New business just incorporated

[Archigeek]

Over the past 2 years I've been working on developing storage facilities for local vegetable farmers. Last week, I and 2 business partners incorporated a company, to manufacture semi-portable storage facilities for that purpose. We plan to produce 5 of them this summer (gentleman's agreements to purchase those 5 are already made) and 50 next year.

Hopefully this doesn't detract from the architecture business too much, but rather goes hand in hand... or we make enough that we don't care. A little crazy, but it is looking like it will be a fun ride.

Once we have a website etc, I'll post an update.

[Liagala]

Congrats on getting started, and good luck with it!

[Ardwen]

Congrats! and good luck!

VeggiePods?

[4a6c1]

First thing I thought of.

http://images.wikia.com/ageofempires/images/8/8f/GranaryI.jpg

Congrats. :)

[Archigeek]

Congrats! and good luck!

VeggiePods?

I like it! I see a youtube video complete with muppets in the future!... But perhaps it's a bit too "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

At this point we're just planning to come up with a nice "OnFarm" logo and rivet stamped aluminum name plates onto the boxes. Also, seed caps!

[Ardwen]

Day of the triffids themed commercials!

[Parkbandit]

Grats man. Good luck.

[Archigeek]

Thanks all. Much appreciated.

[Eoghain]

Congrats dude! Best of luck with everything. I hope people buy the shit out of them, like those crazy doomsday preppers and their bunkers. Today, storage facilities. Tomorrow, insane television about people who buy your storage facilities.

[Delias]

Congrats. Now I know who to beg for work in the future.

[Archigeek]

God help me if there's a new show on Bravo called Veggie Nuts, about militant vegitarians and their doomsday veggie storage concerns. Of course, if they buy units, they can be as nutty as they want! Kaching!

Seriously though, after nailing the final big design issue, we've really just got to pound down the manufacturing price so we can build these and sell them in the pricepoint range they need to be in. If we can't, we won't sell very many of them, and I will be a sad panda. If we can it's going to be crazy-awesome.

[Carl Spackler]

Congrats man, best of luck!

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Good luck Archigeek - hope it's a booming success for you :)

[Archigeek]

Thanks guys. Yesterday was meetings all day: bank, fabricator, trucking company, other bank and partners. Long day, but good progress.

[Delarock]

Congrats man. Entrepreneurs are awesome.

[AnticorRifling]

If you don't have a model that promises to keep your veggies alive longer and you don't name it the shiavo .... well then the internet will be missing out on a gem.

[Darkwynde]

Congratulations! Can I get a barn/veggie holder combo pack? :)

[Carl Spackler]

If you don't have a model that promises to keep your veggies alive longer and you don't name it the shiavo .... well then the internet will be missing out on a gem.

Winner.

[Archigeek]

Update:

Some good news and some not so good news.

Our two buyers are delayed, but we willl build one anyway and work out some sort of a payment deal, because we need a prototype to test. Plus, we need to build one this year in order to be able to market them next year. The price of each unit has bumped up due to increased supply costs.

On the bright side, we're presenting to a pool of community leaders from various towns and counties who may want to help promote us or help us set up our assembly plant when the time comes. That presentation is in 11 days. We have a space we can use to build a couple of them at a time, but hopefully we're going to need a larger, more permanent assembly space next year.

So we keep chugging away, in spite of the setbacks.

[Buckwheet]

Sorry to hear that. I ended up getting a super cheap conex box and hiring a welder to cut some holes in the side to frame in for AC units and power. Hope your project goes really well tho!

[Archigeek]

Sorry to hear that. I ended up getting a super cheap conex box and hiring a welder to cut some holes in the side to frame in for AC units and power. Hope your project goes really well tho!

I think that probably works pretty well for what you need it for, as the Conex box will provide better security for you too, which I imagine is pretty important. Did you buy an insulated one, or insulate one that wasn't insulated? Without insulation you will be spending a lot of extra $'s on energy and may have condensation problems.

[Buckwheet]

I think that probably works pretty well for what you need it for, as the Conex box will provide better security for you too, which I imagine is pretty important. Did you buy an insulated one, or insulate one that wasn't insulated? Without insulation you will be spending a lot of extra $'s on energy and may have condensation problems.

I spray foamed the interior along with pink foam board on the walls. As far as condensation goes, the inside of the box has ~8KW of heat being generated electrically which reduces a large amount of the condensation. I did put in a 50 pint de-humidifier in as backup but it has never been above 30% humidity so far and according to the kill-a-watt its plugged into it has barely run. So far, even in those two weeks of pretty much all 100 degree days the inside operating temp was 85.

The conex box was nice because of the ability to multiple lock it. I put pad locks on the handles, and then I used a couple U shaped bike locks to connect the two sets of handles together so the door could not be opened.

[Delias]

I'm on to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5rvldFoAo8

[Stanley Burrell]

I think that probably works pretty well for what you need it for, as the Conex box will provide better security for you too, which I imagine is pretty important. Did you buy an insulated one, or insulate one that wasn't insulated? Without insulation you will be spending a lot of extra $'s on energy and may have condensation problems.

R95 insulation and full speed ahead.

[Buckwheet]

I'm on to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5rvldFoAo8

They got busted, and for my business I already had the cops out to inspect it. They were satisfied with the results.

[Delias]

They got busted, and for my business I already had the cops out to inspect it. They were satisfied with the results.

How much did that cost?

[Androidpk]

20% of the first crop.

[Buckwheet]

How much did that cost?

Standard false alarm charge of $80. It was so amazing the guy they sent out got on the radio and had to call for a super. So the super and another guy showed up, and took the tour.

I thanked them for coming, they shook their heads thinking basically I was crazy, and they left.



That is when I wished I had unplugged the computer equipment :)

The good news is I have had several companies over to do work at my house and so far only one of them has mentioned "If that is a grow operation, we can't go any further with this project." The cops told me every time they had to come out for a false call it would be $80. No bills had been filed in the 6 months previous, so I had a neighbor call and the non-emergency number took down all the information and then an officer called him back and said they have already been to the premises and it is not an illegal operation.

SCORE for when I am done with the computer shit.

May Bill:
Energy Charge Summer 3486.47 kWh
Energy Charge Winter 3984.53 kWh

[Archigeek]

I'd seal the crap out of that thing and line it with about 4" of closed cell foam. You could just put up some studs and foam those, or even something narrower since you don't need them for structure. Metal is not prefered since it allows for a high level of heat bridging. The strange thing with what you're doing though is that you're producing so much heat on the inside. Now that you mention a bit more about it, I can see how you aren't having condensate problems. The other thing you could look at is the HVAC units you are using. With the loads you are producing, you might do well to use a pretty heavy duty commercial unit.

[Androidpk]

Standard false alarm charge of $80. It was so amazing the guy they sent out got on the radio and had to call for a super. So the super and another guy showed up, and took the tour.

I thanked them for coming, they shook their heads thinking basically I was crazy, and they left.



That is when I wished I had unplugged the computer equipment :)

The good news is I have had several companies over to do work at my house and so far only one of them has mentioned "If that is a grow operation, we can't go any further with this project." The cops told me every time they had to come out for a false call it would be $80. No bills had been filed in the 6 months previous, so I had a neighbor call and the non-emergency number took down all the information and then an officer called him back and said they have already been to the premises and it is not an illegal operation.

SCORE for when I am done with the computer shit.

May Bill:
Energy Charge Summer 3486.47 kWh
Energy Charge Winter 3984.53 kWh

What exactly is in your box and what is that false alarm charge? Every time someone calls and reports it you get charged by the police to come out and inspect?

[Archigeek]

Update: prototype is nearly complete. We'll have an open house this Saturday, the 27th. If you live near the Twin Cities and want an invite, send me a PM and I'll forward one to you. Here are some progress pic's:

Base before box assembly: 4183

Base with subfloor attached: 4184

Woah, we're halfway there-er, woah oh, living on a prayer: 4185

Attaching one of the refrigeration units: 4186

Nearly complete, outside view: 4187

[BriarFox]

Very cool! Hope these sell like wildfire.

[Buckwheet]

They look nice. Is that a double door on the side or how do you have to load them?

[Archigeek]

And here's what our sketchup model looked like.

4188

[Archigeek]

They look nice. Is that a double door on the side or how do you have to load them?

It's a single door that looks double-wide because it's open. We don't think we need a double door since all the product comes in crates that aren't very large. A 2-wheel dolly should handle everything.

[Buckwheet]

Dumb question, they are sled based I think right? So if I want to move it a long distance, where do I lift it from? I am used to a conex box style.

[Archigeek]

Dumb question, they are sled based I think right? So if I want to move it a long distance, where do I lift it from? I am used to a conex box style.

The base is designed for a rolloff truck, so you just call a rolloff hauler and they pick it up and move it. That works fine within about 150 miles. Longer than that and you would want a hauler with a tilt-bed truck. Otherwise you'd need someone to load it and unload it at each end. Rolloff haulers charge around $90/hour.

[Archigeek]

Website and web hosting: Could any of you guys give me some tips on website development and expected cost for the development and hosting? Our budget is pretty tight. We have an OK website for my other company, but don't plan on doing this one ourselves.

The goal of this website is largely a vehicle for contact and to illustrate what we can provide, show satisfied customers etc. People won't be buying directly from the website, as it's not really a commodity item at this point. Plus I think that in this day and age, if you don't have a reasonable website, people won't take you seriously.

[Buckwheet]

Hosting is cheap and easy. Go with something like lunarpages or 1and1 unless you have another host you prefer. For a site I would expect a basic site to run you $500-$1000 depending on the number of pages. Honestly tho, you might want to see what someone can do for you in wordpress. Skinning it is pretty easy and you might be able to get that done for $300 or so.

[Archigeek]

Our website is live, and we head to our first trade show with the new product on Friday. Hopefully we'll have a leasing program set up before the show on Friday via an agricultural lending bank called Agstar. We'll do 3 trade shows this January and February... and then we'll know if we have something that is going to sell or not.

http://www.onfarmstorage.com/home.html

The website is a little dry and needs some sex appeal, but it's a start.

[Delias]

Our website is live, and we head to our first trade show with the new product on Friday. Hopefully we'll have a leasing program set up before the show on Friday via an agricultural lending bank called Agstar. We'll do 3 trade shows this January and February... and then we'll know if we have something that is going to sell or not.

http://www.onfarmstorage.com/home.html

The website is a little dry and needs some sex appeal, but it's a start.

Nice!

[AnticorRifling]

Very cool man.

One of my big clients is a seed distributor and their cooling facilities are awesome.

[Kuyuk]

One of my big clients is a seed distributor and their cooling facilities are awesome.

Heh. heh. heh.

[Archigeek]

Update. Business is hard. This is not my first time owning a business, so I knew that already, but it is my first stab at product development and manufacturing. It is night and day more difficult than the two service businesses I have owned over the years. The most difficult challenge has been to overcome the reluctance to spend $25,000-40,000 on an the technology we're offering, even though it's not really new, just new to this market.

On to the good news: last Saturday, we ran 200 pounds of broccoli through the tunnel cooling feature, and dropped the temp from 66 degrees down to 37 degrees in about 40 minutes. This was faster than expected, which is great. Part of the reason is that it has the capacity to cool 1800 pounds, so we were applying a lot of btu's to a small amount of product, but we had taken that into account and done a projection, and we did better than projected, without drying out the product. So we have proof of concept so-to-speak. The right people are watching, so hopefully word gets out and we can finally make some money instead of just spending it.

Some of you guys have been great sounding boards, and continue to be encouraging, and I appreciate that. Thanks.

Whether or not this succeeds or fails, it's been fun.

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