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Saturday, February 28, 2009
He had a vision...
3:23 PM | Posted by
David |
As a young man, I would see my father sit at the dining room table with a large sheet of paper and a strange ruler and draw a set of house plans. I used to see the scrap paper with line after line of numbers and math that I simply couldn't understand. I was always anxious to see the rendering section of these drawings. It so fascinated me that someone could draw something they had never seen before. I often got the job of going out on the porch to an old pencil sharpener that was mounted on the wall and bring his drawing pencils to a fine point.
When I decided to remodel the small cottage I had purchased on the river, others begin to look at me like I was crazy. How are you going to do this? Why are you going to do that? What's that going to look like? In my mind, I knew before I drove the first nail.
Recently, my oldest son made a very difficult decision to go out on his own and open his own Chiropractic clinic. When he came to me on a Sunday afternoon this past October, I could see the look on his face, and in his eyes...it was time. I also know the difficulty of doing so. I promised him I'd support and help in anyway I could. So we set out to find a place to lease for his new office.
For someone starting out on their own, so much has to be considered to prevent built-in failure. Leasing commerical property can be so very expensive and come with a tremendous overhead. You read and hear so much the saying that the three things to business success is "location, location and location". This is so true and became a predominate player in this venture. But he found one. It was a recently closed Domino Pizza Shop. When we met the landlord at the site the first time, I stood in the background and instantly put my mind into a builders mode. I was going through more math and structures than I could sort. I was also very concerned from what I was seeing. The landlord asked him what he was going to put in the space. He then said he didn't think it would work. But my son looked at me...and then to him and said "It will work, I have a vision. "
We measured and discussed, and then measured some more, and finally a contract for this location on Blizzard Drive was signed. I soon found myself on the dinning room table drawing a set of plans for something I could only vision in my mind, based on what my son could share with me. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.
The place was a mess and victim of years of rebuilds and changes that would drive most builders crazy. We then started the headbutting and headache of dealing with the Code Department of commerical construction versus not having a contractors license and building within the city. It seemed forever to get the permit based on my drawings and plans. But it finally came about on the 15th of December 2008. I soon lost count of the number of hours we spent tearing out the old pizza business and simply getting things ready to rebuild.
But...now comes the part I hate...the drywall. To comply with the code we had to dry wall the whole thing in heavy 5/8's inch sheet rock. Each sheet a back breaker. Each sheet reducing the framed walls to a mental image that this is all too small...it's not going to work. When the last sheet was nailed and screwed in place, I found myself standing in the middle of my son's vision. His friends that helped along with his landlord would shake their heads and say, "I would have never thought this would work".
Soon the ceiling grid was rigged and the walls painted and trim in place. But it was far from over. Now came the final inspection by the code and fire department. This had to be done and passed before the ceiling could be installed along with the finished plumbing and electric along with the carpet. I'll never forget the supervisor of the code department telling my son..."you are open for business Doc".
The next few days were busy getting each room just right. Setting his adjustment tables in place and the most important....His sign. I stood back in the parking lot with a lump in my throat as big as my fist as I looked at it. If pride leads to sin, then that warm February afternoon I was a very sinful person for a few moments. I walked through the finished office and, for a few moments, I could see my father doing his final look before he turned a job over to the owners.
Once again, I had seen a circle completed. I doubt if my son realizes the concept that so many years of Akers family heritage were in that building that day. But they were there, smiling and saying..."you did a wonderful job with your vision, Bob". On February the 16Th, The Akers Chiropractic Clinic was seeing patients. I drive by the clinic and see the cars in the parking lot and patients sitting in the waiting room, and think..."well done, son..well done".
Over the years I, too, found myself at times on the dining room table doing the same drawings. I learned the concept of square footage and estimating materials. I read all the books I could on it, and over the years, stuffed my mind full of things my father seemed to use as if it was second nature to him. I, too, could begin to see things in my mind before they were ever built.
When I decided to remodel the small cottage I had purchased on the river, others begin to look at me like I was crazy. How are you going to do this? Why are you going to do that? What's that going to look like? In my mind, I knew before I drove the first nail. Before I ever set out to draw the plans and insure things would work, I could see it all in my mind. I could see sitting in front of the fireplace, and at the same time looking out on the river on a winters day. I could see a combination of a New England and Coastal design sitting on the banks of the Little Kanawha River, complete with a white picket fence. Night after night, I'd laid in bed for months, building each wall and placing each window just right. A circle with my father and grandfather had been completed...who had done this very thing hundreds of times.
Recently, my oldest son made a very difficult decision to go out on his own and open his own Chiropractic clinic. When he came to me on a Sunday afternoon this past October, I could see the look on his face, and in his eyes...it was time. I also know the difficulty of doing so. I promised him I'd support and help in anyway I could. So we set out to find a place to lease for his new office.
For someone starting out on their own, so much has to be considered to prevent built-in failure. Leasing commerical property can be so very expensive and come with a tremendous overhead. You read and hear so much the saying that the three things to business success is "location, location and location". This is so true and became a predominate player in this venture. But he found one. It was a recently closed Domino Pizza Shop. When we met the landlord at the site the first time, I stood in the background and instantly put my mind into a builders mode. I was going through more math and structures than I could sort. I was also very concerned from what I was seeing. The landlord asked him what he was going to put in the space. He then said he didn't think it would work. But my son looked at me...and then to him and said "It will work, I have a vision. "
We measured and discussed, and then measured some more, and finally a contract for this location on Blizzard Drive was signed. I soon found myself on the dinning room table drawing a set of plans for something I could only vision in my mind, based on what my son could share with me. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. The place was a mess and victim of years of rebuilds and changes that would drive most builders crazy. We then started the headbutting and headache of dealing with the Code Department of commerical construction versus not having a contractors license and building within the city. It seemed forever to get the permit based on my drawings and plans. But it finally came about on the 15th of December 2008. I soon lost count of the number of hours we spent tearing out the old pizza business and simply getting things ready to rebuild.
Add this to an unusual early winter for this area and we both were running strictly on hot coffee and his vision. It took 7 large truck loads of debris being hauled away before we could start to build. He had set a deadline to open of the last of January or the first of February. Time, money, the code inspections and fatigue were standing in our way.
The day we passed the electric and rough plumbing inspections, I put my arm around him and told him how proud I was of him and how much I loved him.
But...now comes the part I hate...the drywall. To comply with the code we had to dry wall the whole thing in heavy 5/8's inch sheet rock. Each sheet a back breaker. Each sheet reducing the framed walls to a mental image that this is all too small...it's not going to work. When the last sheet was nailed and screwed in place, I found myself standing in the middle of my son's vision. His friends that helped along with his landlord would shake their heads and say, "I would have never thought this would work".
Soon the ceiling grid was rigged and the walls painted and trim in place. But it was far from over. Now came the final inspection by the code and fire department. This had to be done and passed before the ceiling could be installed along with the finished plumbing and electric along with the carpet. I'll never forget the supervisor of the code department telling my son..."you are open for business Doc".
The next few days were busy getting each room just right. Setting his adjustment tables in place and the most important....His sign. I stood back in the parking lot with a lump in my throat as big as my fist as I looked at it. If pride leads to sin, then that warm February afternoon I was a very sinful person for a few moments. I walked through the finished office and, for a few moments, I could see my father doing his final look before he turned a job over to the owners.
Once again, I had seen a circle completed. I doubt if my son realizes the concept that so many years of Akers family heritage were in that building that day. But they were there, smiling and saying..."you did a wonderful job with your vision, Bob". On February the 16Th, The Akers Chiropractic Clinic was seeing patients. I drive by the clinic and see the cars in the parking lot and patients sitting in the waiting room, and think..."well done, son..well done".
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1 comments:
What a wonderful transformation you've done to your cottage by the river! Cottage Living Magazine would love to do a spread on your home and life there...
I know you're so proud of your son and his courage to strike out in a practice of his own...and I know he's proud of Dad for encouraging him and helping him to make that dream come true.
Keep on writing, David...