We're Permitted

The architect, the project manager, and the excavator were all out for a big pow-wow. Excavator told us that it would probably be about two weeks before he could start digging at our place, so a little longer than we had hoped. One more sign of progress though, the Permit was posted.

You Have to Start Somewhere

I think today was the first physical sign that construction is taking place. Miss Utility was here to mark water lines. So with these few painted blades of grass, we are underway (hopefully the groundbreaking pictures will be more exciting).

Where to Begin?

We got an email on Monday that the permits were approved! That of course left Colleen and I with the obvious question, “Okay, now what?” Fortunately, our new Project Manager (which is way easier for me to spell than Architect) was there to help us through. According to him, they will need to get Miss Utility out here, put up some silt fence, and get on the excavator’s calendar. Also, Colleen and I were assigned some homework: pick out doors and windows. So with a little bit of guidance from our PM, we think we are going with the door pictured here, or something similar. We don’t really know/care enough about windows, so hopefully he can pick something for us that will do the trick.

Money: Part II

Well, it took a bit of work, but we were able to squeeze in the loan and the contract signing all in one week. The trick was getting all of the money from the credit union to a checking account in five business days so that we could pay for the first part of the addition before beach week. That way, our contractor could work on getting the permits while we were enjoying ourselves on the beach. The money was not actually in Colleen’s account by Friday morning, but it did arrive by Friday afternoon (so technically there may have been an hour or two where Colleen had a $50,000 check written that she couldn’t actually cover, but we won’t dwell on that). Anyway, contract was signed, money was handed over, there’s no turning back now!

The Circle of Life

Eventually all the leg work was done on the loan and it was time for the ceremonial signing of the papers. Actually, there isn’t really any ceremony at all. For a process that takes two hours and grants you “the American Dream,” all you really walk out with is a stack of papers, a hand cramp, and a silly smile on your face. Fortunately, a little twist of fate gave the process a bit more feeling. The little board room where Paul, Rhema, Colleen, and I sat around a table to give Colleen and I our first house was only a few hundred feet from where Paul went to grade school and only a few blocks from Paul and Rhema’s first house together.

Money is the root of all . . .

. . . additions. In case you haven’t heard, the banks are getting a bit pickier about to whom they lend. For that reason, we didn’t get our loan from a bank, we got it from a credit union. Other than the spelling, I’m not entirely sure what the difference is, but I do know that they gave us a pretty good rate. Unfortunately, since we were refinancing with a different bank than the original, they needed a new appraisal. We figured, “Big deal, the tax assessment is $150,000 more than we need for the refi, what could go wrong?” This is what can go wrong: They send out an appraiser who is two months out of junior college and you get under appraised. This caused our loan to be more than 80% of the value of the house which ended up costing us about $2,000 in points. It's kind of a tough conversation to have with your loan officer:

Loan Officer: "We need 2,000 more dollars"
Us: "So, just so I understand the situation: Your appraiser, who we paid $600, grossly under appraised our house, and now we owe you an additional $2000?"
LO: "Yes"
Us: "Oh, I see now, that seems fair. Do we at least get a better rate for the $2,000?"
LO: "No"
Us: "Of course not, that would be silly."

Bidding Wars: Part II

The term "Bidding War" conjures up images of fast talking auctioneers and stone-faced buyers spending millions with the simple lift of a numbered paddle or nod of the head. If that bidding process is the heart-pounding guerrilla skirmish of bidding wars, then the bidding process to do our addition was the castle siege of bidding wars. The goal was simply to outlast the enemy hoping he would eventually give up. We did not give up.

After final completion of the plans (if they ever really are final), our architect’s company submitted their bid. We also sent the plans to two other companies. One did the original addition to the house 17 years ago, the other did an addition to Sarah D’s parents house. The latter company’s owner stopped by on Valentine’s day, was very nice, asked a lot of relevant questions, and had a lovely portfolio. When he left, Colleen and I were very taken with him and couldn’t wait to get his bid. Three weeks later he emailed a quote that was 40% higher than our first offer. One down.

When the owner of the second company also stopped by to pick up the plans, he asked few questions and went quietly on his way. After not hearing from him for three weeks, I called him up and he said he had a few questions for me, which I answered to the best of my ability. Two weeks later we still hadn’t heard from him so I called again. He had more questions for me (apparently I should have been calling him more often). Six weeks after getting the plans from us he delivered a bid. It was about 10% under our architect’s company, but after waiting six quiet weeks for the bid, we were not excited to jump at that opportunity.

We went back to our architect’s company and asked them what they could do for us. They sharpened their pencils and came back with a quote that was low enough to give them the job. Colleen and I feel very good about the work staying in the hands of the people who have been there the whole time and we are excited about moving on to the next steps.