Peterborough Float Centre Progress Update

The slow, autumnal creep of the progress to opening Flow Spa over that last few months has transformed into a turbo-charged rocket blast forward. In terms of visible progress, this last month has been nothing less than spectacular. After getting city building permit approval at the very beginning of the month, it was all hands on deck to make progress before the Christmas and New Years breaks impeded the momentum.

Removing the concrete.

The floor was cut to make way for the shower drains - the crucial first step when it comes to constructing float rooms as private showers are part of the experience.

With the floor cut, the plumber was able to put the first piece of the puzzle together in terms of room requirements.

Next were the frames for the walls. While the plumber was still plumbing away, we started to see most of the walls being framed in. This has been the most visibly dramatic change thus far.

Out With The Old...

In With The New!

Then the intermediate permits started to fall into place. The frames were inspected, followed by the underground plumbing. With those permits in place, we were able to pour the cement back down to close up those trenches for the shower drains. All like a beautiful symphony of construction.

With the holidays closing in on us we still had some time to continue the framing of the walls and start on the electrical work. A few days later the wiring was in place and like Jordan in the fourth quarter, the electrical inspector came in to approve the work and put the finishing touches on a successful month of building out the float centre.

Now we see the changing of the guard as the next trade comes into the scene to modify the HVAC system to suit each of the new rooms we are building.

The First Tank Arrives!

In the background with all of the renovations going on, there was still much to do this past month to see that our timeline for opening remained true. All of our equipment is in the final stages of production, if not already shipped and delivered to us, like our Float Pod which arrived from the U.S.

Our new sign.

Holiday pre-sales were a blast and a radio ad plus overhead signage helped to spread awareness of our burgeoning existence.

And now we move into the second half of renovations. With everything in its place, it will be time to put together the final package and present Flow Spa to the world. If all goes according to plan and we don’t face any hold ups we will be open sometime in February.

Peterborough Float Centre Construction - The First Month

It’s been a challenging month in getting ahead of the anticipated delays and troubles in kicking off the construction and renovations of Flow Spa. If you’re not careful and ready to act, every two steps forward will come with one step back. There are many different roles to juggle all at once when in the start-up mode for a business and this month has been a testament to that fact. 

As the progress continues to be made, the pipeline of tasks begins to narrow into a more logical sequence of one after another; albeit with other roles and unexpected decisions still peppered in. 

The two major projects for this month have been finalizing the details of the financing for the business and getting everything squared away for the building permits and starting the renovations. 

As necessary as funding may be for starting a business, there are many steps and a detailed legal process that goes into receiving a loan for a business. Due diligence must be taken by both parties to ensure that a proper agreement has been met; much like the process of lease negotiations. But once the details of the money are out of the way, you can march forward much more efficiently as long as you know who’s doing your work and they are ready to get started with you.

Dealing with the city for the requirements of the building permits has been a more painstaking process. The Peterborough building department is overwhelmed with work and so getting an answer either in-person or online is time-consuming and slows down progress. It’s frustrating when you’re ready to work with someone but need to verify from the city any questions that arise first and it takes two days to get a response. 

There are some strange rules with my business being classified in the large business category despite seemingly falling under the limitations of a small building because of the overall size of the property it is contained in. This not only complicated the requirements as far as what I have to provide for design, but it also increased the costs for permits about four-fold. While this still doesn’t seem logical to me, it is how things are and I just have to move forward from here.  This is just one of the many reasons why you need to have contingencies in your business plan to accommodate unexpected expenses like this.

At least now that I have the answers from the city, my designers are working on what’s required of them and we’re back to making good progress towards getting everything done on time. 

Progress Update #2 - Float Tanks Coming To Peterborough

Show Me The Money

The first major hurdle for Flow Spa was the quest for funding the startup costs. Securing funding for a massive endeavour in a new industry is never an easy thing and our ability to move forward with the construction plans was entirely contingent upon securing a loan for the purchase of equipment and renovations. 

After months of diligent research and revisions, I presented my case on Tuesday of this week and received my response a few hours later. 

I was approved for the loan!

Now we enter the next stage of preparing the business for opening and go full force into renovating the space we have leased. 

Location, Location, Location

Speaking of which, our location is at the Asta Plaza - 866 Chemong Road. This location provides great accessibility and visibility as we proceed with educating our community on the benefits of floatation therapy and the other modalities that will be provided inside Flow Spa. 

In the coming weeks, I will reveal more of what’s behind the renovations going into opening a float centre as well as the fascinating benefits of floating and the research that the float industry is collaborating on to raise awareness and further validate the importance of the experience of floating. 

Feel free to send any questions or comments my way.

Thank you for reading, 

RJ

Peterborough Float Centre Progress Update #1

As we go about taking steps to get this business open, I will be providing updates along the way to keep everyone in the loop about our progress. 

Today in the first progress update I will touch on the following:

• business planning and seeking funding

• settling on a location

• contractors

• float tank manufacturers

Business Planning

Float centres are expensive endeavours.

We have been diligently working on perfecting our business plan in order to secure the funding needed to open this centre. With the business plan rigorously developed now, we anticipate having a clear answer on the funding in the coming weeks and by the next progress update, I will be able to give you an answer as well. One thing that I’ve learned is crucial about going into a funding proposal is being sure that you’ve got accurate estimates of your capital expenditures.  Under asking and not having enough working capital to see us through the early growth phase of the first few months must be avoided. Getting these numbers dialled in is like trying to reach the top of the moving staircases at Hogwarts - there are many moving pieces that can change the outcome in the blink of an eye. 

Location

We’ve got a location picked out now and the lease has been signed contingent on receiving funding. This is important for any business venture that is dependent on funding being secured because most lenders will require that you have a lease signed before presenting your business plan to them. 

Picking a location was challenging because we needed enough space to properly build out a float centre and also had to consider other factors like the traffic to the area, noise levels in the neighbourhood, and the other businesses to work with (or have to compete against) in the area. 

Contractors

One of the moving staircases in preparing the business plan are the contractors doing the build out. This can often be dependent on the location if the landlord has specific companies or individuals that he or she works with. 

It will also be a matter of comparing bids on the work since the build-out costs for float centres can be out of this world expensive. This is a critical step though and cannot be skimped on when providing the best possible experience to customers. We have been working with the companies that the landlord uses as well as close connections that my business partner has in the city to get the bids for the construction costs prepared for the business plan.

I’m confident that people will be blown away when they see our finished space and come in to float or use any of our other recovery modalities. 

Float Tank Manufacturers

Shopping around for float tanks can be one of the more enjoyable tasks in the early planning phase. If you don’t already have a specific manufacturer or model in mind, this often means getting to go on excursions to test out float tanks if they are close enough to where you live. We’ve picked out the tanks that will be best for our customers and their experience with floating and so now all that’s left is to order them and start the long waiting process until we receive them. It’s important to take care of this early in your buildout phase because most float tank manufacturers build to order the tanks and so wait times before shipping to you can be 9-12 weeks if you’re lucky and there aren’t any manufacturing delays. 

That’s it for this update! There are lots of new things to learn with starting any business but especially one that’s in a booming young industry like floating, so I’ll be updating again soon with anything else that I learn.