Claire, 3 or 4 hours of sun would be generous for one or two of my roses, as long as they have full light [no overhanging trees or shrubs], and even this would only be during May - July. Otherwise I don't care about shade too much, and plant roses wherever I like. As for the 10 days soak, I've heard people forget about them for 3 weeks with no harm, so that's ok too, although I don't always soak mine at all, but an hour or two if convenient. Also, on all packaging here it will say that you can leave the package of bare root roses unopened in a shed or outbuilding for a week if necessary, if you can't attend to them right away. whoops, cross posted with fig insanity above,... sorry about the slight contradiction here. I tend to break all rules I'm afraid, and it's not for everyone.

Things were doing fairly well but a integral part of our plan moving forward was the sale of the property and the equity we would realize from that. The cash was needed as a cushion for the slower months that are normal with our industry. In a small nursery even though we may have a slow month sales wise our production, office, fertilizing, care and everything else continues on its normal pace. I was giving the property till the end of summer to sell and when it didn't this was the best choice - which is to suspend plant sales and cut all the overhead. In the end it's another sign of the economy. I realize the plans may seem vague because we are best known for our plant selling. But I've built up other aspects of the business like licensing and my traveling out to do workshops. So for now we are ceasing plants sales (read high overhead) and focusing on those other aspects of what we do. We are closing only part of the business, not all of it. Paul

Wait a second....high-end moldings, coffered and trayed ceilings, gas fireplaces (no doubt with high-end surrounds and mantle pieces, too), hardwood floors, brick and shingled exterior??? It sounds like you're going to have a lot of very specialized labor involved. I don't know about Virginia, but where I live, good finish carpenters, skilled masons and any painter you'd want to set loose on high-end moldings --- always command premium prices. In my experience, fixed bids very often end up costing more than time & materials, especially if you have carfully detailed plans at the outset -- and don't make any changes. Contractors always build in a certain amount of padding to protect their bottom line in the event of unexpected price jumps or other unforseen events. I would say, however, that 26% for profit and overhead sounds a bit excessive to me. A more typical range for P & O would be 12%-18%, depending on locality. Just my two cents. James P.S. There is one other approach you could present to your contractor. It's unusual, but becoming more common -- and it can benefit both you and him. You would have two contracts. One for a fixed fee for the entire project as agreed at the outset. The other contract would be for time and materials which would be billed to you at actual cost. That way, your contractor is guaranteed his fee, and you don't have to pay additional P & O if the cost of materials goes up, or more labor than is budgeted is required (and vice-versa, it benefits him if costs are less or the project is completed faster than expected). Naturally, any changes or additions outside the scope of the initial contract would require a written change order, which would rightfully include an agreed percentage of P & O on the additional costs. You can read more about these types of agreements by reading a Commentary article on page 26 of the Summer 2006 Issue (No. 179) of Fine Homebuilding magazine's annual issue "Houses". It should still be available on your local newsstand, or you order it from The Taunton Press. Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Homebuilding Houses - Summer 2006

I've lost the lttle copy utility I had on my computer If anyone wants o update t he list go ahead