Choosing a Contractor

So nobody told me how hard it would be to choose a contractor.

We interviewed three contractors, two of whom have experience and/or history with our particular property and one who was new to the whole project. In this economy, this process definitely is taking on a new urgency for builders. New construction is much rarer than it was a couple of years ago, and there is definitely more competition for work. Emotions were high in some cases, not only among the contractors, but also with our architect and designer. Yikes!

All three contractors had terrific references, not surprisingly. Two of the three had similar numbers and approaches to their own fees. The third would possibly be less expensive in the long run. One contractor has a personal interest in one of the two town homes we're building. Two of the contractors have more than 20 years experience in construction. One has eight. All have experience working with our architect, with varying numbers of projects. Only one has experience with our designer, but our designer could work with anyone. We have concerns about our privacy with one contractor--we're building in a small town, and he knows a lot of people and is very gregarious.

One contractor has been incredibly proactive, and one is quietly confident. One hasn't been particularly communicative. We could work with all three. They all have differing styles, but two mesh more with ours. They have all built beautiful homes.

HELP!!!

So we made a decision, and it was definitely tough between the final two. We would absolutely recommend the two we haven't chosen for consideration for anyone. We've gone with the most proactive contractor, the one who has introduced us to our daily project manager, and who we have the most familiarity--through our designer and architect--with. I'm lucky that I'm not the one who gets to deliver the news! The man will be much better at this than I, as the emotions might be high with one of our choices.

This part has been stressful, though we're honored to have had such excellent choices. So tomorrow we should be able to move forward, solidify numbers and let the fun begin!

phew.

Back on the Home Front

So part of building a NEW house is the process of dealing with the OLD one: cleaning, updating, marketing and selling. Fortunately for us, we have the good fortune to be able to begin working on the new one before we have to sell the old one. And by "old," I mean the 6000 square foot, constructed in 1930 brick Tudor we currently live in. The same lovely old home that lost half its power yesterday. Brown-out conditions, fading to black, in half our home. Apparently, the underground wires, buried without conduit probably in the 1970's, gave up the ghost around 8:00 a.m. yesterday. Consultations with the power company, life-saving resuscitation by the electrician, and various pow-wows are leading to an expensive conclusion.

I am an optimist. That's a good thing, I think. So wouldn't you rather buy an old house with recently-updated wiring and a new breaker panel? You would, wouldn't you? We'll get our money out of this, right?

We do enjoy the mac and cheese....and ramen....

A Little Past the Beginning, but Beginning Nonetheless

So we're really going to do it. We have a beautiful property with the river view we've dreamed of. We have secured financing that, while scary, makes sense for the future. Being married to a financial guy is very helpful in this, believe me.

We have a plan. We love it. There are myriad logistical/governmental/psychological steps to go, but we've hurdled some already. There are requirements for the neigborhood to approve of us, our design visions and process, not to mention city codes.

So why do I feel like this isn't really going to happen? That it seems too unbelievably lucky to get to have the location AND the house for our next 26 years together. I must have some serious societal payback to, well, pay back.

While I'm pondering (and implementing) the "paying it forward" aspect of this project, this construction job will become my full-time job over the next 18 months, and I'm looking forward to it, in addition to being fairly terrified. More than one person has told me about the marital stress we're going to be encountering during this. Really? I hadn't even considered THAT. I thought being worried about the size of the required TV in the rec room was going to be typical of our potential quibbles....

I think we have a good, broad-brush, idea of how we'll divide and conquer the job. We have amazing professionals on board so far. But not a contractor. That will be a long story for later.

Anyway, this is just an introduction to the journey of a family of five, downsizing to their dream home. There will be life tangents on here, so if you're looking for "how to build your dream home" this probably isn't the place.

More later.