12/14/2017
This is what we are up to!
There are many platitudes to describe the three people below. They aren’t strangers to me, though we did just recently meet.
This is Neal, Garrett, and Drew and for the past 5 months they’ve been working on the biggest project that I’ve personally ever undertaken.
For those who only know me from this page, I created a real estate company in 2013 that aimed to rethink how we tackle urban development, neighborhood revitalization, and smart growth. There have been ups and downs, but generally speaking, we do interesting things.
Earlier this year, we bought a house at an auction, site unseen, and started looking for a contractor. It was a smallish job, around $60,000, but it had an accelerated timeline. That’s when we found Neal and his brother Drew, owners of MBM Construction Services along with their cousin Garrett. The job went great.
A month or so later we received a bid for the completion of our massive rehab in Schenectady known as the Foster Complex. It’s basically rebuilding an entire City block.
The bid was $1 million too high. I asked Neal what he thought. He said “we can do it”, and so we went. I wish it were more dramatic than that, but I go with my gut every time, even when prudence dictates otherwise.
Things were going well until about 6 weeks ago when life struck, as it will. This time in the form of government. You see the tax reform plan you’re all reading about changes- depending on the final plan- the way Historic Tax Credits can be used. In a typical year this is something we’d grin and bear. But this isn’t a typical year. The change that may happen (it’s December 14th and we still don’t know what the end result will be) could cripple my company if we don’t finish this project by December 31st.
I’m not a complainer. It never helps. I went to Neal, explained the situation, and asked a very simple question.
“How do we finish, in 8 weeks, what we thought was going to take 5 months?”
Ever the optimist, he said, “we got this.” He put together a plan, gave me the cost, and since that day, we set out to do the impossible.
It’s been chaotic. The wrong hard wood floors were delivered. The wrong vanities. Floors didn’t line up as they should on plans, plumbing stacks needed to be moved. And shockingly my first gray hair appeared in my beard.
I write to you today having no earthly idea if we are going to finish. We have 15 days.
This story though is to express gratitude no matter the outcome. Neal, Garrett, and Drew have put their lives on hold to try and accomplish the impossible. As have everyone they work with They are working difficult hours in difficult conditions as a time of year when most people are cozying up with their families and enjoying the holidays.
On my end, I’ve had no time for personal relationships, which I know conflicts with people’s views, because I’ve managed to put out a story on this site every day.
We will be working Christmas Eve. We will be working Christmas. They all have families, some with young kids. And I wrestle with the Ebenezer Scrooge vision of all of that. How do you thank people who are trying to rescue you?
I took the $100 that Do The Next Good Thing was supposed to give out and joined them for dinner. A rare respite for an hour. We talked hopefully of things to come.
There’s a thousand lessons in this story, I could probably write about them for a year and never repeat. But the most important one today is the notion that you should be receptive to new people coming into your life.
Too often we believe we’ve met everyone we will meet that will change our lives, but that is not true. Each day is a new opportunity to learn something from someone.
And they may even end up saving your life. Or at least trying.
