Finding a GC (General Contractor)

 Good Morning, happy Saturday! We just got back from a wedding in Lake City, it was a really beautiful drive. I love the stretches of FL road near the panhandle that are carved through deep tall forests and hills, versus the more central FL highways that are super flat and uninteresting. I'm listening to Frank Ocean's Channel Orange on repeat, and drinking more of that great coffee I had last week from Black and White Roasters at Brew Five Points. 

On Thursday I had a demo meeting with Square.

I've used tons of Square hardware and software over the years, but it was nice to get a refresher on what's new. Two things that stood out to me were a KDS system (only about a year old now), and the ability to save multiple menus. Meaning we can keep a second tablet for viewing and marking tickets as complete on the bar, and secondary menus for events or seasonals can be swapped without re-arranging our entire POS. I don't know if I'll use either to begin with, but both are new welcome additions to what I'm familiar with.

Early this morning, I had our first GC survey the space.

In the 3 months that this space has belonged to me, no one I've worked with has wanted to enter the space. Even the architect who did our plans worked with just my pictures. I don't know if that says more about me or them, but it was kind of nice to be able to let someone in to the space for the first time. They didn't have too many more questions and we were able to knock them out, as always it's better to talk in person when you want to make intentions clear. I told them my budget and that I'd like to do the flooring and drop ceiling replacement myself. They said they'd get back to me in a week.

They also asked for a timeline, which like I said in our last blog would be breaking ground around thanksgiving, and doing the construction we can while we wait for city permit approval. I'm still waiting on a new draft of those papers from our architect/engineer, and another GC quote from the property manager's in house team. 

Once I have a couple of quotes and an idea of actual construction costs...

I get to redo all my paperwork with more concrete estimates. Which will tell me how much I need for a loan beyond what I have now. then it's really go time. In the meantime I'm going to get started on employee facing paperwork, more on that next week. 

Thanks for reading, -Elias