Chapter 342

They arrived together at 3PM. In the old days there would have been files and drawings to spread on my dining room table. Since it wasn't the old days, we sat at the table with laptops. I stared at the screen of my laptop at the images provided by their flash drive.

"So what am I looking at?" I asked. I knew exactly what I was looking at. There were three house models in the village at Hart's Mill. The image on my screen which was labeled Bluebird was one of the house plans.

"It's one of the three basic floor plans in the village. Like all of them it has three small bedrooms and one bath. There is a small living room and kitchen as well. All the models are basically the same. They differ only in the layout of the rooms. The Bluebird and the Cardinal are the same floor plan, just mirror images of each other."

"Okay, I get that. What is the third floor plan?" I asked.

"Open the file named Robin," Lois instructed. Lois was the preacher's designer and a former Methamphetamine addict. She was still trying to gain weight. Her body had likely been abused beyond complete recovery. In other words she was not at all attractive.

When I opened the file, I saw the center living room model. There were two bedrooms and bath on one side and a bedroom and kitchen on the other. The living room went from front to back in the center of the house. It was by far my favorite of the house plans.

I looked at the photos of the houses as they were when I bought them. They weren't that bad, since Old Mr. Hart had kept them sealed from the elements. He was convinced that the mill would reopen and they would be needed.

"If we just repair them, clean them up. and paint them what kind of price am I looking at." I asked.

"You mean not do any of the renovations I have designed?" Lois asked.

"That's exactly what I mean." I turned my attention to the foreman. "What kind of price are we looking at if you repair the damage to the outside, remove the plywood over the windows and doors, replace any broken glass, then go inside clean the hardwood floors as best you can and paint all the inside walls. I want new floors in the kitchen. In the bath, a good quality vinyl floor, refinish the tub, if you need to I want to clean the toilets refinish them as well, if needed.

In other words what will it cost to make the houses pretty much like they were when the mill was open?"

"But nobody will buy houses like that," the designer said.

"You know this how Lois, have you personally tried to sell a plain simple house?" I asked.

"No but all the market data shows that small one bath houses do terrible," she said.

"This is market data from a time when you could sell anything with a roof over it. We are going to find out what we can sell now." They did not take the news well at all. It was like a personal blow to them.

"Also I want one of the Robin and one of the Blubird models renovated as your design shows. I want better flooring and take down that kitchen wall in both. I want a separate price for it. We will supply the appliances, so don't figure them."

Give me a call when you get the prices. Also give me a price to go back and take out that wall on the two models after they have been sold. We won't be installing the flooring or the tub enclosures on some of them until after the sale, so Sylvia will need samples of the vinyl and tub surrounds to show customers. Everything else will be finished before we start showing the houses."

"It will cost more to go back and do this shit piecemeal," the foreman said clearly irritated.

"Well you aren't leaving me any choice. If you can come up with a better plan, I'm all ears but you didn't bring any new ideas to the table when Sylvia met with you. One last thing, as you can see I have a pretty good idea of how we are going to market these houses, so come up with new ideas or I'm going to offer them for bid, house by house, to the Russians."

After the two of them had gone Sylvia said, "They are really pissed at you."

"If they leave a meeting all smiles, we might as well lube out asses cause they have sure as hell figured a way to ass fuck us." I said smiling sweetly.

"Lois was so pissed she didn't pitch the office design to you. She did leave the flash drive and it has the office in a file called of all things 'Office'." Sylvia said with a giggle.

I sat back down to open the file. How hard could it be to line four metal boxes up. I looked through the four designs and decided that none of them were worth a shit. There was no way I could draw on a computer before the change. Maybe now I could figure it out, but why bother. That's why I paid other people. I used a piece of typing paper to make a rough sketch and I do mean rough.

The four squares were lined up in different directions. The unit on the right was closed end out. The next unit which was attached was arranged with the door end out. The next two units were closed end out. Each unit was bolted to the next making a rectangle of 32 x 20. Over the units I would stretch a curved canopy making the whole thing look as though it was inspired by a WWII Quonset Hut. But no more a hut, than the retro Volkswagen was a beetle.

My quick design would cut one window in each of the closed ends and switch the door for a real storefront type door. The offices were going to be small but that was okay with me. I decided to leave the interior design to the fru fru women. My mind just didn't go that way. I did know what I liked, but not much else.

"Sylvia can you make a digital drawing from this freehand crap?" I asked.

"Sure, it won't take a minute to make a rough drawing. I can even do a quick floor plan." she suggested.

"Good, when you get it done let me take a look then email it to Lois. We have to have a lot to get a price on setting those boxes, so call and remind Jen to get something settled quick."