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Posted: 12/23/2020 2:40:44 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Once you get a shippable product, I'm game to be the first one to throw some money at you. Been on a mead kick lately and have been running out of things to try locally. We will keep you guys up to speed. In the meantime, I highly recommend you check out Manic Meadery. They ship, and their meads are fantastic. Also the owner has been helpful to me with my questions and is a staunch 2nd amendment supporter. https://www.manicmeadery.com/shop/ |
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Posted: 1/4/2021 10:23:50 AM EDT
[#2]
12/14/2020- applied for Federal license
12/30/2020- applied for state manufacturer's permit 12/31/2020- applied for State license Permits are almost through the city, we hope they'll be approved THIS WEEK and construction can begin NEXT WEEK. |
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Posted: 1/4/2021 1:50:03 PM EDT
[#3]
Glad to see it's still moving along!
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Posted: 1/7/2021 7:20:11 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We are always looking. So far working with Beeyond the Hive and Lockhart Honey farms in addition to some regional suppliers. Know someone? We will be using 60 lb buckets and we need about 130 lbs of honey per barrel. Thanks for everyone who is following along. Sorry I don't have a ton to show right now. It's mostly paperwork, licenses, and spreadsheets at the moment. PM incoming |
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Posted: 1/11/2021 4:03:46 PM EDT
[#5]
Federal License APPROVED 1/4/2021
Manufactured Food license APPROVED 1/11/2021 State License- Pending (applied 12/31/2020) Health Department - Pending (applied 1/5/2021) City Building Department- Pending (applied 11/22/2020) Also starting to order some more equipment as the date draws closer. Some stuff has 3-4 week lead times, hopefully won't run into a situation where we can't produce because we can't get equipment. |
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Posted: 1/26/2021 7:58:53 PM EDT
[#6]
Did some more demolition over the previous weekend. Removed the old, non-ADA-compliant restroom along with the old mop closet. I also removed some really old air ducts in the ceiling. They were LINED with fiberglass and were disgusting inside.
 Attached File Attached File Attached FileSide note: Shipping costs have skyrocketed in the last 8 months. What used to be $300 is now $500. Actual construction by professionals: starts this week. |
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Posted: 1/27/2021 10:59:16 AM EDT
[#7]
Glad to see it coming along!
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Posted: 1/27/2021 7:39:30 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Glad to see it coming along! Should be able to provide more frequent pictures soon. City pre-construction permits are approved, construction starts on Friday. |
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Posted: 1/27/2021 11:04:07 PM EDT
[#9]
can’t believe haven’t seen this before, Good job with getting out there and doing it!
I love the demolition and building part of it but the paperwork would absolutely drive me crazy (all of your license/permits and etc.)  Have you estimated the building materials before the prices went up? How has that changed if any? |
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Posted: 1/28/2021 10:23:04 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: can’t believe haven’t seen this before, Good job with getting out there and doing it! I love the demolition and building part of it but the paperwork would absolutely drive me crazy (all of your license/permits and etc.) Have you estimated the building materials before the prices went up? How has that changed if any? @USSRangerSM welcome aboard. Consider subscribing if you'd like to see how this ends up. Our estimates were around August/Sept so I think prices have mostly stabilized. One thing that is disheartening is that shipping costs have increased... a lot. A couple of examples. You could ship a pallet for $200-300 before covid. Same pallet is $500-600 now. Shipping for our Walk-in cooler went up $150 in 2 months. Shipping for our drip tray went from $160 to $240 in the last 6 months. So I think all said and done, shipping increases alone are going to cost us about $3k. Also at this point our original budget to our current budget has doubled due to cost increases and scope creep. |
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Posted: 1/28/2021 10:35:49 AM EDT
[#11]
I’m struggling to find the time to do another 5gal batch of homemade (also waiting on those pesky bees).
Good luck. |
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Posted: 1/28/2021 11:12:36 AM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: can’t believe haven’t seen this before, Good job with getting out there and doing it! I love the demolition and building part of it but the paperwork would absolutely drive me crazy (all of your license/permits and etc.) Have you estimated the building materials before the prices went up? How has that changed if any? I had price increases on all steel framing of 10% on Jan 1 and another 10% Feb. 1 |
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Posted: 1/28/2021 11:45:05 AM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I had price increases on all steel framing of 10% on Jan 1 and another 10% Feb. 1 yeah it’s kind of killing me right now, quite a few projects on hold |
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Posted: 1/28/2021 12:19:10 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I had price increases on all steel framing of 10% on Jan 1 and another 10% Feb. 1 Luckily, we aren't doing too much steel framing. Just two minimum-sized bathrooms and a 6' wall for the utility closet. Nothing load-bearing. |
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Posted: 1/28/2021 12:51:43 PM EDT
[#15]
I have no clue how anyone could have a meadery unless they also had an apiary. Otherwise, seems like the cost of honey would kill you.
(I’m lucky enough to support my little hobby through my son’s friend that tends bees... I’m not above trading mead for honey) |
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Posted: 1/28/2021 2:23:58 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I have no clue how anyone could have a meadery unless they also had an apiary. Otherwise, seems like the cost of honey would kill you. (I’m lucky enough to support my little hobby through my son’s friend that tends bees... I’m not above trading mead for honey) It's probably cheaper than you think. The honey that we will use is $1.90 - $8.50 / lb. (with the bulk of it being $3.20/lb) I use between 3.5 and 5.5 lbs of honey per gallon of mead. Small Apiary operations aren't really profitable, it's more about the passion for it which I completely understand. Also, for those who have been asking, these are the states we'll be able to ship to, through VINOshipper: Alabama1 Alaska Arizona California (WP) Colorado Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Minnesota Missouri Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina Tennessee Texas Vermont Virginia Washington State West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Certain states have restrictions though, for example you can only ship full cases to Alabama, and you can only order 1 of each "brand" (batch) per year. So like, "Direct Currant" would be a brand and "Blackbird" would be another. |
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Posted: 1/28/2021 2:26:41 PM EDT
[#17]
So one thing you should look into is the producer registration with the state of kentucky. then it is fully legal to do direct to consumer sales and mead is very popular in the state. The law is brand new and just went into effect about a month ago, but it would open up all of kentucky for direct to consumer without the middleman.
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Posted: 1/30/2021 12:46:25 AM EDT
[#18]
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Posted: 1/30/2021 8:40:29 AM EDT
[#19]
you might have covered this already, and I might’ve missed it but I’m gonna ask:
When is your projected completion date? how has Colorado been with the china virus and small businesses? Is that a concern to you while getting this off the ground? what do you think your total investment will be before the doors open? Will you also carry domestic beer? |
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Posted: 1/30/2021 11:37:39 AM EDT
[#20]
The plan looks good but I have 1 suggestion.
I think the back of house is potentially going to get hot with the equipment & freezers pumping out heat. Install a damper between the 2 outlets for the retail area which can be choked down ( not off and within static pressure limits) so during low use of the front area additional cooling can be directed to the rear. It does not have to be automated or tied into the thermostat. You just need a switch and power from a transformer. You could even put it on a timer. You should not have to revise the plans to do this. |
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Posted: 2/1/2021 7:04:26 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: you might have covered this already, and I might’ve missed it but I’m gonna ask: When is your projected completion date? how has Colorado been with the china virus and small businesses? Is that a concern to you while getting this off the ground? what do you think your total investment will be before the doors open? Will you also carry domestic beer? April 15th It's been okay... kinda tarded like everywhere else. We live in a red county so that's a benefit. Well north of 6 figures No, we can't serve beer based on the license we hold. We can sell: Mead, Wine, and Cider made in Colorado. We can also sell soft drinks and cold snacks that are pre-prepared. |
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Posted: 2/1/2021 7:05:45 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The plan looks good but I have 1 suggestion. I think the back of house is potentially going to get hot with the equipment & freezers pumping out heat. Install a damper between the 2 outlets for the retail area which can be choked down ( not off and within static pressure limits) so during low use of the front area additional cooling can be directed to the rear. It does not have to be automated or tied into the thermostat. You just need a switch and power from a transformer. You could even put it on a timer. You should not have to revise the plans to do this. That is a good suggestion. The plans show a wall between the two but we were hoping for a gate so that people can see into the back. We'll see how it goes. |
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Posted: 2/1/2021 7:50:16 PM EDT
[#23]
Tagging. Big mead fan here
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Posted: 2/2/2021 2:15:54 AM EDT
[#24]
Cool project- I've helped plan and build out at least 10 breweries/taprooms. One suggestion if its not to late more your cooler door from the east wall to the south wall (as drawn top N bottom S) next to the taps. Getting things in and out of there during a busy time will be a PIA for the staff. That door in the middle of the longer N/S cooler wall is taking up valuable behind the bar space. Good luck.
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Posted: 2/2/2021 10:20:34 AM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Cool project- I've helped plan and build out at least 10 breweries/taprooms. One suggestion if its not to late more your cooler door from the east wall to the south wall (as drawn top N bottom S) next to the taps. Getting things in and out of there during a busy time will be a PIA for the staff. That door in the middle of the longer N/S cooler wall is taking up valuable behind the bar space. Good luck. That would make sense except our S wall contains the cooling unit. We are using a "coolbot" cooler, which employs a large window air conditioner and a control unit rather than a traditional cooler. While it does have some drawbacks, it has a number of benefits as well. We don't anticipate staff going in and out of the cooler too often, but we will pay special attention to clearance around that area. It was difficult for us to fit everything we needed into the space, especially when we were told we would need 2 restrooms instead of one. |
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Posted: 2/2/2021 6:55:14 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That would make sense except our S wall contains the cooling unit. We are using a "coolbot" cooler, which employs a large window air conditioner and a control unit rather than a traditional cooler. While it does have some drawbacks, it has a number of benefits as well. We don't anticipate staff going in and out of the cooler too often, but we will pay special attention to clearance around that area. It was difficult for us to fit everything we needed into the space, especially when we were told we would need 2 restrooms instead of one. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Cool project- I've helped plan and build out at least 10 breweries/taprooms. One suggestion if its not to late more your cooler door from the east wall to the south wall (as drawn top N bottom S) next to the taps. Getting things in and out of there during a busy time will be a PIA for the staff. That door in the middle of the longer N/S cooler wall is taking up valuable behind the bar space. Good luck. That would make sense except our S wall contains the cooling unit. We are using a "coolbot" cooler, which employs a large window air conditioner and a control unit rather than a traditional cooler. While it does have some drawbacks, it has a number of benefits as well. We don't anticipate staff going in and out of the cooler too often, but we will pay special attention to clearance around that area. It was difficult for us to fit everything we needed into the space, especially when we were told we would need 2 restrooms instead of one. If that coolbot is the box going into the utility room with a vented door, you are dumping a ton of heat into that closet /space with that coolbot plus two freestanding freezers. That's a lot of wasted energy/ AC used just to overcome reject heat which will likely cause your AC to be too small I understand you are already way over budget but that's a mistake in my opinion. If I had an engineer proposed that to me and/or client wanted that I would flat tell them out no. Otherwise when summer comes around they will call me pissed off they / their customers are baking. |
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Posted: 2/2/2021 7:09:51 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If that coolbot is the box going into the utility room with a vented door, you are dumping a ton of heat into that closet /space with that coolbot plus two freestanding freezers. That's a lot of wasted energy/ AC used just to overcome reject heat which will likely cause your AC to be too small I understand you are already way over budget but that's a mistake in my opinion. If I had an engineer proposed that to me and/or client wanted that I would flat tell them out no. Otherwise when summer comes around they will call me pissed off they / their customers are baking. Well the alternative cooler we looked at has the cooling unit on top of the cooler instead of on the side, the compressor is still contained within the thermal envelope of the building. The alternative would be mounting the compressor for the cooler on the roof (remote compressor), which then removes it from the inside. The coolbot unit is about 40% more efficient than a traditional design and so it's only on about 10 minutes an hour, on average. I'll have to check the freezers but I don't think they are going to be putting out much heat. A larger concern is the 2HP gycol chiller that will be in the back. All that said, you could be right- we'll see how it goes. Our climate is pretty friendly for keeping things cool, at our altitude, it rarely gets over 80 degrees- we use a lot more heat than we do cooling (about 5x as much). We cool our whole house with 2 small air conditioners which we typically use memorial day through labor day. |
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Posted: 2/5/2021 7:18:39 PM EDT
[#28]
Tell me. Tell me of your metheglins and hydromels.
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Posted: 2/8/2021 3:16:58 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Tell me. Tell me of your metheglins and hydromels. I haven't done many spice-only meads, but do add spices to plenty of different batches. I seem to use a lot of cinnamon and vanilla. I have also used coconut, allspice, etc. Hydromels- we call them session mead or draft mead - they are lower-alcohol and typically carbonated. I have just started making those. |
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Posted: 2/16/2021 8:00:31 PM EDT
[#30]
Just started making mead.Glad I found this thread. Sad I'm not in the Springs anymore. Will make sure to visit when I'm in town tho. All the best!
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Posted: 2/22/2021 10:20:06 AM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just started making mead.Glad I found this thread. Sad I'm not in the Springs anymore. Will make sure to visit when I'm in town tho. All the best! We'll be able to ship to Colorado addresses as well. Whereabouts do you call home these days? I just spent 4 days in California touring 6 wineries and a meadery - Napa Valley, Carmel, and Montebello regions. It was a pretty cool trip, but the way the high-end wine world does things is quite a bit different than how we are going to run our operations. Still, it was neat to see. |
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Posted: 2/22/2021 10:54:53 AM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It's probably cheaper than you think. The honey that we will use is $1.90 - $8.50 / lb. (with the bulk of it being $3.20/lb) I use between 3.5 and 5.5 lbs of honey per gallon of mead. Small Apiary operations aren't really profitable, it's more about the passion for it which I completely understand. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I have no clue how anyone could have a meadery unless they also had an apiary. Otherwise, seems like the cost of honey would kill you. (I’m lucky enough to support my little hobby through my son’s friend that tends bees... I’m not above trading mead for honey) It's probably cheaper than you think. The honey that we will use is $1.90 - $8.50 / lb. (with the bulk of it being $3.20/lb) I use between 3.5 and 5.5 lbs of honey per gallon of mead. Small Apiary operations aren't really profitable, it's more about the passion for it which I completely understand. I try to get my honey from locals, which is expensive. It would never work for commercial purposes. My son’s friend is a good kid, so throwing him a few extra bucks doesn’t bother me (at the scale I make mead it’s no big deal). |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 10:35:49 AM EDT
[#33]
Some minor progress:
The floor has been cut for floor drains and water pipes  Attached FileAlso the drywall has been fixed in this area:  Attached FileInteresting thing about this, since we are going with an exposed ceiling, we actually have to fix the walls above the previous drop ceiling. |
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Posted: 3/8/2021 8:21:15 PM EDT
[#34]
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Posted: 3/8/2021 8:23:32 PM EDT
[#35]
We spent some back-breaking hours scraping 35-year-old tiles that were glued down
 Attached Fileoff the floor. My son really enjoyed it.  Attached File Attached FileWe have about 150 sqft left to do... |
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Posted: 3/8/2021 8:32:47 PM EDT
[#36]
I also had some fun with this thing:
 Attached FileI was trying to remove it for quite a while as it's a bit of an eyesore. Well Sunday I attacked it with some tin snips being careful not to slice my hands or arm open. The outer layer was thick galvanized steel, the inside was... stainless ? Softer and thinner but looked brand new. Anyway, after about 30 minutes, I realized it was getting loose, and I was actually able to wiggle it out. I feel like an idiot. Oh well. |
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Posted: 3/8/2021 8:38:38 PM EDT
[#37]
Glad things are working out. My buddy and I are watching your progress closely and with much jealousy. We can't wait till you open!
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Posted: 3/12/2021 2:00:28 PM EDT
[#38]
Well, this was a lot of work. We moved the cooler from the meadery to my house so that
1) It would be out of the way until we were ready 2) It is less likely to be damaged or stolen at my house! It took two loads with a 1-ton truck, not that it is very heavy!  Attached File Attached FileIt was "fun" trying to move the thin aluminum and foam panels without causing any damage! Oh and, I should have some progress pics very soon, they have been making progress this week so you'll get to see that. Big storm coming in this weekend, so we'll see what happens. My son and I plan on scraping more tile this weekend. |
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Posted: 3/13/2021 8:16:27 PM EDT
[#39]
Progress is happening.
We finished scraping up the old tile. That's quite a bit of work.  Attached FileAlso the plumbing is coming in.  Attached File Attached File |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 9:11:50 AM EDT
[#40]
i’ll bet that was one dusty son of a gun while cutting the concrete
 Looks like you’re getting a lot of the backbreaking work done, certainly will be more enjoyable for you once the floors are put back together |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 9:53:56 AM EDT
[#41]
Just found this thread. Looks like great progress!
Are you still on track for an April opening? |
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Posted: 3/14/2021 10:44:11 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just found this thread. Looks like great progress! Are you still on track for an April opening? Quote HistoryQuoted: Just found this thread. Looks like great progress! Are you still on track for an April opening? That's a great question. I would say no. I think the construction will be done sometime in April (like the end?) but we can't start making mead until pretty late in the build process, so that'll be another month or two before we can open with product. Quoted: i’ll bet that was one dusty son of a gun while cutting the concrete Looks like you’re getting a lot of the backbreaking work done, certainly will be more enjoyable for you once the floors are put back together Well to be fair most of the "hard work" on the floor is done by subs. But we've still done some pretty tough stuff on our own, like pulling down the old ceiling and scraping up ~500 sqft of glued-down linoleum (hard rubber?) floor tiles. I dug some of the dirt for the trenches and that was really tough work since the soil is mechanically compressed. |
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Posted: 3/15/2021 7:45:51 AM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That would make sense except our S wall contains the cooling unit. We are using a "coolbot" cooler, which employs a large window air conditioner and a control unit rather than a traditional cooler. While it does have some drawbacks, it has a number of benefits as well. We don't anticipate staff going in and out of the cooler too often, but we will pay special attention to clearance around that area. It was difficult for us to fit everything we needed into the space, especially when we were told we would need 2 restrooms instead of one. Why do you need two restrooms? Is it "one restroom required per number of people authorized to be in the building" or is it a gender thing? |
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Posted: 3/15/2021 9:06:44 AM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Why do you need two restrooms? Is it "one restroom required per number of people authorized to be in the building" or is it a gender thing? Because of occupancy. If we had one restroom, we could only have 15 people in the building, total. Since we wanted ~30 seats, we had to have 2 restrooms. |
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Posted: 3/21/2021 10:32:41 AM EDT
[#45]
Here's some pictures of test batches of mead. These are lightly carbonated draft meads, like the mead version of craft beer I guess.
We'll have these on tap in the tasting room. Cranberry // Pomegranate // Blood Orange  Attached FileGrape // Pomegranate // Tangerine // Key Lime  Attached FileApricot // Tangerline // Vietnamese Cinnamon // Vanilla  Attached File |
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Posted: 3/21/2021 7:21:18 PM EDT
[#46]
Looking good sir!
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Posted: 3/21/2021 8:12:43 PM EDT
[#47]
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Posted: 3/21/2021 9:25:58 PM EDT
[#48]
now things will start coming together, Time to make it look like something
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Posted: 3/24/2021 9:20:30 AM EDT
[#49]
Something amazing happened last week.
The building owner is an older dude, a multi-millionaire for sure. He requested a meeting with us, so we showed up. He asked if we were satisfied with the progress and we said "No." So he said "don't pay your GC any more money until they are back on schedule". Then he called our GC. Before we'd have 2 people working 3-4 hours a day. Now we have 4-6 people working all day. It's amazing.  Attached File |
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Posted: 3/24/2021 1:15:03 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Something amazing happened last week. The building owner is an older dude, a multi-millionaire for sure. He requested a meeting with us, so we showed up. He asked if we were satisfied with the progress and we said "No." So he said "don't pay your GC any more money until they are back on schedule". Then he called our GC. Before we'd have 2 people working 3-4 hours a day. Now we have 4-6 people working all day. It's amazing. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/144375/20210323_112221_jpeg-1877999.JPG
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