[geeks] Being a guy, and being sentimental.

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2002 at 09:15:09AM -0800, Fogg, James wrote:
> There is a company in NH that deconstructs buildings, sells the architectual
> hightlights (mantles, etc.) to antique architecture dealers and salvages
> wood/brick/electrical/plumbing for low-income people to fix/renovate with.
> They aren't getting rich, but they are busy.
> 
> Some stuff cleans up well (timber and bricks) and some stuff is a tough sell
> for new/repair work. I see brick companies going to great length to
> duplicate old brick color/size/finish while old bricks are dumped in big
> holes. A minute or two with a hammer and chisel will turn a free dumped
> brick into a clean $1.00 to $1.50 brick. Actually, people will pay you to
> take bricks, so they are cheaper than free.
> 
> So lets say you get the bricks for free. Spend average 1.5 minutes each
> cleaning, sell for $1.00. Thats $45.00 per hour for unskilled manual labor.
> That should be enough money to afford overhead like land, a truck and
> advertising.
> 
> But no, thanks. I'll try and keep doing what I've been doing. If the 'puter
> industry dies again, maybe I'll try my hand at it.

Wow.  I had no idea there was so much money to be made in old bricks.  And to
think that a year ago we threw out a large stack (5x5" 2" tall), although
about half that stack was broken, and we were pinched for time to move.

It does present ideas in the helping people help themselves line...

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd