What's our timeline? What after the Builders leave?

 As Sandy and I wait for the return of the builders next week, I am starting to focus on the scheduled move back. We have had a significant emotional event with this remodel. We have demolished 70% of our old living space into a yet to be realized new living spaces. This triggers the inheritance 'fear of the unknown' tensions.

 Watching the nature that surrounding us help re-focuses our attention. Here is one our local grays trying to defeat the bird feeder to get those tasty sun flower seeds. Good luck with that!

Mikey is holding the long awaited bathroom mirror. It took three tries to receive.

We have had six weeks of construction and I predict we will have another 2 more months of construction ending with a huge party on Saturday, August 31th. When I see Darrell and Stacy next week, I'll see what they predict. Here's what I thinks are remaining key construction tasks. Remember many these line items have a dependencies and priority over other tasks. Here's what I guess the remaining tasks:

• Building inspections there are several
• Fix any code violations after each inspection
• Add insulation back into walls and ceiling
• Hang the sheet rock
• Tape and texture new walls and ceilings
• Add wainscoting to living room
• Replace (10) outside windows (not in original scope)
• Install interior doors and windows
• Add trim around windows and doors
• Install new cabinets in kitchen, utility, bath, family room, etc.
• install all granite counter tops
• install fireplace and veneer base and chimney
• Install new shower stall and glass door
• Finish off all electrical and plumbing work 
• Fans, fixtures, switches, thermostat, speakers, electronics, etc.
• Sinks, toilet, shower, reconnect hydronics heating, ect
• Add new hardwood floor and tile floors
• Add baseboards
• Refinish existing hardware floors
• Install kitchen appliances
• Not sure where painting logically falls in these tasks
• Redoing the back porch means we have to move the stuff stored to another location
• Help me Darrell and Kristy, what did I forget???

 One of the things we have not discussed on in our blog is our animals. Below is an example of the critters cooping. Grace and Will, Maine Coon kitties cozy with one of our three labs, Tamika.

 
When we are done, no more hammering, no paper work-on mats, no blue tape. After the builders leave, Sandy and I are faced with lot of incidentals before moving back in to our former living space. Then there is the unknown of our existing furniture, and the boxes full of our stuff. Where to put our things to new locations. It will be four months since we saw our things in their old surroundings. Now they will look different. Colors that worked before my not work now. Furniture will fit perfectly or not. It will be revealed with every new box opened and unpacked.

I have moved thousands of people in my career as a space planner and move manager. Office worker as a group hate to move. Sandy and I are no different when it come to the upheaval this project has created. If I have learned one thing about the move-back process is there has to be a plan. In our cause we are moving back into 2200 sqft of new living space. I believe we will need a vision of what we agree is our new home. Keeping it simple and on track is the challenge. It must be fun and truthful. We must respect the emotions triggered by past as we head for the future. We must trust the process of sustaining a positive energy flow throughout our new home. Love will guide us to happiness. Keeping the balance is reasonable out come...

Sandy and I will do plenty of theta to get to our vision...

NEXT: I may just back off blogging till I talk to Darrell this Monday or NOT. 

Remodel Finance or Why does it cost more then we thought?

Hello Friends and Family:
I thought while Sandy and I are waiting for the county building inspection, we would share our budget. Like, I said in my last blog, you can't discuss Budget without including Scope and Schedule. Next task, is how we going to fund this remodel. The most logical solution is getting money from the equity in our house. We re-financed twice to achieve our funding needs. The first time we re-financed we had to fund our prerequisites and create core pot money for the construction contract. However, we needed more funds for the entire construction budget because of the prerequisites. We decide to re-fi again because the market value for our Wikiup properity had increased. We were also able to get a better mortgage and a Line of Credit (LOC) to give us the cash for the whole project. A plus was we included two mortgage impounds for taxes and insurance into our bi-weekly house payment.

Below is our home as viewed by an appraiser's diagram for determining the market value of our Wikiup dwelling. I will use this floor plan to discuss the scope of this remodel.

Our house living space total is 3224 sqft, if you back out the bedrooms and master bathroom spaces (dotted red lines) the actual space under construction is 2200 sqft or 70%. What that means is our home living space is 30% occupied. We are fortunate to have a 600 sqft studio to use while the rest of our home is under construction.

When we decided to stay in our home (first blog) we had home prerequisites to accomplish before starting construction.

The following is a list of pre-remodel expenses for our Wikiup home:

1. Re-roof our house ($31,000)
2. Paint house and stain deck ($16,000)
3. Clad front support columns (6"x6" post) in stone ($4,500)
4. Upgrade plumbing system: tank-less water heater, water conditioner, (3) toilets, etc (S13,000)
5. Redo exterior lighting fixtures and wiring upgrades ($3,000)
6. Replace front and interior doors ($13,000)
7. Design fees, structure engineer plans, and county building permit ($10,000)
8. Seven new appliances for our kitchen ($9,500)

After completing the list above, we were ready to select a General Contractor (GC) and get a construction bid for the remodel. We selected D-Built Construction to do the work. A typical team assembled by the GC are carpenters,  electricians, plumbers, painters, stone masons, floor installers, cabinet markers, sheet metal fabricators, stone counter fabricators, etc. It is the GC job to manage the scope, budget and schedule of these trades or sub contractors. The owners generally works with the GC to manage the overall construction budget. In this case, the GC coordinates and compensates the subs as well as his material and fixtures ordered and delivered to the job-site.

Construction expenses are usually presented in a lump sum contract with spaces clearly defined, owner supplied items, allowances and added expense per owner approval. We went over this document twice with the GC over a two month period to insure what was our expense responsibility. We accepted the $175,000 contract broken down into five milestone payments. They are triggered by special order materials, demolition complete, cabinets delivered, hardwood floor installation completed and end of construction and elected add-on costs. What most construction projects suffer from is budget creep or 'what in not covered in the contract'. These expenses have to be bid separately or handled as a time and material expense billed directly to the owners.

To date we have several additions that are in this category:

1. Added the family room renovation to the construction scope. 
2. Insuring the red oak hardwood flooring stain is uniform throughout the house. 
3. Replace ten windows with e-glass upgrades.
4. Paint back porch

The last thing, I wanted to share in this blog is how Sandy and I managed our construction budget. I love spreadsheets so when our interior designer shared her tracking tool, I based my budget tracker on hers. The first thing, I did was take each line item in the construct contract as a row in our spreadsheet. There were 38 rows of descriptions, allowances details, add-on costs, exclusions and owner supplied materials. At the end of this list, I broke down the payment schedule into payments made and due to complete the contract. I then added all the non-contract expenses with descriptions of scope as new line items. I wanted to track funding sources so I could assign the money needed. These sources include: cash in savings, a special 401K account, the Line of Credit and credit cards. We are very careful on how to prioritize these funding sources and when to use one over another.

What is the big unknown... the completion date, we don't have a clue...

NEXT: A day in the nature of things big and small at our Wikiup Home.

I will plan to include short videos in future blog.

I have received only two comments to date. I would appreciate hearing from you.

Send me an e-mail, casteele@sonic.net

Day 31 and Holding, What does it take to manage a remodel?

While we are in a holding pattern with contractor taking vacations and finishing up the pre-inspection tasks. I thought I would share some of the less than obvious aspects of remodeling. The first item is why remodel in the first place. It's costly, tests the relationship, is totally disruptive, etc. etc. Yes, it is all those things and more. The simple reason ot remodel is pretty basic, we love where we live. Sonoma County is magical place and Santa Rosa is the ideal community to hang out. Our Wikiup property has the million dollar view of Santa Rosa and Windsor. Our 1.4 acres is loaded with a micro world of heritage oaks, grassy hillsides birds, animals, flowers, insects, etc. We have 360 degrees of scenic views. I love to go up onto our new roof and enjoy our highest elevation on Wikiup Drive.

So with all these attributes, why remodel? Well, our home was build in1963. I graduated from San Rafael High in 1963. So we have a fifty year old house. Sandy moved into this home in 1997, 16 years ago, I net her moving into this house. Over the years, we have added lots of exterior upgrades, a sun room and two enclosed porches, 6kW/h solar system, a redwood desk and new hot tub, plus numerous landscaping projects. What escaped our focus was the house itself.

Critical mass hit us with making retirement decisions. The answer to the question: 'Where do you see yourself in ten years?' was the deal breaker. We agreed to stay put in this house, putting us on the track to fix up the homestead. In late 2011 we started planning out our remodel project. I hired my friend Kristy, an interior designer to design our remodel and create a set of construction documents to capture our wishlist. She also had the unspoken task of managing me and Sandy's expectations. She was fresh from doing her own kitchen remodel and had plenty of advice for us to think about. The picture below best represents our idea of what our new kitchen should look like.

 Kristy did her thing and delivered a plan complete with demo, electrical and plumbing, and cabinets drawings and initial budget and schedule. So in our minds, we asked 'how are we funding this remodel?' We embarked on a journey of re-financing the Wikiup property. That was in itself a roller coaster ride. I will never use that bank to re-fi another house, EVER! Anyway we had our money to start. The first thing to address is long list of must fixes. That included roof replacement, upgrade our plumbing to include new tank-less water heating, low flow toilets and water conditioning system. We replaced the whole house with new doors.

The re-roofing project was our first major project. It took a week to accomplish and taught us a lot about what it takes to manage contractor and our own expectations.  We did attract the perfect roofing company and got a quality job. When it was complete we remove 21 tons of old concrete tile replaced them with a modern composition roof with ridge vents to cool our home.

After the roof was done we had the house painted and the redwood desk re-stained. We picked post-it yellow as our standard color with white trim on all shutters, columns and outside window, eve and door trim. We were amazed how it changed the appearance of our home.

Below shows the entrance roof columns being clad into stone matching the existing trim of the house. This was no easy task to match stone 50 years apart in installation and from different quarries

When the painting was complete the contractor put up the new house numbers in a brushed nickel finish. It later caused a huge riff with sandy and I. I interpreted this as the new house hardware standard. So when I ordered all the hardware for the twenty new doors in the house. I did so without running that by the co-PM. When Sandy saw the new hardware (see below). She said 'I wanted oil rubbed bronze in the Kitchen.' OPS!!!

After much teeth mushing and ego dropping I eat a $1000 restocking charge and a change out of any brushed nickel hardware for the house with standard oil rubbed bronze hardware. It was character building moment to resolve this issue.

Our new front door had it's share of hiccups before it was finally installed correctly. We had wrong measurements to fit the door into the opening. The hardware was the wrong finish, staining delays cause sun bleach of the wood. We love our custom door and have forgotten what it took to install it.

Pictured above is Clint, our painting contractor and Bill, the door guy.

One the roles of ownership in a remodel project is all the items called out in the contract that are your responsibility to source and purchase. An example would be drawer pulls and door knobs Next level of buying material are any contractor allowances like the tile floors or back splashes. Last is the cost issue of any item priced as add-ons like glass shower doors.

Here's Sandy at our favorite store, Home Depot. We spent countless hours roving the aisles to source lighting, plumbing, tools, cabinets, hardware, etc. Below is typical color palette to sort out fixtures and finishes. At least I am real clear on oil-rubbed bronze being the standard.

One of the countless items that surfaces when you have a bunch of wandering contractors around, is they spot building problems. Like the sewer line on the left. The original sewer connection was improperly install causing paper to get clogged in one of three clean-outs cutting down sewage flow. Now it is fixed the way it was supposed to be installed... $1400 later.

One of the journeys you take in remodeling is selecting counter tops. Do you do wood, plastic, cement, or stone. That further subdivides into granite, marble, butcher block, etc. Our designer steered us into the granite mode. So was visited various stone vendors looking at hundred of 70"x110" slabs of 600 pounds stone. Sandy loves blue and I gave her a stone catalog to select some possibilities to view and she picked only one stone, Blue Bahia. This is a rare granite and cost 2.5-3 times what the other slabs we purchased.
We did found this slab locally.

In the end she is excited to intro this counter top into our new kitchen and our hall bathroom, it is stunning.

 NEXT Blog is going to be about the economics of remodeling. I will share with you what will we spent and how we manage the various costs that challenge us to met.






 This simple three circles reminds me about how the systems works. Each circle represents the three elements of construction: Scope, Budget, and Schedule. Where they all overlap that's where the owner resides in the centers. The truth is when you change one element you effect the other two. It is law!

Day 31, Getting ready for the inspection

I have been gone on a road trip for PGE this week. I got back last night and went to a Leadership Santa Rosa Alumni BBQ. So today is my first look at the project progress.  Darrell and Stacy are going on vacation till Monday, July 1st. They are preparing the house for a major milestone, the first buliding inspection. After we pass this review, Darrell can close in all the walls. There is a lot of sheet rocking to be done, followed by tape and texture. A key part to passing this inspection is all the rough wiring is complete. That mean all the switches, ceiling lights, fans, etc. are in place and exposed.

Here Mikey wires the bathroom lights including two counter plugs and powering both medicine cabinets. Also there are three ceiling lights, one directly over the new shower stall.



Below is a new member of our construction team Rich (right). He is stone mason. Darrell will construct a wood box to mount a three side gas fireplace. Rich will add the stone veneer above and below the fireplace. See the blue line under Darrell (left), this shows the fireplace location.

Stacy is removing the old wooden posts and railing. They were not built to the current code. We discussed a lot of options on how to rebuild this structure, a much needed feature in the Family room. Ultimately, we decided to surround the stair well with a 42" half (pony) wall with a cap over the deepest part of the descending steps. Darrell ,is building a half door at the top of the stairs to protect any kids thinking of playing around the steps.

Above and to the left, you can see the new half (pony) walls. The wall will house two duplex plugs on either side of the length the wall. The will be a switch inside the stair well to turn on the current light plus a new light housed in the inside ceiling of the cap.


Displaced in this remodel is the massive entertainment cabinet. We have some challenges with its length pinching the circulation to the new door and pony wall. Stay tune for that solution.

Here are the builders figuring out how to disconnect the electronics. I hope they know how it all goes back together. A level and tape measure will not help with this task.

Here's our other cast member in this construction drama. Our electrician is mining for copper and hit the mother lode. He has his work cut out for him. He not only adds new wire runs to our upstairs sub panel, he also remove lots of redundant wiring. When he is in the ceiling he deals with the telephone cables, coax and speaker wires. A new item to the mix is low voltage wiring for our under cabinet lighting.

The above view shows the new dining room wall closed in. The original pocket door entrance was eliminate and move around the corner. The new entrance will be a swing door into the Family room. Note the new three awning windows allowing the light to enter the kitchen and dining. The window can be used to allow heat or cold air to circulate in either space or not. See the blue line under wheeled garbage can? That's the new eating nook seating with a free standing table for intimate dinning.

No saga is complete without the entire cast of characters. Here our three CCI breeder labs, Pasco (top), Tamika (left) and Ben (right). They have adapted well to all the construction team. Darrell and Stacy have dogs so they get a lot attention. On the right of Tamika is our main garden site.

This is one of two garden sites. Picture is a 8'x10' caged garden. We had had a bumper crop of various vegetables. We currently visit this site daily to harvest plants for our morning and evening shakes. Note our orchard down the hillside. We have eight different fruit trees. We planted the trees three season ago are waiting to see what trees will bear fruit. Not picture is our other vegetable grown in 18"x36" growing boxes. They are located outside of our studio window.

Her is Grace our female Maine coon. Will, not picture is her brother. They patrol the sun room and the studio where Sandy and I hang out and eat and watch TV.

I want to close this chapter of our project with this thought. I was thinking why did decide to do this project. I feel it is because of the quality of light that surrounds us from dawn to dusk. We have four 5'x5' picture window facing NE to NW. Each one gives a unique perspective of the surround nature we are blessed to witness. Our yard is filled with cast of characters which entertains us all day. Whether its the gray squirrels performing their acrobatics or the quail escorting their chicks around to the eat fallen birdseed. It is always a treat to see all our animal friends.



NEXT is a bit of pause in the action before the inspection. After that it will be a huge amount of activity. Fasten your safety belts for the next thrill ride...

Days 24-28, Friday June 14th Recap with a jumbo collection of 14 pictures of the current jobsite

HELLO ALL:
I appreciate the patiences on my efforts to share our remodel. I am finally at the last step to becoming current. After this blog, I will be caught up with the current state of construction. I will be finishing this blog with 14 photos and captions to get all you up to speed, plus whats in store for the future.

 

This picture represents why we wanted to do this remodel and open up the walls of our home. We are blessed everyday (cloud permitting) wilh spectacular sunsets. They bath the entire house in these warm glows of red, yellow and orange light.

Sandy and find ourselves stopping to watch the sun wink goodbye till the next day.

This is a view into our dining room ceiling showing you all the new bracing added to reenforce the roof after the new beams were installed.

Here's Clint, our painting contractor picking up some equipment for another job. He will be back to install, tape, finish and paint all the new sheet rock to be installed throughout the jobsite.

When we decided to remove the wavy ceiling, it all needed to be trued. Stacy is pictured checking this with his level and string line to get it perfect for sheet rocking.

Our electrical rough-in continues to be installed. Mike has been here everyday doing his part while working on other project around Sonoma County.  Sandy and I are constantly being consulted on the best switch and plug location. 

As well as what switches will control which fixture. I am impress with Darrell team bringing us options of best practices from their 30 years of building construction.

Below, this is rare sight an empty debris bow!

Above is the cabinet door sample and drawer (Cherry is the wood standard) with the knob and pull Sandy and I have selected. The style of door is called Artisan. We picked a 1.25" round knob in old-rubbed bronze as our standard finish for all hardware. The draw pull is picture on the above right, note that the drawer and doors will be 45 degree beveled on all their edges.

The following 14 photos catches you up with the current state of construction at the Wikiup Remodel project. Happy Flag Day on the 14th of June...

 #1: This is the hall bathroom ready for the next phase of reconstruction.

#2: This is the Utility (pantry) with our washer and Dryer still functioning.

#3: This is another view of the Utility room looking into the Hall Bathroom and Kitchen.

 #4: This is the Kitchen viewed from the back wall of the Utility room. Use the ladder in the background as a frame of reference for the following photos

 #5: This Kitchen from the wall of the family room, note the ladder on the left.

#6: This shows the Kitchen view towards the hallway, and hall closet.

#7: Now you can appreciate the benefit of the new header beams in opening the house up to all the new views. Left to resolve is the uneven entry floor and how to match the living and dining flooring.

#8: This is our Living room currently storing all the insulation from the other rooms.

#9: Here's another view of the beams and a peek into the family room.

#10: This view shows the family room torn down to it's bare necessities.

#11: This Family room view shows the current stair railing and ceiling demo.

#12: The Family room ceiling offer no access to install new lighting, so removing the sheet rock allowed the electrician complete freedom to do his job without restrictions.

#13: Still in the family, this view showcases the three new windows into the Dining and Kitchen allowing sunlight and heat into those spaces with our new awning windows.

 #14: This photo from the Living room show a straight shot down the hallway to the breezeway and where Sandy and I plus the cats hang out for meals and TV.

NEXT: We are now current, I am going on a road trip till next Wednesday, my co-PM Sandy will be recording the construction and I will blog you with our progress... Bye till then, Craig