March 01, 2009 Progress Report
This was right before the snow began. But Bear Dance is looking pretty attractive
from the bay.
March 31st. It’s snowing. Hard. Even the natives are grumbling. Everyone is impatient for spring weather (which supposedly began more than ten days ago), even though we all know this is perfectly normal if we’re honest. In fact, we should be fairly excited about this weather. Big Mountain has gotten more than two feet of snow in the past week, and the more that falls now, the more that’s left as forest fire prevention this summer. Perfect for us, because that means Bear Dance will be looking beautiful and smoke free during the best time of year. We’re hoping for a good sales season this summer, and if it means we endure a little more snow and cool temperatures in the meantime, we’re happy to comply!
In dealing with these weather conditions and anxiously awaiting warmer days, we’ve seen a shift in activity level towards the waterfront buildings as we near the completion stages. We’re working full tilt towards our goal of being ready for the summer sales season in our waterfront buildings, a goal we established for ourselves back in the fall.
As last summer came to an end, we began developing a long-term plan to maximize effectiveness during Montana’s changing seasons (upcoming fall, winter and spring) while also setting ourselves up for the best sales potential. Our plan was to utilize the winter months to finish our inside work, making sure the waterfront buildings were completed by spring. Then we would be able to take advantage of the spring and summer weather to work on landscaping. In doing this, we would have a few model homes in our waterfront buildings to hopefully springboard our sales for the whole project.
A little bit of everything: Boulder’s powder room
door and trim, faux painting and old-style brick
wall.
Fast-forward to March of 2009, last month. We kicked it off by teaming up with InterCommunications (www.intercommunications.com), a marketing firm specializing in luxury real estate. With 20 years of expertise in this field and projects all over the Continental U.S., Hawaii, The Moroccan Riviera, Dubai and Sardinia, these folks were the perfect match for our project. Our listing agent, John Pearson, contacted their management team and invited them to Bigfork for a tour of Bear Dance. Their first day on site was March 3rd, under cloudy skies and over several inches of mud. If Bigfork could be accused of having a bad scenery day, this was it. But within 30 minutes of the start of their tour, all three representatives from InterCom were expressing their excitement, exclaiming how Bear Dance was so much more than they had expected. No words or photos had prepared them for how they felt as they actually experienced it in person.
Our response to them: That’s exactly why we’re hiring you.
We’ve been saying all along in our monthly and weekly reports, no matter how many adjectives we use, no matter how vivid our descriptions, no matter how creative our writing is – even the very best photography comes woefully short of capturing what Bear Dance actually makes you feel when you see it in person. You have to see it in person.
But then again, we’re just a few construction types, trying our best to keep people in the loop. Is it reasonable to think a marketing company like the one described above could be successful in capturing that emotion? After our meeting with InterCom, we certainly think so, and so do they. They acknowledge that a project like ours is a challenge to communicate to people without firsthand experience, but they also have proven techniques and approaches, so we began working on a plan.
We discussed options for marketing media, photography, client lists and other responsibilities from their end. Then they turned the discussion back to our team here and told us what they needed from us: Were we prepared to have the waterfront buildings completed this spring, then utilize the warmer weather for landscaping and hopefully take advantage of the summer sales season?
Exactly our plan from last fall, our plan that was still on schedule.
So then why even hire a high-profile company like InterCommunications if our plan has stayed the same? Because, as we mentioned above, it takes a different level of talent to communicate the feeling you get when you walk through Bear Dance. We also needed someone with experience in this type of market.
There was another encouraging discussion topic in our meeting with them. They told us they’re accustomed to marketing for developments that have to sell several hundred homes. We only have to sell SEVEN. This fact alone makes their job infinitely easier to accomplish. The other thing that makes InterCom optimistic about our project is quite simply the product. Normally they’re in a position where they have to market a
project that doesn’t even exist yet – so when they visited Bear Dance and saw the quality, character, personality and charm we’ve been trying to describe for all these months, they told us yet again that their job will be easier to accomplish.
So how exactly are we doing on our overall gameplan? Looking great. The Boulder and Yellowstone are both in the late phases of construction. Cabinets have been installed throughout The Boulder, and Yellowstone’s cabinets should be complete in the month of April. Finish carpentry is underway on Yellowstone and nearly complete in Boulder. Plumbing and electrical trimout will be completed during April, and by the month of May, we’ll be handling loose ends in each one. Our goal to have each of these ready for real estate showings this summer is right on schedule.
Installing Boulder’s kitchen cabinets…
The outside portion of our plan is also looking good. Whereas we can’t begin our ‘dirt work’ until the frost is completely out of the ground and things are slightly less muddy, we’re getting all of our planning set up. We’ve been working with A2Z Engineering to ensure we’re ready for the first phase of landscaping, or hardscaping. Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality dictates that we have to keep Storm Water runoff from rooftops and driveways from going directly into Bigfork Bay.
This is accomplished through various detention ponds and drainpipes, and will be installed as the first step in landscaping. The plan is completed and only awaits the warmer weather to force the frost out of the ground. In the meantime, we’ve been meeting with our contractors for landscaping and driveway snowmelt to make sure all our logistics are ironed out for the best possible efficiency and economic sense.
A final part of our marketing and real estate push is to make sure the five-plex at least looks completed from the outside. To that end, we’re pushing all remaining exterior finishes and accents ahead on the schedule. The garage doors and entry doors, for example, will be installed in the coming weeks. High Ridge Steel continues to install wrought iron railing on porches and balconies, and Rainmaster (our roofing contractor) is installing Old World-style copper gutters, collecting basins and downspouts.
One more added bonus for our marketing is coming up in the middle of May. We’re excited about everything InterCommunications brings to our overall team, and we have every confidence in their ability. However, we haven’t lost sight of Bigfork’s greatest asset, something we’ve enjoyed since the beginning of our project: local interest and enthusiasm. The town is still buzzing about what is taking place here, and to that end, we’ve worked things out with Bigfork’s Chamber of Commerce to make Bear Dance the hosting location for their Sundowner event. It’s a gathering of local vendors and business owners on a monthly basis, and based on what The Chamber is telling us, the response has been tremendous. We’re expecting a huge crowd, which means the local business owners will have all summer to ride that wave of excitement, continuing to spread the word in this small little town we all love so much.
Keep checking back on our website for the latest developments!
High Ridge Steel working on the curved iron railing around its north balcony