I'm Married To MY BUILDER!

Posted by Key2See Team on April 28, 2020

I'm Married To MY BUILDER!

Episode# 5:  Enjoy the Process; Building is like an Art Project not a Business Transaction.

When I am interviewing for a Real Estate listing or to represent a Real Estate buyer, I can be quoted saying, “this will become like a marriage, so we really need to communicate and be open with each other for success”.  This is the same for a builder, client relationship except for us, WE REALLY ARE MARRIED!

I am Married to My Builder!

When Zach and I met, we were like a match made in heaven… you build 'em, I’ll sell 'em.  Setting up the boundaries surrounding that comment is the constant work in progress…

I am not alone in saying I have been seeing A LOT more of my husband in the last 45 days…. With our extra “time” together from the COVID Stay Home mandate we have had a lot more “time” to talk about the house.  Adding in the fact that we are home schooling our kids and living next door to my parents in our wonderful Tiny House we have had some time to think….  A couple months ago I wrote about the fact that people pushing the Tiny House movement are LYING…. I would bring that to surface again today.  Quarantine in a Tiny House, makes our last year seem like a lap of luxury.  As I have virtually entered into each of my associate’s homes via zoom, my kid’s teachers and classmates via “distance Learning” I am reminded how sacred and special SPACE actually is. 

Having this extra time to dissect our house plan I have now added in a Library SPACE into our office, a proper study SPACE in each kid’s bedrooms and expanded on to our existing bar SPACE 😊.   This extra time and once in a lifetime (hopefully) of being locked down inside our home has helped me understand and appreciate this process as an art project rather than just racing the clock of acquiring our permit from the county.

Who am I kidding!  I am losing my mind…. I daydream about living in our new home during quarantine instead of 600 square feet of a 1920’s summer cabin.  Have I mentioned I like SPACE.

New Idea Due to Quarantine!

(Library idea added based on Quarantine Life)

What Have We Learned:

  • Figure out EARLY who will be in charge of different tasks. Zach knows I choose the design aspects and I know (or have learned from experience) he communicates better with Sub Contractors. 
  • Assign a schedule for discussion of the project. If you have ever had a home improvement project done, imagine sitting at the dinner table with free reign on questions to your contractor as to timing & quality, for any project you have ever had in place.  Or lying in bed wondering; did he remember to call the architect to change the location of that window? and being able to roll over and ask.  Sounds like a dream right?  Hahahahah try again.  For the sanity of our relationship, we have now scheduled a weekly appointment to address each of our questions or concerns.
  • Enjoy the Process. In my line of work everything is done with a concrete deadline.  Construction however is a fluid evolution of the process.  Reminding myself it is more of an art project not a transaction has helped me with the stresses of timeframes.

 

WHAT’s NEXT:

We are as close as we have ever been on receiving our development permit…

Shout out to:  Contour Engineering in Gig Harbor, WA

We signed a contract with Contour, last June to design our drainage for this lot and they have worked tirelessly to get us where we are now.  If anyone needs referrals during your own process please reach out!  We are surrounded with resources and I am happy to share!

What does development permit mean?  It means we can put in our driveway and install water.  Once we have water, we will submit for our final building permit!  When we obtain our building permit we will be able to finalize our construction loan.  Keep in mind if you are planning this on your own… development costs are out of pocket, making certain your contingency funds are in order is mandatory!

Welcome to our story! Stay tuned for more to come as we patiently wait for our permit!  It is our hope to keep you intrigued and also answer questions you might have throughout this process… or maybe just maybe make you feel not so crazy as you go through this process yourself.  Feel free to ask us anything!