Several of us have calculated out projections for the finances, and the general consensus is that it’s a safe choice. Here is the spreadsheet I personally put together to play with the numbers, feel free to pull a copy of it and play with it yourself using various assumptions: Finance and Growth Projection - Google Sheets
Thanks,
Kevin M.
John O == yes
Pointed out by others - we do have an additional $45k in reserves. This is obviously valid, but i think there should be at least 6 months (~$20k) of rent saved for rainy days and, as shown in Kevin’s xls file, we have ~$25k hitting us for the move. Leaving us with $0 safety blanket. Therefore, if we move to 11.5k space and drop head count by only 15% (~15 people) we will be tapping into our reserves every month. The data implies we are averaging growth, but i think things have and are changing.
Please correct me if i’ve made an error.
After running the numbers, I am a absolute no. I hope we all check the values ourselves.
Sorry - looks like that attachment failed.
Ralph, the $20k reserve is the safety blanket. I completely understand being cautious with finances, but what you are suggesting is we need a safety blanket on top of our safety blanket.
Reminder: this vote ends Tuesday at 7:30pm. Since we are not doing in-person meetings, you should vote in this thread if you want to vote, as counting votes in a teleconference sounds miserable.
Thanks,
Kevin M.
Secretary
Yes
Just for clarity. I would suggest people say “I vote yes”. It could be misunderstood that you are agreeing with the last post. 
I vote YES. I hope this virus stuff dosen’t interfere any more than it needs too. Good write up by the way.
I vote NO. I’m concerned that we have no idea how bad the effects of COVID-19 and its side effects and restrictions are going to be. In short, I would rather be safe than sorry.
I vote No.
Only because who knows how long COVID-19 will go on. Otherwise I think it’s a great idea.
We can always expand later. We could start out by building walls that would be there under any plan to get started and make this decision in a few months.
Coy
All,
Given the changing circumstances, I would like to CHANGE to a NO vote. I believe at this point in time it is in everyone’s best interest to financially insulate themselves as best as possible because this is going to be a long ride.
I also think it is best to review budgets for the move and plan on spending the absolute bare minimum until we are on solid footing again.
Tim
I vote no for Financial security as well
I vote yes. This is a clarification of my earlier “yes”.
I also vote a soft “NO”, for the moment.
As Treasurer, I agree, we have the money (cash flow and reserve). I would support this upgrade based on our past positive growth trend and most likely bright future.
The soft “NO”, is just for the moment, due to the current uncertainties of the next several weeks/months? Why commit to the high number now? It is more prudent to wait a bit and see how the current situation sorts out.
I do favor us building-out as-if/for/towards the 11,500 ft2 future now. Building-out as-if/for/just 7000 ft2 is a waste of time and money. I favor minimal effort and flexibility anyway, as we are likely to make future changes.
If this vote does not pass now, I do propose we revisit the 11,500 ft2 vote in another month or so. If things look good, I’ll happily change my vote to an enthusiastic “Yes”.
JimD
I'd like to remind everyone that we're voting on a specific 7,000 square foot plan versus 11,500 square feet. If you're voting no, we're building out the plan that Kevin put forward.
Here's why: Whatever we need to build out needs to be usable and it needs to be appealing. A half-built space won't work. Half-organized, half-capable, and half-functional shouldn't be our mode of operation. We're trying to build a community work space. It needs more attention given toward usability than your garage cabinets, or your shed workbench. People need to be able to find things or they won't use them. If we're not serving them then they'll leave.
We also don't have time to fuss around with half build-out goofiness. We need to build and move and be operational.
I feel that we have the finances to go forward with 11,500 NOW. We've shown that.
Considering the current mandates we'll be discussing our move schedule, including finances, at the next moving committee meeting.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Just to be explicitly clear, the discussion in the build team meetings that led to this vote was that we either build out to 11.5k immediately, or we build out for 7k (as drawn and distributed). The reason being that due to the infrastructure required to get our tools and shops working in the new space, there is not a way to get us up and operational without choosing one floorplan or the other. If we build out just the front half of the 11.5k floorplan within the 7k space, that either means we go without a functional woodshop and machine shop till we expand, or we run half a mile of electrical circuits for the woodshop and machine shop just to have those tools sharing space with clean activities like cooking, sewing, crafts, 3D printing and electronics.
The vote is that we either build the 7k floorplan shared, or the 11.5k floorplan shared. If we think we will expand to 11.5k in the next year or two, voting for 7k is the wrong answer, as it will either mean tons of rework when we expand, having half our facilities unusable for months or more, or that we will have to accept a layout for 11.5k that a large number of members have said they do not like.
I understand the concern about money, but we have a very conservative budget layed out for this, even if we go $10k over the budget we allocated for the move, and our membership shrinks by 10-15 members for the next few months, we will only just barely dip into our 6 month reserve. And that 6 month reserve itself assumes we loose ALL member’s income, and continue spending $11k on tool votes every year.
I am currently advocating for the 11.5k pfloorplan, because it seems to have a much stronger concensus around it to allow us to move foward, but please know that if you vote no to 11.5k, due to needing to get us moved and operational, you are inherently voting for the 7k floorplan that has already been debated, vetted, and approved by a group of 25-30 memebers at a move meeting.
I vote NO! I don’t think that anyone knows what the outcome of this pandemic is going to be. I hear people saying that even if we lose 10 to 15 people, we will be OK. If more people (20 to 25) lose income, will we be able to handle the load? How long is this going to last? How many pandemics have you seen? It would be nice if we were able to move in to a perfectly set up space. But that is NOT NECESSARY! Things always change, and if we are too set in our plans, it will cause extra work anyway. Right now with the restrictions in the state of Ohio, getting the work done is going to be a big problem. Right now our biggest need is to get out of 2929! With the restriction in place WHO and WHEN, can we make the move?
Just my humble opinion
Dave Lear
I’m changing my vote to abstain. I can see both sides. I’m going to let those that have stronger opinions carry the vote.
-Dave B.
I’m still voting yes for the 11,500 sq ft plan. It is a better solution for Hive13. I’ve been looking at the Hive13 budget long and hard. We can do this.
That said; Plans made even last week are obsolete. A so called mandate based on those plans is also obsolete. The terms Overtaken by Events and Force Majure apply to our current situation in Hive13 and society at large.
While $15,000 is budgeted for Hive13 buildout, it is irresponsible to start spending that money like nothing has happened. We all need to reassess the entire move schedule and where necessary negotiate with our building owners.
As has been wisely counseled by several others, the plans must be revised.
These are unprecedented times. We are under state orders to stay at home until at least April 6th. Based on the recommendations from epidemiologists more likely much longer. Life is not going back to the way it was after April 6th. This is not just a two week slip in a schedule.
The schedule to Move Hive13 to 2701 depends on contractors, suppliers, landlords and our Hive13 community members who must all be alive and healthy and free to move about our business in order to make this move.
What is readily apparent is that time is not now and we don’t know enough to make realistic plans on when that will be.
Until that time the best we can do is Stay Calm and Stay Home.
This too shall pass. When it does pass, we will revise our plans and take action with new knowledge we have then.
Dave Velzy
Hive13 COO
dvelzy@hive13.org
513-410-6174