Whatever the case, the first large check has been issued. Part 1 of land clearing is done. Part 2 is dozer work. I am waiting on a quote on that, I just met with the contractor at the property. He's trying to save some money for start up costs and I can't help but think about his suggestions. Using the existing driveway for the beginning would save probably 10 grand right off the bat. I hesitated to use it because it's the gas company road. Yet, there is very little traffic on it. Just one pickup truck per day and occasionally a few other companies going in there. I'm going to think about it.
He also suggested dozer work on just the portion of the property that needs to be done for the first 14 pads. I mean, getting those trees down, the size of this rather huge expanse of property is much more than I really expected. I knew it was a quarter mile long, but now being able to actually see all of it.....
So his proposals are to use the existing driveway - which cuts out half the amount of new driveway I need to build and simply just get the dozer work done on the portion of property that needs to be done for the lots. There's probably a 20 grand savings there, maybe more. Maybe much more, probably nothing less than that. Instead of 1,400 feet of dozer work, we get around 450 of it done. These are decisions I will make based on my money supply.
I can say after cutting a 12 thousand dollar check? I'm going to rethink this a bit. It's going to disappear quickly if I go the route I intended on going. The dozer work wasn't anything I had thought I would need to pay extra for. I don't blame the contractor, it's ignorance on my part. The contractor gave me the lowest bid on land clearing of all of them, easily, hands down. I could -and may - get a second quote on the dozer work, but based on all of the quotes I've received for everything else? It's highly unlikely this guy is going to be beaten in price. His knowledge through experience of building parks is also worth a mint in itself.
He said he doesn't have a bobcat for clearing trails but he has a contractor he uses whenever he needs work like that done, of which he texted me the man's phone number and then cautioned me: a lot of these mulching companies around here don't do it right. They will run over a small tree, mulch part of it and left the rest laying there. That isn't the way mulching is supposed to be done. I agree. There should be nothing but a pile of - mulch - laying there, not a tree trunk. I'm not going to get a bunch of quotes on that, it shouldn't cost more than a couple thousand dollars with an experienced operator to clear through a trail that isn't any wider than the machinery being used to make the trails. At most a days worth. But, I will probably have a driveway mulched in to tent camping sites. So that will up the price.
But I think for now, I'm going to wait and get these pads done. Meaning the driveways, the pads, the utilities. Or mostly done anyway, and then get my building and get started on that. I just want one building if I can get away with it that has a bathroom, a shower room and a small laundry facility, get that all in one building and hopefully have a little space left over for a small office where I can put all the wifi hardware. I am planning on all transactions being done on the internet.
My focus in attracting clients is going to be on amenities. Dog park, walking trails, hopefully a fishing pond right off the bat and still wanting that pool. The pool would need a loan and it isn't on the top of the priority list, but it's on there. Things for people to do. I'm not sure how any of this is going to turn out, I'm feeling my way through this. I'd really rather have the entire plot of dozer work done right off the bat.
I would really love to put in some cabins as well. Those are money makers beyond RV spots - of course they cost a lot more money. I see them at lost of the parks that wanted to find other ways to increase revenues and it's a no brainer for those that have either the working capital to build them outright or get the loans needed.
There's lots of things swirling around in my head about this venture, right now? I'm waiting on a quote to do the blade work. One thing I won't change my mind on, at least for these first 14 spots, is the 40 feet weed aspect. That is non-negotiable in my mind, it's one of the biggest complaints you will see: ROOM. Smaller lots can come in the future, a bit less wide, maybe 35 or even 30 feet and less length since many rigs are not that long and don't need that much space.
So there it is, for a Monday. Addler is at the animal hospital, I would assume by now the operation is done and over with and he will be recovering. They figured they wouldn't call me to come get him until he is fully awake. Good, because I don't really want to have to try and lift him into that SUV. Right now? No news is good news, meaning there weren't any complications for if there were, I would have heard about it by now. He hasn't passed away, it's all good. He was very friendly this morning with everyone, that was a good sign at least. Hopefully get him back into not having a painful growth on his butt and feeling whatever pain or discomfort that must have been giving him.
And finally, my credit dump 79 points again. Credit scores are complicated, at least the way they determine it. In this case, my thought was that your overall credit use being less than 30% is good, less than 10% is optimal. Over 30% and yes, your score will take a dive. What they do NOT tell you is that you can't have individual cards over that 30% threshold, either. So, if you have a low limit credit card and you basically use it for anything, good luck with that.
It took me a minute to figure this out today. Look at Credit Karma and then click on "see what changed" and then go through everything. 3 of them said "balance decreased by", 1 of them said account paid off/closed and then the culprit: I paid something for $599 on it plus I had around $500 on it already and it showed "using 49%" on it. That's it. This stuff sometimes eludes me, they don't actually tell you a lot of specifics. You have to figure it out. So, I paid that down to less than 30% of card use and that should change my score back up the 79% I lost.
We'll see, but I'm pretty sure that's what caused the nose dive. You go from excellent to fair range in one, fell swoop. Ridiculous. Not like I've missed any payments on anything in over 3 years. Over all credit usage is well below 20%. I can't have this stuff, not if I'm going to get a pool loan or personal loan if I need one to finish off the setup. Which is why I am probably going to take this guy's advice and just use the existing driveway. I've got loan offers for personal loans, one of which is particularly appealing - but only if I need it.
Well I'm going to end this one. I did get a $533 credit from Bank of America for using my points towards the vacation. Which is good, lol, that wasn't a cheap vacation. San Antonio Riverwalk area is a tourist trap with tourist trap pricing. Next vacation I'd like to simply rent a cabin by a lake and have a bit more natural outing and much less expensive.
G'day.
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