@ Aaron Joel

..and maybe an example?

This weekend, I had opportunity to submit estimated labor costs for myself to my church which needs a lot of work done. There's a whole long story about whether or not the congregation owns the building on which it's members paid-off the mortgage over a decade ago. The original request was for me to submit an estimated number of hours so that they could have a ballpark figure once the council decided on an hourly rate. I gave them not only that, but also thoughts, alternatives, and long-term "permanent" fixes done by specialists in their respective fields. If we are merely tenants of a building we paid-off and the Texas District remains the landlord, then the council should be better prepared to approach District and once again and say, "give us the deed, or come take care of your property."

If you've read my recent posts, you know I'm newly unemployed. My former employer happened to be the sister congregation to the Deaf Church. In the position of facilities manager, I answered to the board of trustees. They hold meetings (really boring meetings) once a month. I'd attend about twice a year which seemed satisfactory to the board at the time. One of the trustees was a constant volunteer on the property many weeks, putting in more hours than me. He was at the meetings, he'd fill the board in on what we'd been up to on campus, and they'd give him new requests. I'd see him the next morning and we'd GSD.

When asked for information from the board, I'd present it as I'm presenting this post, or the letter I plan on cut-and-pasting here in a moment. I tried to be thoughtful, thorough, detailed, clear, and not assuming they knew the back-story behind whatever project I was referring to. In short, Professional.

What I got back from the new chair was, "That's a nice little 'story-narrative' report you've submitted, but what do you actually do here anyway? People ask me and I don't know how to answer." "Why are you spending your time troubleshooting? Call a contractor." and then when he came in one day to see a contractor estimating an electrical project, "Who gave you the authority to do that?" For 6 months, to answer his question of what I did, I filled-out a time study in 15 minute increments, daily. In March of 2023 my supervolunteer left after one particularly unprofessional dialogue. He didn't have to take it anymore. That incident made the chair realize that he didn't have any idea how much institutional information had just walked out the door. I don't know for certain that he panicked at the time, but he should have. He certainly was easily "frustrated" (his word) after that. When he became frustrated, he'd verbally lash-out at myself and at multiple contractors. My words were "abusive," and "A-hole."

Over the ensuing 14 months my job went from one which I loved, but for which I was underpaid, to one which you wouldn't be able to pay me enough to take. While there is some restructuring involved with my dismissal, the job description hasn't changed all that much. And they're offering the new sucker $15k over my final salary.

While the Sledgehammer remains focused on efficiency of hours spent and a schedule of when to replace air filters, what he needs is institutional knowledge and stories. He needs to be reminded of the mission of the organization, the church, for which he volunteers, and how it has historically performed its mission in serving the members and surrounding community. It is completely possible to efficiently and effectively do exactly the wrong things. A little professionalism in communication (and maybe an anger management class) could have gone a long way to prevent a lot of heartache and grief.

When asked a direct question with a simple answer, I would do him the courtesy of answering directly and simply. When the answer required more of an explanation than I felt he was ready to listen to, I'd simply tell him, "It'll be in the book." The new Operations Manager role they plan on filling pretty much has all my old responsibilities with additional "administrative" work. They rightly assumed I wouldn't really be interested in extra administrative duties. They knew I'd rather be out on the grounds than behind a desk. But through the whole process, no one even asked. What they didn't didn't know, or hadn't considered, is just how much the role had changed over the course of the years, how much flexibility I had already imparted to the position, and how I might have been instrumental in capturing more of this institutional knowledge in the process of the transition. Another thing they may not have considered is that not only was I serious about wanting to write a book, but that I had actually started... in fits and spurts... in bits and pieces... "this would be a good chapter..." a title... chapter structure... I started shortly before SuperVolunteer left. There was often talk... "What will we ever do if something happens to S.V.?" I mean, they weren't literally looking into key-man insurance on him, but he was that valuable. I wanted to capture more of his information and make it available; a handbook of sorts.

I'm not writing the book for the Sledgehammer. I'm writing it for me. With recent developments, the book may or may not take on a different tone than originally intended, but hopefully not too much different. #grownostr will be my sandbox and my sounding board. I've had over a dozen #ideasforbooks over the years, and maybe several of them will find their way into the posts of this blog. What I've just written would fit into my book on old churches needing love. What I hope to be focusing more on in the near future is capturing #startup progress and processes. Follow me as I #write , #TaskRabbit , and #sidehustle my way to a #rightlivelihood in #regenag or #soilfertility

And now, the moment y'all've been waiting for... an example of what I'd consider #professional #communication ...That is if it copies over from a G**gle doc okay. (The numbers will be out of order, because they are in response to someone else's list and I chose to give the simple answers first, followed by those requiring more explanation.)

Members of Jesus Deaf Lutheran church council,

Sunday after our voters’ meeting, K--- approached me with the idea of the congregation hiring me to take care of some of the issues with the building, especially the issues with water. He specifically asked me for estimates of how long each project would take. I also received the letter in which Pr. L------ shared with the district some of the major issues with the building.

I’m going to share some of my thoughts here with the council along with my time estimates, then we can discuss as a council which jobs still need to be contracted out for long-term fixes on the bigger jobs, and what we will tell Texas District.

The cracked foundation. We need to have a foundation specialist come and look and give a quote. Since this is the base of several of the other problems, the specialist could tell us if any of them (twisting) would be corrected when the foundation is repaired, or if the process would only affect the foundation. Twisting - the foundation specialist would have recommendations. (4) The two air conditioners- we had already requested a quote for some of the work, but have not received a quote. I’m reaching out again.

Rotten window frames - I believe the rotten wood at the bottom of the windows on the south side of the building was repaired not too long ago. The bottoms of the frames were cut out and new wood was installed below the window, and about 18” up the sides. These should be checked and re-caulked if necessary, but the repairs appear to be in good shape. It looks like the North side of the building had been repaired as well, but the repairs were much older. The recent failure of one of the windows during a storm was the result of a dry-rotted piece of plastic that is an integrated part of the aluminum window frame. The long-term solution is to have all the windows replaced. The window installer will be able to advise on the best long-term solution with the wood frames.

My proposal for getting us through the next rainy season before we make it through our discussions with Texas District, is to cut-out the old rotten repair and do it again pretty much the same way. This would easily provide several years of protection from water infiltration and the repairs would have to be done anyway, before a new window install.

(5)a The Roof - The only long-term solution is a full replacement. We’d have to call a roofer to bid. To get us through the next rainy season, I propose to seal areas around vents, check that screws are tight, clean the roof thoroughly, tape the seams, and apply an elastomeric coating (a paint-on rubber coating) The product has a 10 year warranty, and the repairs I have done at St. Paul with it have lasted 8 and counting.

Another contributing factor to water infiltration is the condition of the gutters. New Gutters should be considered when getting bids for the roof. These are broken in several places and rusted through. Just removing them will be better for the building than leaving them in place. Another thing that needs to be considered is having the eaves extended if possible. It will help prevent some of the problems we have with the windows and the sliding door at the brick patio. I have an idea about that too, but not sure how it will go over with all of you.

I could build something like the awning over the double doors and install it up-high, just below the roofline. It could be extended over the double doors and the low one could be removed.

(5)b The sliding doors. All three of them are due for replacement and should be considered along with windows and roof. I need confirmation on this, but it seems the water is not coming through the door frame, but under it. For the short-term, I recommend removing any wood trim, sealing between the aluminum frame and the cement slab, replacing the trim and re-caulking.

(6) The trees - There’s one dead tree in the south yard along with many young, small trees that grew up in between the fences. I’m planning on taking these out in preparation for the shed. Unless the neighbor to the south has complained of any problems with the oak, I suggest we leave it alone over their property. If it needs to be done, I’d hire a tree service for liability purposes. The oak does have a few branches getting close to the church roof which I can remove. I can also remove branches over our own roof and trim any branches that hang too low in the parking lot. The issue with city codes that Pr. L------- mentioned, would be those growing into the utility lines, or are not high enough off the street. I’d have these done by a tree service as well.

(7) The water drainage on the parking lot - besides the parking lot, there is also a grading problem on the brick patio at the north side of the building. I had already been planning on grading the south lawn in order to improve drainage from the parking lot to the alley on the east end of the property before putting in a base for the shed. K--- brought the brick patio to my attention, and I can re-grade that by removing the bricks, grinding down some of the roots, and re-setting the brick and using smaller stone instead of brick right around the tree trunk. A third area I can play with is that little patch of dirt that goes in between the office and parking lot and runs north to the duplex property. I haven’t been on the property during a flooding event, so I’m not sure whether these steps will be enough, or if we’ll eventually need to have a portion of the parking-lot itself redone, but these steps will definitely help.

Costs: Rental Equipment:

Tractor W/ Loader and backhoe $329/day for 1 or 2 days plus delivery fee (last time I did this it was $100 or $150) For Grading S. yard and in front of church office.

Stump Grinder: $122/half day for grinding roots of removed tree in S. Lawn and the roots of the tree in the brick patio.

6” Chipper $232/ half day. For reducing tree waste to wood chips.

Trailer $60/day to $122/day depending on model may or may not be needed to move other equipment, materials purchased, or remove wood chips.

Compactor: $70 /half day For preparing shed foundation.

Scaffolding? For installing awning.

Materials costs have not been calculated. 10 Cubic Yards road base for foundation of shed: They don’t have current prices on their website, but last time I priced it, it was about $30/yard and the delivery was between $100 and $200. Gravel for graded area in front of church offices: estimated 3 yards (more than the roadbase/yard, but don’t know how much maybe $45/yd

4” PVC pipe and fittings. 30 feet @$50/10’ Approx. $250

Roof Coating $99/5gal Covers 500 square feet. Does someone know how many square feet the building is?

Materials for ‘awning’ ???

Estimated labor hours:

Grading S. Lawn 8 Spreading and compacting shed foundation 4 Misc Tree trimming over parking lot, roof, and in S yard 9 Shredding and removal of tree waste 6 Roof inspection and prep work for coating 24 Roof Coating 16 Grading area in front of offices to drain to North 16 North Patio Re grading 24 Removing gutters 24 Repairing windows on N side and sealing sliding door frames 32 Construct “awning” to move rainfall away from the building. 40?

Zap if you liked it or learned something, and give me a follow.

I do have my first #Task lined up with #TaskRabbit. we'll see what kind of sorcery the algorithms do once I've shown #proofofwork

And it looks like the text of the google doc came over fine, but not any images... they were mostly just pictures of rotten window frames, anyway.