People Looking To Remodel Their Homes Are Seeking Customized Changes, Contractors Say

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This bathroom is the result of a remodeling job by Details and Improvements in Glens Falls. Company owner Craig Vollkommer says kitchen and bathroom projects continue to be in demand.

Courtesy Details and Improvements

By Jennifer Farnsworth

With spring finally here, local designers and home improvement experts say they will see a dramatic increase in calls from homeowners looking to make a change.

Trends for 2017 center around the desire for customization; everything from cabinets to tiles, to paint colors.

Craig Vollkommer of Details and Improvements in Glens Falls said as soon as the weather starts to warm up everyone seems to want to start renovating at the same time. His advice to customers is to start making calls to contractors as early as possible in order to get their projects on a work schedule.

“Plan ahead, and prioritize, know what you want. We seem to get the calls all at once, so if you are looking to have something done sooner, rather than later, you need to reach out to designers and contractors now,” said Vollkommer.

Kitchens and bathrooms seem to continue to be the most in-demand, according to Vollkommer. He said people want the newest in bathroom shower options, laminates, granites, custom tiles, and backsplashes. He said that requests for painting is the one thing that never changes.

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Farm In Argyle Produces Grain And Hops For The Growing Craft Brewing Business In NY

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This hops plant is an important part of the operation at Argyle Craft Hops & Malts in Argyle. An old barn used as the malting floor is being renovated and expanded as the business grows.

Courtesy Argyle Craft Hops & Malts

By Margaret MacDonald

Argyle Craft Hops & Malts, owned by Rick Dennis, is a farm malt house and hops-growing business located off County Road 47 in Argyle.

The business sells its products wholesale to eight or nine breweries.

“The biggest challenge has been getting breweries to try the malt,” he said.

Breweries generally have standard varieties, tastes and flavors that they are partial to. Additionally, it takes 30 days for a batch to finish, so there’s necessarily a follow-up process involved with new interests. But thus far, interest in his product is running high, he said.

Dennis started out as a dairy farmer. He still sells hay, Christmas trees and vegetables and runs a small construction company on the side–for now.

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Eric And Eric Construction Formed By Two Who Went To College And Taught School Together

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This is one of the new homes built by Eric and Eric Construction based in Brant Lake. The company does a lot of remodeling jobs, but builds two or three new homes each year.

Courtesy Eric and Eric

By Maureen Werther

For Eric and Kristina “Kit” Isachsen, the move to Brant Lake to start a construction business with college buddy and fellow high school teacher Roger (Eric) Daby back in 1972 was part of a natural progression.

Isachsen and Daby were schoolmates at Oswego College who both worked in construction jobs during their summers off. After graduation, they began teaching high school together. Isachsen taught industrial arts and drafting, while Daby taught industrial arts and art. While they both enjoyed teaching, their true passion was for actually doing the lessons they were imparting to their students.

“I really loved construction,” said Isachsen. Forty-five years later, he still does.

Another thing Isachsen loves are the Adirondacks. His strong bond to the region was formed early in his childhood. His father was a geologist for New York state and his job was to map the Adirondacks.

“I grew up spending my summers at a different place in the Adirondacks every year, as my dad mapped the region,” he said.

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Business Report: What To Do When Demand Exceeds Output

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Michael Billok, resident at Bond, Schoeneck & King’s Saratoga Springs office.

Courtesy Bond, Schoeneck & King

By Michael Billok

So you’ve invented the next “fidget cube,” found a way to home-deliver hot French fries without a hint of sogginess, or developed the cure for the common cold. The problem is, of course, you are now too successful.

You and your partners don’t have enough hands or time in the day to get done everything that needs to get done, and the few employees you may have are extremely overburdened. You need more workers, yesterday, but of course you have to limit your expense in order to make a profit.

So what are your options?

Option 1: The intern.

I have had this conversation with several entrepreneurial friends of mine. “We have so much work to do,” they have said, “I think I’ll need to bring on an intern.” Now, if this is an intern that will be paid at least the minimum wage (currently $9.70 in our area, or $10.75 for fast-food establishments). My response is to tell them to go for it.

But that is usually not the case–unfortunately, there is a common misconception that “intern” is a word that means “free grunt work”–and they were thinking about bringing on unpaid interns to handle the increased workload. And that is where I steer my friends away from the precipice.

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Business Report: It’s All About Customers

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Michael Cruz, president of Lighthouse Advisors LLC in Queensbury.
Courtesy Lighthouse Advisors LLC

 

By Michael Cruz

Customers are the most important element to any entrepreneur’s success. I always coach all clients to pay attention to what customers want.

Stewart’s Shops continues to grow by focusing their associates on WISE goals–What Is Someone Expecting? It is their mantra.

Whether you are in manufacturing or a service business, you should know what your customers want. And, you need to know what draws them to your company. If you are selling to local customers, you need to know what they want.

If you are selling outside your local market, you likewise need to understand what need you are fulfilling. Most important, your growth will come from replicating your successes in attracting new and repeat customers.

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The Great Escape, Partnered With Samsung, To Unveil New Virtual-Reality Experience Ride

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The Drop of Doom is a new virtual-reality ride that will debut at the Great Escape in Queensbury this summer. Daily operation of the resort park begins June 14.

Courtesy The Great Escape

The Great Escape, in partnership with Samsung Electronics America Inc., announced in April an all-new virtual-reality experience ride, Drop of Doom VR, at the Queensbury facility.

“The area’s first-ever drop tower virtual-reality attraction is a thrilling, immersive encounter that combines the fear of heights and the fear of spiders in one heart-pounding experience that only Six Flags could deliver,” the company said in a new release.

Drop of Doom VR makes its debut at the Great Escape in July.

“As we continue to explore the endless opportunities utilizing Samsung Gear VR technology, we can change the content of rides to offer an entirely new experience,” said Eric Gilbert, president of Great Escape Resort Properties Park. “We look forward to giving our guests another reason to visit and make new memories at the park this season.”

Riders, using Samsung Gear VR, powered by Oculus, will become the pilots of a futuristic gunship under attack by mutant spiders, Gilbert said.

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Argyle Cheese Farmer To Bring Large Part Of Its Manufacturing Operation To Glens Falls

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This is the current Argyle Cheese Farmer facility in Argyle, where it manufactures cheese, yogurt and similar products. The company plans to move manufacturing operations to Glens Falls.

By Jill Nagy

Argyle Cheese Farmer will quadruple its space when it moves into a building on Pruyn’s Island in Glens Falls.

Marge Randles, co-owner of the company with her husband, Dave Randles, said they had been looking, unsuccessfully, for three years for a suitable space in Washington County.

She said they expect to maintain a cheese-aging and packaging facility at the current farm location in Argyle, but most of the rest of the manufacturing operation will probably move to Glens Falls. How quickly the transition takes place will depend, in part, on whether the project is among those approved as part of the Glens Falls Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

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