The Slow Wheels of Progress

It's official: We've been working on this home renovation project for just over 17 months now. I thought I'd put together a timeline of highlights of what we've done up to this point.

I have a notebook to track calls and contacts that I make, which I flipped through while typing up this post. The first mention of architects is on January 20, 1996, when I emailed Mike Hally of Michael Hally Design to start asking questions about the design process. By April 2016, we had a preliminary design settled and drawings in progress.

In May 2016, we started talking with Mike about setbacks, surveyors, and building contractors. Our idea was to rework the design and push things back so we wouldn't need to file a petition for a variance with the Zoning Board of Appeals. We abandoned that plan after a few sketches, plus the fact that we have a steep drop in the back yard, so we didn't have much room to push things back.

In June, I switched jobs, which slowed down progress on the home renovation project. I went from taking the train to Boston to driving into Worcester, saving me an hour each way on my commute. Also in June, we got the Bid Drawings in hand so we could get quotes from contractors.

On Wednesday, July 6, 2016, I called the three contractors and the three surveyors Mike had recommended. Things started to get real at around this point. We had meetings with everyone and waited for quotes to come back.

The dumpster in all its glory.

In August, I called for quotes on a 30 yard dumpster so we could throw out some of the piles of crap that had accumulated after 18 years in the house. In early September, we had the dumpster on site and filled it admirably well. We also paid for some space at the town-wide yard sale on the common on Labor Day weekend, clearing out further piles of crap and making a little money. (We splurged on a Playstation 4 with most of the yard sale proceeds.)

That big dead pine tree needed to go.

In September, we paid Trillium Tree to take down a couple of trees and a few low-hanging branches, clearing the way for construction. Somewhere around here, we chose Johnson Building & Remodeling as our contractor. They offered a competitive quote and made us feel at ease. Scott would manage the project and George would head up the construction effort. It's a small company, but they felt right, and they've been very patient and responsive with us so far.

On Wednesday, September 14, 2016, I made a pile of calls to banks, looking for a construction loan. We had a builder, we had a quote for the work, now we needed the means to pay for it. We ended up going with TD Bank, largely because of the commitment to constant communication by our local loan specialist, Jeff.

In October and November, we had the land surveyed and staked. We had to go back and modify the plot plan a couple of times to support the Zoning Board of Appeals application. It turns out we own more land than I thought we did, though not much of it is usable thanks to a steep slope.

Also in November I started calling well companies. We're planning on building a garage on top of our abandoned well, so we needed to fill it and cap it properly. Winter happened, so this would get pushed off until the spring.

In December, we were moving along in the loan process to an appraisal as we filed the petition for a hearing with the Zoning Board of Appeals. In January 2017, we had a ZBA hearing date set for February, so we needed to take out legal ads in the Telegram and send 11 certified letters to abutters with notifications. Since the ZBA meeting was set so late, we decided to stop the loan process and restart it with the ZBA approval in hand. I learned plenty about what the bank needed for a construction loan, but I was still confused as to why the appraisal process seemed to happen last instead of first. More later on this.

On Monday, February 13, 2017, it snowed just enough overnight to close the town offices. Since the town offices were closed, our ZBA hearing was cancelled. The one big thing we were waiting on needed to be rescheduled. And since various members of the board were on vacation through February and most of March, the hearing was rescheduled for March 27, a delay of 6 weeks. Looks like we wouldn't start construction in the spring like we wanted.

In March, I started to track down Builder's Risk Insurance. In April, we had the approval letter from the ZBA in hand, so we could start the wheels moving forward once again. We restarted the loan process, and started getting serious about cleaning the house out. I reached out to the Department of Conservation and Recreation to start requesting an Advisory Ruling, because a corner of our property is within 400 feet of a tributary that empties into Wachusett Reservoir.

Digging down to cap the well.

In April, I started getting quotes for storage units, either onsite or in a central location. It turns out having a storage container onsite is much cheaper. We started shopping for a trailer to live in, and we got the official OK from the selectmen to allow us to live in the trailer during construction. We also lined up someone to fill and cap the well, which they did on May 1st.

In May, I lined up Stationary Insurance for the trailer, and we signed that loan and took delivery. Between the appraisal and credit check, and in talking with Jeff, we knew the trailer loan would make it tight for affording the construction loan, but it seemed doable. I also nailed down the Builder's Risk insurance, to be paid and in effect when we sign the construction loan. We also received the official OK to build from the DCR.

In June, the appraisal came back. We heard that it wouldn't be a problem, and the first number we heard was right in line with what we needed. The final appraisal amount came in 30% lower than the first number, to which everyone involved said, "WHUT?" That value wouldn't even cover the amount of the loan we're asking for.

This weekend, Christina tracked down comparable sold properties in the area that support a much higher property value and compiled a list. This morning, I sent the appraisal appeal form in, and we'll see what happens next. We may get all the money we're asking for, or we may need to modify the project to afford it. Cross your fingers, folks.

It's been a long road so far, and we haven't even broken ground on the construction part of it.

"Buckle up, kids, it's gonna be a heck of a ride."

The Story So Far...

We've been told that once we get through the process of a complete home renovation, we could write a book. Instead, we decided upon a blog to document our journey. Who knows?  In ten years, we might look back on this whole experience and have a good laugh. Let's start with what's happened so far, shall we?

So why would you even do this to yourselves?!

Good question. For years, I have dreamed of having my own teaching space. Right now, I teach in the choir room at the church that I attend and also work/volunteer at. It's nice space, but it has its challenges because it is a shared space. Also, we bought our house as a fixer-upper special. We did some of the work that was required and then ran out of money. Over the years, we had other priorities and didn't give the house the love that it deserved, so it needs updates.

My teaching space.  Nice piano and big room, but I have to share it with Creepy
Mozart. He lives in the shadow box over there on the filing cabinets.

Two years ago, we decided it was time to do something. Move or stay put? Moving meant sinking some money into our house so it would be "market ready", plus we would have to mess around with Title V septic system stuff (also costly). Then, when we found our next house, unless we got really, really lucky, we would still need to do renovation work to make a studio space for me. How many houses do you know that have a big open space with a separate entrance, a bathroom, waiting area, and sound proofing? If we stayed, we wanted to create our dream house because we have no intention of moving any time soon. This may cost more money (maybe) than moving, but we have a great location -- just a few doors down from Tower Hill Botanical Garden in a relatively quiet little town. After quite a bit of discussion and researching the housing market, we decided to stay put.

We hired an architect and designed our dream home to be built on the bones of the existing house. Our cape will become a gambrel colonial.  Our segmented first floor will become an open floor plan. And we will have an addition that creates a studio space for me and gives us a two car garage. Designs were done by Fall of 2016 and we found a great contractor shortly thereafter.

Drawing of the front of the house.

The downstairs.  Check out my swank music studio in the back.
And a two car garage -- no more shoveling out cars!!!

And the upstairs.  Look at those bee-yoo-tee-ful walk-in closets.

Here's where I am going to take a moment and recommend our architect, Mike Halley. He's a really nice guy and is awesome at taking your requirements/wish list and turning it into a solid plan.

Work Starts in March and Other Adventures

Our house is too close to the road. It's not the house's fault. The town widened our road long before we bought the house. This means that any work we do requires us to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals.  ZBA application work was done in December before the holidays. Meanwhile, the contractor gives pencils us into the work schedule for March. Before loans can be applied for and permits pulled, we have to have our stamp of approval by the ZBA. In hindsight, this is something that we should have moved on more quickly.

Too close!!

Mid-January, we have a meeting scheduled with the ZBA and we run the legal notice in the paper and send out all the certified letters to our neighbors about it. The day of the meeting in February, we get a snowstorm. Meeting canceled. And it can't be rescheduled until late March because one of the board members is a snowbird and is in Florida. So much for our timeline.  

The contractor pushed our start date out to the beginning of June. Our meeting finally happened on March 27th where the design was approved. We got our official notice (after the requisite waiting period after the meeting) in April. Construction loan application is started.

This is where we learn that construction loans are bigger pains than a standard mortgage. And here's where we sit, waiting on the bank. This is a slow process. If the appraiser approves of the work and the bank doesn't want to dicker over the payment schedule with the construction company, it looks like we'll probably close mid-June.  This means we lose our current slot on our contractor's schedule, so stay tuned when the actual start date is.