Words from Master Dave

Contractor to the House under the Rock: Blog three

This week will be a departure for my version of Julie’s blog: I’m writing it without seeing hers first.  My goal is to write strictly about where the process is from my view point.

At this point, we are in the planning and budgeting phase.  Although I have preliminary drawings for the kitchen, I have nothing defining the spaces in the rest of the house.  Again, we are starting with the idea that walls now governing the kitchen, master bed and bath, laundry and more, are either going to be moved or removed, and the rooms reconfigured to work better than they do now.  Until I have a plan, however, I can’t begin to create a budget.

Flash the camera toward Roger:  budgeting and planning projects is what he does for a living, and in order to do so, he needs the entire scope of the job in front of him, complete with estimates of labor and materials.  He doesn’t want to get too far into the kitchen without knowing what costs are going to be incurred in the other phases.  Makes sense, right?  But the process is slow planning a remodel versus what he’s used to in road building, and I fear it will frustrate him.

Now to Julie: She’s doing great at assimilating all of the design information being tossed in her direction.  She is on “shopping” duty as she meets with Rebecca regarding appliances and plumbing fixtures, and has picked out a cabinet style and finish with Betsy.  At the same time, she’s readying her other house to hit the market—busy girl, for sure!

So, since last week, selections have been made regarding the kitchen cabinet; I’ve received an estimate for replacing the electrical panel and bringing everything up to the current code requirements; I have the preliminary plans for the kitchen that I use to begin the estimate process; we are scheduling a meeting with the structural engineer next week to see what we’ll have to do to make the preliminary floor plan work.

Also next week, I’ll be looking at the upper deck and railing.  Seems Roger and Julie were out there last Friday and the railing was less-than secure, as in, “Yipes!”  I’ll leave one section loose for Julie to use on Roger if she needs to…just our little secret!

The Waiting Game

It is hard to contain excitement and anticipation with a big healthy dose of patience. So we wait. Wait for bids, budget and permits. The ball is slowing gaining momentum.  As we wait for the first swing of the hammer I thought I would answer a few questions that I have gotten from friends and family.

First, a little about us. Roger and I will have our 29th anniversary this summer (and are still crazy about one another), have three grown and super cool sons, we coach and direct a high school mountain bike team in Highlands Ranch, Co, at one point we had 18 bikes in the garage, Rog works in the heavy construction industry, and I am the wearer of many hats- artist, always mom, former teacher, team manager, boss of everyone. Plus I think I am funny...just ask me.

• You're moving AGAIN? Why? 
• With Roger's job of 28 years we had the opportunity to live in different cities and even Texas for two years. With every move we made great friends & neighbors! Do we get attached to houses? Not really. Home is where our stuff is. With that said, we are downsizing to a place for Rog and I to stay for a while. Our current house is too big. Who wants to clean it? Not me. There will always be room for our guys to come home...maybe even eventually bring some gals around.
• Why would you sell your really nice home and buy a 45 year old house??
• Cuz we want to. We love a challenge! We didn't have to buy a house that was in the 'right  school feeder area' or neighborhood. We picked it for its unique flavor and potential. Plus we can ride our bikes down to the beer garden downtown Castle Rock; how awesome is that?
• How many houses have you lived in?
• This will be our 8th house. We have bought/sold four of them from the same realtor that we LOVE. Seriously, if you need to get it done then call Vanessa Holmes of Your Castle Real Estate. She is a gem. 

  

  View of the rock from the backyard.

  
  

  

  Pikes Peak in the distance.

  
  

  

  One of my sweet boys:)
  
  Our current home goes on the market on Monday. Holy crap, I better spit shine this place this weekend!!! Keeping fingers crossed for a quick and painless sale.
  

Words from Master Dave

Contractor to the House Under the Rock

When Julie said she was starting a blog on the adventures of remodeling the new old house, I thought it would be fun if all of us blogged along with her—and by us, I mean me, the interior space planner and the kitchen designer.  They all thought it a great idea but the reality is that each of them have two little kids.  My feeling is that they will be hard pressed to find the 20 minutes every Friday to write, but we’ll see.

The adventure begins…

Okay, I missed the introductory blog, so here we go…

I’ve known Roger and Julie for quite awhile—I met them at least four houses ago when their middle son and my son were elementary schoolmates.  But, I was surprised to hear from them somewhat out-of-the-blue several weeks ago to look at a different house they had their eyes on.  We met, looked it over and decided  to give it a hearty “nah.”  Fast forward to early July and I met them at this house—along with realtors, inspectors, ladders, tape measures, etc. 

Julie already had some good ideas of what she wanted to do, so we chatted about how to proceed.  I’ve been a general contractor specializing in remodels for 20 years or so, and have a really good working relationship with several designers…would Julie be interested in meeting with them?  Julie would! 

Next was a phone call from Roger: he had the inspector’s report in hand and wanted some idea about what certain repairs would cost.  We came up with some preliminary numbers for some of the repairs and he took it to the sellers.  A few days later, the deal was done!

Everyone showed up a little over a week ago to get a visual on the house, and to start brainstorming what could be done, what should be done.  We have a very nice chemistry between the four of us, so this should be a fun project.  We ran through a schedule of sorts, with our next major goal of getting to budget numbers.  We need plans!

Quirks

I assume the title doesn’t refer to us, but you never know…Julie does have that kind of a sense of humor!

For me, as a contractor, there is always a bit of mystery in older houses.  Who worked on it and what were they thinking when they did this or that.  This particular house has some interesting soffit ideas—as in they are everywhere on the main or upper floor.  Since there isn’t a floor above us, the soffits won’t be hiding plumbing for a bathroom above.  There may be some rogue electrical to deal with, but that’s it.  So, if not for practical reasons…why all the soffits?

We also have a number of flooring types: the entry is a large marble tile.  It butts to a white ceramic tile in the hallways, which butts to two different types of hardwood floor.  And, they are all visible from the entry.  The little planter in Julie’s picture is in the marble entry, a prime example of the adage: “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.”

We met at the house on Wednesday this week—Julie, my partner in crime Bruce and my electrician of 15 years, Jason.  The goal was to put a number on replacing the electrical panel which was a mish mash of different breakers and floating wires, and was located on the inside of one of the lower floor bedrooms.  As helpless as Julie feels when her ideas are met with lukewarm responses, so do I feel when standing with Jason as he does his magic. 

We are waiting for his estimate to move the panel outside, install a new 200 amp service, install new wires from the panel to the shutoff (which is located on a pole about ten feet away accessed by conduit) which is just below the meter, also on the pole.  Oh, and the bonding or grounding of the panel requires a larger gauge wire, and…well, you get the idea.

As Julie mentioned, I am going to take the very preliminary plans to the city and get the permit ball rolling.  I may have to amend our submission based on details, but most cities are pretty lax on the specifics of the permit, leaving it to the inspectors and contractor to work it out in the field.  The kitchen is a relatively easy permit, whereas the space planning will entail some additional professionals—structural engineer for one as we will be moving or eliminating walls—so we’ll start with the kitchen. 

Julie’s right about the smells.  It’s not me, I swear!

Quirks

The house is now empty and smells a little funky. As I wander around I find some quirks that make this 45 year old house unique. From the green fireplace stone (I kinda dig it) to the indoor planter spot that makes this home one-of-a-kind. Our trusty contractor named Dave has started the process and is getting the permits requested to get the ball rolling. Come on DAVE! First on the list is to address the electrical issues. I'm so dang excited about that; can't you just hear the sarcasm in my writing?

The kitchen plans look AWESOME! Just wish I could snap my fingers and make it happen today. 

I will add some photos of the existing kitchen today. It is hard to see, but it is completely closed into one room. A wall is coming out to open the entire space to a great room.

Weird little planter INSIDE the house. Rog assures me that it will soon be filled with concrete and tiled over!
I could totally grow something there.. .

Do you see the random outlet on the wall going down the stairs? I may need to stop and charge my phone on the way down.

 All cabinets and soffit will go.

 Good bye wall.

The doorway on the left is the kitchen.

We are close to listing our current home for sale. Not fun. If it sells quickly we will move on down and endure the remodel as it happens. It's just the two of us and we love an adventure. It's gonna be fun...I hope. 

The adventure begins...

Here it is. Our newest project! For those that know me, you know that I love a good project. But a whole house?? I have already woken up in a sweat with the question, "What have we done?" running through my head. My husband Roger and I made the decision to downsize after all our birds have left the nest. Our present nest is much too large for just the two of us and one spunky wiener dog named Stanley.
This charming 1970's ranch style home with a walkout basement just grabbed us. We could see the potential of it being our long-term home. So I will write this blog with hopeful optimism that it will one day be perfect. It will chronicle our journey of a kitchen and master bedroom suite renovation as well as deck repair, paint and carpet downstairs, roof repair, blah blah blah. 
I met with the general contractor, kitchen designer and interior space designer with excitement and lots and lots of GREAT ideas. Well, let's just say that after about 10 minutes I realized that my ideas really weren't that great. Me: "What do you think about white cabinets on top?" ( picture me all smiley and excited...) Kitchen designer: "No, white won't work in this space." Similar conversations went on with some of my other GREAT ideas. Oh geez. I am grateful to have the team to keep me on track so my plethora ideas of a unique space come together. Can't wait. Guess I can "edit" my idea book that I started.
More pics to come as our journey unfolds.