Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
Interested in following along with our most ambitious project ever (both online and in the real world)?
My wife and I are getting ready to tear-down and rebuild our personal residence, and we're documenting the entire process online. This includes live video streaming, time-lapse videos, detailed plans/specs, pictures, daily blog updates, budgets, schedules, contractor bids/invoices, and a whole lot more!
Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2013 · 27 posts · 5 votes
12y
This is pretty awesome!. I just checked out the cam and within a few seconds, saw a call drive-by and the cam quality was incredible. The frame rate had the car going by at real time speed. Therefore the demo should look pretty awesome! I'm going to mark my calendar (while on vacation @ Hilton Head Island) to make sure I catch the demo!
Although my start in REI is slow (still scaling back my lifestyle to get in a better position to invest), there is no doubt the generosity of your time spent sharing and documenting your experiences will help save me money hand over fist. A serious thank you from a small time newbie.
Good luck J and Carol -- Absolutely love TheScottPad!
Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
12y
Passed all our rough inspections, got our Cat 5 installed, passed our air duct leakage tests, passed our framing inspection earlier this week, got our insulation installed and passed our insulation inspection! Drywall was delivered today and we start closing up the house on Monday...
Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
12y
The sheetrock company said they were going to start sheetrock on Monday, but they actually showed up on Saturday to start the job. They had a crew of four who worked over 12 hours, and got about 75% of the sheetrock installed throughout the house. We're currently about a week ahead of schedule on the project, and the way these guys are going, we may be two weeks ahead of schedule by the end of the week.
Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
11y
Wow, it's been a while since I've posted...we're well on our way to completing the interior -- sheetrock is done, paint is done, trim is done, cabinets are in, tiling is nearly complete and lighting fixtures are all in...
It certainly looks like you'll hit Thanksgiving at this rate!
Interior will be no problem...
Unfortunately, we've had to do some revisions on some exterior environmental stuff (bio-retention pond and grading) and it has to go back through the county for approval. Depending on the timeline for the approval, we could miss Thanksgiving for getting our C.O....though our furniture will be there and we'll be eating dinner there either way... ;-)
@J Scott What's the flooring you used? Looking good. How exciting. Anyone come over wanting to buy yet?
The living room and kitchen are unfinished oak (will be finished at the end) and the bathroom is just 12"x24" ceramic tile. The bedrooms will be carpet...
No offers yet... :-)
But, there is a comparable tear-down, new construction around the corner and when we started a few months ago, he was planning to list for $720K. He's now planning to list for $860K, which is definitely overpriced, but hopefully not too much. Looks like we've seen some appreciation in the past few months, and at that price, we may consider selling! ;-)
Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
11y
Have you put this link over in Investor Deal DIaries? Are there other lots close to you? If so, you may want to tie one up! Live in yours and sell the next one off yours. Either way, it's fun watching your progress.
Have you put this link over in Investor Deal DIaries? Are there other lots close to you? If so, you may want to tie one up! Live in yours and sell the next one off yours. Either way, it's fun watching your progress.
I don't think I'm allowed to link over there, as this has links to my blog (hence the reason I put it in the Marketplace)... :(
Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
11y
Maybe you should ask @Joshua D. because all of us have links to our websites on our signatures anyway that could take people away from BP, and this is a thread on a forum post, so? I was wondering why it was in marketplace. Plus, you aren't selling your house! I send people there all the time to learn from your scheduling, cost breakdown, etc. I honestly think you have one of the simplest, yet most thorough sites I've seen for that type of information. Love it. And contrary to all the evidence that says otherwise, I'm really not a stalker!
Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
11y
Wow, I didn't realize it's been almost a month since I last updated...
Here's the status (with some pics below and more coming):
- We made the mistake of moving furniture in last week (no intention of moving in, just wanted to get our furniture in order). I didn't realize it was against the rules (we often stage properties before we get our CO), but we had an inspector who was VERY upset about it, failed us on our inspection and reported us to the head building inspector. Luckily, the head building guy likes me, so he basically slapped me on the wrist and told me to hurry up and get through inspections before they have to take action.
- Any tips on appeasing a pissed off inspector...let me know!!! :-)
- We passed our blower door test and final sprinkler inspection last week, and we have our final plumbing, electrical and HVAC inspections scheduled for Monday. I have a feeling we'll fail the electrical about 10 more times (that's the inspector who was pissed at us for moving our furniture in), but hopefully he won't be too much of a jerk.
- If we can pass our finals by mid-week, we'll get our final building inspection last next week, and potentially get our CO.
- We still have a bunch of exterior work to do, including finishing our bio-retention pond (it's 90% complete -- we just need mulch and plantings), finishing our final grading, installing our driveway and then getting our final certifications from the engineers (grading cert, location survey, stormwater management cert). After all that, we just need to close out our grading permit with one final inspection and then (in theory) we're done.
- Once we get our CO, we'll still need to get the hardwoods stained/sealed and some other punch work, all of which will likely take about a week. We're hopeful we'll be in for Thanksgiving dinner...as our the 40 or so people who are planning to come... :-)
- As for budget, we're about $20K over our $350K budget. About $5K of that is just hauling extra dirt off the property and most of the other $15K overages was exterior work that I didn't plan for or underestimated the cost of.
- As for schedule, if we can finish this week, we're right on schedule -- almost exactly 5 months from demo to completion...
Is it common there to put in your own retention for single family? Never had to do that before unless it was a plat submittal.
Several counties in Maryland have now adopted requirements for stormwater management for all new construction, including single family residential. Same in Atlanta, where I'm partnering on some new construction...
Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
11y
@J Scott Nothing like overkill on the rentention! You're like us, learning in a new area, not fun. Sounds like you're going to be cutting it close for Thanksgiving, I hope it all works out. Everything is looking good though.
Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
11y
Originally posted by @Karen Margrave:
Sounds like you're going to be cutting it close for Thanksgiving, I hope it all works out. Everything is looking good though.
We received the nasty letter in the mail that the building inspector warned us about today. Basically, threats of civil and criminal penalties because we are "illegally occupying" the property (we're not living there, but moved in our furniture to save on storage fees).
The letter gives us until November 21 to get the furniture out or to pass our CO before the fines and criminal proceedings start, so now it's not just Thanksgiving that's on the line! :-)
Clermont, FL · Member since 2014 · 9 posts · 1 vote
11y
Good luck guys, great concept! A couple that builds houses together, ummm... hopefully.... err...ummm...stays...together..... Ha ha j/k. No seriously, really cool idea best of luck!
Good luck guys, great concept! A couple that builds houses together, ummm... hopefully.... err...ummm...stays...together..... Ha ha j/k. No seriously, really cool idea best of luck!
We make a great team...as long as we're not trying to actually do construction work together. We hadn't done any of our own work until yesterday, when we decided to install a safety railing along the concrete wall around our basement areaway -- suffice it to say that within about two hours, we were ready to just hire a couple divorce attorneys to finish the project for us... :-)
Today we're going to build a train shelf around the two boys' rooms...if one of us dies of mysterious causes today, you'll know why...
Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 17k+ votes
11y
We're getting ready to start Week 23 of this project (we demo'ed on June 19), and I'm hoping we get our CO this week (though we'll still have some more exterior surveys and engineer certifications to complete to get our Certificate of Completion).
Building inspector stopped by last week, and the only things left to complete to pass our Final Building Inspection are:
- Haul Away a Lot of Excavated Dirt
- Install Driveway
- Seed/Straw Yard
Unfortunately, they're calling for a LOT of rain over the next 36 hours and then high temperatures of 32 on Tuesday/Wednesday. But, we need to pass our Final Building Inspection this week to avoid fines associated with moving our furniture in too soon -- they gave us until Friday to get the furniture out or pass our inspection.
Assuming we do pass our building inspection this week, we're still 10 days from moving in, as we need to get the hardwoods sanded and finished -- that starts on Wednesday and they need 4-5 business days to complete. So, while I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll make our Thanksgiving goal, it could be the day before that we actually move in... :)