I wish you all the best. You're starting off on a better foot than me because I didn't have this site nor did I have the book. But everything worked out. I'm sure all your ideas will all come together. Mike in Bronx, NY

Doug's Forum Posts: 0
Journal Entries: 5
Interview Answers: 36




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Nice days makes for good progress

Posted to Millerbuild by Doug in Carstairs, AB on 10/1/2010

It has been almost three weeks since the last post. We were finally able to pour the walls on the the 24^th. We had some very wet weather, and it delayed the cribbing and concrete. We finally did get some good weather, and the walls got poured on the 24th. Two weeks for what should have taken three or four days. That is the nature of construction.

The past couple weeks we finalized the window order and ordered the first-floor framing package.We were able to pick up the building permit which is crucial for our first progress payment. The walls were dampproofed on the 28^th of September.

Today we had the drain rock and weeping tile installed on the perimeter, and drain rock added to the basement. We also got the gas and wood fireplaces on order. The rest of the material for the electrical service was picked up, and we met the framer on site for a pre-job meeting.

Next week consists of finalizing legal paperwork with the bank and lawyer, and I have my presentation to the county for  the development permit for the shop. Inspections by the bank and county were scheduled for Monday. On site, the framer will get the main floor on, and then foundation will get backfilled. The water line will be run in right after backfill and the framer will go gangbusters on framing the house. It should take 3 – 4 weeks. The electrician will complete the electrical service this weekend, for inspection by midweek, and hopefully energization by Friday. We really need power as using a generator is a pain.

Looking ahead, we are contemplating exterior finishes, and special roof treatments. The tubs and showers will be ordered. We will push a road in, and begin on the shop foundation. The septic system soil re-test will be done next week, and as soon as we receive the results, we will get the application in. Hopefully we get this approved soon as my excavator will likely be off site within a week.

Photos

Cribbed walls	Forms stripped	Dampproofed
Weeping tile and drain rock

Excavation and Foundation

Posted to Millerbuild by Doug in Carstairs, AB on 9/12/2010

A fair amount of progress has been made since my last post. A number of problems have cropped up, but none that we could not work through.

On the 28^th, we met the excavator on site along with the cribber for a pre-job meeting. It went well, but I was talked out of pushing a road in first. This will prove to be mistake #1. My Dad also showed up for moral and technical support, which was much appreciated by my family and I. My Dad will be pricing up my septic design, as well as reviewing it with some public-health officers in his area, for compliance. This should help in getting my first septic-system submission here right the first time.

The excavator started the next week, and got a fair bit of the house and shop excavated, but I noticed the garage walls were substantially deeper than the elevations I had given to him. I pointed this out, an excuse was given, and he went on to excavate the shop foundation. Unfortunately, the shop foundation excavation was also done incorrectly. We had few call backs for errors to the house excavation. I gave the excavator an opportunity to correct the over-excavation errors, but it was not accepted, and the excavator decided to discontinue working for me. Hiring this excavator appears to be mistake #2.

I hired a new excavator to push some crush that I brought in to firm up a soft spot where my driveway will go. He seems to really know what he is doing, and will work by the hour while I am on site, weekends and evenings. That is a huge benefit. The new excavator also gave me a cost for installing the weeping tile. The soft spot is still soft, but had I pushed a road in first, there would not have been a problem.

The cribber really went to town on the long weekend and got a substantial amount of work done. There was a few areas we we had to thicken the footings, and many other areas were uneven. We compensated for this, but it means extra concrete. I also installed some sleeves for water/electrical and shop under the footings.

Friday of the past week, we poured the footings. There were two days of rain delays, and it looked like the trucks would sink a bit in the soft patch, but they powered through easily. It was very exciting to see the concrete pumped in. By evening the concrete was set, and the next two days the cribber worked on installing the wall forms.

Some work in the next week will include picking up the building permit, ordering the doors/windows, ordering the framing packages, ordering the showers and bath tubs, among a multitude of other tasks.

On site we will have the walls poured, stripped, sprayed, and the weeping tile installed. At the end of the week we will install the electrical service and telephone cable. All this will be inspected, and the bank will also will do an inspection for the first draw. After inspections, we will backfill and bring in and spread drain rock in the basement. At this pace on site, we are making up schedule delays, but time will tell. We had a 6-week delay starting, an by the end of the week we may be only 4.5 weeks behind.

Photos

Footings all cribbed.	Pumper starting.	Deck footings for turret.
All poured.	A sunset at our new house. There will be many more like this.

Approvals

Posted to Millerbuild by Doug in Carstairs, AB on 8/22/2010

Yahoo! We are finally underway. Bank has given us their blessing!

It has been very busy since our last post. All the information has been given to the county for the building-permit application. I had to get the surveyors out to the property a week and a half ago to get some elevations the county required. In order to do the survey, we needed to get some of the brush knocked down. We phoned a bunch of landscaping companies; no luck in having someone out! We took the bull by the horns and rented a brush mower, bought a gas weed whacker, and went to town one evening. The mosquitoes were bad, and the work was tough, but we got it done. The surveyors did their work in the pouring rain the next day and we had the survey by last Tuesday. This was turned in to the county, and our foundation permit should be ready for pickup.

The same day of the survey I had expected to get my building permit for the 1,200-square-foot shop. We did not realize a development permit was required first because of its oversize and height. It would not have changed my mind, as there are not significant costs to go bigger, and we would lose all the extra space by going to the maximum-permitted size of 861 square feet. This wrinkle may hurt the cost savings of getting all the work on the house done at the same time as the shop.

The excavator we are planning on using showed up during our clearing. We should have excavation started in a week's time. The cribber is up for after the long weekend. I will attempt to get all the site work done early. There are few of the trades we are planning on doing ourselves with some assistance. It encompasses water/sewer/telephone/power and septic, and represents a major cost center. The work is somewhat off of the critical path, and I have experience with it through my employment.

For work coming up, we will be pursuing the engineer for our final septic design. This is a required component of the septic application as well as my site-work progress. Material will get ordered within a week for the site work except the septic system. The quotes for the cribbing material and excavating need to be fine tuned; this should be resolved by mid next week. The development of our contract/purchase-order paperwork will be done today. The schedule also needs to be updated for the banking delays.

Photos

Main Floor

Budgeting

Posted to Millerbuild by Doug in Carstairs, AB on 7/10/2010

A month after closing the sale on the property, we are very close to finishing the budgeting process. We have a number of straggling prices to pursue; they are anticipated next week. Now we have to finalize all the documentation for the bank, submit, and cross our fingers.

With a bit of luck and lots of effort, we should get this out to the bank next week. Time marches on, and if we get approval we need to get this project underway. Snow flies here around September and sticks by November with frost setting in the ground at the same time. We can get the foundation in before a BP is issued, with some risk on our part, so this should help us with the schedule.

New rules for septic systems came in late last year, so we are dealing with some additional costs. Not a huge deal, but it means due diligence on our part to comply with the new regs. From preliminary phone calls we are dealing with a pressure system. I may post a few questions in the forums about this.

Getting Started

Posted to Millerbuild by Doug in Carstairs, AB on 6/6/2010

Just picked up the plans from the architect on Friday, and we are closing on the acreage June 10th. My wife and I have been going to countless subdivisions in the area looking for trades, and having lots of luck. We find them working late on Fridays and Saturdays, so we figure we have the "keeners". Lost of good, free advice, and they have been quite friendly. We need to work on finding more exterior trades, and plumbers/HVAC, but it will come with effort. We have yet to reference the Yellow Pages. We don't plan on it.

We will be giving out the drawings and scopes of work next week, for pricing, hopefully complete in a couple of weeks. I think my initial budget may be slightly low. My biggest concern with this is the bank will not want to see a low budget, as they told me they will use the higher of the appraised value compared to my budget. They do want the down payment up front for the completed value plus land, quite a sum.

Next week is busy, as we also need to get our septic documentation in order. This needs to be submitted with our BP application. Testing will be required, so this will take some time to line up.

I have nearly completed my schedule, at least 16 hours worth of my time. It is very optimistic right now, but I am thinking it will take another four months past what the schedule says for completion.

Any words of advice for getting great deals on the initial framing package, including trusses?

Photos

Entry looking east

Posted by Mark in Altoona, PA on 6/28/2010 Mark's Forum Posts: 19 Journal Entries: 39 Interview Answers: 69 Average Forum Rating: 3.00 Mark's Selected Image 6/28/2010

Get at least three or four quotes on everything that you will be purchasing and subcontracting. Mark

Posted by Doug in Carstairs, AB on 7/9/2010 Doug's Forum Posts: 0 Journal Entries: 5 Interview Answers: 36 Image from Doug's blog 7/9/2010

Thanks Mark. I have three or four quotes for each of the trades and material packages up to framing. I have found, at least around here, that most tradesmen are working as subcontractors for larger contractors. It makes it real easy to find someone to do the work, but typically the company they sub to does the material takeoff, and gives the tradesmen a per foot payment. This means I need to do the takeoff, or find a supplier to do it for me. Not wanting to pay for any more material than required, I'd like to do my own takeoff.