Chapter 85

We had gone to bed early enough so that after the threesome we still had a good nights sleep. I woke up at five refreshed and ready to get things done. Jenny, Patti and I had fruit, cereal with orange juice and wheat toast for breakfast.

In between bites I was making notes on a pad of things that needed to happen today. The majority of them depended on the outcome of the call from the realtor. Something was different this morning. I was as enthused as much as the girls were about the gym.

1. Get price for warehouse from Island Realtors.

2. Get the first estimate from Bob's contracting for the lot cleanup and the changes in the warehouse and then hit him with the newer changes.

3. Check with QT bank to set up business presentation and pick up loan papers to fill out.

4. Make appointment with Howard, Fine and Fine attorneys to start the corporation process.

5. If 1 and 2 were a go, BUY the Building, change the electric and the utilities over.

6. Get insurance on the building.

7. Check on gas for gym heat.

8. Checking account for business with the ability to process credit cards and 6 credit cards for the company.

9. Get the landline phone turned on. There was a phone still on the wall in the building. The phone company should be able to find the line from the number on it.

10. Check on internet companies.

11. ID card access from waiting area to gym for members

Patti and I arrived at the college fifteen minutes early to a stack of paper work in our boxes. Patti buried herself in the time sheets. That was her first order of business every Monday or else no one would get a pay check on Friday.

I looked over the incident reports for the last five days. There were less than three dozen, all minor. Then I spent the next three hours going over e-mails and responding to them.

The athletic department was finally getting back to me with a list of the on the road sports events they wanted us to provide security on. It had been so long that I had thought that they had changed their minds. They did not include a list of the transportation companies involved. They wanted security on the trips starting with the first one on January 15. That was six weeks away with two weeks of vacations thrown in. I guess they thought these kinds of things were just fly by the seat of your pants. They had no concept of all that was required for good security.

At 11 Susan Wright called with the asking price for the warehouse. The Summers wanted 150 thousand and we pay the 5 thousand tax bill that was due by January first.

I asked Susan if she would tell me the normal realtor's fees on a sale. She replied, "Eight percent."

I said, "With the estimated cost of 20k for removing the house and getting rid of the trees along with new sod for erosion control that price and the taxes took the property out our reach. With what we wanted to do there would not be enough profit margins to survive. I will then counter offer with 100k and I would pay realtor fees and taxes."

She said, "Let me make a call and I will get back to you."

Fifteen minutes later Bob from Bob's Construction called. He said, "Four thousand to remove the house and haul it to the landfill. Six thousand to remove the trees, brush, stumps, lay sod on the right side of the driveway and put up the rail fence on that side that you wanted. On the left side it will take a tandem load of stone to make the drive way look consistent with the stone on the parking area. The changes you wanted built on the inside will be about five thousand."

"We have made changes on the inside plans, increased the length and size, plus added a couple more rooms but those figures make it close enough for us to work on. If we gave the go ahead, how soon can you start?" I asked.

"We have no work until after the first of the year. Then after that we are booked until June with big contracts. The weather cooperated and we completed December's work in November. I hate to lay the guys off this close to Christmas. I quoted all the materials at cost and will give you a copy of all invoices. I just want to keep them busy if I can. We can start tomorrow," he said.

"What kinds of permits are required to do the work?" I asked.

"Normally you would need a demolition permit to tear down the house and that could take months. But being it is already gutted and hidden behind the trees we will tear it down first, it's going to be hauled away in covered demo trailers anyhow. It will be completely gone in a day," he said. "No one has seen the thing in years so they won't miss it. The trees will go into a wood chipper and the stumps will be hauled away in the demo trailer."

"The excavator will dig in new water and sewer lines to the side of the building where your showers and bathrooms are going to go. All the heavy equipment will be gone in four days. I will subcontract that part of it so while that is going on my crews can be doing everything on the list. I thinking two weeks should have the most of it done," he said. "Other than the hand rails most of the work is inside so weather won't be a problem. You will not need any permits for anything that you do inside the building."