Can Eric hold down the fort?

The next two weeks are going to be exciting and down right life changing.  Our son, Josh, is graduating from high school on Saturday.  This kid, who has been a part of our lives, for over 18 years, is about to venture off on his own.  Luckily, the nest isn't quite empty yet.  Jacob is only 13 and will be home for several more years.

So for Josh's graduation gift, he and I are going on a European vacation ( look kids- big ben...) and I'm freaking out a little bit.  I knew the timing would be hard.  I don't want to disappoint anyone who needs my help.  And I have never been away from the office for 10 days.  Ever.

So, I am going to have to accept Eric's help and let go a little bit and trust that he can keep things under control in  my absence.  After all, he did actually successfully run Plattsburgh Housing Outlet for 9 years before I came on board!  And it might be a good lesson in letting go a bit with Josh headed to college this fall.  No parent has ever done their kids any favors by micro-managing their lives and not allowing them to learn to fend for themselves.

So on July 1st, Josh and I will hopefully have an adventure of a lifetime- something that he and I will both fondly look back on as he begins this rite of passage into adulthood.  Like I said, I don't want to disappoint anyone.  Least of all my first born son. 


Congratulations Josh, your hard work and dedication has paid off.  We couldn't be more proud of you.

I don't care who you are, it is nice to be recognized.

Any business is a lot of work.  There is working with your customers to make sure you are doing a good job for them, there is the negotiations with the vendors you work with to get a fair price and good product, and there is trying to work together with your colleagues to create a good work environment and team among other things.

And after all of that, there is the day to day working in and on your business.  At the end of a good, hard day you often wonder if you are doing the right thing and are you doing enough.  Everyone hopes they have but you often wonder.  Once you are out of school, there is not a black and white way of measuring success.  Gone are the days of class rank and SAT score.

So a couple of ways that I hope we are measuring up compared to our competition is based on

employee longevity.  Plattsburgh Housing Outlet has blessed with many long term employees.  Lisa LaPorte, joined the company in 2003 and just celebrated her 10 year anniversary.  And Mike Trombley has been with the company since 1993, almost since the beginning.  In May we had a celebration to recognize their hard work and dedication. 

In April, Plattsburgh Housing Outlet, received national recognition at the Manufactured Housing Institutes's National Congress, when they were named Retailer of the Year for the Northeast and MidAtlantic states.  Each year, the choose 4 companies from across the nation and bestow this honor.

They research a company's reputation and dedication, its community involvement, customer satisfaction among other things.  They also look at the way the company presents itself with model home staging, and customer education initiatives.

http://www.northcountryman.com/news/2013/may/01/plattsburgh-housing-outlet-recognized-sales-center/

So, I have to admit, on the days that business feels hard, it is nice to be recognized and hope you have made your family proud.

23 years in the blink of an eye.

So much has changed since Eric started at Plattsburgh Housing Outlet, fresh out of St. Michael's College.  Plattsburgh Housing Outlet at that point was located up on the corner of Route 3 and Route

190 on rented property near the bank.  When the opportunity arose to purchase the property next 

door, we moved and set up shop with paved sidewalks, lawns and landscaping to create an professional yet inviting sales center.

Over the years, much has changed.  Mortgages became available for manufactured homes.  The trend changed from single to double wide.  And then in the early 2000's we added modular homes to the mix, which took us to another level. 

It has been a pleasure helping the good folks of the North Country build their homes, a safe place where they have friends over and raise their families.  It will be exciting to see what comes next.

Advent into the video age

We asked Sarah to start taking videos of the model homes and manufactured and modular home "sets" to help our customers get a better virtual experience from us.  and boy did she take that seriously!

http://youtu.be/z3TSJVnVQco

 

...Is a sneak peek of our new gorgeous ranch!

 

And on our website, there is a video section that you can see many other model tours as well as a link to our YouTube channel. 

 

http://www.plattsburghhousing.com/videos.php

 

As always, we'd love to see you in person- and there is nothing like walking the model first-hand, but this is a great way to see us at 3am!

 

Don't forget!  Open house is March 16th!  Thanks, Michelle

 

 

A little patience

Our new ranch modular home has arrived!  But this week, I had to go with the flow, which is not always my best quality.  It was an interesting change of events as "I" was the recipient of the new model, sort of!  So it was good for me to feel what you feel when your new home is about to arrive.

Excitement, nervousness, anticipation....all mixed with a little disappointment.

The home was scheduled to leave PA on Monday the 28th.  It was ready, we had permits.  But there was an ice storm.  So that was not meant to be.

Wednesday, the original "set date." was, of course, 50 degrees- it would been a dream for a winter set for the crew.

But the home didn't arrive until Wednesday, so we had it scheduled to set on Thursday.  We then had 60 mile an hour wind gusts.  That wasn't safe to subject our guys to such danger.  So I had to wait.

Monday the 4th the sections got put in place, and Tuesday the crane arrived to lift the roof and the pre-assembled dormer pieces.  It is starting to take shape!

And with any luck, it will be ready to make its debut in a few short weeks!

I am so excited to have a new model- we worked really hard on the design to incorporate many of the amenities and design elements that our customers have been asking for.  Stop by soon, or in the meantime, you can go to facebook to watch progress updates!

PS: On Thursday, I was able to attend my god-daughter's talent show as the set was postpone- so there's my silver lining!

It's been an exciting week!

A big thank you to everyone who attended the home building seminar last Thursday during the "arctic freeze."  Luckily the roads weren't bad, but it was unbelieveably cold.  We had folks from VT, Lewis, Gabriels, Saranac Lake...needless to say, they had a little drive.  But the pizza and conversation was great!

It was one of the most lively question and answer periods I could remember.  I'd love to say it was because of the awesome prizes I gave out to those brave enough to speak up- but I think there were just some great questions out there.  And as always, everyone benefits from that.  There might be a question you didn't event think to ask!

So if you were busy, or just now thinking about building there will be another session on March 21st- as always 6pm at Dino's Pizza.

And the excitement continues this week.  Our new ranch modular is in Oneonta as I write this.  Unfortunately, it was supposed to ship on Monday but there was an ice storm in PA so there was a slight delay.  And the "set" was scheduled for today- but that has been pushed back until tomorrow.  It wasn't safe to drive under those conditions, so even though it would have been really nice for the guys to work in 49 degree weather today, it wasn't meant to be.  Safety first.

We expect it will then take several weeks of finish and then cleaning and decorating before she makes her official debut but I will put construction photos and updates in the blog and on facebook so everyone will get a glimpse early!

In this business, there is never a dull moment!  Just how I like it!

New beginnings

Happy new year!  This is the time of year that we reflect on the past year and hope to improve in the next.  We are always very excited to start the new year off with a home building seminar.  Often times it is the largest, best attended one of the year.  Even though the North Country is under a blanket of snow, if you want to be enjoying your new home this summer- crazy as it sounds- you must start now.

The seminar will be on January 24th starting at 6pm at Dino's Pizza.  There is no cost to attend, but please RSVP so we can save you a seat!

Another new beginning for us this year, is we have a new model coming in.  As you may know, our brown ranch modular left for its forever home in Fairfax VT the fall and it is where it was meant to be.  Surrounded by trees and other lovely homes, it looks like it has always been there.

So after long and careful consideration about building trends, and what our customers have been as king for- I think we nailed it!  The new home is just under 1600 sf, a very nice size.  It will have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms- including an amazing master bedroom, bathroom, and walk in closet with closet organzier (I've gone to heaven!!)  It has a formal foyer and a cheery front kitchen both spacious and practical with lots of cabinetry.  There is a great room in which we have cornered a gas burning fireplace with TV mounts above.  And it also has an end entry with lots of storage, perfect to add a garage.

We expect the home to arrive the last week of January and then we will need several weeks to complete it, but we expect it to be ready to make its debut on or before our March open house!