My local building department has a reputation of being quite slow. When we went in to submit the plans, they all acted a bit like ours was the first they had ever seen. There was some running around and shoving papers into file folders and when it came time to pay the person said "well, I hope this amount is right. I am not sure how to calculate this". Well, ME TOO! I have really never done this!
So we set out on an uncertain foot. They told us to expect a 6-8 week timeline. So we let the first few weeks just go by without checking in much. We went down on the 3rd week to ask how things were going. They could not even find our file in the computer. Typing in our last name only pulled up a kitchen remodel from years ago! They finally were able to pull it up and asked told us we were missing our BSA (building site application for the septic). Since I personally submitted the file and went over the whole BSA with the intake person, I advised them that they did in fact have the BSA and when they opened up our file, there it sat a few pages in.
Two weeks later, we went to check again. Once again, the person could not find us in the computer, but from last time I knew they have to type our name into a special field so I advised the person of this "trick". Hmmmm, they said, we are still missing your BSA. Again we pulled out the file and located the BSA. Oh look, there it is! Tricky little bugger hiding RIGHT IN THE FILE.
Thanksgiving came and went and we went to check again- 6 weeks into the process. Guess what? After they found the file, there was STILL a supposed "missing BSA" so this time we got a lot of people involved. Because our file had this note on it about a missing BSA, not a soul had worked on our file and it was put to the bottom of the stack each week. It took my husband almost 2 hours to find out that the issue with the BSA is that our builder had made a copy of it and they wanted the original (even though our builder had never had this issue before, after 30 years in business). It took 2 hours and multiple people to find that out. We dropped off the original BSA that afternoon.
Another week goes by and we go down to check. Mr. G who was in charging of checking our actual architectural plans, told us that we were number 12 on his list and he typically got through one plan a day. The man moves slower than a sloth just doing things like walking, turning pages, working the computer and speaking. It is like sloooooowwww motion with this man. We said that was fine even though people who submitted after us were before us on the list because of the BSA issue. Whatever.
But now that we had lost all trust in the process, we were going down there every other day, dragging our loud children in tow. For two weeks we stayed at number 12 on Mr. G, human sloth's, list. "I am so sorry" he would say. "I keep having these old files I thought I had finished get put back on my desk". Confidence that we are ever going to get our building permit was at an all time low.
When I last went to check, Christmas Eve, the site planner told me that she had been avoiding our file because it looked "complicated". When I moved on talk to sloth, guess what? STILL NUMBER 12. So much for one plan a day. I decided to ask Mr. G if there was anyone else after him who would have to look at the file. He said, "yes, Mr. D and he is slammed". I look over to Mr. D who is contentedly organizing and pulling apart rubber bands (not on his lunch break btw). "They don't make these rubber bands out of rubber anymore!" he tells me. I called today and they said they were trying to get it done by Friday. We have already signed our loan papers and if they don't finish it by Monday, we will have to re-sign as we head into the new year.
My poor builder is also trying move forward with what he can. He told me today to call and get electrical set up. Eeeek! That made it all seem so real for the first time, I felt... scared. This is a HUGE undertaking. A million things could go wrong but it is such a life dream of mine. I feel very mixed. A part of me is proud to actually be here, at 27, with 2 kids under 3 building a house and part of me is terrified that I am 27, with 2 kids under 3 building a house!
Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we will see a post titled "breaking ground!".
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Inspiration: Doors
We really wanted double french doors with transoms, interior doors with nice detailing and exterior doors with grilles.
Here are our actual interior doors:
Inspiration for front door:
Inspiration for french doors:
Here are our actual interior doors:
Inspiration for front door:
Inspiration for french doors:
Building Permit Submitted!
We submitted the building permit today and part of me cannot believe it is all real!
I already have homework: find out if the amount of trees we will be cutting will require a special permit.... which will cost additional money...yay.
I already have homework: find out if the amount of trees we will be cutting will require a special permit.... which will cost additional money...yay.
Friday, October 12, 2012
More Soft Costs.
MOOARRR costs. I have to roar about it because I am a bit weary of them.
This month:
1. $650 for septic redesign. We had to redesign the septic because the way the old septic was it, it was making our house sit an an awkward angle on the lot.
2. $850 for plan engineering.
3. $2100 for the remaining plan drawings. We made some changes so it added additional cost.
4. $1500 earnest money to the builder.
5. $900 property taxes.
6. $580 for appraisal for the construction loan.
Blarg! I am ready for the build to begin and the costs to be paid out of pocket to slow a bit and the loan to take over.
My check book is tired.
Coming up we have:
$5000 for the building permit (this will be refunded by the loan).
So in case you did not know, building a house is expensive. :)
This month:
1. $650 for septic redesign. We had to redesign the septic because the way the old septic was it, it was making our house sit an an awkward angle on the lot.
2. $850 for plan engineering.
3. $2100 for the remaining plan drawings. We made some changes so it added additional cost.
4. $1500 earnest money to the builder.
5. $900 property taxes.
6. $580 for appraisal for the construction loan.
Blarg! I am ready for the build to begin and the costs to be paid out of pocket to slow a bit and the loan to take over.
My check book is tired.
Coming up we have:
$5000 for the building permit (this will be refunded by the loan).
So in case you did not know, building a house is expensive. :)
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Floorplan
Here is the floor plan. It took us 2 months of back and forth to get it right. Finally, someone on a home building forum I frequent really helped us nail all the right details. Our criteria was:
1. Bedrooms in the front, kitchen/living/dining in the back.
2. Open kitchen/living/dining.
3. Large mudroom.
4. As many windows as possible.
5. Two windows in each bedroom for cross ventilation.
6. Bonus room on 2nd floor.
The total square footage is about 2400 which was bigger than we wanted but there was really no way to make it smaller. I know that most of the time we will be hanging out in the kitchen/living/dining area and we will have a large, flat backyard and that area has french doors to a patio out the back.
We also had our budget meeting and we came in at $308,000, so a bit over but the house is bigger than we thought it would be. Our builder bid everything out so while I know we might go over in some areas, I don't foresee too many surprises since we are building on a flat part of our land and the house itself is pretty simple.
1. Bedrooms in the front, kitchen/living/dining in the back.
2. Open kitchen/living/dining.
3. Large mudroom.
4. As many windows as possible.
5. Two windows in each bedroom for cross ventilation.
6. Bonus room on 2nd floor.
The total square footage is about 2400 which was bigger than we wanted but there was really no way to make it smaller. I know that most of the time we will be hanging out in the kitchen/living/dining area and we will have a large, flat backyard and that area has french doors to a patio out the back.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Inspiration: Kitchen
Our builder called me last week to say that the custom cabinet quote was coming in too high and that we were going to have to go with Ikea- which was our desire from the beginning. We have our budget meeting in two days so I dropped the girls off with my mom and spent the next four hours in Ikea.
When you go to Ikea to plan a kitchen, they set you down on a nice little stool and you use their software to design the whole thing. Luckily I had the dimensions with me!
The total came to $4,800 which was much less than the $17,000 quoted by the custom guy.
Our kitchen will be white, with grey/white counter tops.
Here were our inspiration photos:
When you go to Ikea to plan a kitchen, they set you down on a nice little stool and you use their software to design the whole thing. Luckily I had the dimensions with me!
The total came to $4,800 which was much less than the $17,000 quoted by the custom guy.
Our kitchen will be white, with grey/white counter tops.
Here were our inspiration photos:
Contemporary Kitchen design by San Francisco Interior Designer Artistic Designs for Living, Tineke Triggs
Thursday, August 2, 2012
We are land owners!
Yay! Our land closed today, so we are officially land owners. Here is how things sit:
Land has an approved septic design. Water hookup has been paid and we have conduit for water, power, cable and telephone to the building site. This morning I just sent check to the designer for our floorplans.
I will state again how nice it was that so much of our utility stuff for the land was done. If you are in the market for raw land (not building in a development) try if you can to find land that has that work done. If you are score a driveway like we did, awesome. Those are expensive, require permits and will affect the total run off of your build if you are doing the driveway at the same time of your build (you can only create so much impervious surface before an engineer must be called in and if your driveway is in before your build, the driveway square footage does not count as an impervious surface because it is already in place. If you have a long driveway you need to put in, that alone can eat up your allowable impervious surface and engineers are expensive!).
I am going to open with our budget here because I really want this blog to help someone else who wants to build fully understand the costs (not including land).
So far we have spent:
$1360 on septic submittal
$1138 deposit for architectural drawings
Coming up:
$1138 remaining payment on drawings
$750 to for an engineer to look at/approve the drawings
$900 for property taxes on the land due in October
$4,000 for building permit (we will hopefully have this refunded by our construction loan)
Then we will get our loan- hoping to stay in the $300,000-$310,000 for construction costs- and that will pay for everything else besides landscaping. We are building a 1,800 square foot one level home with a 350 square foot bonus room above the girls bedrooms. We are not building a garage (we will build a garage with a mother-in-law apartment down the line).
Had we not had all of the utility and driveway stuff done, that would have cost us an additional $15,000+ out of pocket BEFORE we even began to build. Not to mention 6+ months of time for permits/work. Our land closed in just over 45 days.
Land has an approved septic design. Water hookup has been paid and we have conduit for water, power, cable and telephone to the building site. This morning I just sent check to the designer for our floorplans.
I will state again how nice it was that so much of our utility stuff for the land was done. If you are in the market for raw land (not building in a development) try if you can to find land that has that work done. If you are score a driveway like we did, awesome. Those are expensive, require permits and will affect the total run off of your build if you are doing the driveway at the same time of your build (you can only create so much impervious surface before an engineer must be called in and if your driveway is in before your build, the driveway square footage does not count as an impervious surface because it is already in place. If you have a long driveway you need to put in, that alone can eat up your allowable impervious surface and engineers are expensive!).
I am going to open with our budget here because I really want this blog to help someone else who wants to build fully understand the costs (not including land).
So far we have spent:
$1360 on septic submittal
$1138 deposit for architectural drawings
Coming up:
$1138 remaining payment on drawings
$750 to for an engineer to look at/approve the drawings
$900 for property taxes on the land due in October
$4,000 for building permit (we will hopefully have this refunded by our construction loan)
Then we will get our loan- hoping to stay in the $300,000-$310,000 for construction costs- and that will pay for everything else besides landscaping. We are building a 1,800 square foot one level home with a 350 square foot bonus room above the girls bedrooms. We are not building a garage (we will build a garage with a mother-in-law apartment down the line).
Had we not had all of the utility and driveway stuff done, that would have cost us an additional $15,000+ out of pocket BEFORE we even began to build. Not to mention 6+ months of time for permits/work. Our land closed in just over 45 days.
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