Shafted hsb, but not down a mine shaft...

I been shafted alright, you know, sort of. But I done it to myself. I've been busier than a three legged cat. I started a new engineering and design company back in July. In early December I got a chance to put in an estimate for a job for a company who I never expected would do business with us simply because they were so big (major world-wide conglomerate), and we were so small, new, and basically unknown, but had been recommended to them through a friend, of a friend, of a friend. At first I was like "I'm wasting my time. We'll never get this." Then it was "Holy moley... what if we do get it?" Then it was "Oh crap... we got it. I wonder what I left out of the estimate?"

Turns out our "smallness" was part of what attracted us to them. They knew there were going to be a lot of challenges, and changes to the project as it progressed, and they felt that we could respond to the changes faster than a big company, and stay on track with the schedule. Small job (for them), tiny in fact (for them), high visibility, fast track. Though I am not sure they realized just how small, and new we were, as nobody ever came by the office to check and see before they gave us the contract. It was just me, and one other guy, my brother, working when we put in our bid, and our small office could only seat four to five people if we crammed one more in.

This is where we started. In my garage actually. Hey, everybody has to start someplace, right?



Then when it became apparent we were going to get the job we had just three weeks to build-out working space for another four to five folks, bringing to a total of nine people on the job. Luckily I had the spare space, just needed to build some walls, rock, tape, float, paint, hang a drop ceiling, drop in some lights, re-do the entire electrical service, re-do the plumbing (needed a coffee bar), lay some carpet, buy several truck loads of computers, monitors, software, tables, chairs, and other assorted supplies, interview, and hire three engineers, and four designers... and we were good to go. We did the build-out ourselves with the help of one other guy, and were set-up, and moving into our new space in three weeks. I've been on 7-10's and 12's for about four months now as a result.

Above is where we started, and the following is the progression... with a skip to the end

This is my shop where I work(ed) on my cars. You can see the original office, and the restroom, as well as the electrical which we would replace with a 200 amp service. In this photo we had already moved most everything off of the right side wall to make room for the new office area to extend straight back toward us in this view.



Looking rearward. It was cold. Notice the area heater running.



And so it began. That's my brother (the other guy) in the background there, and our friend (the other, other guy) who helped us with this build-out. We are on the second day into the build-out here.



Third day in, insulation is done.



Six days in, the walls are rocked, taped, floated, and the doors are going up. Notice the fan in the middle of the floor. It was hot. That's Houston.



And this is where we skip forward as I was to busy to take pictures while installing the ceiling, and stuff, after "the guys" finished painting. Basically three weeks to complete, and a couple of days of moving in at this point.



Added a couple of more engineering computers along that wall over the next day or so.



All important coffee bar, and looking back into the original office area.



Coat rack and restroom.



At this point I had one week to man the project, ready to go balls to the wall. Two days after the project started, and everybody was heads down, and tails up working... the client made a surprise visit.

Their comment was "Nice little office, and it sure looks like everybody is busy. We're looking forward to doing even more work with you".

Yes!

Still got a few weeks to go on the project. Really ain't done squat in my spare time. Because, you know, I'm kind'a lazy.

Gridleak

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