The Road to Success is Always Under Construction- Arnold Palmer

July 2022

We are now over 4 months into the renovation of our little yellow house #inthehartoftheu. While we knew that we would have delays to our timeline, it’s still not fun when it happens.

We broke ground in April and while most of the renovation is going well, a few key issues have delayed the project.

City Permits

Months ago we changed the location of the bathroom in the ADU. In the past, a change like this would not need approval from the city. When the inspector showed up for an inspection he informed us that the rules had changed. Even though the foundation did not change at all, the relocation of the bathroom would need to be approved. That took over 4 weeks to get done so that meant the garage and ADU were at a standstill.

Labor

We found out that one of our subs wasn’t an honest chap. Fortunately, our draftsman Rory Burmeister and general contractor Justin Rosenbaum discovered it in time. However, that subs dishonesty and poor workmanship meant more delays. Some of our framing had to be re-done and the concrete for the garage and ADU were delayed further.

The good news is that while all of this was happening, our GC kept other things moving. Our rough plumbing was done, #Milgard

windows installed and problems caused by the shady sub were corrected. 4 months after we started on the house, the concrete for the garage and ADU are finally poured.

Things to be grateful for

Even though we are experiencing delays we are very fortunate. We aren’t accruing interest on a construction loan (yet!) as we are using saved funds first. We aren’t living in a rental that we need to be out of. We aren’t planning on a specific move in date because we know there will be more unforeseen issues and we want the home to be completely finished before we move in. We also recognize that so many people around the globe have much larger problems than we do. We get it.

Lesson Learned

Have your draftsman/architect check in on your place from time to time. We should have called Rory sooner. He walked into the house and within 60 seconds saw the issues that needed to be fixed. The other thing we learned is to have a good GC. Justin of Echelon Contracting saw the problem and immediately took steps to fix it.

Keep Going!

Home construction is a rollercoaster. Try to enjoy the ride when you can!

#renovation #missoularealestate #montanarealestate #universityofmontananeighborhood #homebuild #housing #home