36 Pages?

The much-anticipated, long-awaited, and near-elusive lease for the Buttonwood space hit my Inbox today.  And for someone dubbed "Silent Stan", there were a whole lot of words for leasing a 1,000 square foot rectangle.  In fact, there was 36 pages worth of things to say.  THIRTY-SIX PAGES.  I don't have 36 consecutive pages of things to say about very many things, especially with many subparts and heretos. In short, the lease looked pretty much as I anticipated...except for one thing.  We get the $18,000 but not until all the work is completed and all the subcontractors have filled out a lien release on the property.  So basically, we float the costs of the work done by paying the subcontractors and then once we are up and running and open for business, we can submit for our costs to be reimbursed.

Huh.

Well played, Stan.

Honestly, I thought it would be as easy as The Kroenke Group writing us a check for $18,000. Bonus if they also gave us one of those big cardboard checks like we were major award winners.  And some balloons.  And cake.  Just because we make pie doesn't mean we aren't above cake.  And punch.

 But if I've learned anything about this entire process, it is that it won't be easy.  I have expressed some concerns about this process to Mel because honestly, I'm not sure if we have the liquid cash to float all the costs AND all the equipment AND signage AND starting ingredients AND the 1,000 things I probably haven't thought about yet.  I think Stan needs a refresher course on starting a business on a budget because if one of us in this game can afford to float some cash for a few months, it is Stan without question.  

I sent the lease back to Mel with some changes, some questions, and some additional thoughts.  Hopefully he will send it back tomorrow and we will get closer to an agreed-upon document and sign on Wednesday.  Considering we have to initial all 36 pages and sign in at least two different places, I'll be sure to reserve off a two-hour chunk of time at Mel's office.

In other blog news of interest (and in pursuit of transparency), Contractor Steve is no longer.  Well, he is physically fine as far as I know (and hope), but no longer on the pie-making train with us.  A long story short, we couldn't quite agree on some key items for this whole project.  We still like Contractor Steve very much, but we have a budget to maintain.  So, here we are with a lease to sign and no contractor.  We are working on bids from other contractors and putting a little thought into maybe trying to find all the subcontractors ourselves.

Pros to contracting the project ourselves:

1. Cheaper
2. We have legit reasons to own and use a clipboard
3. It would be sorta awesome
4. We would learn a lot
5. We know our vision for the space and thus don't have to rely on someone else to create it
6. Excellent blog fodder

Cons to contracting the project ourselves:

1. We aren't contractors
2. I don't know anything about permits and am easily frustrated
3. Tool belts don't make you look svelte
4. So. Many. Details.
5. The unknown is always scary
6. Blog transparency would require the sharing of all the ups-and-downs (which could be hilarious and/or embarrassing)

Honestly, we are both really on the fence about what to do.  I've polled most of my inner circle people and it seems they are evenly split.  Thoughts?  Ideas?  Leave them in the comments here or email me at rebecca@pjpies.com.