Last night we hosted our “Story Tour” at the Good project. The turn out was great (thanks guys!) I counted real quick and think there were 38 of us crammed in the kitchen and living room of the S unit. A tight fit by any stretch of the imagination.

Its funny, we asked everyone to come hear about the adventure and even said that we would talk about all the things that went wrong on the project. Because we want people to be able to learn from our mistakes as well. Anyway, when someone finally did ask the question “What went wrong?” we kind of choked. Not that nothing went wrong, at times it seemed that everything that could go wrong did but because its not what you are used to talking about.

I think the biggest thing we did wrong on the project was take way to much time designing the site and floor plans. We were burning through cash while trying to be idealists and big picture thinkers. Not that we should not have thought about the project that way but we should have done that for 2 weeks and got to work not 5 months. In hindsight we could have used our time more wisely and hung on to more of the cash we were spending.

There were other things wrong and we covered several of them, but that one stands out the most.

Even though we prepared ourselves to talk about that stuff it still felt weird. I think there is some cultural astigmatism we need to get over in this country about being honest. It feels like telling anything but a polished perfect story will make people think you failed.

So I learned something. You can have all the good intentions of being honest but when it comes right down to it you have to follow through even if its uncomfortable. I believe that people (including me) want the honest truth not a shiny marketing picture of reality. Because once you “buy” that picture its going to disappoint you.

Thanks to everyone who came out. We will be doing more of those for sure!

And for discussion sake. Do you like to be told the truth? Are you sick of being “marketed” to?

Levi

I hope you are getting the really hard ones ready for us because Story Tour night is tonight!

Stop by Good at 6pm for a night time walking tour of the project.  We are going to be talking through what it takes to get a project LEED ND (Good is one of the first in the country) certified and answering all your questions.

Hope to see you there!

Levi

I have been getting a lot of requests to do “Story Tour” where we walk through Good and tell the story of how it all came to be. There is a lot that went on to get this amazing project to where it is today and just reading about it on the site here does not do it justice.

If you are interested in participating we are going to be giving the tour Thursday the 6th of November starting at 6pm. And its going to be at the Good project. Come with questions in hand, we want to dig deep into what it takes to make this kind of project a reality. (Meaning we will be sharing our mistakes as well as our successes).

Our goal from the start has been to use the project to inspire a whole new way of thinking about cities and their futures. We believe its time to reinvent the wheel and stop business as usual. The Good project is just a small start of what needs to be done.

Bonus: You have been hearing for some time that we have sold out the homes in the first Phase. But today there is a opening! One of our buyers had a change in his job and is now moving to the area later so getting a home in the second phase worked better… And that means we have one home available again! (Yep its the one in the picture) If you are interested please call me soon because when we released the first phase they only lasted a few days.

Here is the number – 916.930.9400 X1 or you can email me at Levi(at)LJUrban(dot)com

There is no need to RSVP for the “Story Tour” just come over the I St bridge into West Sacramento and follow the Good signs. You can’t miss them.

I hope to see you there!

Levi