Send good thoughts and prayers to Jay Honeck

@Jay Honeck ... if it makes sense to organize "weekend work gangs" to come help you with various projects, consider it. You have lots of folks here (me included) and on the various Facebook groups that would be willing to come down for a weekend to help in the rebuild.
 
Jay Honeck said:
I'm sorry I don't have time for more, but I just wanted to say this: I never thought angels would manifest themselves as pilots, but I should have known better.

Thanks to Troy and our North Texas pilot friends, yesterday we were able to get big fans running under both buildings and in all the rooms simultaneously. We are in a huge race against mold and rot here, and that's what we needed more than anything else.

Thank you, guys. And that cold Shiner Bock on a 90 degree day, after four days of shoveling rotten fish muck, never tasted so good!

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Jay,

I have not said much because age and physical conditions prevent me from doing so. Were I twenty years younger I would have volunteered.

I know it's going to be hard but ai wish you and Mary the best.
 
Jay is now being stone walled by the city. The city wants all contractors registered before they can work for anyone.
 
EppyGA said:
Jay is now being stone walled by the city. The city wants all contractors registered before they can work for anyone.
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This is actually a good thing. There are criminally minded folks that pray on disasters like this and come into town, talk a good talk, take deposit money and run away, or do completely shoddy sub-standard work and run away. Having a registry so you know who is who, check their qualifications and how to get ahold of them if things go wrong. It's a bit of a delay, but all the proper upstanding contractors will be on it right away because this is now their boom times and they want to go to work.
 
Dav8or said:
This is actually a good thing. There are criminally minded folks that pray on disasters like this and come into town, talk a good talk, take deposit money and run away, or do completely shoddy sub-standard work and run away. Having a registry so you know who is who, check their qualifications and how to get ahold of them if things go wrong. It's a bit of a delay, but all the proper upstanding contractors will be on it right away because this is now their boom times and they want to go to work.
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I sort of agree. Not that I am for the nanny government trying to protect us from ourselves all the time, but the scams that pop up after a hurricane can be serious, dangerous and ubiquitous. There is no end to the way some of these people prey on people that have already fallen on hard times, and then give their last few pennies to fake contractor vultures.

But I'm not sure how it will affect Jay's volunteers. If it were his home I don't think it would be a problem, but for a business, it could be violating several types of wage and hour laws or code violations.
 
It's called carpet bagging and we learned about it in the aftermath of the civil war.

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JOhnH said:
I sort of agree. Not that I am for the nanny government trying to protect us from ourselves all the time, but the scams that pop up after a hurricane can be serious, dangerous and ubiquitous. There is no end to the way some of these people prey on people that have already fallen on hard times, and then give their last few pennies to fake contractor vultures.

But I'm not sure how it will affect Jay's volunteers. If it were his home I don't think it would be a problem, but for a business, it could be violating several types of wage and hour laws or code violations.
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There's a difference between contractors building new structures, roofing, plumbing and electrical repairs and friends helping to clean out the damaged materials including ripping up carpets, etc.
 
EppyGA said:
Jay is now being stone walled by the city. The city wants all contractors registered before they can work for anyone.
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I see their point. There are undoubtedly many scammers out there. I would hate to see Jay and Mary get scammed by one of them.
 
DrMack said:
It's called carpet bagging and we learned about it in the aftermath of the civil war.

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Dude! You are seriously old! Must be some kind of record. You're the man being able to still fly at what? Over 160? ;)
 
Dav8or said:
Dude! You are seriously old! Must be some kind of record. You're the man being able to still fly at what? Over 160? ;)
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You don't know the half of it. He gave sketches to Davincie.
 
Icarus was my best friend .

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murphey said:
There's a difference between contractors building new structures, roofing, plumbing and electrical repairs and friends helping to clean out the damaged materials including ripping up carpets, etc.
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Yes, there is.
At your home.

But in a business, anyone that does work for you needs top be paid at least minimum wage. Otherwise it is a violation of the wage and hour laws, and the DOL doesn't take kindly to that.

During an audit by the State Dept of Professional Regulations, I was told that if you are interviewing someone, and they notice a piece of trash on the floor and bend over to pick it up and throw it in the trash receptacle, that is work and they need to be paid. We used to have all sorts of people get mad at us because we couldn't let their teenage daughter volunteer in our veterinary hospital. And lots of others begged for that opportunity too. And as much as we would have loved to have that free labor, it was illegal.

Will they look the other way because there was a natural disaster? They might. And I might even risk it. But it is still illegal.
 
BS. Having an unpaid intern isn't illegal. And come on, casual picking up a piece of paper. BS.
 
coloradobluesky said:
BS. Having an unpaid intern isn't illegal. And come on, casual picking up a piece of paper. BS.
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That's only true for the government and for registered non-profit groups.

Show me one example where it is legal for a commercial, for-profit business to allow people to work for free. Do you understand what is meant by "minimum wage". Emotional justifications carry no weight.

But I do agree that it is ********. Another regulation that is strangling business.
 
Dav8or said:
This is actually a good thing. There are criminally minded folks that pray on disasters like this and come into town, talk a good talk, take deposit money and run away, or do completely shoddy sub-standard work and run away. Having a registry so you know who is who, check their qualifications and how to get ahold of them if things go wrong. It's a bit of a delay, but all the proper upstanding contractors will be on it right away because this is now their boom times and they want to go to work.
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And when one of these "registered" workers does that, the city won't give a damn. The inspector will tell the owner to re-do the work and nothing will come of them being "registered" or not. Get real. It's a civil case at that point and the bureaucrat who made folks stand in line for a piece of paper will conveniently ignore the fact they "registered" them and use the story as a scare tactic for the next time they need more useless paper pushed.
 
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denverpilot said:
And when one of these "registered" workers dies that, the city won't give a damn. The inspector will tell the owner to re-do the work and nothing will come of them being "registered" or not. Get real. It's a civil case at that point and the bureaucrat who made folks stand in line for a piece of paper will conveniently ignore the fact they "registered" them and use the story as a scare tactic for the next time they need more useless paper pushed.
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To have our recovery teams delayed for a made up paperwork requirement is astonishingly cruel.

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Wish you well in your recovery Jay. I just can't imagine what must be going thru people's minds when they see there property afterwards. Very sad.
 
Update:

We got power back yesterday evening! I don't ever want to hear a generator running again.

My crew finished stripping all the wet insulation from the bottom of both buildings. It was holding hundreds of gallons of brackish, moldy water up against the subfloors and beams, and had to all be removed. Laying on your back, in mud, pulling it down into your face. Ugh. (Pic, below.)

We are starting to cut out wet sheet rock. Tons of it. Lots of subfloors will be gone, too.

We have 5 of our smallest rooms back on line, available only to homeless islanders. These are very crude (no drinkable water, no cable, no internet, beds on the tile floor) but they are clean and dry, which is what many people here need right now.

The city looks like a bomb went off. Everyone has piles of debris that we are waiting to be hauled away.

Finally meeting with an insurance adjuster today. Hopefully, with the end of demolition in sight, we can start on reconstruction soon.

We are still living in the hangar.

Thanks everybody!
15810d72b222209026872ea9a911b114.jpg


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@Jay Honeck -- Will you be improving or upgrading anything to make the rooms better than before?
 
JOhnH said:
Show me one example where it is legal for a commercial, for-profit business to allow people to work for free. Do you understand what is meant by "minimum wage". Emotional justifications carry no weight.
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In the medical world it is done commonly with interns and other students. They "work" while learning competencies required in their profession. In my pharmacy we actually get paid to host interns who pay their school to essentially work for me- while of course getting required knowledge of the job
 
neilw2 said:
In the medical world it is done commonly with interns and other students. They "work" while learning competencies required in their profession.
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Medical Interns are still paid. And more than minimum wage generally.
 
JOhnH said:
Yes, there is.
At your home.

But in a business, anyone that does work for you needs top be paid at least minimum wage. Otherwise it is a violation of the wage and hour laws, and the DOL doesn't take kindly to that.

During an audit by the State Dept of Professional Regulations, I was told that if you are interviewing someone, and they notice a piece of trash on the floor and bend over to pick it up and throw it in the trash receptacle, that is work and they need to be paid. We used to have all sorts of people get mad at us because we couldn't let their teenage daughter volunteer in our veterinary hospital. And lots of others begged for that opportunity too. And as much as we would have loved to have that free labor, it was illegal.

Will they look the other way because there was a natural disaster? They might. And I might even risk it. But it is still illegal.
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Which State?
 
Hmph. I got to pay all my expenses during my internship and I did not get a paycheck in return.
This brave new world must be nice. Maybe I need a do-over :)
Now, as a resident, yes I got paid. But then I did have a doctorate and a state license to practice medicine at that point.
 
FormerHangie said:
In times of shortage, hoarding is rational behavior. Where I live, we are very dependent on the Colonial pipeline, any interruption of service puts us in a shortage situation very quickly, and there's not an alternative to gasoline for most of us.
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That's the problem - there was no shortage, other than the (extremely brief) one created by the panicked hordes, hoarding. It was irresponsible, and it was ugly.

Gasoline in garbage cans.

Seriously.

When the "shortage" was declared, I had 3/4 of a tank of gas in my truck. A week and two days later, I'm a little under 1/2 a tank.
 
deonb said:
Medical Interns are still paid. And more than minimum wage generally.
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Average pay for medical interns ( now known as residents) is $55,000 /yr
 
murphey said:
Average pay for medical interns ( now known as residents) is $55,000 /yr
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That's after they've spent around a quarter million for the training, not to mention the roof and groceries while they were receiving said training.
 
murphey said:
Average pay for medical interns ( now known as residents) is $55,000 /yr
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As long as it is above minimum wage, it is legal.
There is a loophole for students that are fulfilling an academic requirement. But the rules say the host company cannot make a profit off the student. Of course, most places ignore that and never get caught or prosecuted. But they could.
 
So from what I can see about an unpaid internship:

1. The internship experience must be for the benefit of the intern.
2. Interns must not displace existing employees, but work under the close supervision of existing staff.
3. The internship is similar to training that would be given in an educational environment.
4. Interns are not necessarily entitled to a job at the internship's end.
5. Both employer and intern understand that the intern won't be paid.
6. The employer must derive no immediate advantage from the intern's activities, and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded.

Number #6 is the big one. You can't treat an unpaid intern like an employee.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
Which State?
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The state is irrelevant because there is a Federal minimum wage law. But if the State has a higher minimum wage law, then that prevails.

I'm not going to follow up on this any more on this thread. This thread should be about Jay, and I would volunteer my services to him for free if I was able. But it looks like in a few days, I may be needing help myself. East Central Florida isn't as scary as south Florida right now, but it is still dangerous here.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Update:

We got power back yesterday evening! I don't ever want to hear a generator running again.

My crew finished stripping all the wet insulation from the bottom of both buildings. It was holding hundreds of gallons of brackish, moldy water up against the subfloors and beams, and had to all be removed. Laying on your back, in mud, pulling it down into your face. Ugh. (Pic, below.)

We are starting to cut out wet sheet rock. Tons of it. Lots of subfloors will be gone, too.

We have 5 of our smallest rooms back on line, available only to homeless islanders. These are very crude (no drinkable water, no cable, no internet, beds on the tile floor) but they are clean and dry, which is what many people here need right now.

The city looks like a bomb went off. Everyone has piles of debris that we are waiting to be hauled away.

Finally meeting with an insurance adjuster today. Hopefully, with the end of demolition in sight, we can start on reconstruction soon.

We are still living in the hangar.

Thanks everybody!
15810d72b222209026872ea9a911b114.jpg


Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
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Jay,

Not that we needed it but your generosity toward your neighbors just goes to show you and Mary are people of excellent character.
 
JOhnH said:
The state is irrelevant because there is a Federal minimum wage law. But if the State has a higher minimum wage law, then that prevails.

I'm not going to follow up on this any more on this thread. This thread should be about Jay, and I would volunteer my services to him for free if I was able. But it looks like in a few days, I may be needing help myself. East Central Florida isn't as scary as south Florida right now, but it is still dangerous here.
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Hope things go ok for you.
 
.

The State of Texas is unique and not in a good way. They do not require general contractors to hold a license of any sort. Plumbers and electricians are required to hold licenses, and anyone holding out as a plumbing or electrical business must have master licenses in the trade and liability insurance.

This is a huge problem during natural disasters. As a comparison, in neighboring New Mexico, one cannot even pour a sidewalk without taking a licensing test and acquiring liability insurance.

But to be a GC in Texas, you just need a business card and a cell phone. Lots of people are gonna get scammed in their efforts to effect repairs on their homes and businesses.
 
3393RP said:
.

The State of Texas is unique and not in a good way. They do not require general contractors to hold a license of any sort. Plumbers and electricians are required to hold licenses, and anyone holding out as a plumbing or electrical business must have master licenses in the trade and liability insurance.

This is a huge problem during natural disasters. As a comparison, in neighboring New Mexico, one cannot even pour a sidewalk without taking a licensing test and acquiring liability insurance.

But to be a GC in Texas, you just need a business card and a cell phone. Lots of people are gonna get scammed in their efforts to effect repairs on their homes and businesses.
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Source?
 
Norman said:
Source?
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He's correct.

Licensed trades in Texas are electrical, plumbing, HVAC, asbestos abatement, fire alarm, fire sprinkler, security.

Everything else is "Fogamirror" license.

We especially love how out-of-state contractors like to come here, do a little business, then scurry on home without paying their bills.
 
SCCutler said:
He's correct.
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Well, except for the "unique" part. There are A LOT of states that don't require general contractors to be licensed. Many of the states that do are in the southeast...must be more crooks down there or something...

States where I've worked and needed to be licensed: AL, AR, GA, MS, TN, LA (and Georgia only began requiring a license after I was already working there so I was grandfathered).

States where I've worked and did NOT need to be licensed: MO, KS, OK, SD, IA, NE, IL, OH, KY, IN, TX, MI, WI. A couple of these states (WI, NE) had pseudo licensing requirements but it was simply "send us $50 and we'll call you a contractor." No qualifications check, no testing, just a money grab. The SE states had extensive testing, some had onerous insurance requirements, etc. Some even limited the maximum size of project you could build based on the company's net worth.

I can't speak to what any of the above are doing today. I haven't been active for about 6 years in any of them. Except Ohio, I did a couple of projects there last summer and they still didn't require me to be licensed as a GC.

Hell, some states, like Missouri, don't even have statewide codes. Get out of the incorporated cities and you can build what you want, how you want. Some small towns don't even have code enforcement here. I have 80 acres under contract that I plan to build a hangar-home and grass strip on. There will be zero inspection on the buildings and there is no county or state approval process required to build the runway.
 
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