My new shop

[Martin Wasner]

Trusses are up, except for one of the draft stop trusses which broke. They'll just scab it back together and use it on the end wall. It's getting sheeted anyways.

I'll try and get some pictures up soon.

Hopefully the steel will be on the roof by the end of the week.

[Mike Heidrick]

Seeet. Congrats.

[Martin Wasner]

All the trusses are set, tails are cut, and facia board is installed everywhere. So it's ready for the roof steel. That's sitting on a trailer at the lumber yard and will be delivered on Monday, The roof should be done, or almost done by the end of the day on Tuesday.

I met with the electrician, and the engineer from Excel Energy earlier today. A bit of a kick in the teeth. His speculation was it was ten weeks before I'd have power. So that made my less than stellar day just a bit less stellar. I'm going to have sodding cancer before this ordeal is over. The best part is that by then the frost will be firmly in the ground and they charge five bucks a foot for trenching when there's frost. Another approximately six grand biting the dust for that. Right now I'm trying to wrap my head around things. If I don't concern myself with getting the floor in, or heat, until March (which is a whopping four weeks after they say they'll get power in), and waiting until the frost charges come off to finish the interior, how bad off I'll be... I'm not sure where I'm at money wise. I've burned through most of my cash, so I'll be borrowing when I turn in the next stack of bills for a draw. If I've got $150k on the loan I'm looking at about seven hundred dollars per month in interest. Stretch that over four months, I'm looking at only three grand in expense, instead of six thousand for the trenching. BUT, I'm still keeping up the old shop to the tune of about three grand a month in the mean time. I'm not sure what the best avenue is.


This is really close to the most frustrating thing I've ever done.

[Bryan Lisowski]

Martin, the new shop is looking great, I like seeing builds like this. Quick question couldn't you have someone else dig the trench for the electric or is that not an option with the electric utility.

[Ken Grant]

Any way you can trench now and get the conduit buried, then let them come pull the wire in ten weeks? Don't you love working with utility companies??

The shop is looking good, thanks for putting up the pics.

[Martin Wasner]

The utility company needs to do their thing from the pole to the transformer. After the transformer, it's all on my guy. I wish I could make things happen differently, but it's looking like just another battle

[Jim Becker]

Martin, can you get the trench cut now, even if it's by someone else, so that you don't incur the extra cost later due to frost?

[Martin Wasner]

Unfortunately, I don't think so. I'll look into it though. I don't have a design for a few weeks anyways. It'd be nice to just go rent a big trencher and hog it in. I know if I were Excel I would not allow it just for liability reasons.

[Martin Wasner]

I just talked to the electrician, no dice on trenching anything myself from the pole to the transformer.

[Dave Cav]

I just finished my soon to be new shop. I ran underground power, and had to not only trench, but put up a new pole and cut the road. (Fortunately I wasn't charged for the new pole.) Generally, the utility has to inspect and sign off on the trench, so it's in the contractor's best interest to control the entire process.

[Mike Heidrick]

Utility did my inspection at the house when i put in my own 400 amp meter base and two 200 amp disconnects. It was above access. At the house so i was responsible for everything to 36" out of weatherhead. They gave me new transformer and new service wire to my weather head. When i did the shop service no one else was needed as i ran it to one of the disconnects on the house. I did my own trenching and conduit and pull. I had conduit/wire ready and in place (not live of course) when they poured the floor but no panel.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, I'm guessing that because Martin's install involves high-voltage stuff, the the power folks may have tougher requirements. But even so, it's a real bummer that they will not allow him to deal with the trenching in advance...

[Martin Wasner]

Mike, I'm guessing that because Martin's install involves high-voltage stuff, the the power folks may have tougher requirements. But even so, it's a real bummer that they will not allow him to deal with the trenching in advance...

Yep. 14,800 volts from the pole to the transformer. Everything after the transformer, I'm responsible for that.

[Bobby O'Neal]

I work for an Electric Utility co-op and we don't do any digging or duct installation. It is largely due to our size (210,000 members) and the fact that we are in a rapidly growing area, but it is much cheaper and more time effective for us to provide specs and inspections and put that work on the contractor/developer/homeowner. Obviously, we do all the tie ins to energized equipment, but that's it. Also, this gives the flexibility for you to run your ditches whenever it suits you.

[Martin Wasner]

I work for an Electric Utility co-op and we don't do any digging or duct installation. It is largely due to our size (210,000 members) and the fact that we are in a rapidly growing area, but it is much cheaper and more time effective for us to provide specs and inspections and put that work on the contractor/developer/homeowner. Obviously, we do all the tie ins to energized equipment, but that's it. Also, this gives the flexibility for you to run your ditches whenever it suits you.

I wish I were in one of those areas. Unfortunately, Excel Energy is huge, and they don't give a rip about customer satisfaction. There are a handful of smaller electrical utility companies around, and I'm sure if I were in one of their areas, there would be juice onsite already. It's a bummer, but I'm hosed, and that's just the way it is.


I'm at the part of the project where nothing big or exciting is really going on.

Framing is getting an inspection on Tuesday I believe. The framers have some windwash to put up, but I think that's about it. The draft stop trusses are all sheeted, I think the last of the bracing in the trusses is complete, as are all of the hurricane clips. I cut all of the windwash in the shop here. I figured I could do it a little faster cutting three sheets at a time on the panel saw than they could with a circular saw on site.

I guess I forgot where I left off as far as pictures go...

The roof is all sheeted with steel as well, and the sheeting on the walls is more or less complete. There's a couple of spots around the doors yet that need sheeting, and a little bit of tyvek needs to go on the walls yet as well.



























Thankfully things haven't frozen up solid here yet. Last Sunday I drilled the holes for the piers that the dust collector is going to sit on. Monday they were poured, and today I finished up backfilling them, and doing a crap job of cleaning up all the clay and muck around the piers. My plan was to tip the dust collector up tomorrow, (Nov. 26th), but the carpenter doesn't want it in his way for doing the soffit and facia. Hopefully next weekend is decent. I'm not overly excited at the thought of tipping that thing up in zillion mph wind, or doing it when it's butt face cold outside.




The plumbers have all of the water and sewer stuff roughed in. Last weekend I spent a couple of hours bucketing clay out of the building with the skiddy so the plumber's trench could be backfilled with sand instead of clay.

I ordered one of those little honda suitcase generators for running a furnace. It's the only thing I can come up with for doing a temporary heat in there. I'm still going to have to do something to jack the temperature way up for when the floor gets poured. I'm going to need a lot of heat for when that takes place.

My landlord wants me out of my current space ricky-tick. He's got somebody lined up to occupy my current space. Too bad, so sad. I've got a signed lease, and due to some poorly chosen language in that lease, I can hold on to the space until my lease runs out next October. I really don't want that, but I had my lawyer look at the lease, and I'm safe as far as getting booted out before the new shop is ready. Which at this point would be disastrous. I don't have enough capital on hand to weather much of a storm in that scenario.

I'll report more on the progress when I've got something.