Discreet Services...anyone Doing Them?

Mike(VA)

Don't respond with "Yes I do but if I told you about it I would have to kill you." because if you do, I will have to kill you.

Seriously, does anyone here provide residential construction services for things like hidden rooms, disguised passages and exits, shielded and safe rooms, movable walls, etc? We have been doing this for about 4 years (6 jobs so far, all in existing homes) and we are trying to expand our presence in the corporate world. Not to do commercial applications but for corporate executives' homes. The nature of the work precludes using references and overt advertising, however.

We have provided information about our services to companies that sell or manufacture items and materials for this type of work, security companies doing corporate security, and to past clients who we feel may know someone with a potential need.

All our work has been by reference and I guess that may be the only approach to getting more business as we want to stay low-key. Anyone have any other ideas?

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I EXPECT THAT SOMEDAY I WILL SEE THE FRUITS OF MY LABOR. IS IT SOMEDAY YET?
Clifton, Great Falls, McLean, Fairfax Station, Manassas, Virginia Renovation Contractor

Cdat

I have been asked to make bookcases that swing open to reveal 'hidden' stuff before. I feel odd taking on these jobs.

I feel like I'm abetting a criminal or something. What use is this room for? Why have it hidden?

kbsparky

You could also be aiding someone trying to protect their property from criminals.

WE recently did a job where the bookcase was recessed into the wall, and the entire assembly swung open to a hidden room where the gun safes were kept.

olyteddy

During a rehab/remodel we built a small (4' X 3') hidden closet down in Portland once by robbing about 2 feet from adjoining bedroom closets. Unless you used a tape measure you probably wouldn't notice the missing space.

Mike(VA)

This type of work is actually very serious stuff. Don't be fooled into thinking it is just for a kid's hide away or a place to hide the girlie mags from the family.

http://www.hiddenpassageway.com/

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I EXPECT THAT SOMEDAY I WILL SEE THE FRUITS OF MY LABOR. IS IT SOMEDAY YET?
Clifton, Great Falls, McLean, Fairfax Station, Manassas, Virginia Renovation Contractor

HitchC&L

My father did work for Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn

He didnt build any of the security stuff, it was already basically built, but I guess the house was built like a castle, cameras everywhere, huge fences, nothing was getting in that wasnt supposed to.

One thing he did was fix an oak desk that was one of the only possessions he took with him when he was exiled from russia, and my father wasnt allowed to take it off the property back into his shop, he had to do all work on site because it was too risky apparently to let it off the property.

dubz

I thought this thread was about you sharing the number of a "special" masseuse you know.

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http://brianwilsonconstruction.net

mickeyco

I personally have never built anything like that, I saw a really cool hidden room in an old house I worked in, hidden by a cupboard, the work was incredible, you couldn't tell it was there and the door functioned perfectly.

Last year I worked on a new construction house that had a huge "safe room"/hidden room put in, very elaborate, it wasn't on the plans for the house and was added after the final inspection, no permits, no inspection.

When you do these "Discreet" rooms do you pull permits and/or submit plans? It's seems like doing so would defeat the purpose, out here through the FOIA, in some towns you (anyone) can get a look at submitted plan and permits, they are public records, you can always get the permits but not always the plan. Just curious.


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Some people climb mountains. I take out the trash. But we both do it for the same reason.

Willie T

I built a bomb shelter once................. for a preacher.

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"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and only that which is."
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Bill Everett - St. Petersburg, FL

Celtic

I have one in my house for stashing guns, cash and "stuff".

You'd never know it was there.

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mickeyco

Know it was where?






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Some people climb mountains. I take out the trash. But we both do it for the same reason.

dan-o

I don't see any reason why you couldn't actively market this service instead of relying on references alone. It would be pretty easy to target this market via direct mail or high-end publications.

Where you perform the work needs to be low-key but not the fact that your company offers the service. The Navy SEALS' existence and function is well known, where they are is another matter altogether

Cdat

Thanks for the info. It is now posted on the WWW. Secret?

Leo G

I've done a few. Made a desk with a pretty large hidden compartment. Made an entertainment system that used a linear actuator to hide it in the wall, push a button and it comes out, push it again and it goes back. Also a recessed panel that swings in to provide access to some mechanicals. You could put anything in there though. Cash, guns etc. Never made a swinging bookcase or an entrance to a hidden room.

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Sawdust Follows Me Everywhere

http://lrgwood.com
Custom Cabinets in Hartford County Connecticut

mickeyco

That desk isn't in a house in Suffield by chance?






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Some people climb mountains. I take out the trash. But we both do it for the same reason.

Celtic

Who?

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RobertCDF

You could easily advertise for this... However you cant pursue the neighbors, use lettered trucks, put signs in the yard and so on. Unless you have some other stuff going on. I will sometimes take a picture of a project we did and print up postcards and mail them out to neighbors saying "we recently completed this project in your neighborhood" Probably not a good idea for this kind of "stuff"

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks

Celtic

It might be.

First you would have to figure out who/where I am....be warned, I may have moved by then...and then figure out just where the hell it is?
Like I said...you'd never know it was there....or if I was in there waiting for YOU!

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mickeyco

What?









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Some people climb mountains. I take out the trash. But we both do it for the same reason.

Celtic

...for lunch...I'll have to get back to you on that subject.

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