My Carpenter
About 4 years ago I got so lucky. I was desperate to find someone to come put in nice crown molding in a project. A painter said “I know a guy”. He had a day job doing maintenance on an apartment complex but he came at night and put in the crown molding and then he came on the weekends and finished our baseboard. I watched how he did things and I was amazed at his tricks and skills. Plus, he had all the tools (the first sign someone might know what they are doing).
He had worked for 13 years as a journeyman for a developer here in San Diego but they all got laid off when development stopped. Plus, he kind of got fired because he has a habit of wanting to ‘take off’ for about a month to go camping, go to Mexico to visit his mother, etc. This is the perfect arrangement for me. We work hard for 4-6 months and then he can go off, without pay, until I find the next project. When I started my next project I begged him to quit his job and come work.
I paid him hourly under the table until about 3 years ago. I sat down and convinced him that he needs health insurance and he needs to plan for his retirement and I wanted to be able to cover him with workman’s compensation insurance if he gets hurt (thank God!! after last year’s workplace accident). I forced him to go on payroll so that he is paying taxes again and getting into the social security system. And, I worked hard to get him health insurance which is subsidized by the government. He is very grateful for the health insurance.
He had been out of work for so long when he started with me he didn’t really have a reliable car. We shopped together and I bought a retired mail delivery van for him. It was perfect for carrying his tools and stuff. We worked out a small weekly payment system to pay off the car. He was very grateful.
But, here’s the best one. After 4 years he is our Most Valuable Player. Every time we were on a project he would talk wistfully about wanting a Corvette. “When I win the lottery I will buy a Corvette”. He would always point out every 80s era Corvette for sale in each neighborhood. When we finished the Spanish Bungalow last year I told him we were going to get that Corvette!! I researched and found one for sale that was just perfect (he doesn’t know how to use Craigslist or the Internet to look for cars - but that is changing). I dragged him up to Oceanside and there was a car nut that had completely restored a 1988 Corvette. It was love at first sight. He pitched in $500 and I negotiated that Corvette down to $4,500 - it was a steal. We worked out a weekly payment system.
Ever since then he has been walking in a dream. Some kind of mid life crisis I guess - he loves that Corvette. I let him store it in the back of my yard because he had no place to park it and he thinks someone is going to steal it if it is parked on the street in his neighborhood (I have no idea if that is true or not). He seems to be very grateful for a place to keep it.
About one month into this project I realized we were in for a long haul. I really needed to make sure that he was on board and willing to do what it was going to take. He had to work a lot of late nights and weekends. So, I sat down with him and told him that ‘IF’ we can get this done as fast as possible and ‘IF’ I can make my goal profit, that loan document is going to get torn up and you will own that Corvette with no debt.
I think we are going to make it and I have already told him that there is going to be a Promissory Note burning. He’s a very happy camper and very vested in making sure that we sell this house.
So, an old Corvette can go a long way 