An Open Letter to the Customers of Selph Arms, LLC:
A recent letter on Texas Gun Talk, written by one of our current customers, complains about the amount of time it has taken for Selph Arms, LLC to move its shop to its new location and the resulting delayed delivery of gunsmithing work. Nobody is frustrated more by this delay than its two principals. Some explanation is warranted.
Due to factors both under and not under Selph Arms’ control, we lost our commercial lease. After dealing with unprofessional property management, we are determined to control our next shop property ourselves. Our only option was to build our new shop adjacent to one of the principal’s residential properties.
The BATF requires specific zoning approval documentation from the zoning authorities in your shop’s city or county. Since Selph Arms is a Class 3 manufacturer, the zoning letter must state specifically that “manufacturing” is permitted at your business location. Our new shop is adjacent to a residential home in the “county” zoned area, south of Travis County, TX. We are in the Austin City Fire Department coverage ETJ, over which the county Fire Marshall has zoning jurisdiction. So a zoning variance for a home-based business was required. To obtain this developmental permit, you must have engineering/architectural layouts drawn of your shop, comply with the Americans Disability Act, have your shop evaluated by sanitation engineering for sewage handling, notify and allow protests from any neighbors, school districts, churches, etc, and comply with all fire codes for building construction, fire suppression, and lot road access. Some of these requirements entail just documentation, some require engineering signoff, and some actual onsite inspection by county building code officials. Each step also requires a large permit submission/engineering fee. Our building costs for our small, 400 square-feet shop addition are approx. $4000.00. Our permit and engineering/sanitation costs were approximately $10,000.00.
Once you have the shop built, industrial, three-phase power must be installed to power our machine tools. First a licensed electrician must be contracted to install the power box and run the internal wiring. This is an approximately $2000.00 job. But, the recent area fires have diverted much of the building trades to the fire rebuilding/restoration work. We have been trying to get an electrician to just give us a written estimate for over three months and still do not have one in hand. The cost of three phase installation by the power company is approximately $10,000, but the three phase access box must be installed first.
Thus, it cost approximately $26,000 to set up the new shop location. This is only the basic physical plant. This does not include the FFL/SOT fees and yearly property and liability insurance. I can assure the reader that the county building approval bureaucrats work at a nice slow government pace. You may assume they would expedite commercial start-ups because the county is likely to receive tax income. Unfortunately, they do not care if you cannot afford the permit fees or how badly you need to get back to work. They enforce their bureaucracy regardless of your situation.
Most people that complain about delivery times have never operated a business, had to start up a new business from absolute scratch, or spent eight frustrating months negotiating the government idiots at the county zoning office. We hope to have operations restored to full capacity in approximately three months.
The two principles of Selph Arms, LLC are life- time outdoor sportsman and shooters. I have frankly invested approximately 80% of my retirement savings in the venture and am unlikely to recover the investment for several years, if ever. My business partner, Brad Selph, Lead Gunsmith, has endured the time and expense of moving across the country and invested a similar amount of time and money in this company. For me, the gunsmithing trade is a patriotic pursuit. I was never in the military, but I know that civilian firearms ownership is the foundation of maintaining our freedom as Americans. I make a lot more money in my other line of work, but I love to build tricked-out weapons. I originally conceived of this company chiefly for industrial design/ product development. After working in the trade for a few years, I have also realized that the understanding and implementation of general gunsmithing offers key insights into what the shooter needs and if a newly conceived product is practical in the real world. Also, the new shooter, trying to make a purchase decision, does not get experienced or honest opinions at the big-box stores. Our customers will always receive an honest opinion about any purchase decision. The Principals of Selph Arm, LLC remain committed to the gunsmithing trade and particularly to the shooters of Texas. We will be in full production as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Stephen W. Latchem, Owner, Machine Tool Operations,
Selph Arms, LLC
A recent letter on Texas Gun Talk, written by one of our current customers, complains about the amount of time it has taken for Selph Arms, LLC to move its shop to its new location and the resulting delayed delivery of gunsmithing work. Nobody is frustrated more by this delay than its two principals. Some explanation is warranted.
Due to factors both under and not under Selph Arms’ control, we lost our commercial lease. After dealing with unprofessional property management, we are determined to control our next shop property ourselves. Our only option was to build our new shop adjacent to one of the principal’s residential properties.
The BATF requires specific zoning approval documentation from the zoning authorities in your shop’s city or county. Since Selph Arms is a Class 3 manufacturer, the zoning letter must state specifically that “manufacturing” is permitted at your business location. Our new shop is adjacent to a residential home in the “county” zoned area, south of Travis County, TX. We are in the Austin City Fire Department coverage ETJ, over which the county Fire Marshall has zoning jurisdiction. So a zoning variance for a home-based business was required. To obtain this developmental permit, you must have engineering/architectural layouts drawn of your shop, comply with the Americans Disability Act, have your shop evaluated by sanitation engineering for sewage handling, notify and allow protests from any neighbors, school districts, churches, etc, and comply with all fire codes for building construction, fire suppression, and lot road access. Some of these requirements entail just documentation, some require engineering signoff, and some actual onsite inspection by county building code officials. Each step also requires a large permit submission/engineering fee. Our building costs for our small, 400 square-feet shop addition are approx. $4000.00. Our permit and engineering/sanitation costs were approximately $10,000.00.
Once you have the shop built, industrial, three-phase power must be installed to power our machine tools. First a licensed electrician must be contracted to install the power box and run the internal wiring. This is an approximately $2000.00 job. But, the recent area fires have diverted much of the building trades to the fire rebuilding/restoration work. We have been trying to get an electrician to just give us a written estimate for over three months and still do not have one in hand. The cost of three phase installation by the power company is approximately $10,000, but the three phase access box must be installed first.
Thus, it cost approximately $26,000 to set up the new shop location. This is only the basic physical plant. This does not include the FFL/SOT fees and yearly property and liability insurance. I can assure the reader that the county building approval bureaucrats work at a nice slow government pace. You may assume they would expedite commercial start-ups because the county is likely to receive tax income. Unfortunately, they do not care if you cannot afford the permit fees or how badly you need to get back to work. They enforce their bureaucracy regardless of your situation.
Most people that complain about delivery times have never operated a business, had to start up a new business from absolute scratch, or spent eight frustrating months negotiating the government idiots at the county zoning office. We hope to have operations restored to full capacity in approximately three months.
The two principles of Selph Arms, LLC are life- time outdoor sportsman and shooters. I have frankly invested approximately 80% of my retirement savings in the venture and am unlikely to recover the investment for several years, if ever. My business partner, Brad Selph, Lead Gunsmith, has endured the time and expense of moving across the country and invested a similar amount of time and money in this company. For me, the gunsmithing trade is a patriotic pursuit. I was never in the military, but I know that civilian firearms ownership is the foundation of maintaining our freedom as Americans. I make a lot more money in my other line of work, but I love to build tricked-out weapons. I originally conceived of this company chiefly for industrial design/ product development. After working in the trade for a few years, I have also realized that the understanding and implementation of general gunsmithing offers key insights into what the shooter needs and if a newly conceived product is practical in the real world. Also, the new shooter, trying to make a purchase decision, does not get experienced or honest opinions at the big-box stores. Our customers will always receive an honest opinion about any purchase decision. The Principals of Selph Arm, LLC remain committed to the gunsmithing trade and particularly to the shooters of Texas. We will be in full production as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Stephen W. Latchem, Owner, Machine Tool Operations,
Selph Arms, LLC
