If I remember the numbers correctly, and you sell in the mid-upper 800’s, isn’t your profit going to be something like $150-200K?
Couldn’t you just put him on the payroll for a month if that’s what it took to keep him? Easy for me to spend OPM, of course. 
Regarding payroll for a month. What I usually do is let a couple of friends know that “My lead is available if you guys need anything done” and he’s snapped up for some small projects at people’s homes.
PROGRESS UPDATE
Things are really moving along now. Today we passed our last two City Inspections until the final inspection. A huge weight off my shoulders. I think we passed all of them without a hitch (we only failed the electrical on first try). He was so nice through this whole process that I’m going to write a letter to his supervisor.
All of our new wood flooring was installed today. They did an excellent job tying in to the existing wood floors. We are now going to cover it all up with heavy cardboard stuff and get to work installing the kitchen cabinets. New white oak installed in front entry, kitchen and two closets. Plus we had to lace in some old wood around the original heater intake which was reduced to a smaller intake size. The floors will be continuous through all of the main rooms.
Showers are waterproofed and we started installing Carrera marble subway tile in the small shower in the back - just like the photo that I posted a long time ago. I selected a hexagon plain white floor tile to go on the small bathroom floor - it has somewhat of a 20s/30s style. The reason I needed to keep the flooring a white color is to appear seamless to the white shower pan. I didn’t want anything contrasting against the white shower pan and bringing it to attention.
Finishing the trim around all the windows and the painters are coming tomorrow to start painting up the interior - I’m going to put 3 coats of white semi gloss on all of the bead board and heavy trim to make it really pop nice.
Some new photos are loaded to Flickr group.
I will be leaving to go out of town for about 10 days, but will be in contact every day with the project team and will hopefully have more photos loaded because we are finally getting to the fun part.
What?! You’re taking a break? What’s gotten into you!
Just kidding. It’s looking great, and I’m really excited to see how everything’s coming together now that you’ve turned your attention to finishes and cabinetry and such. It’s going to be amazing!
Thanks for continuing to keep us updated and for continuing to post photos. I hope you have a really nice time when you’re away, knowing that things are in the trusted hands of your gem of a lead and your skilled and resourceful team.
When I planned this vacation, I truly thought I would be done in December, sold and closed by January. I thought it would be perfect timing. Who would have thought??? And just when it’s getting to the point that I need to be there every day for the detail design and decisions 
When you write the for sale ad, I think you should mention that all work is permitted.
I’m willing to bet that some of us here would be willing to put him up for a month and have him work for us! 
I just loaded a couple more photos to Flickr as I am headed out the door. Kitchen ceiling trim complete, just needs some wood putty, caulk and paint. Started to install cabinets today. Laundry room floor has been tiled and the small shower in back got finished today. Tomorrow they will be putting in the floor tile. Painters going to town finishing all the exterior painting and prepping for interior paint!
It’s just as well that I’m leaving for a bit. They had to pull the toilet today to start laying floor tile - No Toilet all day!!! and it can’t get installed back again until Monday or Tuesday when all the grout and sealant is dry.
What’s going on with the piece of trim on the ceiling that’s covering up half a hole?
No toilet day? Oh my, there better be no surprises in the crawl space! 
Glad that things are progressing so well!!
And no surprises in the garage!
cb, this morning’s e-mail blast from Pottery Barn is offering 20% off all lighting this weekend if you are still thinking about the pendants. Love the ceiling in the kitchen!
The hole in the ceiling is just a starter hole for the large vent over the stove. As soon as we get the cabinets in place, countertops installed and the stove installed, then we will be able to mount the big stainless vent. It’s too dangerous to try to cut the exact hole needed until the hood is installed because we might make a mistake by 1/2 inch or something and have a gap in the ceiling. So, the ceiling and wood get cut out just as we are mounting the big hood. Of course, it would be much easier to cut it now, but you never know exactly where that hood is going until the stove is in it’s final resting place. The diagrams and specs provided for the cabinets are never really exactly right because there is a lot of shimming required everywhere for these old walls - nothing is perfectly level.
Yes, I’m not going to even ask where all the guys are going to the bathroom for the next 4 days of work! I have 10 guys working on the project every day right now! 3 painters, 3 guys installing wood floors, 2 guys doing tile and my 2 guys installing kitchen. They are all tripping over each other
Luckily the 3 painters are working outside - I decided I needed better sanding/prep and a 2nd coat of the semi gloss trim paint and they are also in the bedrooms and front entry prepping for interior primer on drywall. Wood floor guys were installing the little closets in bedrooms yesterday - but they are done now. Tile guys are in the back utility room bathroom and installing tile in laundry floor. My two guys are in the kitchen. The only two groups tripping over each other are the poor tile guy trying to get through the kitchen with each cut of his tile into the small laundry room.
Well, we’ve hit a big snag while I am away from the project. The guys got all the kitchen cabinets installed and then they opened the fancy apron front sink. I purchased one that specifically was for a 30" cabinet. The Kraftmaid cabinet was ordered for apron sink with cut out in front. Of course the two aren’t working together!! The sink is about 1/2" too wide and won’t drop down into cabinet and it looks like sink is too deep for front of cabinetry. Either we have to start hacking at the cabinetry with a jigsaw or I have to find some special one of a kind wink!?
I tested the countertop guy to go look at it because he has saved several situations like this.
texted
No, no, I think this is a good test for your countertop guy!
I had something similar with my kitchen remodel and they were able to “reduce” the sink somewhat to get it to fit. In my case, the sink had been delivered to my cabinet supplier and sent to the cabinet maker before the sink cabinet was made and I still had a problem. I don’t remember the exact fix, but I do remember contacting the supplier about it as my installers didn’t want to be responsible. The supplier worked the magic and seemed like he had done it before. Good luck, cb.
cb, this morning’s e-mail from Style Blueprint features kitchen trends. The first one is mixed metals and I know you were debating that a few pages back. Just thought I’d share this.http://styleblueprint.com/nashville/everyday/5-kitchen-trends-for-2015/?utm_source=StyleBlueprint&utm_campaign=62f2ad5eda-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b14f54998d-62f2ad5eda-198185717&goal=0_b14f54998d-62f2ad5eda-198185717
I’m really liking the beadboard - both in Coral’s house and in the pictures on the link above. They used it for kitchen backsplash - how cool is that?