Starting in the middle

Like all good things, this blog is starting in the middle. No, we haven't actually started building the house yet, but it has been months in the making already, many of which were quite nerve-wracking (like the sale of our old house). However, all action to date has been paper action and probably not too exciting to read about, so you didn't really miss much. Just trust me.

I cannot guarantee that there will be a next blog entry. The fact that there is a next blog entry should not be seen as a guarantee that there will be an entry after that. And so on. I will try, really, but I have notoriously bad follow through. Also, I am kinda busy. I have been trying to take pictures, but I'm pretty bad about that and also really bad about actually uploading pics, but I swear I will make the effort as I'm sure that the real reason anyone will ever read this blog will be for the visuals rather than my witty banter.

Okay, all disclaimers aside, let's go over what you have missed. We are building a house. Well, actually we are paying others to build a house, but we are supervising, although we are also paying somebody (Steve!) to supervise. Which I guess means another round of margaritas for me, since I seem to have worked myself out of any responsibilities. If only. The process started back in late winter of this year with the purchase of plans from Palazzo Custom Homes. We were looking to buy a bigger home and although we had considered building a home in the past, it just seemed too... something. So we set out looking for a house to remodel, or extensively remodel, or tear down, and nothing was really making any sense, until we looked at a new construction home (built by Palazzo) which was in an awful location but was otherwise pretty much exactly what we wanted including a basement, except of course for all the crappy finishes at al. So the condensed version from there was bought plans, modified them, applied for a construction loan (easier than we thought), found a lot we liked just blocks from our house, bought it (harder than we thought), put our house and the market and sold it almost immediately (way easier than we thought), moved into an apartment, and are now finally in the last weeks before breaking ground on what is often described by those around us as our "dream home", but which I have come to think of as "let's just get this over already."

Some facts about our new adventure: Jeff and I will be owner-builders. This is bank speak for "no GC" rather than an implication that either one of us will be wielding a hammer. This is not to say we can't wield a hammer, or paintbrush, or finish nailer; Jeff can attest to my skill with a caulk gun full of painter's caulk. However, since we both work full time and have 2 kids under the age of 4, it seemed wise to let to professionals do the work in the interest of finishing sometime this century. To all true owner-builders, I tip my hat to you. Our friend Steve Giansante of Luca construction will be our "consultant" on the project, aka man on the street. This seemed wise as we will be working/parenting pretty much 100% of the time and while we have done a whole bunch of remodeling, Steve can be there to make sure we aren't making obvious mistakes, setting up schedules, helping to line up subs. He'll also be doing his fair share of actual work on the place as he is a fab finish carpenter and more. Already he has earned every penny. Unfortunately his salary hasn't kicked in yet. Steve is great, please hire him for your next project. After we're done, I mean.

At this date, we are expecting to break ground optimistically in 2 weeks, more realistically by Sept 1, or maybe even after that. Technically, ground has already been broken in the sense that we are in the midst of a big sewer relocation, which is only very peripherally related to the house but has the lot completely torn up. This is definitely worthy of a separate blog post to be coming soon with pictures. Lots of last minute decisions are being made. Permits have been approved, finally, and paid for (ouch!). We are now waiting for our loan to finalize and I think may have even managed to submit all of the paperwork that was requested. I think. I'm sure the saga of planning will pale in comparison to the saga of building, but so far the saga of planning has been daunting. It is now clear to me why so many people buy houses that have already been built. But alas, now it is too late, so on we forge.