Shop is a commin'

[Robert Goodale]

Hello folks,

I've been intentionally delaying any announcement for quite some because 
there have been so many details and questionable resources, but I 
believe that this might be the appropriate time.  I am now well underway 
at building a full scale rebuilding shop.

A couple of years ago my wife and I began searching for a property. 
 After six months of realtors and driving all over Las Vegas we finally 
found an absolutely perfect location on 3/4 acre.  The house was only 
built in 1998, although it has needed numerous improvements thanks to an 
independent home contractor who apparently has a reputation for building 
nice houses with cheap features, (such as poor plumbing requiring me to 
re-plumb the entire place last summer).  Now that this and a variety of 
other nonsensical details have been addressed, we can turn our attention 
to our original objective.

We are building this facility from the ground up to our custom 
specifications.  This first step was to bring in exactly 100 18 wheel 
truck loads of dirt to level the property.  I got it super cheap, 
($20.00 a truck), after hooking up with a dirt contractor who had over 
300 truck loads to haul away.  Having leveled that out, we are ready to 
begin.  I am rapidly learning how expensive this will be, although I had 
a pretty good idea already.  We are required by the county to have a 
grading/plot plan. Last week we forked over $1,800.00 for that. 
 Yesterday our architect was here to get property information and go 
over our specifications. Fortunately we are saving major money on that 
because we are using an architecture student from the university  He is 
serving an internship for a firm and should be able to get the required 
signatures and stamps.  Normally this starts at about $3.00 per square 
foot and up, so we are really lucky to have him.  He also has to get a 
structural engineer to design the pad/slab and roof requirements, and we 
need an electrical engineering plan as well.  Then we need two 
independent soil tests to prove that the ground is stable, (stupid).

The facility will measure 2,000 Sq. Ft when completed, actually larger 
than our house!    It will include an office, a separate dust free room 
for rebuilding actions, and a rest room.  The remaining space will be 
open shop area.  There will be multiple windows and skylights for 
natural light.  The interior will be fully insulated with textured and 
finished walls.  We will have both 110 and 220 volt power via multiple 
outlets.  There will be a large compressor and vacuum system  located 
outside the building for noise reduction.  These will be plumbed 
throughout the shop for easy access. There will be a 10 ft. roll-up door 
on one end, a side entrance, and an outside entrance directly into the 
office. There will also be a utility sink.  Machinery planned includes: 
a large table saw, a full size drill press, a jointer,a  large band saw, 
a large buffer, and a combination vertical/disk sander.  We will also 
have the only soundboard press in Nevada.  Along with that goes the hot 
box and, eventually we hope to have a small spray booth.  Of course 
there will be LOTS of bench space and work tables.

We will be building the entire structure ourselves with the exception of 
the slab, (too big a job), and exterior stucco, (too big a mess).  My 
brother in law is a licensed contractor in California and has agreed to 
help us frame it.  We are using a truss design so the roof should be 
easy.  Eventually I hope to build a patio outside for additional work 
space for when the weather is nice, and we will have a concrete driveway 
that goes around the house to the roll up door.

When completed I believe that we should have a heck of a facility.  Alan 
Meyer and I will be running it as business partners under the name 
"Southwest Piano Technologies", (we already have embroidered shirts with 
a cool logo).  My wife will be our esteemed action rebuilder and 
official secretary.  Then of course to round it off is our black lab 
Joplin who will be the official "shop dog", (no piano shop should be 
without one).

So that's the official announcement.  We have a very long way to go, and 
by building it ourselves, the process will take quite some time.  Having 
said all of that, I would now like to open the floor for discussion.  If 
anyone has any suggestions or ideas before we finalize the blueprints, I 
would appreciate hearing about them.

Rob Goodale, RPT
Las Vegas, NV