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<< Lancair Builders' Mail List >>
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My wife convinced me early on that I really didn't want to know how much I
spent. I used to keep meticulous records (pencil and paper in the back of my
spiral-bound builder's logbook) with costs separated as to (1) airplane
parts, (2) tools and (3) supplies. Don't need no stinkin' software for this!
Did this for about a year, then got bored.
Every time I buy parts I throw the receipt in a manila folder. Once a year I
add it up and summarize it on an Excel spreadsheet, make a xerox copy of the
receipts, and send it to Avemco with a "here's how much it's worth now, bump
up the policy coverage and send me a new bill" letter. They are only too
happy to comply.
The two big items on my spreadsheet (the one that goes to Avemco) are the
Lancair and Aircraft Spruce expenses. Both Lancair and Aircraft Spruce will
run a "customer history" for you, telling you to the penny how much you have
spend. Aircraft Spruce tracks by your customer number and only goes back to,
I think, 1999. If you bought stuff from them at airshows, it will not show
up on this printout. Lancair is far more organized in this regard, and can
tell you exectly how much you spend all the way back to when Lance lived in
Gardena and Don lived in the spare bedroom....
The FAA doesn't care how much money you spent. For them, I write down in a
spiral binder what day it is, what I did, and how many hours I spent. I
round to the nearest half-hour. Actually, I write it on a dryerase board
stuck to the refrigerator, and transcribe it when it gets full -- about twice
a month. I keep enough detail so that someday I can tell the grandchildren
that "I spend xx hours on the wing outer panels and xx hours on the main
landing gear." I probably won't ever total it up, though. Every once in
awhile I take a roll of pictures. I do this far too infrequently, but when I
get the photos back I stick them in an album with the date and a caption.
I'm told that taking a picture of the work is not enough -- the FAA wants to
see you with dirty clothes and messy fingers, proving that you did the work
yourself. Since I tend to work alone, I don't take many of these pictures.
- Rob Wolf
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LML website: http://www.olsusa.com/mkaye/maillist.html
LML Builders' Bookstore: http://www.buildersbooks.com/lancair
Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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