Category: property

Sorry for the lack of communication recently.  It has been a very busy and productive week!

In summary, our walls are almost finished; we have our lighting system installed; and we should have another two or three new online exhibitions opening for you soon!

Walls

Ric and I were back at the gallery last Tuesday with Ric’s dad to try and complete the rendering of the walls.  We got very close with only one side of one wall yet to be completed.  We did however run into a new problem in that the rendered finish isn’t as smooth as it should be.  So, we will be sanding them back at some stage this week.  As soon as that is done, they will be ready for painting!

Lights

The two most important things in a physical gallery space are the hanging system and the lighting system.

After hunting around for the right lighting system for months, I finally found the right one for our little gallery.  It is an extremely flexible track system that allows the lights to be clicked in and clicked out of any position on the track that they need to be.  Each light unit also has four moveable flaps on it so that light can be best directed onto the artwork.  You wouldn’t believe how many choices there are when it comes to globes, but we ended up choosing 90 degree xenon satin finish globes.  Apart from lasting 10,000 hours each, the globes offer a very soft and warm light, with no blue, green or pink colouring. 

I was at the gallery at 8am on Saturday morning to help the electrician install the lighting system.  He said that it would take between one and two days to install; and I thought that if I helped I could keep it to one day, saving me a day of labour rates.  I was wrong wrong wrong.  If a tradesperson quotes one to two days, they mean two to three days.  And they are not going to work any more quickly because they are getting help.  In fact, (and as per my case) they will probably slow down. 

He showed up late at 8.45am and started packing up by 3.30pm.  In fairness, he didn’t stop for lunch but had enough ciggie/mobile phone breaks to make up for that.  I’d estimate that I actually got about 5 ½ hours work out of him.  Not bad when you’re getting paid by the day, and not by the hour. 

And he had me working hard… the hardest I’ve worked for a long time.  Up and down ladders, measuring, cutting, lifting, holding, positioning, and installing.  By the end of the day I was sore… very sore; in both senses of the word.  We had installed nine lengths of track to the ceiling and not much else.  No wiring and no switches.  No lights.

The electrician told me he would need another couple of hours to complete the job and so he returned on Sunday.  As he would be wiring, I left him alone.  I got a call at about 3.30pm to say that he was still there.  He had wired everything up, but nothing worked so he had to go back over it and check all of the connections.  Of course, I would be paying for this.

The good news is that the lighting system is now working (and will hopefully continue to work well into the future).  Even though it cost double the estimate, it looks great and does a fantastic job. 

If this gallery business doesn’t work out, I think I will go to TAFE and do a trade.  It has to be the only ‘industry’ where you get paid to fix your own mistakes… and paid more than most other professions!

42 days of council conversation

Whilst I’ve cut some of the pleasantries from these emails, these are direct quotes from emails between the council and I…

20 Jan 2011 (me) – If my application needs to be advertised to neighbours, may I be given the opportunity to conduct the printing, enveloping, and mailing of the notice so that I may best control my costs associated with this exercise?

20 Jan 2011 (council) – As you have requested this within the appropriate timeframe – we will have to allow it. 

39 days later…

28 Feb 2011 (council) – I was just looking for an update on what the next steps in our process are for the change in use application.

28 Feb 2011 (council) – I have prepared your file for advertising and have noted on the file for admin that you wish to handle the postage side of things yourself, so to control costs.  Hopefully my senior will sign off advertising plans today, so notification can commence this week.

3 days later…

3 March 2011 (me) – Has there been any update from your senior on the advertising plan?   I called your admin team and they can’t tell me what is involved until they see the plan.  Depending on the difference in cost, I may just leave it up to the team at the council to do the advertising.

3 March 2011 (council) I’m so sorry for the delay, my coordinator will sort it out today.  Unfortunately we don’t have the option for the applicant to organise advertising – unlike some Councils.  So we will be organising it at a fee.  You will be contacted when ready.

3 March 2011 (me) – Previous correspondence between us suggested that I did have this option.  Please see attached.

3 March 2011 (council) Ok, sorry I forgot.

Riiightio then!  Can I please see a show of hands from everyone that has confidence in my council planning permit application process?!

What I haven’t mentioned as yet, is that even though I have already gained written approval and support from my own owners’ corporate committee (for that the building the gallery is in), the council still want to post letters to everyone in the same building to let them know of the application. 

Can I now please see a show of hands from everyone that thinks that this red tape is now comical?!

At least I can smile about it, and hope that this post has made you smile too.

We will get there, I promise! 

Last week was a very interesting week.  Apart from launching another very talented artist (Rebecca Hartley), there was no progress on one hundredth gallery.  None.  Zero.  Nothing.

Planning Application

I lodged my planning application to the council on 17 January; 42 days ago.  In the past 42 days, I have received an acknowledgement letter and a request to supply written confirmation from Liquor Licensing Victoria that I don’t need a liquor licence.  Whilst very difficult to get, I provided the written confirmation 10 days ago.  Phone messages have been left and emails have been sent.   As soon as I work out what we’re waiting for, I’ll let you know!

Walls & Lighting

Whilst the walls went up 2 weeks ago, we haven’t made any progress with completing the render and finishing touches in preparation for their painting.  Fingers crossed that we can get this done in the next 2 weeks.

I have finally found the right lighting system for the gallery.  It is a track system with ‘clip-in, clip-out’ lights than can be adjusted and moved to wherever they are needed.  I just need to find an electrician to install them, and ‘we will have light!’

Progress

I’m pretty sure we are still on track for a May opening.

The online exhibitions have been quite successful with seven artists exhibiting their work and another two or three assembling their collections.  We will also be launching new exhibitions by some of the artists that have already exhibited, so watch this space!

If you’re an aspiring artist, and emerging artist, an established artist, or know an artist that should be exhibiting their work, then please get in touch – charles@100thgallery.com

After several false starts, my cousin-in-law (Ric) and I finally met up at the gallery on Sunday to start constructing the gallery walls.  After surveying the site, discussing the plans, drinking coffee, and some general natter, we started building at 2pm.  

Ric owns a business that specialises in pre-fabricated concrete composite walls (www.casafico.com).  The walls are 90mm thick (the same as a normal plaster stud wall) and have an inner core of polystyrene and an outer shell of concrete sheeting.  The sides are reinforced with steel and each 600mm panel weighs 27kg. We used sixteen of them. These walls are the perfect gallery walls.

We started by securing steel channels to the floor and to the outer walls.  The wall panels were then slotted into position and secured with a second steel channel that also acts to cap the top of the wall.  All of the panels were securely screwed into the top and bottom channels and expanding foam was sprayed between the panels to further strengthen them.

We worked for seven hours straight and at 9.05pm we were ‘politely’ asked by a neighbour to stop working.  The good news is that all three of the internal gallery walls are now up, and the space feels like more of a ‘gallery’.  We still need to finish off the third wall and install a door; and then all of the walls need to be rendered (smooth) and painted.  Hopefully we’ll have this done during the next three weekends.  You will notice that the walls do not go all of the way to the ceiling (they are 2200mm high).  I did this for two reasons.  1. To allow daylight to travel into the entire space; and 2. To ensure that the ceiling-mounted airconditioning can still be effective! 

As my planning application is still trapped in its red tape, there is no rush.

As you know, I submitted my planning permit application into the council on Monday.  Thankfully, I received a ‘receipt of application’ on Wednesday.  The receipt also had the details of the ‘planner’ that will be assessing my application.

If deemed necessary by the planner, I will need to advertise my application to ‘surrounding’ residents and owners by mail.  ‘Surrounding’ isn’t defined and I found out that this process could cost thousands of dollars as there are heaps of apartments in the Prahran area.

So, I contacted my planner to ask them if I could manage the ‘advertising’ process.  This is the email trail…

—

Good Morning,

Thank you for your receipt of my application.

If my application needs to be advertised to neighbours, may I be given the opportunity to conduct the printing, enveloping, and mailing of the notice so that I may best control my costs associated with this exercise?

Thank you,

Charles.

—

Hi Charles,

Please see below.

—

Hiya

as they have requested this within the appropriate timeframe – we will have to allow it.  we normally still charge the administration fee for preparing the letters & list etc as that is done on our letterhead but the mailing costs etc would be bourne by the applicant and they need to provide us with evidence of the postage ie receipt from Australia Post showing the number of letters etc.  Also they would still pay us for the sign, if required.

minimum costs (incl GST) for this service would be

$82.50 – no sign

$110.00 – incl sign

thanks

—

One of the primary reasons that I keep this blog is to document my journey, and my progress.   I hope that it provides some sort of insight and/or entertainment; and hope that some of the lessons I learn here can be used by others who are starting their own businesses.

The simple lesson that I have learned from the above is that the planning application process is as much as about revenue for the council as anything else.  If you’re working with councils, ask as many questions as you can and do everything you can to control your costs!

I have completed my application for a planning permit and will be submitting it today.  The process from here looks something like this –

1. The council will assess the application to see if anything is missing or if they require further clarification (1 month)
2. The council will mail all of the residents in the local area that this application may affect (1 month)
3. We’ll address any objections and hopefully the permit will be issued (1 month) 

Whilst this application is being assessed, I will use 49 Porter Street Prahran under its current permit as an office for my emerging art business. 

Let the clock start now!

I have finally got my head around this whole planning permit application process.  I don’t like it, and I think it is a huge waste of time, but I have my head around it.

As all planning applications are public documents, it was easy enough for me to access applications that other galleries have lodged in the past.  It took two days, but the planning officer at the City of Stonnington dug them out of the archives for me.  This has been helpful for 2 reasons –

1. I was able to see the errors and omissions on those applications and the areas where the council required additional information.  Hopefully this will ensure that my application can be ‘complete and correct’ the first time
2. I was able to see the timeframes between the initial application and the approval of the permit.  In one case it was three months and in the other, four.

I’ve stopped stressing about these timeframes as we are developing some creative ways to deal with these hurdles.  Necessity is the mother of invention, so we’re getting inventive.  Watch this space for further details…

Before I start this post, please let me apologise to all those people (artists in particular) that were expecting a late Jan / early Feb opening.  I now know that this is not going to happen.

As reported yesterday, I need to submit a planning application to the council so that I may use the property as a gallery.

In addition to the delays that this process will cause, my little 50sqm gallery space is not registering as important to the tradespeople whose help I need to get it ready.  Some tradies are even putting in unrealistic quotes because ‘…this job is too small to be worth my while’.  That is their exact wording. 

As all other jobs are dependent on it, the very first job that I need done is the floor.  I have ripped up all of the carpet and underlay to reveal the concrete slab.  The concrete needs to be ground back so that all marks are removed and so the surface is as flat s it can be.  Once that is done, two coats of clear polyurethane are put down to give it a glossy look.

Annoyingly, it has taken 9 days to get someone in to quote and the earliest that they can start the job is 26 Jan.  The job takes 3 days to do and 2 days to dry… and if you’re interested $3300 to complete.

This means that all other jobs need to be put on hold until 1 Feb.  Wall Installation, Painting, Hanging System, Lighting.  All on hold until after the floors are done.

So depending on the council, I think the earliest opening date is now the end of February.  The positive in all of this is it gives our artists (and me) an extra month to produce some more work!

I have had an action item on my ‘to do list’ for a couple of months now.  An action item which wasn’t prioritised due to the fact that I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal.  An action item which I thought was a ‘nice to do’ rather than a ‘must do’.  I couldn’t have been more wrong…

I met with the council today.  I was in the area so I moseyed on in to meet and greet my local representatives.  Actually, my intention was to set up an appointment to discuss all of the things that I needed to know about setting up a business in the City of Stonnington.

I was quickly referred to talk to the people ‘across the hall’, the people in ‘P-L-A-N-N-I-N-G’.  *gulp*

To cut what is becoming a long story into a short one, the property in which I intend to open the gallery currently has a council-issued ‘permit’ to be used as an office.  If I want to change that (which I do), then I need to apply to the council for a new permit.   The worst things about this process are

1. the application costs $502;
2. the process represents a significant amount of work; and
3. it may take months to be approved (if at all). 

I have also subsequently found out that I cannot serve any alcohol at the gallery opening nights (even though it will be handed out for free) without a ‘Limited Liquor License’.  Looks like I have some ‘applying’ to do.

Until the new permit is approved, I will still be able to use the property as an office to exhibit and sell art, however I won’t be able to have ‘opening hours’ nor ‘opening nights’ and all viewings will need to be done by appointment… not the most effective way to exhbit emerging artists!

Friends, family, artists, followers, this is just another small speed hump on our journey; we will get there!

Unfortunately, Mr eBay Bargain Hunter did not show up on Monday to remove and collect the internal glass dividing wall and the carpet.

He did however show up yesterday, an hour and a half late and on his own.  I’m not sure how he thought he was going to move over 300kg of glass and over 200kg of carpet on his own; but full credit to him for forcing me into some serious manual labour.  For a grand total of $165.00, this guy got himself over $4000 of goods and an assistant for 4 hours.  Sucker…

As the photos will show, we have turned a neat and tidy useable space into a (an ugly duckling) blank canvas construction zone.  We now have 19 days to turn this space into a swan.