A new direction with a Rod and Custom Shop

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
A boy with his toys. I'm envious.


Of what, my new wheelchair? They won't like me too much when I roll this thing through Walmart. That grapple was worth every penny. Great for moving those slow electric carts out of the way when they are blocking the aisle.
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Oops Mommy, barn fall down and go boom.
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Almost a Viking Funeral. Look close and you can see a face or skull in the flames.
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Made a lot of progress today.
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Sheet metal for my SIL boyfriend to haul off.
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pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
A quick update. Been doing nothing but pulling a couple stumps, a lot of debris cleanup, pushing dirt around and waiting. The building is supposed to be delivered June 1st. Right now I'm waiting for sand clay to be delivered and the concrete work is supposed to start monday.

The biggest headache so far has been finding a good concrete contractor that can do this kind of slab. Boy have I run across a bunch of wannabes. A couple guys showed up and said I had to rent them all of the equipment to do the job, another shows up and wants me to set up the forms and rebar and he'll only put down the concrete, another that has a good reputation hasn't returned my calls for 3 weeks and is never there when I show up at the office, had one show up here drunk as hail and stumbling around telling me I didn't need a building permit... he showed up uninvited, he heard I was putting up a building and just showed up one day and had a couple that didn't speak english too well that couldn't read the foundation plans.


This is where I'm at.
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Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Mike, are you sure you don't live in California??? No one speaks english and most won't call you back and they are all hurting for work. Drunk, well thats another bucket of worms.
 

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
It's been educational to say the least Bob. The guy I wanted to do the Job finally called me back......... 5 minutes after I went to his office, picked up my blueprints from his secretary and told them I hired somebody else.

Should be pouring concrete this week. The crew I hired usually only does commercial and government work and was between jobs and jumped on mine.

Set up the forms and leveled the pad yesterday. Dug all the footings and started putting in rebar today. Termite inspection and treatment tomorrow morning and if all goes well the rest of the rebar, moisture barrier, anchor bolts and wire mesh goes in tomorrow, then it's ready for inspection and concrete.


5 Loads of sand clay. I actually had this leveled with the skid steer to within 2" in the 50' span by only eyeballing it. Not too bad for a rookie.
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Forms up and footings dug
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1st row of rebar started
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Big 4'x6' footing for the front center column and the wind shear bracing up front by the doors. No wind load cable bracing on this side of the building.
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This is the large 4' x 4' footing for the center rear column. Took a foot of compacted clay sand to bring the pad to level at the rear of the building.
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pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
What no in-ground heating? Or does it not get cold in NC?

Waste of money here. A couple electric or propane heaters will heat the shed just fine down here. I was born and raised in Michigan and have been to Yellowknife NWT in the middle of winter, they don't know what cold is down here. January is our coldest month Avg low is 31, avg high is 52. The record low here was -1 Jan 1985 and the record high here was 106 July 1940. Ground doesn't freeze here either.
 

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
The new shop is really starting to take shape now after months of planning, design, finding good contractors and waiting.

A last minute thrash to put in the last few pieces of rebar this morning while waiting for the building inspector to give his blessing. We forgot to put in the second layer of rebar in the big wind shear footing and he stayed a few minutes to allow us to correct it so it passed inspection and get the concrete in. A 4' x 6' layer of rebar doesn't take long with 8 people on it. This is the only footing that gets 2 layers of rebar. I must give many thanks to the Sampson County building inspector Tony Watson here as he is patient and willing to give a rooky like me the guidence and explain things so I can do things myself correctly.

We just finished up so I'll get pics of the finished slab tomorrow.

This is the big footing that gets a the wind shear brace on the steel column.
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All ready to go with rebar, welded wire mesh, anchor bolts, hairpin bars around the anchor bolts and moisture barrier.
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Ready to pour.
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1st pour.
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pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
Thank you Neil.

Slab is almost complete. They are supposed to be here tomorrow to rip down the forms. Just have to hurry up and wait for the new building to arrive in 10 days now.

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Moose

Well-known member
Looks like a beefy slab. How thick is it?

Wonder if those guys were pulling the wwm up into the concrete 1/3 of the slab thickness and just didn't leave it sitting on the ground?
 

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
Looks like a beefy slab. How thick is it?

Wonder if those guys were pulling the wwm up into the concrete 1/3 of the slab thickness and just didn't leave it sitting on the ground?

4" thick, 3000 psi, footings are 18" thick. Yes they pulled the welded wire mesh.
 

Moose

Well-known member
4" thick, 3000 psi, footings are 18" thick. Yes they pulled the welded wire mesh.

Good to hear.

I spent many years yelling at the concrete placers to "pull the wire".

Looking forward to watching the progress on your project. And I love your new "treat of the week" skidsteer. I would love to have one of those. You did good with your trailer too.
 

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
Good to hear.

I spent many years yelling at the concrete placers to "pull the wire".

Looking forward to watching the progress on your project. And I love your new "treat of the week" skidsteer. I would love to have one of those. You did good with your trailer too.

Did pretty good on the skid steer, attachments and trailer. Skidder only has 2900 hrs on it. Have only $9670 into everything.

Trailer $800
Skid Steer $6150 w/ NC sales tax
Root grapple, pallet forks and stump grapple $1970
4 new tires for skid steer $650
2 hyd hoses and misc parts for minor repairs $100
 

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
Form boards are pulled up and I leveled and packed the dirt around the slab. I'm putting 15 tons (approximatly 10 cubic yards) of #57 stone and 300' of Dupont Pro weed barrier around the building. 4' wide on both sides and the rear and 8' wide up front. Have enough left over to put in a 30' sidewalk from the barn to the patio too. Was run off by a thunderstorm and wind this afternoon so I'll finish this up tomorrow.

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Moose

Well-known member
You are doing a "Pro" job.

I can tell you only do things one way. . . . . The right way.

As a Civil Engineer your work is a pleasure to watch. (Although we make more money when poor Contractors, Lawyers and Insurers are around. LoL If everyone's work was up to your standard there would be no demand for inspections.)

Looking forward to seeing more pictures as the project progresses.
 

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
Thanks Moose.

I can't afford to mess this up. One thing I learned as a shipfitter working on submarines for 2 years is you only have one chance to get it right. My goal is to finish this 30'x50' building for $30k... Yep $20 per square foot, It's going to be close but I am on target.


Funny you should mention making more money off poor workmanship. I was poking around an engineering forum a couple weeks ago to better understand what the hairpin bars around the anchor bolts were for in the slabs for these pre engineered buildings and one of the guys there made a crack that he makes more money with "post-engineered" buildings than he does pre-engineered buildings.
 
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Bighurt

Well-known member
Did pretty good on the skid steer, attachments and trailer. Skidder only has 2900 hrs on it. Have only $9670 into everything.

Trailer $800
Skid Steer $6150 w/ NC sales tax
Root grapple, pallet forks and stump grapple $1970
4 new tires for skid steer $650
2 hyd hoses and misc parts for minor repairs $100

Put a one in front of that number and you'd have a skid steer in ND. You'd still need all the remaining goodies...

I've been looking for a few years now, and you can't get into a gas skid steer for under $15k, new your looking at $30k+, same with dump trailers I can get a two dump trailers on the east coast for what one gets up here.

Building looks good.
 

pmmjarrett

Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
Put a one in front of that number and you'd have a skid steer in ND. You'd still need all the remaining goodies...

I've been looking for a few years now, and you can't get into a gas skid steer for under $15k, new your looking at $30k+, same with dump trailers I can get a two dump trailers on the east coast for what one gets up here.

Building looks good.

I'm tuned it to prices in ND right now. Prices on everything has gone sky high up there. Been thinking of advertising my Fleetwood fifth wheel up there at "normal nada retail" price for my area and delivering it up there for free. No Kidding.

I'll be selling the skid steer with the attachments in a couple months if you are interested. Just want to get out of it what I have into it.
 

jpdoggett

Well-known member
it’s official, i’m retired, again, and my freightliner haul and tow truck is sold. I’m looking for a new direction to make a couple bucks or at least break even so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and keep me busy doing something i love.

some of you may know i’m having some medical problems right now with horrible pain in my arms and shoulders and super sensitivity to cold temps in my hands due to peripheral neuropathy, the pain is pretty under control right now so we’ll see how things go. They did find 2 bulged discs in my neck. Good news is the neurosurgeon says i don’t need surgery after looking at the films and looking hard at my symptoms, instead of being like everyone else that just looked at the narration of them. He thinks i have parsonage-turner syndrome…. Oh goodie, another rare problem that nobody knows what caused it or how to fix it. Why can’t i just get something normal like a cold or flu like everybody else? Maybe it’s just because i’m special; my mom always told me that…special what however, she never said. Lol



many of you have watched me build 2 haul and tow trucks for the rv transport industry. What i did to those trucks is just a small fraction of what i am capable of. I am capable of building show quality custom cars and trucks including the paint and body work and have the tools to do it…and now have the time and funds to do something i always wanted to do, which is have my own rod and custom shop. I ain’t working on anybody’s stuff but mine in the shop. Nope, i don’t want to see other peoples stuff at all in my shop unless i built it. If someone brings me some broke honda ricer wanting me to fix the brakes or whatever, my shop labor rate will be $500.00 per hour straight time for every minute it’s sitting in my shop taking up valuable floor space with ha minimum charge of 1 hr.


there is a pretty good niche market for well done custom resto-mods that are built well enough to be reliable daily drivers that didn’t tank like the rest of the economy and america has had a strong love affair with their cars for many years, there are a lot of people that love to drive their rides and not just save them for show, and many are willing to pay well for something “different”.

that said, i’m researching what i want to do for my first project. I want to build a late 30’s to mid 50’s ford coe on a modern e series 250 – 450 chassis with a 7.3 powerstroke diesel, auto tranny, hydroboost 4 wheel disc brakes, room for the entire family by adding a sleeper with a custom interior or converting it into a crew cab and be able to be used to haul a show car, tow a trailer or might even just go with a pickup bed so you could take it to lowe’s and haul the lumber home if you wanted too. The early step side beds look great with these cabs as do modified superduty beds if you blend them in correctly. Modern superduty front bumpers can be blended in also.

keep things simple, clean, smooth, classy and like the factory might have done it if the technology existed 50 – 70 years ago. Make it easy to repair and get most parts at the local parts store or repairs at a ford dealer if needed on the road. Make it easy and comfortable to drive with all the creature comforts everyone expects today. Rebuild the entire chassis and driveline so it drives and is reliable like a new car, something that you wouldn’t be afraid to drive across the country and back.

those old coe trucks are ugly beasts, but done right they are uber cool rides. Anybody can do a pickup cab; the coe cabs are much rarer.

if i build it, she will be for sale as soon as it’s finished so i can move forward and build another one.

yep, that’s what’s bouncing around inside my head right now for those that are brave enough to venture there.

now i just have to locate a good, solid and straight 30’s to 50’s ford coe at the right price and get it in the shop…right after i finish cleaning it out from the mess i made modifying the deck on the freightliner.


some of my favorites.

Nice clean crew cab conversion and matching pickup bed.
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nice crew cab conversion with a hauler bed and a molded in superduty front bumper.
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a couple nice clean pickup conversion
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how about a ford superduty bed that could be used daily blended in. They could have done some more to match body lines to the cab but overall not bad, not bad at all.
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how about a hauler body to tote your rv or horse trailer around.
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thanks for your service
 
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