To say it has been a slow start would be an understatement. At the beginning of the build season, I began to question if I was actually a dentist, because getting the county to approve the building permit was like pulling teeth. I provided the small mountain of documents and forms that made up the building permit request packet and submitted it in early May. There was still a small amount of snow on the ground, but I figured it would only take a couple of weeks to get the approved permit, and by then the snow would be gone and construction could start… boy was I naive.
In early June I made a trip to the property to meet with the builder to verify the foundation location. While I was there, I also stopped by the building department to check on the status of my permit. The staff informed me that it would be at least another 4 weeks due to the backlog. That meant I wouldn’t be able to start construction until the beginning of July at the earliest. That really put the timeline in a bind if the goal is to have the roof on before winter arrives. The building department staff did some more checking and said my packet was now third in the que for approval, and because of that, they issued me the excavation permit so I could at least begin preparing for the foundation work.
As expected, the first week of July I received the approved permit to build. Fortunately, because I was given the excavation permit the month prior, the builder was able to get all of the foundation prep-work done and ready for inspection once the permit was issued.
Looking back on it, the months of July and August were a blur. The foundation is essentially done, but to get to this point, it took three separate inspections… first the footings, then the wall forms, and third, the damp proofing, footing drainage and insulation.
Next on the list is to get the interior load bearing foundation supports, deck footings, sub-slab insulation, and radiant heating lines in-place and inspected. Once that is done, the slab will be poured and framing can start.
While all of this has been going on, I have also been juggling two other tasks necessary to support the build effort… getting the utility company to establish electrical service, and the gas company to extend the existing service line to the build site.
With respect to the utility company… extremely frustrating would be putting it kindly. I submitted my initial request for service at the end of May. Just last week I finally received the cost breakdown to run service to the property. The problem now is the October moratorium, when they don’t do any service installation work until the following spring/summer. It has taken over three months just to get a cost breakdown… which I have already paid. During this three-month period, it would often take one-to-two weeks before I would receive responses from the assigned project team. When I attempted to call, I would get voice mail and would never receive a call back. When I called the Builder’s Call Line, which was listed and the contact source regarding questions, I was told they don’t assist with these issues. What the what?!
The second huddle has been trying to get the gas line established. The gas company appears to be more organized and responsive with respect to getting the gas line installed. The only hold-up is that the framing has to be in place where the gas meter will be located, which is understandable. Barring any unforeseen scheduling issues or unexpected early winter weather, the builder feels confident that the roof will be installed by mid-November. I’m cautiously optimistic that goal will be met, but the concern is the gas company also has an October moratorium, which means realistically this won’t be addressed until next spring.
Not expending energy and effort on things that are outside of my control, the focus is to get the lumber package delivered as soon as possible in an effort to meet the November goal. The builder said once the lumber package arrives, he will have his crew on site every day until the framing is complete. Once the roof is on, the house will be dried-in and the weather will no longer be such a limiting factor.
In the meantime, I’m starting to work on the low-voltage wiring diagram and home automation design. I will install all of that once it is dried-in. Until then, I’m staying in my lane and letting the builder push forward uninterrupted.