Pushing Dirt

I sell warehouses for a living, so I think a lot about roofs.

When I’m underwriting a warehouse, I use these rules of thumb:

-flat roofs generally last around 15 years. You might get more out of a particularly well maintained one, and you might get less if the job was poorly done…particularly if the new roof was laid over the old.

-It’s costing about $3 to $4 per square foot right now in my area to rip off an existing roof to the deck and replace it with a new rubber membrane roof.

Glengarry Glen Ross has to be the best real estate movie ever. If you haven’t seen it, you owe it to yourself to pick it up and watch it. All star cast but worth it for the Alec Baldwin monologue. Widely considered the highlight of the film, it was the only part of the movie David Mamet didn’t write.

Did you pay your architect or graphics person WAY too much money in 2007? Or do you have someone in-house is is overworked?

Try out Newplans. They will create or redraw site plans, floor plans, and renderings in full color, and dirt cheap. Beautiful custom maps. Hours and hours of work completed for less than 100 bucks in most cases. The quality of my marketing material has gone up dramatically as I use them all the time.

The dirty little secret? The work is completed in India. It’s actually a beautiful arrangement. I upload the work and instructions at 5 pm, and receive the completed work in any format I desire the next morning. I usually have them give me an Illustrator file so my in-house graphics people can do touch up and corrections.