2 steps forward, 1 step backward…

Oh @worthy - Haha, an application for curb modifications… today and tomorrow we’re basically reforming our entire hillside trying to shape it back to be natural looking again and work out some buried drainage from the roofs to feed a future swim pond. Building department is nowhere to be seen 🤣

Grrrrr!

Here where bureaucracy reigns supreme, it's another matter. (And to think just a few short years ago I was bound for New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state.) As I breathe, still time....

They’re halfway done with our engineered hardwood install! Also at the start of siding. I can’t wait for it to be painted white - I’m not a fan of the plain (primed?) color it comes in lol.

Now to be sure the finished floor is well protected from all the trades to come: trim carpenters, painters and electricians.

It's why I always save the finished floors for last.

D Michael -

Beautiful engineered hardwood flooring. What brand/type of wood/color/width?

@Worthy - oh for sure! I’d hate to see them get dinged up!

@Laurie, they’re the la playa engineered hardwood from Home Depot, 7.5” width and glued down. This flooring had a lot of good reviews with tons of beautiful pictures, so we took a chance on it. We considered it worth the gamble, I’m sure some might warn against us using engineered hardwood at such a good price point! 😅

D Michael - Thank you for the flooring info. I like seeing your build progress. At some point, I'll ask you about the fireplace that will eventually be installed.

How’s it going - some subs either cannot read, do not read, OR simply don’t care about specifications. I casually point details out from time to time, PM is basically like meh IDK… then I hear that I am the problem, apparently I don’t need to tell people how to do their jobs. But when they don’t do it right or fail to do what was specified and agree to, am I just supposed to pretend I don’t notice? Silly clients - expecting work to be as specified! If the engineer specs all metal ductwork and mastic sealant on all joints, and the sub decides to throw in cardboard returns and not use mastic anywhere instead favouring the easier foil tape - is that really my fault? 🙃

Welcome to my world!

"It's the way we always do it. No problems!"

It always makes me wonder what happens on soaring high-rises.

...Oh yeah!

All's well in the new Millennium.

We’ve actually made progress the last two weeks!! Believe it or not. Haha. (Two years ago in August we broke ground. ICF went up in January 2023, poured the concrete in the walls in April, framing started that month as week) interior trim guy has actually come consistently for a couple of weeks. He’s worked on interior window casing, cased openings, crown, beadboard ceilings, installed all of our exterior doors but one finally.. our interior doors aren’t arriving til Oct 23, so waiting on those to case our the doorways inside. HVAC guy finally coming around to finish up. Painters are outside painting what’s done, half of the outside that needs paint isn’t up yet, but the cornice has been up for a YEAR. And we needed the other woodwork painted. Standing seam metal roof back porch done. My Amish guy who left us last November then called and asked to finally finish the job (exterior trim, siding) was here for a week to finish house cornice then left. His daughter is getting married mid October. He promised to build her a barn, so won’t be back til after the wedding to finish exterior wood. Masons are “suppose” to start next week. They’re always suppose to start. Cabinets about to start getting built. Picked out most of my paint colors inside! Tile is scheduled first week of November. Interior paint scheduled first week of November.

Haha @worthy I know exactly what happens in high rises - condo board sues the builder after less than 10 years like my current condo building! I don’t know the details since it’s an active lawsuit. We are planning to sell our condo once we move anyway, but for instance the exterior sealant failed and there was lots of leaking around windows (which is the whole building since these are always all glass). Several hundred thousand $ later replacing ALL sealant, all owners had to pay a bit in special assessment for that. Who knows what else they did wrong. I just wish there was more interest in this industry in learning how to do things right (which means constant improvement and maybe never quite doing anything exactly as you’ve done it before) but it seems most people are too resistant to change.

What a disaster combined with the silly CDN gov’ts need to rapidly build housing. It is all just such a nightmare, nearly makes me want to become a builder myself because people deserve properly built homes and this is getting a bit absurd.

there was lots of leaking around windows (which is the whole building since these are always all glass)

Our daughter's experience exactly in Waterloo for her last year of undergraduate. My how she loved those gentle winter breezes!

@agbhw I love your exterior doors!

@worthy - I’m talking actual water leaks 🤣 but it was stopped before we bought the place and our unit did not have the issue, we do enjoy the winter breezes as well.

I cannot get that picture off of my comment, this app drives me nuts. It won’t let me remove it. So I guess yall can see some wallpaper and paint colors I’m pondering. Is anyone else dealing with what I’m going through.. it’s absolutely ridiculous and I hate to admit it, but I’m kept up at night thinking about the things I messed up and things I should’ve done differently… I should be looking at things I need to order and instead I’m just thinking “maybe I should’ve moved this room here” .. “does that cased opening look horrible?” “why didn’t I see that in framing” the list seriously just goes on. It’s SO BAD. I am so frustrated at a few things I should’ve caught and to think I put YEARS into this planning . But it’s my first time ever doing this, it’s not gonna be perfect. Anyways. That’s my rambling for the day. 100% first world problems.

I'm kept up at night thinking about the things I messed up and things I should’ve done differently…

A death-bed thought if there ever was one!

For your peace of mind, consider a design pro sympatico to your tastes. That way you can spend your time agonizing about the dollars and cents.

Speaking of which: Just got our first painting quote from a contractor we've used before: C$98,000. Every time I turn around, I'm buying the equivalent of a fine car.

@worthy you have got to be kidding… $98k? I think you’re getting ripped off because the house is not crazy big, it can’t possibly cost that much! I guess I’d have to see more of the interior but from what I’ve seen I seriously don’t see how that costs more than $25k to paint. We decided to just use Dulux paint matched to SW colours and it looks fine and only ~ $16k CAD. Are you using specialty products or simply BM/SW/sim. ?

Not crazy big for the neighbourhood. But the neighbourhood includes some big earners, celebrities such as ex Dragon's Den Michael Werkele, who bought and sold for a nice gain.

IOW, trades often quote with preconceptions of wealth and naivete.

The quote is for Benjamin Moore Regal Select. 5,850 sf plus finished basement and three-car garage. Ceilings: 12' first, 10' bsmt. and 2nd floor. But only 34 interior and exterior doors as it's open concept. Getting more quotes for sure!

Oh that is huge actually! Nevermind… but still, $100k paint seems excessive if you’re using regular paint and not a specialty limewash product or something.

We've been in our new house for about 2 1/2 weeks. They're still doing small stuff here and there. Then there's all the landscaping stuff and tidying up the driveway. Hopefully all will be done soon, but we're just happy to finally be moved in after waiting for so long. Now we wait for furniture, which was ordered Labor Day weekend but isn't expected to arrive until the beginning of December.

We have a tentative timeline of 30 days til move out day. We’ll actually have a week of alternative housing since we won’t be able to stay in the house coming down or the new house getting hooked up. I think we’ll rent a cabin at the nearby lake! Honestly this is the only way I can get myself camping, I prefer to live indoors and admire nature through a window unless it’s a temporary outing LOL. They got the paper down on the floors, and most of the siding is up. We went with a basic white with just vertical/horizontal siding. Our current house is a boring shade of brown, so we wanted something crisp and bright. Plus we wanted to spend the money indoors since our house is off the main drag and we didnt have strong feelings yet about the outside appearance. Way down the road I think we may want to add stone or nice landscaping, but gotta let the money catch up LOL. Also, we have a big trench for our new water line. Hoping to get trim or cabinets this week or next - sounds like a couple doors is all that’s holding us up. They also wanted our lights brought to the new house, so hoping that means we’ll see them installed soon. It’s been kind of fun to be close to the finish line, my husband and I each have a friend building right now, and I can’t believe how long ago the framing/concrete stages feel!

Man that last picture really shows how close our new house is to the old! It’s less dramatic in person lol

A C

Really nice job! Consistent and matched to the surroundings.

Perfect for the 4 acres lakefront cottage lot that I foolishly sold for a pittance in the early '90s. ;-(

Second paint quote: C$96.6K.

Still a bargain vs. a neighbouring build (foreground)--C$180K+ for 13,550 sf of living space. To which, don't forget, add our 13% sales tax.

@worthy - I’m confused… do they give you a breakdown of the quote or just a lump sum?

@AC - wow I love that red colour, so pretty!

They will provide detail on paint used (BM Regal Select for walls, for example) but nothing further.

Yes, this has been the only surprise...aside from finding out that we are building in the Wetlands!

@worthy and @izzieo thanks! I’d like to take credit for the exterior color choice, but it was all hubby. He was adamant about having a red house, and thankfully it turned out to our liking. 🙂

A C so happy for you! I know we’ll all get there….someday…

My brother and I had planned on waterproofing the foundation on Friday. Mother nature had other plans and the forecast went from 80% rain to 1000% rain wind and power outages across the county. We took the hint and are shooting for Monday~Tuesday.

My employer has a big job starting Wednesday so I have to cool my jets for a few weeks before we start framing. Looking like a November-December framing schedule. I have some crew lined up and will ramrod the job from the seat of a rental telehandler.

@izzieo I read you loud and clear on ductwork. I am DIY on most of this build, and I am using the BC Calc software to punch big holes through my I-joists for metal mastic sealed ductwork. I will commission the sheetmetal from a local shop and need it on hand to put through those holes as we install the joists. It is complicated but the reward of a totally flat and finished basement lid with no bumps is worth all of it.

I'll design the big pieces and then trunk off the sides of those ducts after we get the hydronic floor heating stapled up. More complicated but worth it stuff.

Wow @Kelly I can only dream of being so handy! It’s great you know how to do so much of the work yourself.

I don't understand a project manager on an hourly basis. When I've project managed, it has been for a flat fee. Currently, the guys I know of are usually paid on a flat monthly fee--up to C$10K.

A C note an hour? Sign me up!

(BTW, never heard of ?

****

Now back to the site for me--though I'm not going in with spray foam fumes in the air!

Yeah @worthy I literally have no idea how we got into this.

For ghost and goblin survivors, see November.