he is done with that part we will ring one of our former employees Andre', who is an excellent wood carver. Andre will be carving these teak benches so that they look like fabric that is rolled from a spool. These benches will be suspended by hidden brackets and will have the look of being made from cloth. These benches will go in two outdoor pavilion buildings as part of a landscape project.
Once Gagan has finished with that we will start building c77. Which is the next big job to move through the shop. It includes a kitchen and master bath vanity. The style is a Tuscan Mediterranean, a welcome different style. I have extremely high expectations for c77 think it is going to be a beautiful set of cabinets.
Esteban is working on b76 and has the base cabinets completed, he will start to work on the frig enclosure next and afterwards the wall cabinets and the oven cabinets. We should have the paint sample defined by the end of this week, or early next week at the latest.

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Thursday, July 10, 2008

how not what

We have a couple of cabinet jobs that we are working on currently that I am going to try a different approach. One of things I learned on the install of b58 was a difficulty in keeping the tops of the cabinets in plan with one another. I have always worked from the bottom up. I am going to build now from top down. I will be installing the soffit first then the upper cabinets. and then the base cabinets. It will require more pre-planning on the site, and I will have to change around what goes on the install list. But I am pretty excited about the prospects, for example it will be easier to install the crown and upper cabinets before all base cabinets. This could really have an effect on the speed of the install. It is how we do what we do that will give us a competitive edge.

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Tuesday, July 8, 2008

50,000 foot view

How did I determine to start the farm team up again? I took a look at the fifty thousand foot view of the company, relative to work load. We have 13 live projects
four of them are "a" clients, 5 of them are "b" clients, and four of them are "c" clients. The "b" clients account for 60% of the volume alone. We have 6 potential new projects in the pipeline. We have two potential "a" clients that we are pursuing to get projects to bid on. On top of that I am committed to spend 4 hours a week on finding new "a" clients to bid with. Q3 08 is going to be a very busy quarter. I am concerned with Q4 and Q1 09. As those quarters have been historically slow for me, I am looking to keep things steady all year now.

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Monday, July 7, 2008

return of the farm team

At todays weekly staff meeting I announced that the farm team has been started up again. We have two new members in the farm. Dan and Julio, Dan will be working more often than Julio. Dan will work many afternoons and Saturdays, where as Julio is solely a Saturday. It is exciting for me to start the farm team up again because it is an indicator of our work load, it means we are getting busy again.
The farm team is a pillar of the dynasty corporation that I am trying to build. It is where we do our hiring from. Everybody has to start on the farm team, at the starting pay and slowly work way his way through the ranks. Usually they start with cleaning and sanding, then we will try to train them when we can to increase their skill set.
This is where we do our hiring from, If someone goes down to injury or something of the such we theoretically have a replacement. We can manage different size jobs easier by shifting our available employees. We also try to have the farm team do the mundane tasks, such as making some of the common parts that are used in the cabinetry over and over again.
The over all idea is that we are cultivating our own leadership, I may not know the names of the tomorrows managers but i know who they are. They are on my farm team today.

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

estimating madness

Time flies by and I have been too busy to post. I am busy with estimating work. If I get all the jobs I have estimated(never gonna happen) I would have to much work. In this dubious economy I have had to branch out and try to develope some new contacts. I have been sucessful in that, but with it came a whole lot estimating. A long time ago I asked the owner of an old second generation buisness how many jobs he got out of what he bid. His answer was 1 in 10. I was dunb founded, if I ever had ten jobs to bid at one time that would be miraculous. Still, today I am no where near that ratio. I am probally 7 out of 10 that I bid I get. That tells me that my prices are too low and I don't have a broad enough flow of work coming in that I can bid. So I am always prospecting. It is a good buisness practice, having a constant flow of work is another reason I am always prospecting. Keeping my company of a sales rollercoaster.

B80 is coming together very well. I will have photos soon. Gagan is working very hard keeping a steady hand. These parts are very difficult to make, they are large and invovle many curves, some with radi 20' long. Gagan had to make loads of templates. We are building the parts out of Okoume plywood. very expensive material cheaper than wood and easier to work.

Estaban has begun working on b77 our next kitchen, it has a corner sink. I have a sweeping tyoe of curve coming into the edges of the sink. typically the corner sink have sharp corners, this design should soften the look. The counter top guys will moan at the increase of thier work, they are making the sink which is the best way to do a farmers style sink if you ask me.

Ventura has been painting b67 non stop since we got the paint. It is loading up nice and we are anxisous to start the install.

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