This time has been our peak “GC-ing” as we’re only using a few contractors, but they are almost all in the front portion of the project. This has kept us busy from the minute the alarm goes off (and sometimes before- those contractors start texting at 6:30 AM!!) until 11 or 11:30 PM. Jim has been taking the brunt of this, but I occasionally have to call one or the other of them and am the general keeper of the…
For those who know us it will come as no surprise that as a couple we have different levels of tolerance for financial risk. We generally run our household very conservatively and stay safely in the comfort zone of all household members. We consulted with a financial advisor before taking on this project and he remarked that he rarely worked with anyone who lived so far below their means. We always knew a project like this would be risky and…
Many years ago, a newly married couple with which we are very well acquainted had their first Christmas together. As they were decorating their tree, each ornament from each of the two (previously separate) collections would be unpacked. A pattern soon emerged in which the husband would examine the revealed item from his wife’s collection and then say flatly: “in the back”. I think it applies more generally than just Christmas trees to assume that the less desirable or attractive…
After waiting 10 weeks for permits, the foundation has gone amazingly fast. It turns out building is a bit slower this year than last, so our foundation crew is “twelve basements behind” where they were this time last year. They called JULIE (the agency that marks all your underground power and water lines) the same day the permit was approved and were out staking the site within 2 business days. (To make that all work I ended up dashing out…
They say one of the hardest things about building a house (even if its all done by contractors) is the endless stream of decisions you have to make. I started my day yesterday at 7 AM with 3 emails from our framing contractor, which I answered from the exercise bike. Should we stick with 24″ OC (on-center) framing over the recommendation of our framer, an old-school builder who would prefer 16″? And if the lumber quality from the lower bid…
OK, so its been ten weeks from the time we first submitted for permit until we finally got approved this week. What gives? First of all, let me say before I go into any other details, that Inspector K has been uniformly friendly, responsive, and endlessly patient in working through all of this with me. I really couldn’t ask for much better. But that said, this friendly patient man is enforcing some really tight rules. I have heard from many…
The permit is approved!!! We are happy and overwhelmed and ready. So very ready. I’m hoping the pace is less like the crawl it’s been and more like an on-ramp to the highway. My fear is we’ve just been launched out of a cannon. It’ll be alright, though- right friends? That was 2.5 months for those who were counting at home. Were you counting along with us? No? Just us then? ‘kay, that’s cool.
Did we say that already? That waiting for permits and work to begin is a lot like that scene in Zootopia where they visit the DMV? That was HILARIOUS to watch initially, but now if feels so painful. So the status of this dream of ours? On hold. It’s a sensitive subject. And I promise I haven’t been not-blogging because we’re just so frustrated and giving up. WE’RE NOT FLIPPING GIVING UP. It’s because we literally have no update to…
Demolition is very exciting and it certainly looks like visible progress. But you may be wondering what else we’ve been up to for the last month and what comes next. Well, as we said in our last few posts, we finished salvaging anything worth keeping and we filed mountains of paperwork for permitting. Then things got a bit stalled (which I’ll get into in a moment) and so in the meantime we did some finishing work on the new garage….
Last Wednesday night (June 20th) we were alerted by our demo contractor that demolition would start between 8 and 9 the next morning. Nothing like the first day of summer and a forecast of 2 inches of rain to kick off the fun! We let work know we’d be in late and chilled the sparkling grape juice to celebrate to destruction of the only home our children have ever known. Demo began before we got there- I guess they were…