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GEOKARJO 
Google This!!!
Group: Members
Posts: 7799
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 06 2003,11:06 am |
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I recently recieved my chamber of commerce "Business Update" and tried accessing business web sites published and they do not exsist I am now to calling Phone numbers to see if they really do exsist.
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| Post Number: 2
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GEOKARJO
Google This!!!
Group: Members
Posts: 7799
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 06 2003,11:14 am |
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I can find no listing for www.tailfinsmaltshop.com or its published owner.
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| Post Number: 3
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LisaMarie
Group: Members
Posts: 367
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 07 2003,9:20 am |
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What are you talking about? Tailfins is in Alden, drive over and see for yourself. The website exists, too. I typed it in exactly the way you have it above and it brought me right to the site. The owner is George Dickson, it says so right on the business listing on the Freeborn County website. I know him personally, he's a nice guy. My uncle's shop is one of the sponsors of his grandson's racecar. Any other "shady" businesses you'd like to verify?
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Bush & Son - Sending America to war since 1990
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| Post Number: 4
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guest
Unregistered
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Posted on: Nov. 07 2003,9:26 am |
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maybe geo's been taking hits off of minnows bong
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| Post Number: 5
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minnow fan
Unregistered
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Posted on: Nov. 07 2003,12:04 pm |
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maybe GEO has got way too much time on his hands.
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| Post Number: 6
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minnow
Group: Members
Posts: 2243
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 07 2003,2:07 pm |
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And his hands spend to much time around booze bottle. Geo's admitted to drinking everyday and is part Indian too boot..not a good combo.
Anyone who can drink everyday does indeed have a lot of time on their hands.
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| Post Number: 7
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GEOKARJO
Google This!!!
Group: Members
Posts: 7799
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 07 2003,3:24 pm |
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I tried twice yesterday and the site could not be accessed once at noon then again at 5. Just cause it works today doesn't mean it didn't yesterday
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| Post Number: 8
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minnow fan
Group: Members
Posts: 198
Joined: Nov. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 08 2003,1:20 am |
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Gee, thanks for looking into such a serious and important matter GEO. We are all forever in your debt.
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Even if you think the ALEDC is a good idea, do you really want to put Sparks and Bishop in charge of all the economic development in Albert Lea?
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| Post Number: 9
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cwolff
Group: Members
Posts: 265
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Dec. 06 2003,11:33 am |
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The following business update for Albert Lea was in the Star Tribune today: GET YOUR APPLICATIONS IN!!!!!!
HomeZone: Building for the future
Jim Buchta, Star Tribune Staff Writer
Published December 6, 2003
If you can put together a little Lincoln Logs cabin, then you can build a MasterFit house, architect, James Brew says.
Well, it's a little more complicated than that, but simplicity, promoters say, is a hallmark of an innovative building system that Brew and a team of local businessmen have imported from Japan. And with a couple of national builders interested in the system, they're building a multimillion-dollar manufacturing plant in Albert Lea, Minn.
MF Technologies, a new Minneapolis-based company, is building the 26,000-square-foot manufacturing plant where engineered lumber will be precision-cut for the MasterFit System using $2 million worth of equipment that's on its way from Japan.
It's one of many new technologies being used by U.S. builders, part of a continuing effort by the industry to find ways to streamline home building and improve quality. Builders and homeowners have been besieged by durability problems, many of them related to moisture damage from interior and exterior water intrusion.
MasterFit house going upBruce BispingStar TribuneBrew, an architect with LHB Architects in Minneapolis and Duluth, says engineered lumber used in some of these systems can help with such problems because dimensional lumber is sometimes crooked, split and warped, creating gaps for moisture to move within a wall cavity.
In large part, the trend has been toward panelization and modular construction techniques: Build a stud wall in a factory, ship it to the site and assemble. But this process is unique. All of the framing members are pre-cut in a factory, numbered and shipped to a job site, where carpenters use keyed blueprints to assemble the house one piece at a time. The system can be used for just about any structure, including multifamily and commercial buildings.
Like post-and-beam structures, MasterFit houses aren't held together with nails. The posts and beams are attached to one another with steel connectors that are locked into grooves in the wood with pins. Once the framing is up, it can be enclosed either with structural insulated panels or with batt insulation and sheathing.
It usually takes only a couple of days, vs. weeks for a traditional construction.
Brew learned about the system in 1998 when a friend clipped a brief item about the company from Popular Science magazine. Brew met company founder Kato Sangyo and traveled to Japan nearly a dozen times, and LHB was hired by the company to get U.S. code approval for the system.
Worldwide, the system has been used to build more than 35,000 homes, most of them in Japan, where seismic activity requires structures that can withstand constant movement.
Now, nearly five years after that first meeting with Sangyo, Brew is watching the fruits of his labor take shape in Richfield. Though six houses have been built in the Duluth area, this is the first in the Twin Cities area. It's a custom spec house that's being built by BCB Builders of St. Paul, on a lot in Richfield. The city initiated the project as part of its Richfield Rediscovered program, a multi-year effort to revitalize the city's housing stock by remodeling, expanding and building houses.
"This was a unique opportunity to do something that was out of the ordinary," said Richfield community development technician, Michelle Lewis. She said this system was appealing because the houses tend to be more energy-efficient than a traditional wood-frame house, and the project will generate less waste. The house was designed by LHB's Kim Bretheim, but the American Lung Association of Minnesota also has been involved with the design and planning of the project, which has been designated a Health House.
BCB's owner, Richard Klimala, said that when the city sought proposals to develop the site, where a neglected house in foreclosure had been demolished, he jumped at the chance to try something to improve the process.
"I think this guarantees a high level of quality. It's difficult to make mistakes," he said.
Keeping the structure dry, especially engineered wood products, is particularly important to avoid mold and rot, so proper design is particularly important, Klimala said. That means large overhangs, for example, to keep rain and snow from washing over the sidewalls.
During this start-up phase, the cost of this system is comparable to a traditional site-built house, but costs could come down as efficiencies increase. Klimala is optimistic that he'll save on labor. Worker's compensation insurance, for example, cost him $34,000 last year. This system, he believes, will cut down on the amount of time his crew is on the job site, reducing the liklihood of an accident.
He's also looking for "consistent quality at a reduced cost," he said. The MasterFit system requires less skilled labor because workers aren't measuring and using power tools.
LHB's Brew said
he was attracted to the system for environmental reasons. Typically, when a house is built, Dumpsters full of debris including wood scraps are carted off after construction. MasterFit uses engineered lumber that's made from scrap wood and fast-growing trees pre-cut in a factory to eliminate waste. Much of that material will be bought from Alamco Wood Products, an Albert Lea company that makes structural glue laminated beams (glulams). This is the same company that's building MF Technology's factory through the state's JOBZ (Job Opportunity Building Zones) program. The company still is awaiting a final decision on its eligibility for the tax breaks and other incentives from the JOBZ program.
MasterFit is owned by a large Japanese company called Zephyr, and LHB is likely to become a minority shareholder in the local company, MF Technologies. Its president, Santos Martin, and director, Rie Kato, said the Albert Lea facility will be able to cut and label the lumber for an entire house in half-day with fewer than five employees, including administrative workers. He hopes to have the operation running by spring. Already, there are seven MasterFit factories in Japan, and Brew has his sights set on establishing more in other regions of the United States.
Brew supports the technology because workers can reduce waste to about 1 percent of the total materials consumed..
It's been a long road, Brew said, but with the support of LHB and its one of its co-founders, Lauren Larsen, he believes this somewhat cuttting-edge technology will be embraced by builders and consumers. "He always said, 'Keep your eye open for what's next on the horizon; if you let people do what they want to do, you will both be successful.' "
Jim Buchta is at
[EMAIL=jbuchta@startribune.com.]jbuchta@startribune.com.[/EMAIL]
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| Post Number: 10
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usmcr
Group: Members
Posts: 922
Joined: Sep. 2003
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Posted on: Dec. 08 2003,8:04 am |
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Good post cwolf! no local coverage by tv or newspapers! it would seem to be a good local news story. one real positive aspect of this venture is that it will also utilize the local alamco wood products. it will be interesting to see if they construct a model home in the area. if this comes into reality the habitat homes might be a ideal show case for them. more information available on the internet about this type of construction.
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"Do not confuse dissent with disloyalty" Edward R Murrow
Memento homo quia pulvis es, et in pulverem veverteris
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