Apr 13: city approval!
Apr 18: meeting with GC to discuss next steps
Apr 19: meet at city Planning office to get permit (not yet)
Apr 20: tree protection and GC parks dump truck in driveway
Apr 21: passed first inspection of tree protection and GC pulls permit
Bobcats dig a pit in the backyard
Apr 26: Holes and trenches dug for foundation
Apr 28: Wood framing of foundation begins
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Renting A Home
Now that the backyard had been dug more quickly than the original estimate, we need to move out earlier than anticipated. We still have three more weeks before they need to tear down a few walls of the existing home.
The home rental market is pretty crazy. With all the new jobs and hiring in the area, there is competition to find a home to rent. Most of the places want a one-year lease at least, and preferably a longer term tenant. We're looking for a 6 month and then month-to-month, ideally.
We turned to craigslist and started sending out emails. Some of the people didn't even bother replying because there's so much interest in any decent property. They first home was small (like our current home) but the neighbors were much to be desired. The next two homes we looked at were pretty disappointing - very old (one of them was 100+ years) with odd layouts.
The fourth house we saw, we already knew we would most likely apply for. This is because we went to an open house in the complex a few years ago and had then agreed that it would've been a great place to live. Now we had an opportunity to actually live there! We were super excited because the location is near downtown.
Everything was as we had hoped. We were so eager to move in! Two even more awesome things:
We turned in the application that evening.
48 hours later, we got the lease contract!!!! :) :)
The home rental market is pretty crazy. With all the new jobs and hiring in the area, there is competition to find a home to rent. Most of the places want a one-year lease at least, and preferably a longer term tenant. We're looking for a 6 month and then month-to-month, ideally.
We turned to craigslist and started sending out emails. Some of the people didn't even bother replying because there's so much interest in any decent property. They first home was small (like our current home) but the neighbors were much to be desired. The next two homes we looked at were pretty disappointing - very old (one of them was 100+ years) with odd layouts.
The fourth house we saw, we already knew we would most likely apply for. This is because we went to an open house in the complex a few years ago and had then agreed that it would've been a great place to live. Now we had an opportunity to actually live there! We were super excited because the location is near downtown.
Everything was as we had hoped. We were so eager to move in! Two even more awesome things:
- We were the first people to look at the property; therefore, the first to apply
- The rent is now offered at $400 lower than when we had seen the original craigslist posting!
We turned in the application that evening.
48 hours later, we got the lease contract!!!! :) :)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Work begins!
Wednesday, April 20
On Tuesday evening, our GC (general contractor) faxed the tree protection form to the city. On Wednesday, he got a message that the fax was printed on recycled paper so the lady couldn't write on the form. Therefore, she requested him to re-fax the form. Sometimes being too environmental can backfire. :D I wonder if they used soy-based inks too...
Only work done on was to get the trees protected. He doubly protected them - wrapped orange plastic fencing around the trees and then set up a chain link fence around each tree. And of course, the tree protection signs from the city.
GC also left his big dump truck on our driveway.
Another guy came by to measure the width of our gates...
Thursday, April 21
Big dig!
Two Bobcats worked all day on digging a hole in our backyard. That's what the guy was measuring - whether the Bobcats could fit through. They removed our gate to get them to fit. Hiring the Bobcats saved the GC 2-3 weeks worth of manual labor and 18 trips to the dump (to dump all the dirt).
Later in the afternoon, they fitted one of the Bobcats with a drill to break up concrete. Part of our patio was taken down this way.
It was deeply satisfying to see the pit they dug in our backyard. :)
Btw, we passed the tree protection inspection in the morning. So by afternoon, the GC had picked up the contract! yay!
On Tuesday evening, our GC (general contractor) faxed the tree protection form to the city. On Wednesday, he got a message that the fax was printed on recycled paper so the lady couldn't write on the form. Therefore, she requested him to re-fax the form. Sometimes being too environmental can backfire. :D I wonder if they used soy-based inks too...
Only work done on was to get the trees protected. He doubly protected them - wrapped orange plastic fencing around the trees and then set up a chain link fence around each tree. And of course, the tree protection signs from the city.
GC also left his big dump truck on our driveway.
Another guy came by to measure the width of our gates...
Thursday, April 21
Big dig!
Two Bobcats worked all day on digging a hole in our backyard. That's what the guy was measuring - whether the Bobcats could fit through. They removed our gate to get them to fit. Hiring the Bobcats saved the GC 2-3 weeks worth of manual labor and 18 trips to the dump (to dump all the dirt).
Later in the afternoon, they fitted one of the Bobcats with a drill to break up concrete. Part of our patio was taken down this way.
It was deeply satisfying to see the pit they dug in our backyard. :)
Btw, we passed the tree protection inspection in the morning. So by afternoon, the GC had picked up the contract! yay!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Permit pickup? Not yet!
We arrived at the city planning office 15 minutes before our scheduled time in hopes of cutting down our wait time by signing in early. However, our contractor got to the city planning office 45 minutes before our scheduled time and had already signed in. Overall, we waited about 30+ minutes before sitting down with a city worker...the same one that accepted our project for city review!
The building permit is ready but we have to do a few things before we can pick up.
1) Contractor had to submit his information, including license number.
2) Provide an additional copy of our plans for the county tax assessors office. (Thankfully our contractor had brought his plans so we just submitted those while he got a newly stamped copy of the approved plans.)
3) Complete a special inspection form (done on the spot).
4) Protect the street trees and fax over a Tree Protection form to the city. Once they receive the form, somebody will do a drive-by inspection the day after.
Note: tree protection could've been done before this first meeting with the city to save an extra day of waiting - work can't start until the city verifies our trees are protected.
5) Pay fees (brought our checkbook and did it on the spot).
6) Take a form for School Impact Fees to the local school district office, pay the fees, and bring back a copy back to the city.
After these are all done, then our contractor can go pick up the building permit to start work.
So now, we're only waiting on #4 (contractor's job) and #6 (submitting form to the city).
The building permit is ready but we have to do a few things before we can pick up.
1) Contractor had to submit his information, including license number.
2) Provide an additional copy of our plans for the county tax assessors office. (Thankfully our contractor had brought his plans so we just submitted those while he got a newly stamped copy of the approved plans.)
3) Complete a special inspection form (done on the spot).
4) Protect the street trees and fax over a Tree Protection form to the city. Once they receive the form, somebody will do a drive-by inspection the day after.
Note: tree protection could've been done before this first meeting with the city to save an extra day of waiting - work can't start until the city verifies our trees are protected.
5) Pay fees (brought our checkbook and did it on the spot).
6) Take a form for School Impact Fees to the local school district office, pay the fees, and bring back a copy back to the city.
After these are all done, then our contractor can go pick up the building permit to start work.
So now, we're only waiting on #4 (contractor's job) and #6 (submitting form to the city).
Monday, April 18, 2011
Contractor meeting: First steps
Over the weekend, we called our contractor to inform him of our approval. Had a meeting today to discuss the next steps.
Tomorrow - go to the planning office to pull the permits. He needs to put his name on the permit so that he can take over construction responsibilities as well as schedule field inspections with the city. We need to pay the permit fees.
His crew has been idle for 2 weeks now just waiting for us to get our approval. So thankful he did not pick up another job during this time. That would've meant a delay in our project!
** From another mom that's also undergoing remodeling and about 1.5 month ahead of us: the city's waste collector has put up a fuss about the garbage bin her contractor put up in front of the house for construction waste. Supposedly the waste collector is the exclusive provide of that service to the city so the resident would face fines for not using their services. **
Day after - Contractor will haul and unload his tools into the backyard.
Day after that - Crew shows up for work! :)
Tomorrow - go to the planning office to pull the permits. He needs to put his name on the permit so that he can take over construction responsibilities as well as schedule field inspections with the city. We need to pay the permit fees.
His crew has been idle for 2 weeks now just waiting for us to get our approval. So thankful he did not pick up another job during this time. That would've meant a delay in our project!
** From another mom that's also undergoing remodeling and about 1.5 month ahead of us: the city's waste collector has put up a fuss about the garbage bin her contractor put up in front of the house for construction waste. Supposedly the waste collector is the exclusive provide of that service to the city so the resident would face fines for not using their services. **
Day after - Contractor will haul and unload his tools into the backyard.
Day after that - Crew shows up for work! :)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Approval!!
March 24 - Architect turned in the plans to our planning reviewer. But because we were changing the outer walls, we needed to submit the revisions to the third-party plan checker for approval. In addition, the building department requested that we get the water/gas department to sign off.
March 28 - Water/gas called our architect back. They had reviewed our project in February and had signed it off with minor red-mark conditions. But for some reason they could not find the approval on the project log. So our architect asked the guy in water/gas to send an email of his approval to the person in charge of coordination of our project.
Btw, the central project coordinator is a new thing in our city planning department! Hopefully it'll help streamline the approval process. :)
April 1 - Third-party plan checker called our architect to inform her that the revisions had been stamped and approved. Since our architect was going to be in the area, she saved us a trip by picking up our plans and delivering them to the city on her way home. When she submitted our plans, she was told that water/gas had approved of our project. So now all we had to wait for is the planning to get back to us!
April 5 - Was informed that we would have to wait the full three weeks for approval from planning. Better than the last time around when the turnaround was four weeks. Also, it's good that your hopes aren't up for an early approval.
April 13 - Approved by planning!!! This means the entire project is approved by the city! We can call our contractor and begin work!
:) :) :)
March 28 - Water/gas called our architect back. They had reviewed our project in February and had signed it off with minor red-mark conditions. But for some reason they could not find the approval on the project log. So our architect asked the guy in water/gas to send an email of his approval to the person in charge of coordination of our project.
Btw, the central project coordinator is a new thing in our city planning department! Hopefully it'll help streamline the approval process. :)
April 1 - Third-party plan checker called our architect to inform her that the revisions had been stamped and approved. Since our architect was going to be in the area, she saved us a trip by picking up our plans and delivering them to the city on her way home. When she submitted our plans, she was told that water/gas had approved of our project. So now all we had to wait for is the planning to get back to us!
April 5 - Was informed that we would have to wait the full three weeks for approval from planning. Better than the last time around when the turnaround was four weeks. Also, it's good that your hopes aren't up for an early approval.
April 13 - Approved by planning!!! This means the entire project is approved by the city! We can call our contractor and begin work!
:) :) :)
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