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!