Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Construction and buildout are likely going to be some of the largest expenses for any float center. Possibly even more than the float tanks themselves in some situations. Most float center owners aren’t millionaires, and when faced with these large expenditures, it can be difficult to decide what to cut to keep your costs down. Doing your own construction can be an effective way to go about that, but with so much technical work needed to go into building a float center, is that really the right thing to do?
Graham and Ashkahn lay down some knowledge on this, having both worked on a lot of their buildout themselves initially, as well as hired out workers for repairs and upgrades.
Show Resources
FTS Product – Construction Packet
FTS Blog – Location Checklist
FTS Blog – Gut Your Space Before Construction
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: And today’s question is, “I’m pretty handy and have worked as a general contractor in the past. What parts of building a float center do I need to hire professionals for?” This is a little bit tricky.
Ashkahn: Probably a lot of it still.
Graham: Yeah, it’s a little bit of a tricky question and it’s another one of those, “the more work you decide to do yourself, certainly the more at risk you’re putting everything.”
Ashkahn: And the work’s not easy work, you know. It’s not like very simple construction that you’re trying to do to get a float center up and running. I mean, of course, there’s certain legal things. Like, you probably can’t unless you have a plumber’s license and electrician’s license and things like that.
Graham: Certified HVAC installer for any kind of mechanical permitting work you need to pull.
Ashkahn: So, I mean, you probably can act as a general contractor. Like if you think you have the general knowledge and stuff like that. And just having an eye for construction is a huge help in and of itself.
Graham: Yeah, I would almost say the best thing about you being a contractor in the past, is you probably have some good connections in your area if you’re a contractor in your city. You know, if your license is still valid, then that gives you some nice access to contractor supply rates, without needing to go through your contractors. There’s certain benefits to it, even if you’re doing none of the labor yourself. And again, the biggest one in my mind is being able to vet out other people and their work is an awesome resource to have at your disposal as a result of previous work and training.
Ashkahn: I mean the main stuff that you would be able to do yourself, in a construction site, would be the framing and the drywall and all that sort of stuff. The stuff that doesn’t require a certification for and even that gets a little bit tricky. I mean even just slapping up drywall is not quite as easy in a float center. Like, you’re dealing with a lot more expensive pieces of sheetrock than you would be otherwise, if you’re dealing with the soundproof sheetrock and so you just want to be wiser about how you’re cutting it and not screwing things up is one part of it.
Graham: Yeah, I guess there’s a good lesson here in that even if you’re going with … if you personally don’t have contracting experience, if you’re hiring contractors anything like that, just know that the work going into a float tank center is probably really different than work that contractor has done in the past. Again, whether it’s you or someone else. You probably haven’t gone and installed totally soundproof assemblies with waterproofing or anything like that. And if you have worked on home theaters, if you’ve worked on professionals studios, if you’ve worked on pools or even on boats or something like that, all of that’s really good experience. It’s a little more relevant, just than your basic residential contracting experience.
Ashkahn: But, yeah, you know, it becomes important. You want someone who can put up sheetrock with very, very small gaps between the pieces. That’s going to pay off, in terms of your sound proofing as opposed to, maybe you’re not quite as good as that and you’re leaving bigger gaps. The nice thing is if it’s you, you care a lot.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: Which is definitely a big help. It’s very important to you that it gets done right, so if you’re doing it yourself, you have that going for you. But even in something that you might think is a very common thing to be able to do yourself, like sheetrock, there are some benefits that come from paying someone who can actually do a good job of getting pieces like really well and nicely cut and tight together.
Graham: And there’s another part of this too, which is warranties. Right? The more of the work that’s being done by other people. Especially even things like putting up your waterproofing and stuff like that, which maybe you could do yourself, but now if your waterproofing fails, do you want that all to be on you and you can’t really claim a warranty for the installation or anything like that. Just having someone else who’s on the line to be the one to come in and fix something or pay the money if something goes wrong can be a reason in itself to – even if you possess the qualifications – to not just do things yourself.
Ashkahn: Yep. So I guess I’d say you’re in a good position to be your own general contractor. ‘Cause it’s one of the things that there’s not really a general contractor specializing in float tank centers.
Graham: Right.
Ashkahn: There’s not like that kind of expertise that you’re missing out on. So hopefully if you have good connections from being a contractor before, that’d be the real main benefit you’d get from having another person be your general contractor is those connections.
Graham: And I should just put in a little aside, that in order to be a general contractor, you either need to be in a state where, as the owner of your business, that just allows you to serve as general contractor, which some places do, or you need to still have your contractor license active, of course. But if you were a contractor, you already know that. Hopefully.
Ashkahn: So that seems fine to me and probably a benefit to you, that you can act as your own general contractor and then beyond that, I’d probably, if you can, find good people to do the specific parts of the work.
Graham: Yeah, to do the water proofing. To do the … well, again, any licensed work, your hands are kind of tied. Concrete sloping, things like that, you want consumate professionals.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Unless you personally have tons of experience in concrete work, especially interior concrete work. That’s probably not one of the things you want to do yourself.
Ashkahn: Yeah, that’s real hard. Getting the slopes right from multiple drains from a single room, all that sort of stuff.
Graham: All of this too is coming from us having done a ton of construction ourselves and knowing how hard it is and how hard it is to get things right. And when you’re opening too, there’s so much to do that’s not construction. From the marketing to starting to figure out who you’re going to bring on for early employees and training them and everything. If you’re being called in all these different directions, at some point you’re probably going to drop the ball on one of them. So, a realistic assessment of your time and how many business partners you have is definitely necessary as well.
Ashkahn: I will say, having this kind of construction knowledge will be super handy after the point that you’re opening and when there’s little stuff that needs to be fixed and upkeep and ongoing maintenance and all that sort of stuff, all this is going to come in super, super handy.
Graham: Yeah, again, I said it earlier, but I would view it almost as a superpower for being able to vet other things and all the benefits you get from being experienced in this realm and consider, not necessarily doing the bulk of the work yourself. Maybe a lot of the benefits you get from your past experience are more fringe benefits and come from that side of things.
Ashkahn: Cool. I think that’s good.
Graham: I feel good.
Ashkahn: If you guys have more questions for us, you can go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast and use your fingers to type them on in there.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Should I Wire my Float Tanks into the Wall? – DSP 265
Ashkahn is currently recovering from his talk and the after-party last night, but Jake and Graham have gracefully taken the time to answer a construction question again today.
On the docket today is a question about wiring a float tank directly into the wall. Graham and Jake provide an overview of why some people may prefer this (it’s much easier to keep waterproof, e.g.), and why at Float On they use the twist lock for their outlets and how to properly utilize them.
Can I Keep My Old Ceiling With My Buildout? – DSP 264
Hopefully everyone had a lovely time at the Friday Activities and the after-party.
Ashkahn is still busy running the conference, but Graham and Jake have stepped in to talk about construction!
Today the guys talk about keeping a drop ceiling or T-bar ceiling in an existing space that you’re converting to a float center. The short answer is don’t keep it, as it can cause problems, but the guys do have some workarounds if your landlord is opposed to changing the ceiling.
What to Expect When Expanding from 1 to 3 Tanks? – DSP 263
Ashkahn is busy preparing for everything that happens tonight and tomorrow for the Conference, but that doesn’t mean Daily Solutions will stop being daily.
Graham and Jake talk construction and what to expect when you’re expecting… a giant expansion for your float center. What’s it look like when you go from one tank to three? How do the demands change? What needs to be put in place to make sure that you’re not hitting snags?
Fortunately, these guys know the score and are happy to share.
All About Floor Drains – DSP 262
As Ashkahn gets everything ready for the Start a Center Workshop (happening today) and the Float Conference this weekend, Graham and Jake tackle answering construction questions on the podcast.
Today they’re talking about floor drains. What to consider for drains and how they might pair with different types of flooring. Given the hefty price tag for these more advanced drains, having as much research before making a decision on these is essential. Luckily, the guys have done the hard part already and identified a lot of things to consider.
How to Deal with Float Room Humidity – DSP 261
Graham and Jake are at the helm again while Ashkahn puts the finishing touches on the Float Conference.
Today, the guys are talking all about humidity and how to deal with it when constructing your float rooms. They talk about all the little nuances that you (or your contractor) might not think about when it comes to humidity and how soundproofing and regular airflow may not always go hand in hand.
Latest Blog Posts
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #24
Alberta is often called the Texas of Canada. Part large oil industry, part cattle country.
Don’t Mess With Alberta!
At the base of the Rocky Mountains, replete with an Olympic Stadium, Calgary is a world-class destination for winter sports. The float community developed here similarly to Edmonton – there wasn’t anything nearby except for one or two residential float tanks, and then, in a short period of time, several centers opened all at once. Instead of competing, they’ve decided to work together and have developed one of the tightest knit float communities we’ve seen. They even have monthly Float Dinners, much like we do with the float centers in Portland. They don’t keep meeting minutes, so it’s hard to determine what they talk about at these dinners; my guess would be salt, the effects of salt on various substances, and how salty salt damage can make someone salty.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #23
After Montana, we blazed our way back into Canada. The drive was long, but the scenery was beautiful. We followed the Rockies north, driving up to Edmonton. It’s a bit of a detour but, there are so many float centers in Edmonton, it seemed crazy not to stop by.
The city itself is primarily made up of workers from the oil fields – high risk, high income jobs that fuel the economy. At least until recently. Our visit was right in the middle of the Fort McMurray wildfire which has displaced a lot of the workforce, forcing 100,000 people to leave their homes. Many came to Edmonton, being the nearest metropolitan area to Fort McMurray. Some already split their time between the two cities, living in Edmonton and traveling to Fort McMurray for weeks or months at a time for work.
It’s understood that, in economic hardship, luxury commodities are typically the first thing people cut back on. Surprisingly, this doesn’t seem to be the case for floating. In fact, more people seem to be trying it to help alleviate the stress, many centers even offering free or discounted services to those displaced in an effort to help in a small way.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #22
We’ve got two more stops in Colorado Springs before heading west. It’s a town known for its military base and long history of weapons testing. With such a large military presence, it comes as no surprise that the float center owners here are veterans, themselves.
After that, we shoot across to Salt Lake City. Utah is filled with gorgeous sights, from breathtaking lakes to stunning painted hills. With an international landmark famous for its effects on buoyancy, Salt Lake City should be pretty familiar with the concept of floating. With five different float centers, and the manufacturer of the Zen Tent out there, there could be some cause and effect.
After that, we head up into Idaho and Montana to close out the Central United States portion of our Tour. We’ll follow the Rocky Mountains north, taking in the scenery along the way.
The Float Tour Blog – Issue #21
Denver has been home to a vibrant float community for a long time. Some of the earliest commercial centers that started up in the ‘70s and ‘80s were out here. 30 years is a long time, and most of the old centers aren’t around anymore, but there’s a conscious community that has been floating since the old days and they love how much the industry has evolved and grown.
