Thank you for your support!
Transitioning into winter now. Less deck and fence salvage, more wood floors and everything else we can rescue from renovations and home demolitions. We got ourselves into salvage opportunities in 4 home demolitions in the last six weeks or so. None of these homes had major issues, they simply sit on desirable land that has greater value with something else on it. If not for us, none of these homes would have been salvaged before the excavator crunched them up and stuffed them into dumpsters. This illustrates the point that something needs to change. I suspect most homes that are demolished (with contents in them) are not salvaged before demolition.
Last winter, I was nervous about keeping busy and earning enough income. It seems like work is more steady now. However, around 85% of our income is from material sales. These materials require a lot of labor to salvage and prepare for sale. I love this fulfilling work but I’m still earning just enough to get by with help supporting our family from my wife, who carries our healthcare. After 3 years of hustling, hard work and using my business experience, I still believe the extra cost and travel time associated with commercial space would be a death sentence for LumberStash and the tons of material we save from the landfill.
Minneapolis has not hassled us lately because (thankfully) there have been no more complaints. We continue to grow and get smarter about salvaging more material without bothering neighbors and without commercial space. There was only the 1 anonymous complaint almost 2 years ago now.
In January I have a meeting with key members of Minneapolis city council. I plan to discuss the benefits of allowing the sale of salvaged material from residential properties. I also plan to discuss some type of salvage or deconstruction requirement for structures before they are demolished.
When the time is right, I will be asking everyone who signed to please email key contacts. thank you!!
PS. Buy used materials whenever possible. 😀