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For a few reasons, I left a job at the end of February 2020 I had been working there for nine years. Short retirement, I was to start another the following Monday in March. Pandemic hit and we all took extended vacations. Coming back, lots of potential leads had drifted away and sales were below monthly quotas. Not ready to be retired, I gave it another shot and another shot but I wasn't happy there doing bathroom renovations.

The owner tried to convince me to stay... several times actually, but I wanted to be elsewhere. I promised to finish my projects and not leave him hanging (as 2 of his last designers/salesmen did) and to stay until he found and trained a replacement.

The new guy wasn't fitting well and his top salesman was scheduled for back surgery. COVID-19 came through the office on three occasions knocking out 6 of the 8 people working there. Thankfully, I was spared but my exodus was delayed a few times.
Every week, I checked a placement site for positions available in any related field. Some came up and I interviewed with a few companies, but nothing materialized.

I teamed up with a coworker and surprisingly, our success at closing jobs improved. My plan to leave hadn't changed and at some point I needed to refuse any new projects.
Currently, I'm finishing 1, starting 3 and have a large renovation in July.
All the detail drawings are done, materials have been ordered and I'll have to appear on a few jobsite meetings over the course of 2 months. Hopefully, nothing more.

The owner is going away for a few days this Easter weekend so today I turned in commission reports and got a check. He knows where I stand to project manage the last group of jobs and said it was great having me work there... even if it wasn't profitable for either of us. The part that impressed him was my calm demeanor and high standard of professionalism. I handled everything they could throw at me.


I didn't 'burn a bridge' and know if I ever wanted to try there again, the opportunity is always available. Not 100% finished, I have to go back tomorrow collecting some furniture a computer station and have a short meeting with the field manager to pass needed information for the difficult projects.

A year out of my life and I learned many different things about that facet of manufacturing and supply. The goodbyes included thanks from both sides... as expected I'm carrying one less key tonight...

In 2025, when I am completely and fully trained in handling trucks and trailers, it might be time to figure out what I want to use my new education for. Do I work for a company, or do I start my own courier/haulage business? It's free to start your own business, and if I make more than $7931 in profits, over a year, I need to be VAT registered. Some places offer VAT registration for as low as $111. My housemate told me I would need $23792 in order to be VAT registered, but from what I can read, it's nowhere near that amount.

So.. Now that the plan has been laid, I will need a vehicle. Now, because I have a business, I can get a car for a lower amount, $2744 to be exact. So, if I find a car below that value, which is pretty hard, I am not going to pay import fees on it. If a car is worth more than $2744, I have to pay a 50% fee for the remaining value. I know, the car taxation system in Denmark is weird.

Anyway.. I will need a place to live. I could move to the other end of the country, where the houses are cheaper than where I currently live. The cheapest house here is $333,172. If I move to a place like east of Svendborg, which is a city on the island of Funen, I can get a bigger house for $19831. I just need to start planning the details of my future business. What should I haul? Packages? Explosives? Hazardous materials? No, definitely not explosives or hazardous materials. They require special containers, which are expensive. Plus, I don't think a civilian like me can get that kind of containers. Unless I also take an ADR certificate, which the school offers as well. Hm. I still have four years to decide what I want to haul. In the meantime, I can lay out a terms and conditions, pricing and what else I need. I might also sketch the first website draft in photoshop, since I am quite good at that.. Or so I tell myself.. The photoshop bit, that is.

So many things to plan, and a long time to do it as well! It's gonna be so exciting!

Part of my business is remodeling old cabinets to look like new cabinets. It's the part I wish I didn't have to do. The process requires removing old doors and hinges, re-laminating the face and edges with new material (that's where the name relam comes from) and installing new doors.
For years, I've seen reviews in the newspaper home section that you can do a kitchen relam for a fraction of the price for new cabinets. Very deceiving as the estimates I've been working with are nearly 80% of the cost of new cabinets. I suppose it's a fraction, but not the fraction people are expecting.

This type of work is very labor intensive for the installer, lots of detail for the salesman who is usually the person taking measurements of the existing doors and ordering all new ones.
Door size, hand of swing, location of hinge holes. All these details are critical.

Usually the main reason for doing a relam is to keep the existing countertop and backsplash. If I can get around it I'll sell new upper cabinets and only relam the base cabinets. That make for less work on the installer and less custom parts to order.

Last week I saw a client to measure for a relam. He wanted to know a 'ball park' price for the work. I counted doors, panels & miscellaneous parts and guesstimated a range of $18,000 to $20,000. He queried me and I said, approximate, don't hold me to it until I actually work out the materials and labor.
He came in yesterday and I was at $19,000 with a basic 'shaker style' door and he selected a raised panel door bringing the price to $21,000. He will make a decision over the weekend. Actually, there is a third option... have a finisher come and paint the entire kitchen. While that's out of my scope, I'd be okay if he goes though way.

Some of my clients ask why I dislike doing relams and my response is like asking your dentist to crown and cap a mouth full of rotten teeth. Are you sure you want a relam?

Seeing dozens of Amazon trucks on the road after dark has become normal. Since the pandemic people are less likely to store shop and more purchases are made online now. Last Saturday, I ordered batteries from a supplier who sent confirmation on Sunday. I know their sales department staff work from home now and it appears they have crews in the warehouse day and night so things get done with the work force spread out. Maybe they had 10 people packing orders for the day shift and now it's 5 in the day and 5 in the night... less interaction and less chance of them passing virus.
The batteries arrived FedEx on Thursday. Normally, I would have to pay extra for that kind of service.
I did order a computer Monday that was confirmed for Friday UPS delivery... Doubtful in my mind and checking the tracking number in the afternoon yesterday, the ship date was moved to Monday before 9pm. Not long ago that used to read 'by end of day' but so many deliveries have to be handled they have extended package deliveries into the night.
After dark deliveries are expected a week before Christmas, it's become the new normal.

A woman called looking for a full bathroom renovation and was dissatisfied with the price and treatment from a nearby firm. The lead came to me so I was dispatched to her place to see what she wants and gather enough information to create an estimate. Estimates are free.

The entire meeting was prefaced with "My budget is thirty thousand and not a penny more."

I went to her house, took measurements, listed some of the points for her design, made a followup appointment at our showroom to go over the layout and prices. She came in and we showed her drawings and a line item for everything we can do and keep the price within her budget. Everything is transparent. No hidden charges.

We did good and I worked a design that was just around $28 thousand.

She looks over the layout. Decides on a more expensive door style, more expensive bathroom fixtures, add more drawers to the layout. that brings us right up to $30 thousand.

We don't supply lighting so she would have to purchase 4 of her own fixtures (that we will install) and they could be as low as $50 each to $250 each if she buys something ornate.

One issue is her want to change a swing door to the water closet into a pocket door.
The existing opening would have to be completely rebuilt, electric moved, new door, pocket door cage with sliding track installed. I explained while it's not in my normal scope, I have a carpenter who could do the work but I'm estimating the cost to be around $1,600 and that's taking her over the budget.

The woman's mood changed and she became angry. I explained every thing is clearly listed and she has choices to simplify the layout, choose less expensive fixtures and forget about the pocket door. I'm offering choices.

She waved a check in front of us thinking we would come down in price and my associate explained she needs to go home and make some decisions. We priced what she asked for with options and cannot bend a few thousand to make the deal.

With a huffy attitude we couldn't come down to her price, she wanted to take our design drawings on leaving. The estimate is free, giving away drawings that took a few hours to make isn't.

After she left, my boss wanted to know the outcome of the meeting and we told him the details. His comment was it's better she walked as his experience is customers who are difficult in the beginning are like that through the entire job.

My associate and I sold 2 kitchen remodels this week and meeting a client for a bathroom remodel today. Lots of work to get it done. Lots more to process the shop drawings, material lists and place orders. I'm doing 6 days a week and a few late nights...

Happy Friday!

i play the only lottery where by you do not ever lose your stake money ,,,,it must be the only lottery in the world where you can win up to a million every month and never lose your stake ,,whats the catch well if you invested that money you would earn interest ,,but the way the bank rates are then you would not miss much ,,
it may be a high stakes game for some people ,,as the starting price is one hundred pounds or dollars ,and the upper limit is 50.000 pounds or dollars obviously the more you invest the greater your chance of the million ,,which is also tax free all winnings are tax free,,the lowest prize is 25 pounds or dollars then it increases upwards 50,,100,,500,,1000,,,5000,,,10,000,,,25,000 ,,50.000,,,100,000,,,and the big one 1,000,000,,,,

on my first investment i worked out the interest that i received via prizes and it equated to 20 percent ,,but that was when the upper limit was 25,000 pounds,,, but now the sharks have joined the pool which tells you exactly how good it is as they all invest the max and still earn a pretty penny or two out of it ,,,,

Today from USA Today;

Saturation of photos on the internet is logarithmic. Take someone with a Facebook account posting a single photo that a hundred people 'like' adding to their accounts and you now have a hundred identical photos on the internet, who spread that to another hundred who spread that to another hundred. Digital Pandemic (you can quote me on that)
Do the same with the websites Pinterest or Houzz and one photo turns into a gazillion clones on the internet.
Clients come to me with examples of furnishings/designs they see online and ask me to reproduce that in their houses. Small problem when they see a 15' by 25' kitchen design and want it to fit their 8' by 9' space.
Of course that make me look like the bad guy to tell then it's not possible to fit all those things into their kitchen.
"But, I showed you a photo of what I want" said one client.