Relocation experiences

[Bigus Termitius]

I few months ago, I posted up some pics of a new place we were moving to just a few miles closer to town.

The long story short is that the farm manager quit helping us fix up his client’s property after two plaster ceilings caved in through the false ceilings. One was rotted out from upstairs bathroom leaks. The house is sound, we had it checked out, it needs alot more than anyone thought, but I guess he thought we were in a pinch enough to spend all of our money on the place. Ain't happening. I served him our notice to vacate the lease at our last meeting and he about got the beat down when he invaded my personal space, but I just smiled and stood fast. The shameful truth is I was hoping he'd do something stupid, so I could make a fool out of both of us, but he backed off and we've resolved the issues in order to part ways. I think he was an only child...or something, but I digress.

Both of our back up plans have fallen through and we are looking at needing to be out by months end as our landlord needs the house to do a few things so his son can move in at the end of May when he gets married. Our local options are next to depleted, and we are thinking about hitting the road. Business is good, in fact it is great, getting muni and commercial contracts and can't see the end of my residential list, but we have no place to operate. Landlord says I can still use the farm, but I do not want to share space with his son. The landlord and I are close, but his son is clearly jealous. He's the product of a trust fund, so we just don't see eye to eye on anything. So moving to town and coming back out here for anything and leaving things in his son's care is unsatisfactory. It's complicated.

Two solid options are to move to just south of Mark Twain lake near Hannibal, MO. and help a guy clear thousands of acres of timber while building back our clientele, we also have friends down there, or south of Springfield, IL. to a farm where the landlord is a tree nut that supposedly does landscaping, planting, and trimming in Boulder, CO. and somewhere in Oregon. My HS best friend operates a landscape company and a golf course nearby. They are both excited to help us get going again, and there is the option to buy the 11 acre timber stead in MO. at some point. We are exploring these options in the next couple of weeks.

My question is basically who has gone through relocation of family and business to a similar extent, and how did that go? Any reasonable advice and comments are welcome.

 

[tree md]

I went through something similar when I traveled to Alabama to do storm work last year. I have family there and initially worked out of their residence where there was a small shop. However, I moved on after a short period as to not wear out my welcome. Granted, I only had saws, climbing and rigging gear but 7 saws, a power pruner and all of my climbing and rigging gear does take up a little bit of space. I eventually rented a storage unit with electrical hook up to work out of but I know that is not what you are looking for. Work was so good there I did explore the possibility of moving my equipment there to work permanently. I had a girlfriend offer to let me park and keep my equipment at her family's farm but I avoid situations as that like the plague.

What I did was put a couple of ads in Craigslist asking for a situation wanted. I posted that I was looking for a place to rent to live with a shop and an area to park large equipment. I got several responses from people who lived lived outside the city who were either willing to rent or sell me places with the exact situation I was looking for. The main concern when looking for a situation is finding a place that is safe to store your equipment and gear. I would post an ad like that as soon as possible so you can screen locations and find one that is a safe and adequate fit for you. I think you might be surprised at the responses you get.

 

[arborjockey]

That sucks. business is good but theres no where to squat. No houses? I move about every year and a half. It all fits in 1 vehicle or it doesnt go. During one move it came down to the porta wrap or the cat:hmm3grin2orange: Good luck with moving. Look at the bright side its not the middle of winter.:msp_smile:

 

[ronnyb]

Why don't you look at buying a house? All time lows on interest rates. Look for something with a couple of acres to dump chips, wood, park equipment.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

We have looked into buying. It's either a money pit, or 300k. Crazy thing is, with business rolling like this, we would be in a great position to buy soon enough. Like within a year. My wife just started an internet radio show that is going to net her some awesome income, and her voice work is getting busy too.

I remember the days of loading up the vw jetta with everything, jockey. Good times, but a fam of 6 and a tree service just doesn't fit in that trunk, no matter how big it is.

Great advice, md, I ran an ad this am on Craigslist in a last ditch effort. I'm getting cameras and K9s if I find a place without a house.

The place near Springfield is falling through because they do not have enough room in the sheds and it's too many family houses in close proximity for my comfort.

We just got some news on a place nearby that we are looking at tonight, wish us luck.

 

[arborjockey]

6 kids my gosh I practice but I'm not that good. Actually terrible when it comes to the finished product.:wink2: Not sure where springfield is. I'm going to Carmel in may to do some tree work for a friend. Theres always work in that glory hole6 kids congratulations man

 

[Bigus Termitius]

6 kids my gosh I practice but I'm not that good. Actually terrible when it comes to the finished product.:wink2: Not sure where springfield is. I'm going to Carmel in may to do some tree work for a friend. Theres always work in that glory hole6 kids congratulations man

Sorry, I meant there are 6 of us total. We have only 4 kiddos, but I'd have 10 if it was up to me. Springfield is smack tab in the middle.
That guy really wants us to come and consider it still, we'll see.

I think we found the right place last night. Smaller house, but one heck of a spread, it's like a complete horse farm, but completely antiseptic. That's the case with too many places around here. Empty and not functioning, looks like America from the road, but it's only what was. It's a symptom.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Waiting to hear something on the horse farm, but I'm not holding my breath.

Did get some pics and feedback on the place in Missouri. Looks perfect. I need to get some pics posted up, but the house will work and the machine shed with office is a perfect size. Didn't get pics of the 11 acre timber, but did get one of the pond. Looks like I may be located directly south of the center of Mark Twain lake a few miles.

I'm finishing a gig up tomorrow afternoon and hitting the road to check it out first hand and meet the guy. Can't wait!!

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Update

I'm packing up and heading for Missouri. The land deal closed Monday afternoon and the house is open. Needs a little cosmetic work, but it will do just fine. 4 bedrooms with two fireplaces and a two car garage sitting on 20 acres with a nice sized Morton building with an unfinished office.

There is a lake cabin on a 15 acre lake adjacent to a large timber full of trails and 16 deer stands down our driveway onto the backside of the original farm. It's really nice, especially on the inside. A friend of mine and I are going to manage it as a vacation and hunting rental for the upcoming year, it's literally right in my backyard, behind my 20, so it will be nice to have control of who is coming and going.

I'm going to do my best to tend to the business I have left up here in Illinois for the rest of the season and beyond while I reestablish things down in Missouri. I have a couple of old tree buddies in the Quincy area doing ROW work for my old GM that started his own company. My original foreman and I worked a couple of interesting jobs in Quincy on Saturday and plan on working some this weekend for our landlord on the Missouri side. It was alot of fun working together again after all this time.

I'm switching to US Cellular this next week, so I hope to get some great photos with a new phone and post them up. It's beautiful countryside, especially with what we are used to here in central illinois.

I spent 5 days getting familiar with the area. Bowling Green has an Amish community not far from us. It's loaded with sawmills, so it looks like plenty of outlets for good timber logs.

All in all, it looks like we'll have some of our own adventures to write about in ol Tom and Huck's neighborhood.

 

[arborjockey]

Sounds like quit the set up. Congratulations. Little bit of a compound set up there. Doing a little dooms day preping?:spam::spam:

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Sounds like quit the set up. Congratulations. Little bit of a compound set up there. Doing a little dooms day preping?:spam::spam:

It is a nice set up, but it is nothing more than a farm split up into various parcels. We have more than enough space to homestead with gardens, livestock, horses, and an orchard. I'd like to build an in earth home back in the timber someday, if we buy.

A country boy can survive. And this place is more equipped than most, but it's no compound. A true doomsday, no one survives ultimately.

Things ever get real out of hand, I just as soon hold up at the Alamo, just for fun!

 

[arborjockey]

Funny bout misery (Missouri ). When I 1st started working for this outfit. About6 months ago, they had a climber named P.J.. His dad climed for my boss back in the 80's. Anyway P.j. moved to california to be a mechanic. Well he called yesterday and he's cutiing trees in misery. I worked all through that state back in 06-07. Flying steel. Good times. If you use ATandT theirs a 90% chance i've worked on the tower your phone uses:msp_sleep:

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Funny bout misery (Missouri ). When I 1st started working for this outfit. About6 months ago, they had a climber named P.J.. His dad climed for my boss back in the 80's. Anyway P.j. moved to california to be a mechanic. Well he called yesterday and he's cutiing trees in misery. I worked all through that state back in 06-07. Flying steel. Good times. If you use ATandT theirs a 90% chance i've worked on the tower your phone uses:msp_sleep:

I used to call it misery too, but it's not near as bad as the People's Republic of Illinois, The Land of Obama.