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 lived with a low-grade anxiety about the city calling in our project ever since we moved in without having passed the final inspection. Knowing they won’t be checking over my shoulder or holding up artificial deadlines from here on out was enough that I had to sit down to absorb it.

In all this time, from August of 2019 til last weekend, only two things have prevented us from getting that inspection: the stair handrail and some protective film on an upstairs window. When we made the decision to finish the master bathroom first, it ended up having an outsized effect. We finished it and got the plumbing inspection just days before the Illinois shelter-in-place order for Coronavirus spread. That same pandemic then prevented our friend from visiting to help with the handrail… for 6 months. That inspection that was supposed to buy us “plenty of time” instead we took right down to the wire. We made no attempt to do either of those two tasks for a year, then basically did them both in a weekend. Today’s inspection was just 2 days before the permit would have expired again.

If you look back in March I estimated that our progress bar would be at about 92% when we cleared both the city and the bank. Its currently at 93%, and will hit 94% if I install the last few closet doors and finish the trimwork. That should be enough for the bank to close out the construction loan and refinance us onto much more favorable terms. Once that second sword is removed from hanging over my head I imagine I’ll have a second fainting spell to match. But for now, we celebrate!