Chapter 56

"So what are we going to change," I asked.

"Well," Wilson began. "We are going to take the tiny office back there and make it a secure storage area. It is no bigger than a walk in closet."

"That's ain't gonna cost much," Margo said. "Just a more secure door." Your biggest expense right now it the new roof. Your's leaks and it has damage some structure that has to be repaired. It has got some floor which has to be replaced as well. Then Mr. Wilson here wants some reinforcing for the floors. I can see that they are a settling some."

"Yeah I can agree with all that for sure," I said.

"Once we get it dry and stable, you are gonna want to get an electrician in here. If you don't know any, I know a good one," she suggested.

"Okay, I can go along with that," I said.

"Then we want to come back and insulate the walls. The best way is to blow in shit from the outside cause we gonna want to put real siding on the wall not that crap this is on there now. What we can do is drill holes in that shit for the insulation the put the new siding right over it. You need a new door that opens from the parking lot and get a more secure door that opens onto the dock. That is required by code these days."

"Okay you figured to paint the inside," I asked. "And insulate the room and floor?"

"Yes that means a new ceiling, but you don't have one at all now, so that wouldn't be a big deal. We can put drywall up. It isn't a very big space, so no big deal." Margo promised.

"Well Margo you go work up your price for everything we talked about and itemize the estimate. Wilson and I will discuss it." I promised. I can estimate this before I leave. Give me a few minutes alone with my phone and my laptop." she said.

"Fair enough, Wilson leave her alone and let her work." I said. When we were outside I asked, "You have been her less than twenty four hours and you are sniffing after two women, what the hell is wrong with you?"

I have to admit for a man over sixty he was really not bad looking. If he worked out a little he would be every old ladies dream. His hair was white, but he had it all. He stood strait and walked with a stable gate. He also had his own teeth another good trait. Wilson also seemed to be tall and trim, though not really fit. He was just a good height and weight ratio. There was quite possibly a shortage of eligible men who lived in town year round. Especially good looking ones who spoke English and had gainful employment. Employment that might sound exiting to the B&B owners or a contractor.

Margo came out on the dock and called over to the barge. "Ahoy on the house barge."

I came out onto the deck. "That was quick," I said.

"Well this isn't a huge job. I could probably build you a new building for pretty near the same money," she said.

"Yes and I could probably have a storage container in place for less," I said with a smile.

"True that might be the way to go since you live in one," she said. "Anyway if you decide to repair this one here is your estimate."

I walked down and took a look at it. $8,600 dollars?" I asked, "Is that firm."

"It is unless you want to add or subtract something. I don't know anything we could do cheaper unless we don't insulate. We have to add doors anyway. Everything else is repairs mostly."

"Wilson is this what you need?" I asked.

"Boss the computers need to stay dry. The same with any samples. We need a secure place to store the stuff," Wilson said.

"Okay when can you start and when will you be through," I asked.

"I can spring a couple of guys loose to fix the roof and the rot by Friday. We can have it ready for the electrician on Monday," Margo said "If I can get my insulation man out we can do that while the electrician is working. Say we walk away from here before next Friday.

I decided to put Wilson on the spot. "Can you live with that?" I asked.

"If that is the best they can do, I have to live with it," he said.

"Margo, is our first contractor," I said.

"Hell, we would waste more time talking to someone else than they could save us," Wilson said.

"Margo you add a hundred dollars a day penalty after next Friday and we are good to go." I said. The hundred bucks meant nothing to me, and I doubted that it did to her. It was just a matter of principle.

"How you want to pay me?" she asked.

"I have a book keepers to answer to, so how about 50% down in a check. Another 25% upon half completion and the balance when we get the inspection if there is one required." I said.

"Fair enough. So give me a check for $4,300 and I'll have men here on Friday or before." she said.

After she had gone I said to Wilson, "It's too late to go to Ellisboro today but tomorrow we have to go look for computers." Ellisboro was a town north of us with a few stores including an office supply house.

"Jeeze boss where you been the last ten years. You don't buy computers in the office depot any more. At least not serious computers. We need to go on line and have them built, if they don't have what we need in stock. This is not going to be cheap." he informed me.

"I really didn't expect it to be cheap, but my idea of cheap may have been upgraded. So what are we talking here for the whole bit and I mean as black ops shit as you can come up with." I said.

Okay you want a $1,000 computer in the office, but since I know what you mean by black ops, we need a off site server dedicated to us. Say another grand minimum. Then there is the software to do the black ops type jobs. That shit is all custom you can't go to Walmart for that."