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Post by MinnieMom on Feb 6, 2023 16:10:24 GMT -5
We attended the construction class for the state campground association this weekend. It was interesting, mostly for meeting others. Two new campgrounds are being planned within 90 minutes of Standing Pines. Neither seems to be moving as relatively quickly as we are going, which boggles my mind. I feel we are barely inching along at a snails pace. Anyways, that was a good use of time and a way to get the latest on such fun standards as how high the water connection must be at each campsite. On the more fun side for me, I played with 3 different possible layouts for the food service area and office. One is a very simple change. The second is a mild change, but probably adds a bit of cost. The third is a really cool design that I love. It almost certainly is too much $$ and time. Architect and I are talking through these later this afternoon, just to get her take on relative time/$$ for these. Most likely we do the simplest change that gets us the window counter for food service.
One new update is around our electrical design. Short story: our original plan of using a supply group's designer is not working out, so we added a little bit of extra cost to have a SC EE review plans, update as needed and put his stamp on it. That is brand new as of this morning. Given the overall cost of electrical equipment, I am somewhat hopeful that this professional can help us find some ways to trim down a few things and actually overall spend less on electrical even with his fee. That's not impossible; if he can find us ~3% in savings, that was money extremely well spent.
Wednesday is the final review with the company I intend to use for reservations/operations software. Our accountant gives them a thumbs up based on the number of other campground clients she has who are happy to very happy with this particular vendor.
Adelard - speaking of spy stuff, we are at my Dad's near Myrtle Beach. I saw it overhead, but was not able to watch it go down. Evidently it prompted quite a number of parties here locally Sat night
Brian - pool bar! Bikinis! Cabins! No out house; no problem. Indoor plumbing!!
kzrooster - please chime in as anything occurs to you; love the feedback & suggestions
PirateLinda - thanks! This relatively last minute pool/snack bar save should be a good thing. The pool should be a blast for families with kids in particular. The beach entry end is shallow; the stairs will have in water bench seating and the deeper end should be big enough for kids to make up all kinds of fun water games to play
Eeyorelover22 - does not sound like fun at all! Both other than restroom, how was glass bottom boat? Worth doing?
helenabear - thanks! landscaping around the pool will be important. I'm toying with the notion of a non traditional options such as herbs near the pool. Basil, mint, thyme, lavender and maybe rosemary should do well in our area.
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Post by Adelard of Bath on Feb 6, 2023 16:23:41 GMT -5
Brian - pool bar! Bikinis! Cabins! You are just shouting words that excite people! |
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Post by Brian5581 on Feb 6, 2023 16:30:31 GMT -5
Brian - pool bar! Bikinis! Cabins! No out house; no problem. Indoor plumbing!! Ooh, I like this new marketing! Brian - pool bar! Bikinis! Cabins! You are just shouting words that excite people! Well, crap... |
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Post by Eeyorelover22 on Feb 6, 2023 19:50:32 GMT -5
The glass bottom boat ride was fun. We saw manatees. I know there are more to be seen in other parts of Florida, but the spring itself I like hearing about and seeing other animals.
It’s close to where we live too.
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Post by Adelard of Bath on Feb 6, 2023 21:06:22 GMT -5
You are just shouting words that excite people! Well, crap... Maybe we can both go! Nudge nudge wink wink |
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Post by MinnieMom on Feb 7, 2023 14:22:28 GMT -5
Brian - pool bar! Bikinis! Cabins! You are just shouting words that excite people! Well.....yes. Marketing! Architect review went well. She thinks 2 of the 3 possible solutions would be fairly simple with some but minimal additional cost for electrical/plumbing. The 3rd comes with a number of issues I had not considered. So while I liked the 3rd design the best, we will toss it. Architect also had a great suggestion. She has worked on other buildings with commercial kitchens and suggested I contact a commercial equipment sales group as they often offer free or low fee design for commercial kitchens. I found one near us yesterday. They are interested in doing the design and requested some information to put it together. DH and I went through that file this morning. It really clarified what we want, which is great. Here is a file link if you want to take a quick look. And here is the design that I really liked. This is the one that did not make it. The concept sketch shows full bar in the back, bar stools and open to the outside with an overhead door to secure it when not in use. This would have be very cool, but even I can look at it and see the problems with climate control, insulation, moisture control and other headaches waiting to happen. But it would have been a fun place to hang! |
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Post by MinnieMom on Feb 14, 2023 8:47:27 GMT -5
We made one big decision last week, choosing our reservation/operations system. Drum roll please.... Hello, CampSpot! From my research, CampSpot is an up-and-comer in the campground reservations world. I like the optimization features and future mindset of the company. The value friendly integration pricetag and pay-per-use model makes sense as a start up. There are several other significant positives, including POS to manage the store and snack bar. Our kick off call to begin the integration is next week. This week, we are thinking about the arcade aka game room. Coin or card operated arcade games are expensive. Our budget is tight. So we are getting creative. DH did some brainstorming today and came up with a new variation for the 18x25 arcade space in the welcome center. Now we are considering using that space as a rental party room with some thoughtfully chosen classic arcade games that are set to free play for the guests renting the space. I went looking online to see if I could find some examples of what I'm thinking. This site, gamerollers, is the closest that I found. I think we can take this and use it as a base for something similar. It could be used an event rental space with define hours and as a set price to play for individuals or families at other times. Operationally, we could use a keypad lock on the door, charge at registration for timeslots and set the keycodes for those time slots. DH is not sure about this concept. He is an intense video gamer (WoW) and thinks that it would be popular. But he also thinks this route might require an attendant in the room. .jpg) I like the thought of including a couple of throwing games in the back area to make this more of a mix than simply a dark room. While I don't think these would hold up, at less than $125 each they might be a good add to the space.    Or perhaps, at closer to $500, something a bit sturdier. Again, I don't think this would last all that long either. But DH may well be about to make something like this that would be very sturdy. Hum. Now there's a thought.  Anyways, any gamers following this thread? What do you think? Stick with the retro arcade idea with traditional box arcade games or go with a modern video console lounge concept +/- the ball games? |
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Post by LauraLea on Feb 14, 2023 10:50:16 GMT -5
I am not a gamer, AT ALL. I am sure those camping in an RV or camper with kids will bring along video games. I would think that the 4 games you have pictured would be much more suited for a family centered campground. Kids can play video games anywhere and everywhere, these games are not readily accessible to families. They would be fun for a change.
Laura
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Post by helenabear on Feb 14, 2023 13:06:12 GMT -5
I be fair, I'd do half and half much like at the Community Halls. So have TVs, couches etc with gaming machines. Then have a couple other things like foosball or air hockey.
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Post by MinnieMom on Feb 16, 2023 14:51:42 GMT -5
I'm trying a few things to see if we can make a hybrid approach work. I really like aspects of both, but only have a 18x24 space to use for this.
This week's freakout was around power supply. Our location means we can get one phase (120/240) easily. However, there is not three phase power available in the area. This really should not be an issue. However, some of the engineers got excited and are worried about exhaust/climate control systems. I think we have that settled down now, but it did create more drama. Because of course.
Still no word on permits. Argh!!!!!
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Post by MinnieMom on Feb 21, 2023 16:01:10 GMT -5
There is a little good news today. The first estimate for building the pool came in. It is the first estimate that meets the budget, so that is most excellent! LOL - we only had to scale down the initial design significantly to make it work.
In other news, a headhunter contacted me last week about a job opportunity in NC. That came at just the right time, as I think my part of the project is about to slow down as DH picks up the lead for construction. It is smaller job than my last couple of roles, which is a good thing. The interview process steps are moving quickly, but this is still in the initial phases. So we'll see. It might be that me getting out of the way during construction would be for the best.
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Post by MinnieMom on Mar 4, 2023 16:12:38 GMT -5
While we wait, might as well benchmark campgrounds again. BFF joined me for a girls weekend in Orlando. We stayed offsite, but visited the parks as well as Fort Wilderness and Camp Margaritaville down in Auburndale. Here's the first video to come from that trip - mining for gems at FW! We absolutely will have a gem mining activity for Standing Pines. DH thinks he can take the concept and tweak it a bit to better fit our theme.
We did make some progress last week. The electrical plan update is ready; the architectural package is ready and I confirmed the two potential GCs are still interested in bidding the project. Our engineer will send the new package for revised bids out on Monday. I also met with the county planner. She is excited about Standing Pines. My strong sense is that she will push through our county permits as soon as SC Dept of Environment issues the land disturbance permit.
I think we have a plan to work through the cost challenges. Fingers crossed for sure.
Stay tuned for more updates!
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Post by MinnieMom on Mar 14, 2023 13:51:03 GMT -5
Another quick update: The plans came in & are out for bid with potential GCs. We have found a pool builder and are excited about it. Bank is standing by to close construction loan in mid April pending GC bid coming in at acceptable range. This is all good.
I went quiet for a bit as an opportunity came out of left field. A headhunter reached out to me about a good HR job in NC with a company that I know fairly well. I went through the interview process, getting a job offer at significantly over the market range last week. It is a good opportunity and a great offer. I had a chance to visit on site and meet the team. I liked the location and the team. It went from initial headhunter call to job offer in less than 3 weeks.
DH initially really wanted me to take it. But as we worked through the pros/cons, it became obvious it was a choice between returning to corporate America or chasing the campground dream. While it was hard to turn down the income and benefits, we have opted to continue with the campground.
As soon as we made that decision, so of the campground things that have been pending started coming together. Fingers crossed, we may start to see significant movement in the new few weeks.
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Post by MinnieMom on Mar 20, 2023 13:24:06 GMT -5
And in the usual one step forward, one step back pattern, we continue to make progress slowly. I haven't heard from the two GCs who are supposed to be bidding this month. So I reached out last week. After some hem and haw, neither are really interested. Okay, back to drawing board. So today I reached out to several other potential builders. Fingers crossed, as I think accepting the larger builders have bigger projects on there plate and moving to local, smaller builders may be a good thing.
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Post by MinnieMom on Apr 5, 2023 18:45:32 GMT -5
Still playing the waiting game - - - waiting on contractors to give bids, waiting on state to approve permits, waiting on all kinds of stuff.
In the meantime, I've started making connections on the political side, speaking on different venues and generally getting the word out about Standing Pines.
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