Reactions from Others

"You are moving out during construction, aren't you?" (Just about everyone with any experience in major remodeling asks us this first thing when they hear our renovation plans.)

OK, OK, we give up. Yes. We're moving out. We found a rental house just a mile away, so we can easily check in on our house. It was tempting to try to save money by camping out at home somehow. (We even considered literally camping in an RV since we have an RV parking spot.) But, with a son who'll be 2 in Feb. we realized it would probably make us all crazy. We hope to be able to move back in before all the finishing work is done.

Aside from the "moving out" question, the most common response is laughter, followed by horror stories. So far the only people who have been fairly positive about the idea are the people we're hiring. Hmmm. We're sure there will be stress involved, but we certainly hope this blog will not become just a chronicle of more horror stories.

The Timeline (so far)

March, 2007
The first step of the process was a meeting with Mark at UBuildIt to get an estimate of probable cost. He came to the house, looked at what we currently have, and discussed what we wanted to add. A couple of weeks later he gave us a line item estimate with a range of values for each item.

July, 2007
We finally decided to go ahead with the adventure. The next step was to get an official design. We met with Ken at KP Designs to start the design process. In the next couple of months we had 2 or 3 more meetings with Ken to finalize the plans.

September, 2007
After finalizing the plans, we met with Mark at UBuildIt to go over specifications. He went through a list of general materials and finishes with us (e.g. type of flooring, siding, roofing, light fixtures). The goal was to make the general choices, but not to select specific materials yet (e.g. we decided on carpet, but haven't chosen the specific carpet).

Mark is getting bids from subcontractors and when he is done, he will prepare a detailed Cost Review. Then we'll see how well we're doing with our budget!

October, 2007
The permit ready plans were completed and submitted to the city. We should get the permits by the beginning of December.

December, 2007
We plan to move to the rental house mid- to late December. We know, our timing isn't the best. It will likely be a bit crazy.

January, 2007
We hope to start demolition in early Jan.

The Grand Plan

We decided that we would like a bigger house, and we also decided that we really don't want to move, so the next option was to add on to our house. We are going to add a second story. We are not changing the current floor plan except to add stairs, and add a bay window in the living room. Our new 2nd floor will have a family/play room, 3/4 bathroom, bedrooom, and storage room. There will also be a hobby sink, and lots of closet space.

We are going to be our own general contractor, but we will have an experienced contractor as a consultant. We are working with a company called UBuildIt. They go through initial cost estimates and specifications with us, collect bids from subcontractors (although we can get additional bids if we want to), go through a detailed cost review with us, work with us to generate a very detailed list of specifications, and give us a construction sequence. Throughout construction they will have additional planning meetings with us, and will come out for site visits, as well as being available for phone consultation.



Demolition should start near the beginning of Janaury. We hope to be done by fall at the latest. You'll have to check back in to see how quickly work is progressing.