End of an era

We often see customers at a crossroad or new chapter in their life.  We had one of those events in our lives this week.

Our play gym which the boys have enjoyed for several years came down. It was such a nice set and still in incredible shape that we gave it to another family for their twins to enjoy now!  They wanted one but with the expense of twins didn't have the money to invest in it.

So while not a big enough event to warrant a new home, our back yard is undergoing a transformation.  We are installing a putting green in that location.  Eric and the boys have claimed the spot and although our backyard is sloped, we leveled that section off when we installed the gym.  It has quirky corners so I think it will be a perfect spot!

Unfortunately, the end of the play gym symbolizes that we are one step closer to being empty nesters- not a day that I am looking forward to for sure, but for now I see some putting contests in our future!

I look forward to getting to see Ethan and Abby swinging away :)

A time to learn

We have been offering our home building seminars now for over 6 years.  Building your new home is such a huge undertaking and has so many facets- from finding the right land, to development costs, to obtaining a competitive mortgage and finally designing a home- we think it is a good idea to come learn before you leap. 

There's no catch.  Just sign up so we save you a seat. Come have dinner with our compliments and see if building is for you.  We paint a realistic picture of what to expect.

Each session we have first timers come who have never owned before.  We have folks who have bought an existing home before but never built a home designed for them.  And we have plenty of advisors- those who come on behalf of someone else.

The first hour is a formal presentation, which I think is important and necessary.  But the second hour- the question and answer period I always think is the most powerful.  It is unscripted and changes each time.

As always, I am looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.  We have several clients already under contract who just want a refresher on the process and we have several couples who are coming to the workshop who have never visited our model homes.  It'll be a good day!

The dilemma

Today was frustrating, indeed.  We had scheduled a modular home set for today.   Nothing terribly out of the ordinary, other than the fact that our client would have had to leave yesterday at noon to come up from Connecticut.  The weather looked iffy at best in Lake Placid, where the home will be located.  I looked at wptz.com- not looking good, so I went to weather.com for a second opinion- stilll not liking the results so let's give accuweather.com a try- no better.

This went on all weekend into yesterday morning.  Until I had to make the call.  If it had been a local customer we wouldn't have had to make the judgment call until about 6am today.

So, deep breath and one last look at the weather- and then the call.  It is not looking promising.  We need to reschedule.  We all know that if one of the "isolated thunderstorms" came over while the home was wide open to the elements it would have been a disaster. 

Last evening, horrific weather- my friend emailed me pictures from her mom's in Cliff Haven.  It looked like a war zone.  Boy, I felt we made the right call. 

Then today came.  I don't know for sure because I was in Plattsburgh, but at least here the weather was fine.  Not a great day, but good enough.

I still do feel that we made the right decision given the facts we had at the time, but weather is fickle.  I would rather err on the side of caution, especially since both our set company and the crane were available on Thursday of this week.

So the fun and excitement of set day was only postponed by two days, and the potential for ruined drywall was averted, but truth be told I would have been happier had it rained today.

On the other hand, if we had gone ahead with the set as planned, it would have poured for sure :)

This takes the cake!

The saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. How about a delicious cake with just a few words?

A big thank you to Margaret for taking the time to make the staff a yummy treat last Friday, which also coincided with Eric's birthday.

It was a great surprise and we are so glad you appreciated our hard work!