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| February 14, 2011 |
On February 14, 2011, we purchased a dilapidated house and began planning our future dream home. "But that red house looks so cute," you say. Structurally, the foundation was collapsing, and the first floor was being supported by a steel beam held in place with screw jacks. Asbestos and flaking lead paint were found in every room of the house. The house was destined to be demolished.
Deciding to demolish the house was easy compared to the decisions we would spend the next 30 months (yes 30!) making. We started by selecting a home designer. She worked with us over 3 months to take us from concept and pictures to completed house plans. Most people would have started building at that point, but we were set on being our own general contractor (GC). We're both engineers and project managers who thought "it can't be that hard." Let's just say the engineering brains took over, and the project began to suffer from analysis paralysis.
Missing the 2011 building season due to our paralysis, we set our eyes on building in the spring of 2012. We hired a building consultant that winter to help with the finer points of construction and to manage the bidding process. Our work with him led to a redesign; while the interior met our needs, the exterior structure lacked curb appeal. We began interviewing architects, meeting some interesting men along the way, and settled on the person who fit our needs. Unfortunately, the gentlemen we hired was not able to complete our project for medical reasons. We quickly moved back to our original designer, fixed the curb appeal, and made a few efficiency improvements on the interior. In the end, we missed the 2012 building season, too.
Feeling confident that 2013 would be our year, we targeted a May 1st start date. A handful of items and a VERY wet spring delayed our timeline once again. However, we were able to begin our long anticipated (by us and the neighbors!) project at the beginning of July. This blog is a way for us to share with friends and family our journey as we navigate the building. Who doesn't want to hear the pitfalls and successes of trying to general your own home?!?
