As of December 21, our new home mortgage began. With the city signed off and the bank signed off we are officially no longer living in a construction site. (And to be honest, with the trim done now it very rarely feels like we’re living in a construction site anymore). This has been a major psychological relief for me personally. For most of the last 16 months I’ve had a low grade anxiety that one of the two organizations that…
Assuming you read the title before you clicked that, then you know the exciting reason for this mid-month post: we passed our final inspection! The building permit was opened on August 16, 2018 and closed 2 years and 28 days later. Of the two powerful authorities holding sway over my project, one of them is now out of the picture. I can’t pass the feeling over to you, but trust me when I say its a weight lifted. I have…
This month was productive in terms of house progress, but also a bit of a whirlwind on many levels. The preparations to return to school, both for the University where we both work and for the local schools our kids attend have both been up in the air and subject to last minute changes. Thus we found ourselves fighting through hectic and unpredictable days at work and railing at frustrating and unpredictable Fall schooling plans for the kids at night….
As we’ve noted in prior posts, progress has definitely slowed as we’ve settled into more normal routines. Our house projects now feel more akin to the “weekend warrior” projects Amy and I have made our hobby for almost 20 years. As we’ve focused on many of the most frustrating things that were still undone, our home has steadily become more livable, and we’ve been able to really enjoy the features and amenities. (I think we ran the wood burning fireplace…
The classic 80-20 rule posits that you can get 80% of the results in 20% of the time. The last 20% takes 80% of the time or effort. I’m not quite sure if that applies to a project like this one, but the long deceleration is unmistakable. After the first week of August I almost immediately dropped from spending 40+ hours per week working on the house to spending an average of 12 or so. Furthermore, as we’d long known,…
I wrote awhile back about the psychological transition of the property from being “the job site” to being “the new house.” Of course, if you’ve been following along, you know we recently moved into the new house and are finally living here (yay!) But even a momentous change like that isn’t instant, at least not in our minds. For anyone who has ever moved homes may recall, the first days or weeks can be rather chaotic and overwhelming. We experienced…
Its not a sprint, its a marathon… that ends with a sprint. After all these months of work we’ve still been accelerating into the finish line. With our rental lease up July 31 the pressure has been on to get the house up to spec so we could move in. In anticipation, I took off the last 10 working days of the month, giving me almost two full weeks to finish projects (oh, and actually move all our stuff). All…
Now that we’re nearing a finish line of sorts, many of the things we’re working on are the more visible finishing touches. No more days spent fiddling with fire blocking that no-one will ever see, now we’re installing kitchen cabinets, floor tile, and prominent light fixtures. Getting a particular room to a near-finished state looks and feels great. Its very motivating, which is good, as we need all the energy we can muster right now.
Economists have a term called opportunity cost. It describes not the direct cost of buying or doing something, but instead the value of what you could have done instead. What else could you do with that money or that time and would you have preferred that instead? It doesn’t cost you anything to stuff your money in a mattress, but you are forgoing the opportunity to earn interest on it or to buy something you’d enjoy. When reflecting back on…
This project has introduced us to a whole host of interesting characters who have come to ply their trade or deliver their goods. This week saw a couple most curious fellows come and deliver our cabinets. Mr. Surly Beard was an imposingly large man possessed of an imposingly large beard, coke bottle glasses that made his eyes look like saucers and (as Amy said) “attitude for days.” He was sour that we moved the delivery back a day, sour about…