03/09/2023
I've been in this industry since I was 15. Broken in by Frank Kempf and his crew Dan Hostetler and his brother Paul, they set me off with a good basic knowledge of what it takes and the fundamentals of patience and always being open to new ideas. I couldn't of asked for a better group of guys to start off with. As years passed I carried with me the good nature these guys taught me . It was lacking in construction very much I came to notice. But I kept to my teachings and always paid attention. In turn I've taught as I've learned. 30 something years later I am very confident in my knowledge and i still enjoy to teach it. I've mastered every field from commercial to residential and every type of carpentry forms to finish work. Timber frame to logs, I've designed and engineered 50% of my builds and to be honest most of the homes I've built were off a floor plan scribbled on a napkin. Was all I needed usually unless something special was needed or wanted. I've built some masterpieces all out of the engineered blueprints that never seen paper just were implanted in my head. I got to the point tgat most customers gave me an idea of what they wanted and I'd get to know them a bit and I'd build what came to me in my head that was a match to the new owners and up until recently I've left every job I've ever completed with new friends. But eventually there's got to be that one. Can't win them all comes to mind all though I cringe at that thought. Sometimes we fall into a project or a even just a job that for some reason just fights you at every turn. The simplest done em a hundred times and there's still a constant battle. You find a solution heck ya let's move and boom head on right into something else. I mean an 8th if an inch but that eighth is in the worst place possible and the 8th has to go no way around it and that little 8th is the worst kind of 8th the kind that the only way to move it is to take 10 steps apart to get to it then it's still in a spot you can't get a saw in there and 2 days later your back to where you were when you discovered it only to find there's its twin brother because they were built like usual and correct only this time an air duct has to run through this spot and thise eights in this case . Well you get my point. You start to question was this an old Indian burial site or what. How can this sort of thing keep happening. But you keep going. You try to make sacrifices where you can to help out the customer even though you know you didn't ask for this but you keep going. Then there's some things added and if only you would of seen that coming or it came up a few moves earlier in construction it would of saved days. But these intricate things that are already hard to explain to folks that are only semi familiar began to sound like excuses. That's the last thing a customer wants to hear and the last thing a builder wants to make. Then the customers get antsy tensions get high everything out of your mouth becomes to the customer a lie they want to know how much and when and you want to tell them a lot more and a lot longer just so your in the clear but you know that's not what they want to hear so you try your best based on all your years and 95% accuracy record but that eight comes back and then the prices shoot up 100% materials you tried your best to cut cost other places and when you try to show your customer that if you took away to increases and the addons with the 3 or 4 weeks left we'd be 6 to 8 k below the estimate still it's too late , to many "lies" cost are over by 30k even though just increasing the loft and adding a bathroom and a balcony cost about that and 100% increase in materials since contract was written and boom no payment. Work 2 weeks only then to be told no intentions of paying another dime. 2 weeks labor not to mention 10% cost plus that used to be 15 but I earlier in the game told them 10 plus the materials still owed that had not been billed for and I'm left owing over 10k and out 25k I had coming in just a few short weeks. Told to leave the property. This is due to tensions and getting overwhelmed as a result the communications and morale of the men all went south. I've never had this happen. I certainly wish they would of allowed us to finish what we started and were only weeks away from completing. The numbers would of all shown that we came out great and they would have that finish that they waited 2 years for. Now we will never know. I know they immediately had a gentleman Pappy Scott come in to finish and I'm sure he will do a fine job but will it be what they waited two years for. I'm not sure I don't know his work. But it's a feeling that as a builder you can't get past it. If only they would of let me do my job . If they would of seen my record and my experience and taken into consideration sometimes things just keep on keeping on and no explanation just the way of it and knew we weren't going to be beaten. I like these folks none the less. I'm struggling to get past this one and if I make it it will be by the skin of my teeth. I was not ready for a loss like this after recent happening in my personal life especially. But we are pressing on. There's been rumors and assumptions I've heard it all but know that we are still here and do not intend to be taken down by one . My men are Champs and they are dedicated to what they do. There's always going to be the unexpected sometimes ten years worth in one job. But I hope Pappy takes the 20% that's left and makes what we left fir him to finish what they dreamt of. Now I wish I would of taken these awesome one of a kind stairs I had prefabricated and dropped them off because they were going to set the bar, Again , for coolest stairs ever. But here's some pics of this little giant of a cabin as it was when we left it. Look forward to seeing how she turns out. Sorry for the rant but I've heard one rumor too many.
