better late than never

HOUSE UPDATE

· new constuction,new house build,interior design

YOU WANT AN UPDATE? HERE'S YOUR UPDATE...

Its been a TOTAL AND COMPLETE DISASTER. Are you surprised??

For the past 5 months...

It was difficult to even think about it.

It was difficult to talk about it.

Forget about sleeping...I would wake up almost every night in a cold sweat thinking about this house and how much I hate this house.

Basically what happened was that the contractor that we THOUGHT was going to be GREAT turned out to be worse than the Idiot Civil Engineer...if you can believe it. So - because it tough to talk/think about...blogging about this process has been difficult to say the least. Every time I would try and write about it...it would be soo negative and a total downer. But - I think it's about time to give an update (and so do the people that ask us about the house every day!)

June 2018 - basement foundation poured

At this point in time I was feeling relieved even excited about the progress.

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July 2018 - Materials delivered to site

Just getting materials to the job site took about 3 to 4 weeks. Imagine...the foundation is done...but for WEEKS...no movement. Nada!

When we asked the contractor...he claimed that the house was not a "standard home" and that the materials will take a while to get. Now...we have had the SAME set of drawings for over 9 months (maybe more!). I just expected him to get the materials ordered and on site...ready to go after the foundation was poured. But noooo. This was the first time I thought...hmmm. Maybe this guy isn't paying attention?

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workers carrying huge "custom/non standard" floor joists.

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view from the house to the pool/backyard. ugh. when will this pool come back to it's full glory?

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mid mod AMAZING freestanding fireplace. sadly waiting in the garage

Aug 2018 - Framing started!

Even tho the framing had started on the house...this is about when the DREAD really started...

Whenever I asked the contractor about a schedule...he didn't have one. And...I NEVER saw him at the house. It was almost if he was going to get a deathly peanut type allergic reaction if he went near the house. (ummm I wish)

I was VERY skeptical but then again - I'm a half glass empty kinda crazy lunatic. My husband is very half glass FULL so he said " It'll be ok...let's hope it gets better. We will meet with him weekly and then we will stay on top of him to get this done right." Yeah right.

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view of the first floor and opening for the stair

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beginning stages of the second floor. view of the crappily made garage

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hey...how'd that get pic in there? I just wanted to show you a happy picture.

The rugs are contenders for the great room from Ege Carpets

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view from the street

Sep 2018 - Interior framing and roof started

After the perimeter of the house was built and the sheathing was installed they started the interior framing (also known as the walls). We would ask the contractor to meet at the house on a weekly basis. He was surprised that we needed to meet this often. REALLY???

So when we started really looking at the interior...we noticed almost all of the wood was in bad condition, was a weird black color or had lots of holes. My husband had to check every stud to make sure that they weren't moldy! In addition...lots of the doorways were not straight! oh good god. We were of course nervous about this and asked the contractor to fix it. Ugh. Never happened.

HUGE mistake #53: The contractor never read the drawings and did not build the roof correctly. It was pretty easy...2 foot overhangs on every roof edge. Wtf could this guy be thinking? They had to add extra pieces to the roof so that the design could be the way it was shown on the drawings (that was drawn in April of 2017!!)

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view of the crappily made garage (again)

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roof built wrong - missing overhang

Oct 2018 - the switch to the NEW contractor!

It took WEEKS after they put the sheathing on to put the house wrap on. And...when they did...they put the WRONG wrap on. It was a Cluster F of all proportions.

So after much consideration...I finally said "I dont think this guy is gonna take us all the way to the end." We called a friend who referred us to another contractor who is now doing a really really good job. He's attentive to details, is easy to get a hold of, has great sub contractors and knows his stuff when it comes to building.

In short, this was a very very difficult decision. It took a long time and we had many sensitive conversations with our old contractor. We all decided that him taking a step back and letting someone else finish the project was a good idea. So now...we are only looking forward...not backwards!

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house taking on water (from the crappily constructed roof) in one of the wettest couple of

months in the history of Maryland! yay!

Here is the main living space..if it ever gets done! It's actually pretty cool to be inside the house..but it's still got a LONG ways to go. At least I'm sleeping better.

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view of the great room