On the Move
We’re moving, again. But not in the manner that we were originally planning.
Starting in November, our plan was to buy some land and build a house on it that would work for us, the business, and Christine’s future horses. We found the land, and put a deposit on it, but the house-building ended up not working out in our (admittedly short) timeframe, despite our builder’s original assurance that it was feasible. Fortunately, it became clear that he was being rather optimistic before we’d gone very far in the process, and we were able to back out of that plan without much financial investment.
Office Move
With that possibility off the table, the best option for my business was to lease some office space. I would’ve loved to not have to deal with that expense for a while longer yet so as to eliminate all of the business debt, but I think (now) that this is the better long-term plan.
As it turned out, the office space that worked out best for me is in the same area as the medical company where I used to work, which amuses me. It’s not the space for rent that’s directly across the road (which would have been quite something), but it’s only a couple minutes away.
That space should be big enough to last me at least three years. Since I have a three-year lease, that’ll be important. On the production side of things, it would take an incredible amount of growth (at least eightfold) before that space would become confining, assuming no major changes in my business model — I’ve left plenty of room for more and larger equipment, and upgraded the electrical to be able to handle the load. There’s also a lot more storage. It does lack a loading dock, which isn’t critical yet, but it probably would’ve been a deal-breaker if there had been any other space in the area with a dock that wasn’t an enormous warehouse (or run-down and with a rather loose definition of what constitutes a loading dock).
Once I hire a programmer or two, the space might become more problematic. In that scenario, it might be best for me to try and get some space elsewhere in the same building or the one next door, so as to provide more sound isolation than I could get in any layout where the programmer(s) is/are sharing walls with the production area. At least initially, though, I have an extra room that could very easily become an office for one or two programmers, and we can see how it works out, noise-wise. Part-time telecommuting might also be an option, or encouraging the programmers and production folks to work different hours.
Right now, the place is in the process of getting some electrical work, construction work, and painting done before I move in for the beginning of March. Everything seems to be going smoothly there (the electrical work is done, the construction’s moving along nicely, and the painting is in process), which is a welcome change from the house-building process. One of two Internet lines is already in place, the printer move is scheduled, and stuff is gradually getting moved over, so on the big move day, there shouldn’t be a whole lot to move.
(Oh, and if you happen to read a press release from the realtor about the space, don’t believe anything it says I said — I had no part in it. It’s a decent space, but the words I’m quoted as saying were completely made up, and the supposed strong points of the space were almost entirely the weak points, in my view. And the press release misspells my company name four or five times, though it does get it right once.)
Home Move
What with the office moving out of the house again, we no longer need a house anywhere near this big, so we started to look for smaller, cheaper places. Christine found some apartments that seem to be rather nicely maintained, decked out with amenities, and new (just built in 2004). We had a look at the complex, liked what we saw, and picked out one apartment design (out of four) that we wanted to pursue.
Out of the small number of apartments that met the criteria we set, one just came open, so we decided to jump on it rather than wait and hope that one would be available when our lease is up (only one of the others is even up for renewal by then, so the odds weren’t good). That’s going to mean a little more double rent than we’d like, but there’s also the chance that our current place can get re-rented early, in which case we can end that lease sooner. There was also a discount on the new lease, what with this being a slow time of year.
Since utilities are going to be quite a bit cheaper for us in the new place, we’ve decided to move there sooner rather than later, which works out to be next Saturday, i.e. even before the office gets moved.
That’s going to make for a very busy couple of weeks, though it’s not as compressed as our last move, thankfully!
