I’m writing today at our 40-year-old round desk that can accommodate six people.

We have moved Graff-Pinkert’s offices 700 feet east on 166th Street in Oak Forest, IL. Our machinery is in the process of being moved to another building 15 minutes away.

Moving isn’t easy, even if you have known it was coming for at least two years.

I sold our 21,000-square foot crane building five years ago that we have been in for 45 years. It was perfect for the needs of a used machine tool dealer who stocked machines, and it was 12 minutes from my home. It seemed like a shrewd idea in 2019. We took a 5-year lease on the offices and half of the warehouse.

The business was changing. We did not need to warehouse as many machines. Customers seldom came to inspect equipment in our shop. Rebuilding machines often was a losing game. Selling enabled us to pay off most of our debts, some of which had accumulated after I bought out my brother, Jim.

Frankly, in 2019 I figured in five years there was a good chance I would either be physically unable to work or I would prefer a life of retirement. I would be nearing 80 years old. But I was wrong. Age 80 becomes the new 60 if you have capable people around you and you like what you are doing.

About four months ago, we began the search for a new home for Graff-Pinkert and Co. in earnest.

Lloyd at the Round Table in the Old Graff-Pinkert OfficeOur first choice was to find the perfect building. Heavy overhead crane, small warehouse of 10,000-12,000 square feet, good offices, and a short drive for me because I only have one good eye thanks to seven retina surgeries 20 years ago.

It quickly became apparent that finding that building was a pipe dream. Nobody builds small crane buildings today, particularly in the south suburbs of Chicago. The closest we came was a foreclosure in Indiana that had some smaller spaces but no offices and was in poor condition with an unreliable landlord.

The next choice was to find a non-crane building at least 20 feet high that was nearby and not out of our budget.

We checked out numerous properties, but nothing was even close to being acceptable. The closest was a relatively new building in Mokena, but it still had no offices, was a little small, and cost 50% more than I wanted to pay.

As our lease deadline got closer, we decided to change course.

The office did not have to be in the warehouse if it was close by. Fortunately, I knew Nat, who owned four buildings in our industrial park. I called him to see if he had offices, preferably with a small warehouse space for our spare parts business.

He had the perfect spot 700 feet away from us. It even had an office ideal for our big round desk. But we still needed a warehouse that would be big enough and close enough for our used machinery inventory.

Out of nowhere, it appeared. An older building in South Holland, IL, was being refurbished with adequate dimensions and height. We bought a big lift truck we had seen on eBay for $42,000. The rental price wasn’t crazy on the building so we jumped on it.

The new Graff-Pinkert premises are now taking shape.

I still go back to our soon to be former building to check out the screw machines we’re working on and the moving process. But my primary interest there is in my old apple tree, which has had a bumper crop this season.

Do I have some regrets about selling Graff-Pinkert’s building? Of course.

Is the new Graff-Pinkert space perfect? No. Nor was the old one.

But the Graff-Pinkert staff have risen to the occasion and business has continued.

I’ll pick my apples and move on.

Question: What would be your perfect workspace?

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