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August 06 What's new????What's new at Barntech??? So much is new and yet everything stays the same!!! Sound familiar?? It would seem that two years has passed us by in the blink of an eye. I would like to say we are wiser...stronger....and expanding however that seems to change from day to day and with our mindset. I think we are wiser in the sense that we have made many, many, many mistakes in our first few years but as the saying goes.....we did not fail, we just found a thousand ways NOT to do something. *laffin* I think we are stronger in the sense that we have had many young employees that can not keep up to us, which brings us back to working without a crew and still getting the job done...I'm not sure if that reflects on us or them. I think we are expanding in the sense that we have a new and greater appreciation for our wood and what exactly can be done with it. So....would we do it all over again??? ABSOLUTELY!! We might do things alittle different and definately gotten more information on running a business but all in all it has been a venture worth taking. When one of us was ready to throw in the proverbial towel the other was there to nudge the other along. I think both of us love Barntech for different reasons. Shawn loves to rip the structures down knowing that the wood is not rotting into the ground needlessly. He takes great pride in knowing that a hand hewn beam that once took one man days....possibly weeks to finish, will be appreciated and admired again for another possible century. For me.....it is different. I love the feel, smell and look that the wood has in its raw form and after it is transformed into something else. From our garden pieces to the rustic furniture to the glorious flooring it captures a place in time. Telling a story of life....actually, of many lives. A time in history when life was simple but hard. Trees were sacrificed to build a home or a barn to house our family or our livelihood. Over time this wood has absorbed a new life......our lives. There is nothing in this world smoother then piece of wood from a barn stall.....more textured then a gainway board....or more colourful then a plank floor. Each piece is beautiful for a different reason. Now after centuries these old structures are being torn down and instead of being destroyed are being given another chance at life. All the advancements in the world can not stand up to the simple yet magnificent strength of wood. And we take great pride in knowing that we had a hand in extending and preserving these pieces of history. November 23 History In The Making!!!!!!!!!Well as you can see Barntech has taken on yet a new face. This past year we have grown just that little bit more. I'm very proud of the guys and even more proud of the man that represents Barntech all by himself....my husband Shawn. Recently we had a friend of ours show us how to tag a barn properly so it can be taken down piece by piece, transported to another place and reassembled. If you take a look at the pictures named the same as this blog you can see step by step frames of this beauty coming down. This is exciting for us to say the least. When we first started Barntech we did so just so we had a full time job for both of us. We never expected Barntech to take the form it has and grow to the size it has. Suddenly we found Barntech running us instead of us running Barntech. When we first started we did so with $80 in our pockets. We took on two and three jobs and with the extra money we made on the side we put the money away or we went and bought the tool we needed at the time......in our case CHAIN. Who would have thought that chain could be so expensive??? I sat at my computer and made up flyers and business cards and we went door to door handing out flyers to people who had barns. We did so in a little HONDA CIVIC. *chuckling* We got our first job and the farmer even made mention of us pulling the barn over with our honda. *laffin hard* When we completed the first job we went into the dealership and got a truck. Not the right truck of course but it was pretty. THAT was an expensive lesson. We've made many mistakes over the last few years and times have gotten pretty tough but somehow we managed to make it thru. We have a great town that supports us completely. We try to keep all our purchases and the such right here in our little town because the business people here are responsible for helping to keep us afloat. Now we just have to find a good accountant. From our humble beginnings Barntech has been molded into something fantastic. From expensive lessons, some insatiable customers, cruel weather, picky buyers and unforgiving banks we have managed to keep it going....and getting stronger all the while. This past September we took our partnership to another level. Not only partners in business but now partners in life and each day we stive to make things better. Shawn and I sat looking at all our pictures we've acquired over the last few years and of course just the memories we have made and realized that no matter how hard things got we wouldn't have changed it for the world. Life is good no matter how gloomy things might have looked at the time. We've seen our house bills go unpaid to pay our business bills....we've seen our business bills go unpaid to pay our guys and we've seen our guys go unpaid to get that next load out. This is the Barntech Family. Proud, strong, flexible and sturdy..........enduring all sorts of weather, just like the structures that Barntech was built out of!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers to another great year ahead!!!!!!!!!!! June 24 Great materialWell today I went over to my parents place to feast my eyes upon the most beautiful sight. My parents being the creative people they are took the material from our barns and have been making masterpieces. I went over and took some pictures to put on here so people can see what and how our material is being used. Please keep in mind.....this is the stuff our buyers won't buy so normally this stuff would be thrown away. Looky what they are doing with it.............. May 24 We Have a Great Crew..We are so blessed. We have a fabulous crew working with us. Notice I said working with us and not for us. We've become this little family where its hard to see where our work relationship ends and our social relationship starts. These guys have saved our lives and vice versa. It feels good to have a give and take relationship and knowing without fail that someone has your back. I have made jokes about having 5 husbands and anyone woman out there will know where I'm coming from when I say its ALOT of Testosterone to put up with. As much as I love these guys.....THAT many men to "look" after persay have me going in circles. *laffin* Funny tho......I missed the friggers after about 3 days. Why am I not being smothered by men??? Where has all my loving gone??? And just why didn't I get more for Mother's day??? *laffin* As you can see....these are great men and we are so lucky to have found them. Thanks guys. Your dedication does not go un-noticed!!!
~kelly April 26 Today....The nice weather is coming....you can smell it. And that means our crews working full force. That does not mean we weren't working full force all winter it just means we have more time in the day to get the work done. Tonight after work all the guys came home quite proud of themselves. In less then a day they managed to tear down an entire barn. Now My Shawn can do that alone but the catch is....the wood is also cut...denailed...piled and cleaned up. So we celebrated by having a big BBQ at our house. Here's the pics from today. Look at the yahoos up there!!!!!!! And the one of My Shawn isn't from today but he's just to darned cute not to put in there. *chuckling* Actually this is BARNTECH. This is the man that does it all. |
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