I have been learning a lot about having a shop. It’s a lot of hard work. There’s special laws that need to be followed. And government moves in bizarre ways.
I’ll try to keep this short, though it may not end up that way.
Almost four weeks ago, I put down my first rent check on an office in Neptune Beach, FL (still considered Jacksonville), about 10 minutes form the house (literally 5 miles). Since then, I have learned a lot. The place is 512 square feet, and is three rooms. The lobby is 10 x 10 with two half bathrooms in the hallway. My treatment room at the end of the hallway is 10 x 14. The remaining room is 10 x 18 and will be used by my sister-in-law for painting.
It started with the fact that I needed an occupational license for Neptune Beach. I have one for Duval County, and can do outcalls in the entire state of Florida, but once I have an office, I need a license for that locality.
We knew the place needed fixing up, but I’m not sure I realized the entire cost. We tore down the ugly wallpaper, including the sky photo contact paper they had put up in one bathroom, (and I wish we had taken some ‘before’ pictures) and did a ton of spackling for all the imperfections in the walls. Next, my wife and her sister painted over the faux painting and the newly uncovered walls (several coats). I started in on the plumbing. I ripped out the old sinks with the corroded faucets (keep in mind, this place has to pass a Board of Health inspection to be used for massage) and replaced them with new sinks in vanities. I had to reroute the piping as this building has been cobbled up so many times since it was built, it isn’t funny. Since hot water is not required for the building, I had to add a small hot water heater in one bathroom. This caused the addition of an outlet under the sink. I tapped into an outlet in the other room and put in a GFCI outlet (one that pops the breaker if something unforeseen happens). I also changed the door on one of the bathrooms so that it opens out like the other one.
At this point, the local inspectors came, and they told me that since in am not a certified plumber or electrician, I can not be making these changes. The plumber came to look at the water heater. To make it match code, he put a pipe in the overflow so that it simply went to the bottom of the cabinet. So, basically, it was 10 inches of pipe, 10 minutes, and $100. Next, the electrician had to rip out my wiring (it was fine for a house, but not commercial property) and put in new. One hour and $183 later, and it was done. I am now waiting for the city to get my licenses to me. (I took out two occupational licenses, one for massage, one for Reiki. It cost twice as much, but once I have them, I will be able to do Reiki immediately while waiting on the Board of Health to do massage.)
Lastly, we finished construction which included crown molding on all the ceilings to cover where the wall did not reach the ceiling. In fact, in too many places, the wall stopped about an inch short of the ceiling. All but a few tools have been removed. I replaced the crappy blinds on the door with nicer ones, and hung them better (of course). We have two ‘single’ shelves to mount in each bathroom, and a mirror to put up. Then we will take home the rest of the tools.
We went shopping in my in-laws garage for furniture. I bought a couple fogger fountains. I moved one of our computers into my treatment room so I can print receipts and log sessions. That is screened off from the rest of the room and will have to be off during a session because the fan and drives are too loud. I bought two stereo units, one for the lobby, one for the treatment room (they were inexpensive as these things go with the ability to hold three CDs). I bought and assembled two large cabinets as I need one for cleaning supplies and paper towels and toilet paper, and the other for sheets and pillows. My sister in-law is painting the sign for outside the door which will be mounted soon. I am creating boxes to go over the stereo speakers as silver, black, and orange doesn’t match the décor. My wife, Shirley will be covering these so they match. She will also be making a curtain that will close off the hallway between the bathrooms. I don’t want to have someone in the lobby that can see the person on the table when I enter and leave the treatment room. The curtain will handle that.
The final touches are getting paper towel holders (the professional kind as I think these will be cheaper in the long run) and trash cans. And then we have the toilet brushes and plumbers helper. Just the bit about adding trash cans is one more small detail that has to be thought about, and the realization that it takes one heck of a lot to be able to open a shop. I think we’ve spent over $2,000 in fixing it up. (The people at Home Depot know me on sight now.)
I now await the inspection by the Board of Health. I have no idea how picky they will be. The place looks 5000 times better than it did when we moved in there. It has a nice, pleasant feel to it. Once the Board of Health has been there and approved it, I have no idea how long it takes the Board of Massage to get the establishment license to me. I’m told that the entire process from the time they get my application is 45 – 60 days (which I find ridiculous, but government moves at the speed it does). They have had the application for two weeks now. I expect I’d see an inspector within two weeks.
Next will be to truly clean it (energetically).
Well, TMI, but it has been a tremendous learning experience, and I hope that you all have gotten something out of it.
Take care. Love and light to you all.