You Know, it just dawned on me, I have not yet written a BLOG about our new business up in Pleasant Valley. This is sort of a Spin-Off from my Brother, Ron Northup's Company, Wayne's Lawn Service. We are trying to get a similar business going in PV, and the name is Pleasant Valley Solutions, Inc. We are incorporated, but the Corporate Structure is still not fully set up. The only stock-holder to begin with was me (Rick Northup). I initially pledged $25,000.00 and an additional $25,000.00 to be our fledging company's first customer. In addition, Uncle Dean wants to jump in with $25,000.00 in cash.
The plan being, that we would fix up the Home Place to be our Model Landscape Home. We are adding a Pond/Pool with waterfall and a sidewalk that runs from there to the front door of the house, bounded by various Landscape Features and gardens. There will be border gardens all around the house, and ornamental Trees and Shrubs planted over the North half of the property, including upgrading the present Orchard, North of the greenhouse.
The work was started in the middle of August, with Matthew Northup and Mark Binkley digging down along the foundation and installing Styro-foam for insulation and tearing off the Front Porch and the back entry in the process.
Curt Binkley was contracted to finish the siding.
Diana Morkassel and her Spruce-Up Nursery has been hired as the primary Plant design specialist. She will supply all plant materials and act as sub-contractor for the planting process.
Wayne's Lawn Service has been contracted as the primary construction Vendor with responsibility for the design and installation of the Pond and Landscape features, as well as prepping the PVSI Construction yard and burying all the Bargain Barn mess that was left after the fire.
Eventually, we expect Darien Northup to be our primary building construction General Contractor.
We also expect to involve David Samuelson as Architect, and as a secondary Construction General Contractor.
So far, there has been no interest shown by Cousin Gary Northup, who has a long history as Developer and General Contractor of homes and Commercial Building or by my brother-in-law, Tony Persinger, who also has been an Independent General Contractor in his own right.
My daughter, Cherly Ballek has fixed up their house in Bemidji and has it put up for sale. We are hoping proceeds from that eventual sale can be at least partially pumped back into this company to get us building houses.
Part of our philosophy is to put our people to work at a decent wage, with the prospect of investing a portion of what they earn back into the Company on a Stock Purchase Plan. If an employee is hired at $9.00/hr, he can invest up to $3.00/hr of that money into stock, whereby the company will equal that committment, in essence giving that employee a total value of $12.00/hour. Similar stock ownership plans will be put in place for the various Vendors. The vision is that all people who work for the Company will own a stake in the Company.
 Before Shot of PVSI Pond and Front Office Area |
The plan being, that we would fix up the Home Place to be our Model Landscape Home. We are adding a Pond/Pool with waterfall and a sidewalk that runs from there to the front door of the house, bounded by various Landscape Features and gardens. There will be border gardens all around the house, and ornamental Trees and Shrubs planted over the North half of the property, including upgrading the present Orchard, North of the greenhouse.
The work was started in the middle of August, with Matthew Northup and Mark Binkley digging down along the foundation and installing Styro-foam for insulation and tearing off the Front Porch and the back entry in the process.
 South End, After Back-Filling, Ready To Start Setting Landscape Blocks |
Curt Binkley was contracted to finish the siding.
Diana Morkassel and her Spruce-Up Nursery has been hired as the primary Plant design specialist. She will supply all plant materials and act as sub-contractor for the planting process.
 South End, With Landscape Blocks Partially Installed |
 East Side; Patio Area and on to the Pond |
 North East Corner; Landscape Timber Border Garden |
Wayne's Lawn Service has been contracted as the primary construction Vendor with responsibility for the design and installation of the Pond and Landscape features, as well as prepping the PVSI Construction yard and burying all the Bargain Barn mess that was left after the fire.
 Before Shot of PVSI Materials Area |
Eventually, we expect Darien Northup to be our primary building construction General Contractor.
We also expect to involve David Samuelson as Architect, and as a secondary Construction General Contractor.
So far, there has been no interest shown by Cousin Gary Northup, who has a long history as Developer and General Contractor of homes and Commercial Building or by my brother-in-law, Tony Persinger, who also has been an Independent General Contractor in his own right.
My daughter, Cherly Ballek has fixed up their house in Bemidji and has it put up for sale. We are hoping proceeds from that eventual sale can be at least partially pumped back into this company to get us building houses.
Part of our philosophy is to put our people to work at a decent wage, with the prospect of investing a portion of what they earn back into the Company on a Stock Purchase Plan. If an employee is hired at $9.00/hr, he can invest up to $3.00/hr of that money into stock, whereby the company will equal that committment, in essence giving that employee a total value of $12.00/hour. Similar stock ownership plans will be put in place for the various Vendors. The vision is that all people who work for the Company will own a stake in the Company.
12 comments:
This sounds so cool. I want to be a part of it. Hee hee.
anyway, I will do my best to help it grow and be successful.
Diana Morkassel Horticulturist/owner, spruce Up Nursery
This is a good post. It's informative to everyone and tells us all your perspective and how it was started and meant to be. I think you should keep posting changes somewhere and keep all updated.
Beth
Hey, Cool, Someone is BLOGging again!!
yeah on that subject father, Allison and I have talked about buying a restraunt - bar here in mathews and I sappose we are going to throw in the towel and not do anything. Our first steps, were to get Allison home with the girls and not driving 140 miles round trip to work. So to do this I took a loss on the Dodge Truck and traded it in for a Honda Accord. (three times the mileage, and i know I can get 150, 000 miles on it and still have a dependable transport to and from work) this saved us a considerable amount monthly in our expenses and adding it to the fact that We were spending 800.00 in daycare expenses allowed us to get Allison home. She is working part time Fri and Sat nights at a resteraunt working as a bartender. So now here last day at Gieco was Thursday and She is officially done. But we would really like to get smart about our futures. I know we have a lot of value in our house and could further consolidate the bills with a home equity loan, but I am really leary I just havn't been A risk taker like you. I am worried about the fact that we are just getting the bills paid and what are we going to do if something happens like me getting hurt? I really need some advice and don't have someone I trust to talk to.
well anyhow I have these dreams and Allison has her dreams and we are just getting there so slowly.. and retirement is just not building fast enough and here I am feeling so old lately and
god now I am venting...
sorry...nuff said larry
Larry, You must be getting stressed. Time for a vacation in Minnesota. And bring your four girls...Lindsay, Allison, Cameron and Kendall.
Larry, As you know, I chased the dream for 20 years up there in the North and never really found it. We had a lot of fun in those years and learned to do things for ourselves. There is no part of building that I am afraid to tackle and a good portion of that was instilled in you. You are not a risk taker, but you are not afraid to tackle something that you are not especially trained to do, either. When it came right down to it, I had to go back to work and get my future guaranteed. I have made more money in the past 7 years than I made in the previous 36, counting from when I graduated from High School as a starting point for my working life. We all use these figures as a sort of yardstick on how to judge a man, but it really shouldn't be. We need to all sit back and relax a little and get the most out of life without putting such an emphasis on making a living, and more of an emphasis on simply Living. My still number one dream of my entire life is to own and operate a big boat, for a living and for a Life. A boat big enough to Live on and make your Living doing it. I could be convinced it should be a Motor Home instead of a boat. My best advice for you, after all of this?? Follow Your Dream!!!
LOL dreams are such funny things...Most people confuse dreams with what they want and not what they need...I guess in a way I am living my dream finnally, Allison is home with the girls, I am slowly fixing up the Country home I always wanted and still able to work full time with weekends and nights off to enjoy it all. P.S. I finnally got photo's of the 'Project' up at my blog...check em out
nuff said...
The internet continues to amaze me. I was using Google to do some research on ancestory and it led me to your site. I am writing product reviews so this is not the best fit… but nonetheless I found your posts to be pretty interesting. I never would have found your site without a little misdirection in by Google…glad I did.
Hi there Rick Northup I am out researching for the newest information on louisiana genealogy and encountered your site. Although this post wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it certaninly got my attention and intrest. I see now why I found your page when I was looking for louisiana genealogy associated information, and I'm glad I stopped by even though this isn't a perfect match.
Smashing post, Thanks for the read!
Dad you have been spammed.. he he hey you will probably be getting a visit by Lindsey to your site.. She is online and I gave her the link to my blog and thought she will probably look around a little... so be fore warned...LOL
Nuff said Larry
This last one is obviously a SPAM, but the Louisiana Genealogy probably wasn't. He was doing a Search for Louisiana and Genealogy and my BLOG Page came up because I have that article on the Louisiana Bayou on here, plus quite a bit about Genealogy. Lindsey is welcome to come visit her Grandpa on the Internet any old time. I would love to chat with her on the Northup Family Chat, or in Hello. If she puts me down as a Friend in "Hello", she will see me there any time I am on. You could mention that to her. I suppose I could run an Article on Lindsey Northup and that way she might get the hits.
Hey,
If you get a chance, go check out this resource I found. Its a great source for marketing related articles and information. You might even find some good information to write about on your own blog... who knows.
Hope it helps,
Courtney
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