Day 33 (March 31): Nothing + Nothing = Nothing

After Scott sorted out the mess regarding the missing code to call in, the inspector (Jesus Something) was supposed to show up on Tuesday but didn't. Upon further inquiry, turns out some piece of paperwork he needed was missing. A piece of paperwork that was originally supplied when we applied for the permit. He's supposed to show up Thursday, but seeing that's April Fools day, it might just be a joke.

More $ woes. Our account is overdrawn. Someone who was supposed to come through with money by the end of the month completely dropped the ball, screwing not just me over but the project too. Nice.

Day 28 (Fri March 26): Nothing

Turns out Oscar didn't actually call in the inspection on Thursday like he said he would, supposedly because his workers didn't show up. This despite me giving him a check on Wednesday evening to avert exactly this scenario. I asked him to be sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again, but I'm limited in how much leverage I have. (He has this big restaurant remodel in San Marcos that his guys seem itching to start work on). He tried calling it in today but he needs some kind of code which was missing in the permit paperwork that Scott was given. No-one was able to actually go into the City and of course they don't answer phones down there, so now we have to wait until Monday to sort it out and Tuesday at the earliest before the inspector arrives. There's nothing Oscar can do until the new interior framing, exterior wall, and subflooring are approved. Meanwhile, the clock's a ticking.

Day 26 (March 24): 2nd Draw

We almost have a newly constructed house - new walls in most places, new framing, new joists, new subflooring. I really hope some home buyer appreciates all this!

The permits have been issued at long last! City had to make sure we werent' destroying a "historic home". Right.

Finally completed some items (New bathroom wall, closet, windows!) that are actually on the draw schedule so we can get paid for them. Lender seems pretty happy with how things are looking. Oscar is going to call in the inspection for Friday. He's pretty sure about everything except the roof rafters.

Once we start putting in some stuff we better make sure we have security. Oscar says some dude showed up one evening, wire cutters in hand, ready to get to "work" surprised to see contractors still there..

Day 15: the bleeding has stopped

For now. I say "for now" because a couple of the the roof rafters may need to be replaced and possibly a good chunk of the wiring - but that'll depend on the inspector). Gave Oscar $1000 today so he could pay his workers. The plumber is going to need $3000 on Monday morning so he can get cracking. If all goes well, both the reframing and the plumbing can be inspected on Wednesday and we should be back on track (and only a week behind schedule, not to mention "only" $6000 in the red) by Thursday.

Day 13: It gets worse

So now the plumbing is in bad shape too. $3000 to get it completely redone (cheap, because the flooring has been pulled up and the pipes exposed so the plumber doesn't have to get his pricey overalls dirty crawling under the house), $3500 if we also want gas pipes put in. Oh boy, we'll be lucky to get out of this breaking even. I really hope buyers will recognize the work and expense that has gone into this place when its finished

Day 12: Joists in bad shape

Normally its not an issue, since I don't go tearing up the floor and the subfloor, but Oscar recommended doing so. There was a big "valley" running across the middle of the house. Turns out that the existing floor joists are not only termite damaged but didn't even span the width of the space between beams. Who did this awful work?? I wish there was some way to find out about this before buying an old house. Now its going to take Oscar an additional couple of days (and about $1200 - which he claims is a steal) to fix the joists before he can even start on the subflooring. Who knows when we'll be back on schedule.

Day 10: 1st Draw approved

OK, so met with Marc over at the house we did the tour and he’s happy, he’s going to release the 1^st draw. Said it’s the only demolition draw he’s been to where there haven’t been problems, so that’s good..

Bad news is Oscar isn’t budging on the subflooring price – he claims its a pain in the neck to remove and then he has to install new subflooring. Total cost lab + materials = $2200. Ouch.

Enquired into security systems. Most places want to tie you down with a 3 year contract. One place that doesn’t have a contract and they’re only $15/mo but I don’t know how much installation would be..

Day 8: A break-in!

Got an early morning call from Alex (and then another from Oscar) to tell me the house had been broken into. The burglars stole approx 32' of copper pipe (value : approx $10) and some wooden beams (value some 10's of $) and come cinder blocks (why?). Cost to us: a lot more than that. Obviously some crackheads. Something disturbed them because they appear to have left about half finished. Turns out it was the neighbors that heard something and called the cops around 12.30 am. They'll probably be back. Not too much of an issue right now, but later one we'll be installing kitchen cabinets, appliances, etc. How can we protect the place?

Alex called me in the afternoon to say he's done. The floor still has some standing waves in it, but it turns out that is not the foundation but the floor joists themselves that warped due to having been bent like that for quite some time.

Oscar is practically done with the interior and exterior demolition, minus the bathtub which is coming out Monday morning. The framing really is bad in lots of places, and Oscar says he's going to have to replace quite a chunk of it.

Good progress.

Where is everyone?

Day 7 Alex was supposed to show up today to finish up the foundation, but no sign of him as of 1pm. Turns out his truck broke down (isn't that a common contractor "reason", a bit like "the dog ate my homework" ?). Anyway, he asked Oscar not to be here today because there wouldn't be room there for two trailers. And now no-one is there. Nice.

On the inside, Oscar is pretty much done with removal of stuff. The carpet is out, and so are the bathroom fixtures (except the bathtub. Does he know that has to go too?)

For sure we're going to need new wall insulation. However, the inside decking (wood) doesn't look too bad, though the exterior decking (underneath the siding) might need some attention

March 04, '10

Day 6 The permits have been approved, but can't be released to us until they get a copy of the Tax Certificate. Well given that that is handled by another arm of the City beauracracy, we have no idea when that might be available. We'll keep checking. Meanwhile I've asked Oscar to go ahead and start on the exterior demolition, and we'll show up with the actual permit RSN.

Down to the Frame

Day 5 Oscar has the interior of the house down to the frame. What a mess it is in places. Whoever reframed the house in the past just patched it up. There were some places where the frame was coming loose, so it was just drywall holding up the wall (and the ceiling)! Also the frame posts aren't up to current code. The inspector may or may not grandfather them in. It depends on whether or not he had a fight with his wife that morning.

Scott is going to get the permits instead of relying on a middleman who'll do it for a small fee. We might as well learn to work with these inspector guys.

Alex seems to have taken the day off, presumably to give the mudbath under the house to dry up

Monday March 1, '10

Day 3 Pow-wow over at the site with Alex, Gilbert, and Oscar. Turns out that when I told Alex he no longer needed to rebuild the porch (because Oscar was going to build a nice new one), he assumed that he also didn't need to remove the concrete base of the old one. Duh. I was thinking, uh-oh the fights have already started. Fortunately, we were able to resolve that with Gilbert suggesting they take care of the concrete porch for an additional $100. Deal!

I need to rent Oscar a dumpster for tomorrow. He had some scare stories about how all the dumpster places he called didn't want to place a dumpster "sideways" and didn't want to park it on a grass lawn, etc, etc. Called a couple of dumpster places he knew about and no-one could get us a dumpster by tomorrow morning. Not good. We will lose a day. Finally, I went on bookadumpster.com and found a place that could deliver a dumpster (that would also fit) for tomorrow morning and at a really good price. Hooray. Signed a contract with Oscar and gave him $2500 to get started first thing tomorrow morning

Feb 27, '10

Day 1 Alex got started on the foundation, ripped away the old skirting. He says that Oscar (the contractor) can start interior demolition at the same as he's working on the foundation. Excellent! The bad news is that we need to get a bunch of permits before Oscar can actually do anything.

Hooray, we finally closed (Friday Feb 26 '10)

Day 0 Closed on the loan with about 2 hours to spare before the end of the working week (and the month). Met Alex the foundation guy at the bank and gave him the $3000 he needed to start work, which he said he would do first thing tomorrow (Saturday) morning