Thursday Ramble: One of My Careers

I made a comment on Going Gently about having built my first home in 1982, and John wanted to know more about that career in my life.  Just one of a few things I have done over the years. 

 

I sometimes still struggle to answer the question, "what do you want to do when you grow up?"  I was raised on a funny farm, and my earliest tax returns were for farm work.  I made a little money after high school as a commercial photographer.  Then it was time to think of something different. 

My parents enrolled me in a class to get a real estate brokers license for Christmas one year.  I finished the class, passed the test, and at about 20 years old, tried my hand at a general real estate brokerage.  I was young, inexperienced, insecure.  It was a challenge. 

I stopped at McDonalds one morning and got to talking with an older guy who worked in the same office. Prior to trying to sell houses, I was taking archetural photos for a couple of small local builders.  He could see I was unhappy, and he suggested I try working for builders.  When the space program was growing like crazy in the 1960's he had worked for a builder out of Orlando for a couple of years.  He gave me a name and phone number and said to tell them he sent me.  

I called.  They answered the phone! And said, "no, sorry we have all of the people we need, but I had lunch with George and he is desperate, call him and tell him I sent you."  Two days later I had an interview, then spent an afternoon racing after George as he toured me around the projects they had going on around town.  He made me an offer, I said yes, and the next thing I knew I was spending 50 hours a week, learning the ins and outs of home building.  It was a fairly small family owned company, we built about 100-125 homes a year.  The founder had married an heiress, and invested in land around the Orlando area.  Most of the property we built on, we also developed.  In time I would find myself deep in the swamp watching storm drains and sewers being buried 20-30 feet deep. Our approach was you had to know how it was built to sell it.  Everyone who sold, knew how it was built, the people who supervised construction, knew how to sell.  

A couple of years into it, in 1982 I built a house for myself.  A 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 942 square feet of living area, an oversized one car garage on a 75 by 100 foot lot.  The style could best be described as Taco Bell Revival, the front had three stucco arches on a small covered front porch.  I took to home ownership like a duck to water.  I did landscaping, built shelves in the garage, a privacy screen around the patio. I wallpapered the kitchen.  I only owned it a couple of years.  During those two years we did a section with duplexes, two family dwellings, side by side.  I built one, my middle brother owns half of it.  My ex received the other half as part of our split, it was sold a couple of years later.  

We moved on from the first house to a larger semi custom house around the corner from a relatively famous country club.  I really took the reigns on building that one, redesigning the kitchen, custom trim and doors, an oversized enclosed patio, custom tile work, and custom windows.  Most of the suppliers and subcontractors owed me favors for covering up for their indiscretions.  I finished it in 72 days from the day the building permit was issued and we cleared the lot, to passing the final inspection and turning the power on.  The builder couldn't quite believe that it was finished that fast, and the custom changes that I had made.

I kept that one about ten years.  I sold it when we moved to Lexington, and when I left the building business.    

There were parts of the work that I loved.  A couple of the projects I did gave me great flexibility to make the house fit the whims of the buyer.  I still marvel at some of the things we did.  And there was one project near the University of Central Florida that was volume.  I built nearly 100 homes in a little over a year in that one. I still stop and stare at building sites.  I miss the smell of drywall being finished - a sour smell - that meant we were about 30 days away from finishing the job.  

It was also overwhelming work.  The amount of money involved in developing land and building brings a pressure to return a profit.  The market was competitive and margins were tight.  When the market was soft, everyone was beat up by the pressure.  After three years in a down-cycle in the market, I was ready for a change.  And my sweet bear got a job offer, I agreed to sell and move without seeing where I was moving to.  No regrets, the best move I ever made. But  I still miss walking building sites first thing in the morning.