Our PCOC Building Renovations
From the Desk of our Building Committee Chair and Third Vice President, Tom Graston
As promised, I am updating you on the progress of our building renovations in West Sacramento. Years of neglect has left us with the task of renovating and repairing almost every aspect of our building from roof repair, to landscaping, to painting and replacing carpet. Just when we thought our list couldn't get any longer, the plumbing backed up in the kitchen, which is now forcing us to tear out and rebuild the kitchen as well!
Over the years I have always been impressed with how we, as individual companies, can compete for business during the day but still come together as a powerful organization to support our industry — and this project has been no different. As each of the bids started flowing in from various contractors, I quickly realized that as a non-profit organization, we did not have the funds to make this project possible. After reaching out to several companies, I was able to get labor donations to reduce our costs dramatically! For example, the interior painting and carpeting was reduced, from an original bid of $35,000, to costing us approximately $12,000. Thank you to Clark Pest Control in Stockton for donating the majority of the carpet! Also thank you to The Pest Control Center, Neighborly Pest Management, Big Time Pest Control and Clark Pest Control in Vacaville for contributing the labor to get our office to where we are now!
With that said, we are not yet done. Left on my list for the renovations are the kitchen and bathrooms! We also have counter tops throughout the building to replace, as well as painting the cabinets. Also, we still have to replace all the plants in the front of the building that we had to remove when we tore out the planters.
Not all of our projects listed can be accomplished with labor alone. We are still seeking funds to not only complete the repairs and update our office, but to also ensure that we have a building fund to maintain the building and protect us from such extreme renovations in the future.
We are not only renovating this building to protect our investment, but to also allow our new Executive Vice President, Chris Reardon, the opportunity to hold meetings with various government agencies, senators and assemblyman to help us reach our objectives as an association. Less than six months ago our building was an embarrassment, but now we are breathing new life into it so that we may be proud to hold meetings at our office.
Thank you to the districts who have made donations to the building fund and I ask that each district discuss this project in your local meeting, to ensure that we can financially move forward! Our goal is to be able to have our building completed and hold an open house at our PCOC building in April during our Legislative Days.
Please feel free to contact me directly at:
Tom Graston
tgraston@clarkpest.com
530-401-7381