Saturday Site Inspections
Was talking to a banking colleague who reads the blog - I know, who doesn't? - and he was commenting on what he sees at the thousands of job sites he sees around the Hudson Valley and compared that to mine, and let's say mine sort of set the bar, high. Sounds like an expert witness to me.
My most productive, rewarding and simultaneously frustrating job site visits happen on Saturdays, and sometimes Sundays. On those days, the saws have stopped, the truck and vendor traffic slows, and I can methodically work my way through the homes under construction. In Olivebridge, where we have 9 under construction - some finished now - it’s a source of great pride to me - my efforts, the efforts of others. The stamina, risk, strategy, problem-solving, team-work.
It’s not hard to appreciate all the good and talented work being done on our behalf by small businesses, many of which I have worked with for 16+ years or more. Some of these small guys have grown old with me, and more than a few are starting to retire, or more accurately, scale back. Luckily, it appears I make the cut for those scaling back, and they remain trusted advisors and resources.
But, it’s actually quite hard to appreciate my Saturday visits because that’s not why I’m there. I’m there to find out what’s wrong, what’s unfinished, what’s back-ass-backwards, what’s dirty, what’s messy, what’s muddy, what light is left on, what heat was not turned down, which window was left open, lumber pile left uncovered to the elements, overflowing dumpster with no alert to office. The things that are wrong or need corrected is endless, and you multiply that by 9 homes and you can really be fricking wound up. Luckily, up in Olive, there’s no cell or text service without a booster, so the endless streams of nastygrams to my trusted vendors can’t go out so I end up just making a list. It’s for the better they can’t go out many times. It would be fun to play a game such as 'what makes Chuck the most agitated in this photo?'
But it’s tough. Even something good can be better. And we aim for better. Always better. Always cleaner, quicker, more thorough, more efficient, more streamlined. More creative. More good-looking. More value.
Seems like the crowd is thinning a bit, a lot of the new players in the new home for sale construction game seem to be dwindling. Lower sales prices, higher construction costs, scarce land, lots of hard lessons leaves only the boldest, and there we are again - standing straight and tall and selling our pants off.
Another quiet morning at the Pinchot mansion in Milford day, organizing books from 150 years ago, with letters, cards, notes, and inscriptions. Today I came across an inscription from T. Roosevelt to G. Pinchot, c. 1905. Right there in my hands.
And I'm Court Appointed Special Advocate for kids caught up in family court, where us volunteers are assigned a case and we just sort of shepherd it through the courts and advise the courts and judges of our opinion of the situations before the courts independent of children/youth services, guardian ad litems, and attorneys who even in the best of times have too many cases.
Here are my 3 kids that are looking good at a dinner date at my home last night, just 12 months out of one of those home-life horror stories you hear and read about. The improvement is hard to put into words.
