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CHAPTER 8 FINAL INSPECTIONS AND "MOVING IN"
For those of you that have taken the time to wade thru all this diatribe...I hope I haven't bored you to tears. My objective here was to give everyone some perspective of what it takes to builld your own sign shop...as I re-read it ,some of it seems somewhat negative other parts seem downright discouraging...but now that it's all over I really have to admit "It was ALL worth it"...
DISCLAIMER: I SWEAR TO YOU I HAVE NOT EXAGERATED ONE BIT ABOUT ANYTHING REPORTED OVER THE LAST 7 CHAPTERS...NOR WILL I, IN THE CONCLUSION OF THIS TALE!
Once we were free of "Houdini" things really started to fall into place as we started the long line of inspections...to this point we had already had a footing and structure inspection...one slab inspection that detailed location and forms...two plumbing inspections (one exterior and one interior pre slab inspections)...framing inspection...electrical ( in wall inspection) and another rough in inspection on the plumbing and a half dozen inspections by the paving inspector (Houdini like to made them crazy with his piece at a time approach).
To be perfectly honest there were only a couple of minor infractions and now they seem insignificant, but at the time they occurred, the "nit picky"attitudes were not welcome nor appreciated. (there I think I got thru that without whining).
At this point we are now requesting final sheet rock and insulating inspections as the heat and air people have manned the building and begun their work. To be fair ,we caught this guy at a bad time (his busiest time of year) and when he took on our job... he (and we) thought he would be doing this during his slow time (late winter early spring) so we had a few mishaps getting thru his work.. we agreed as he started that all we needed was our shop first and the lease area he could work in at his leisure. Everything went pretty much that way til one of his crew took a chapter from Houdinis book and decided he could come and go as he pleased with no regard for our completion date (now August 1) It took a few times to figure out that his boss had no clue the guy wasn't on site working and when I called him and inquired as to his where abouts the crappolla hit the fan...the heat and air contrractor showed up with a four man crew and worked til 4 am trying to get it done only to have to come back and finish the following day. But at least he made the effort...
While he was completing his work the electician and his partner were finishing their conduit and lighting fixtures (I loved this guy) when the electrical was completed inspections were called for and we were turned down because one light fixture had no "grommet" between a fixture and a metal stud and we were told that all the wall outlets had to be "ground fault" fixtures...the electrician being quick on his feet installed a ground fault "breaker" instead ...which they accepted (by the way we removed it later. Have you ever run a power tool with ground fault protection? Yeah right...).
We were now ready for electric meters to be set...and we make one of our biggest mistakes to date...well the dumbest anyway.
Because we weren't ready to meter the "Lease area" and because we wanted a seperate meter for that spot we were advised by the power people to seperate the two billings by address...when I inquired at the city about the addresses (they assign them) they point out that the water meters (that aren't in yet) will also have to go to seperate addresses ("no problem" says I) do it... (BIG MISTAKE)
Ater all the paper work is complete (a 3 day affair) I am informed that I must now submit new plans (for the lease area) have it reinspected and pay $77.00 for a "renovation permit" and a seperate water meter charge ($750.00 that had thankfully be done at an earlier date...whew) ...another plumbing permit $100. another electric permit $100.00 and of course another heat and air permit (you guessed it ) $100.
Well another 3 days for the plan adjustment and another week later we have the electric meter...now the plumber is thru and ready for his final and the heat and air guy is ready for final on our shop only...(we pass both no problem).
NOTE: Had we finished both sides of the building at the same timeand then applied for the two different address's all this b.s. could have been avoided ...but then again we would have only gotten into the building last friday Nov.1 (well maybe a little sooner).
THE FINAL BUILDING INSPECTION...to get a building final...three intities must be called ...
Engineering ...to approve all exterior street and sidewalk easments and all concrete work involved.
Planning ...to approve all landscaping and parking appointments
Fire marshall...to approve fire walls and general exit signs, fire extiguishers etc.
To make a long story short we were approved with very little problem but the biggest surprise was the fire marshal ...he walked in and asked "is this 220 n. Crawford" "yes" says I "Nice building" he says writes something down and leaves...all that worry about the firewalls and he never even looked...oh well!
We actually moved in to the shop on August 4, 2002 HOOORAY!!!
As you can see the place got small fast!
Well it sounds like we're home free ...right? WRONG...All we have is an occupancy permit for "our shop" now we have to go thru everything you just read about in the lease area.
I'll spare you that...suffice to say we recieved our occupancy permit for the lease area last week October 23 rd. (long ways from August 1 )
And as I finish this we have leased that area to an Art Foundry where they will be "enlarging" stauary moulds for their bronze castings...(they moved in Friday November 1).
The shop as it looks today!
Complete with Patsee's new garden!
Now the "GOOD NEWS" Even tho we missed nearly every completion date we brought this project in under budget...We projected $85,000. on a seperate loan for the building ...it came in at (are you ready for this?) $84,200. and some change.
In closing the construction loan and converting it to a mortgage loan we were told our interest rate will drop from 10 per cent to 8 per cent and will be paid off in 11 years.
Now here's the big comparison...our old shop rent was $450.00 a month (cheap you say?) thats $75,000. we paid out over nearly 14 plus. (and had nothing to show for it)
Now we have a mortgage thats about $1,250.00 a month (high you say?) well wait a minute... we now have a property to lease out for $675.00 a month and our portion of the new morttgage is $575.00 thats only $125.00 a month more and "WE OWN IT" (well us and the bank..) .and as real estate increases (over the years) we can increase the lease til it flips and we actually pay less.
Well we close on everything next week ...I'll let you know what the appraisal comes in at...(the differece between the laon allocation and the appraisal is all profit equity.
Oh and one more possibility we will look into in the spring...since home mortgages are at lower rates 6.75 or less lately...there is a distinct possiblity we will re finance the house ...pay off the shop note and have only one mortgage to deal with that would actually be smaller than the two mortgages combined now ...tantilizing eh?
Well thats it ...hope you will post a reply and let me know if any of this helped or at the very least ...was entertaining or if anyone has questions feel free!
Let's put this one to bed!
Thanx for putting up with me! Monte aka/jumpin^^
[ November 03, 2002, 10:35 PM: Message edited by: Monte Jumper ]
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
WHERE IS YOUR SIGN? Was it included in the plans? I was only joking before when I mentioned in response to an earlier post, that I didn't see any plans for a sign in your "work in progress" reports. Now that I still don't see any sign, I'm starting to wonder. Its always been a pet peeve of mine that someone will spend years planning and putting up a new building, then "suddenly" discover they need a sign too, then proceed to ask the signman to hurry up and do his work in an unreasonably short amount of time. And often there is no provision for sign lighting, such as extra circuits in the original electrical work.
Just wondering about that part too. I really enjoy your posts Monte, and good luck with your new shop!!!!
Oh, one other thing...it looked like you were moving in before any interior painting was done. Are you doing that part yourself? I believe I would have done that while the various areas were still empty. I realize though that sometimes you just have to do what you have to do....and room painting CAN be done during any slow times....
[ November 04, 2002, 01:02 AM: Message edited by: Jeff Ogden ]
-------------------- Jeff Ogden 8727 NE 68 Terr. Gainesville FL, 32609 Posts: 2138 | From: 8827 NE 68 Terr Gainesville Fl 32609 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Congratulations and well done. The shop looks really great, hope you can now settle in and begin to work to pay the morgage off ! ! !
-------------------- Brian the Brush brian the brush uk Yorkshire, UK www.brianthebrushuk.com Posts: 123 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Sep 2001
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Can't wait to see the fabulous sign that will enhance your building.
It was a pleasure to read this posts as another letterhead that i know is building a new shop in the spring here in Ontario. Will have to see what the costs difference will be.
So whens the date for that first panel jam in the new place. So we can Sloppppp some paint on the new floors.lol
Rob carney
-------------------- Robert Carney Fergus, Ontario Posts: 131 | From: Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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hahaha...Jeff the sign is in the shop as we speak I will "Unveil" it here.
The lack of interior paint came from the inability of making all things stop at the same point...In other words we had to move sooner than we would have liked and had to get to work as fast as possible ...like you said we can do that in the slow times.
We did however finish painting the lease area...complete with sealing the floors!
Thanks again to everyone for their interest in our project.
We will be having a shop warming the nite before Fred's meet so all you early comers are invited. It will replace our annual "Party before the Party" we usually throw in our home.
Ya'll come ya hear!
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
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Thanks for taking us along on this ride Monte! I enjoyed reading your experiences and I'm impressed with the results! The place sure did fill up fast! That night photo was such a good wrap up to that chapter!
Now, let the real fun begin! Here's to a great future in your new pad!
Nettie
-------------------- "When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8771 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Let's put this one to bed!
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