So after a year of planning and permitting and 4 months of construction our garage and house project is wrapping up. There are still some small details to finish up and a lot of landscaping to do in the spring, but we got our occupancy certificates the middle of the month and are moved in. Just had closing today on our old house, so this is officially home now.
We were able to sell the old house privately to a friend of our neighbors. What a relief it was going into this project knowing we had a buyer and we didn't need to list it.
I thought going into this that I was well prepared. As we went along I found out there was so much that I didn't know. I knew very little about NPDES permits and storm water management, but boy did I learn a lot. At times it felt like I couldn't write checks fast enough for permit app fees, review fees, and inspection fees.
In the grand scheme of things, this is just a small single family home, but I underestimated all of the red tape that needed to be gone through before a shovel could be put in the ground. I can only imagine what needs to be gone through to get a large commercial project off the ground.
In the end though we did get what we wanted. 1.5 acre of beautiful ground out in the country. A home that we picked to suit our needs. And most importantly, a garage that I have wanted to build for years but just never got it done at the old house. My wife and I plan on this being our last home and look to enjoying many years to come here.
Here are some pictures as our construction progressed.
We were able to sell the old house privately to a friend of our neighbors. What a relief it was going into this project knowing we had a buyer and we didn't need to list it.
I thought going into this that I was well prepared. As we went along I found out there was so much that I didn't know. I knew very little about NPDES permits and storm water management, but boy did I learn a lot. At times it felt like I couldn't write checks fast enough for permit app fees, review fees, and inspection fees.
In the grand scheme of things, this is just a small single family home, but I underestimated all of the red tape that needed to be gone through before a shovel could be put in the ground. I can only imagine what needs to be gone through to get a large commercial project off the ground.
In the end though we did get what we wanted. 1.5 acre of beautiful ground out in the country. A home that we picked to suit our needs. And most importantly, a garage that I have wanted to build for years but just never got it done at the old house. My wife and I plan on this being our last home and look to enjoying many years to come here.
Here are some pictures as our construction progressed.
