Episode #13 Our Package Deal & ITB Month 14

Our Country Cottage started life as Our Package Deal. We were like babes in the woods, having never built a house from scratch before. I found it quite amusing that, while we were in discussions with the kit home supplier, appliances popped into the conversation. Yup, we were having a hard time trying to figure out where to put the walls and they were talking fridges and stoves. What was happening was, we were slipping into the “package deal”, something we hadn’t even considered. We were still in the big picture stage, while the details were slowly creeping in. Now, this is not a bad thing, but it was a hard thing not to break the transmission while swapping gears so fast. We went from, I think the cottage would look great over there to, what do you want the color of the door handles to be. In all fairness it wasn’t dumped on us all at once. There was a somewhat gradual release of decisions to be made. I think they had done this before. It was explained to us that there was an allowance, or target price, for things that were suggested in the package. While they were not the cheapest they were also not the top of the line, but, tended towards quality at a good price. Sounded good. The contract had a list of fittings with brand and model numbers. We could check them out online or go to the supply house to see them in person. Our Country Cottage was a little different than most, being off grid and way out in the country. For one, we wad a masonry heater, not a forced air furnace. But stuff like taps, tubs and lights were somewhat universal. Some decisions were made right there in the office. They included the type and color of roofing and siding etc. Most of the rest, involved trips to supply places that were recommended and previously used by the cottage supplier/builder. This is a good thing. Not only do you have an address to go to, but most of the time, a name of someone to talk to. And this someone is used to working with your builder. All you have to do is select what you want. Billing, scheduling, even delivery are taken care of. There might be the odd time when mistakes happen. An example would be, that for some reason the interior door handles were delayed and I went to the supplier warehouse to pick them up and deliver them myself to the job site. One of the first suppliers we visited, was a window and door company, where we selected the style of exterior doors and windows we wanted. The catalogues for these items were somewhere between a half to one inch thick. The doors could be one panel, two panel, six panel, arch top or square top, plain or textured, steel or fiberglass. Let’s face it, you probably never gave your present front door the time of day but while you are trying to decide, it will occupy your thoughts, 24/7, until you make a decision and then some. Is that what I really wanted? Will it compliment the cottage or look ridiculous? Wait, that window is swinging out the wrong way. Stuff like that. Our cottage supplier/builder had an interior designer, that helped us with the design, so we weren’t totally on our own. We had design meetings in her office and she would meet us at some of the recommended suppliers as well. One example would be the kitchen cabinet supplier. We met there on a cold snowy day and she helped us select the cabinet configuration we would need. Color and design were still on us, but, she kept us on track. Do you know how many types of cupboard and drawer handles there are? Oh, and after finalizing the design we were informed that the supplier had changed. So we sort of had to do it all over again. Plumbing fixtures were interesting.  Taps, tubs, shower heads, sinks. A full tiled shower turned out to be way too expensive, but a half shower insert for the lower part finished with tile on the upper was a good compromise. I didn’t even know they existed. One bonus that came with the insert, was the ability to have a seat moulded in. So, do you want the seat at the tap end or the shower head end. Once you figure that out did you order the right one? Does left-hand mean the seat is on the left or……. Selecting the tile and the small bit of carpet, for the cottage staircase, along with the flooring for the garage loft at the approved flooring supplier/installer ended up turning into another, Our Country Cottage, podcast segment possibility. My partner had selected and purchased snazzy accent tiles for the bathrooms and kitchen at another location. If you thought that would be an issue, you are wrong. That part went fine. It was everything else that screwed up. As you know, Our Country Cottage is off grid, so I wanted all the lighting fixtures to use LEDs. This turned out to be no problem. The lighting issue was selection, too much to choose from. Gad. The recommended supplier for lights was a joy to deal with. The gentleman in charge of our account was great. I actually looked forward to going back to see him. Very entertaining. And, yes, most of the supply runs took several visits. Just as an exercise, go around your home and count the amount of light fixtures you have, not to mention the different types. Add to that the fact that you can put them where you want them, for the most part. One light was shuffled back and forth on a wall several times. We recently had to change a light fixture in our city home and it took the better part of the morning to select one and we knew exactly where that one was going. Interior doors, handles and hinges turned out to go fairly easy. Again, once in place you don’t think about them much. The nice thing is that once you select the doors and handles, they are the same through out the cottage. Doors are physically big so there is a big sense of achievement, once selected. Much different than light fixtures. There was one supplier that we only visited once. That was the main garage door supplier. One big door, one visit. I do remember them being a bit surprised when I asked for the slower door opener option. It used less power. OK, so I dug out our Country Cottage contract just to make sure of my facts. While I have it in front of me, let me tell you some of the actual items. Under the heading “Appliances:” -Builder’s appliance package allowance (basic black or white 4 piece)   including tax. Under the heading “Fireplace”: -Main floor – fireplace : Gas fireplace, manufacture and model number or equal. -Trim to be brushed aluminum -1 row 12” tile around firebox. -Mantle: As per detail. Just to mention, that there was a fireplace in the show home, but we didn’t request a fireplace. This is the standard contract with this builder. There are six pages of this stuff. Some more headings are -Concrete: -Framing: -Electrical: (down to the door bell and ruff in for fireplace fan) -Heating: (including dryer vent and thermostat manufacturer) -Plumbing:(including hot water heater and dishwasher hook up) -Bathrooms:(toilet, sink and taps Make and model numbers or equal) --Etc etc etc…….. Now, I understand that a lot of this stuff has to be in place ready for their slotted time in construction but, at the time, it came at us from far left field. So if you are about to start the journey, be prepared. Next ITB, In The Beginning, Month 14 This is the segment that I try to remember what we went through to get Our Country Cottage. It is not getting any easier, folks. As I mentioned above I dragged out the contract to keep things straight. While browsing through it I found a section titled “Completion Date” where it stated, after some diligence and dispatch verbiage, and I quote “and to have the said dwelling house completed on or about 240 – 300 days after start of construction on site begins”, un quote, followed by many reasons, including acts of God, it might not get done. As you can see by the above title of this segment, we are starting month 14, getting close to 400 days, and we are a long ways off yet. Any who, on with Month 14. Spray foam insulation carried on with the battery room getting done. At some point I remember getting a phone call from the site supervisor, asking whether or not I wanted the garage spray foamed. This caused me a couple of sleepless nights, as I tried to come to an answer. Spray foaming the garage and the garage loft would add a lot to the cost of the project, but if I didn’t do it now, and did it at some later date, it would cost way more. My partner suggested that I spray foam it now and be done with it. The garage, and garage loft, were spray foamed later that month. We also found the utility room walls and the battery room walls and ceiling were sheeted with plywood. This is good for utilitarian rooms where equipment often needs to get screwed to the walls. We will talk about the utility room ceiling at a later date. There might not be enough material for a full segment but there is enough frustration for one. Cribbing for the cement work around the garage was done and a few days later the cement was poured. We now had a nice, double wide, garage door drain area, with a cement landing for deck stairs, and a cement area out the side door of the garage. Cement looks so good when it is new. We took the opportunity to have a cement generator pad poured as well. The generator specs said a gravel pad would do, but given the amount of water that can collect I thought getting it up on a proper pad would be best. It would take about a month before something got put on it and quite a bit more time would pass before that something would be fired up. It was towards the end of the month that we started getting some pressure to figure out the light fixtures. During one of our trips, I took pictures of all of the identifiable light fixture locations, so we would have a reference when selecting them at the supplier showroom. It also provided our sales guy some reference as well. I think it helped. Take a wide picture, as much of the whole room as you can, along with a more specific shot so that there is some context. The close-up of an electrical box on a wall does nothing. The end of the month found us at the flooring store, selecting the bit of carpet we needed, with flooring for the garage loft. If you remember most of the cottage floors are stamped and stained cement. Oh right, when we were specing the cottage at contract signing time, I specified that the floors needed to be able to support the cement. I was informed that there was a,light-weight cement that would not require this beefing up. After some investigation I found the lightweight stuff would not have the thermal retentive properties I originally wanted the cement floors for. So, beefed up floors it was. Last episode I told you about the white board list that was implemented. While going through the folders, I found other listing procedures. Every so often we would get together with the cottage supplier/builder and I would have printed out lists of this and that. The following is a list from a month 14 meeting -Inside hatches - site supervisor to design -Folding doors - need manufacturer to look at -Battery room hatch need sealing -Septic system -Interior doors - pantry door to be changed -Garage door -Drywall -Loft floor heating -Chimney finish -Bath tub insulated -Step up design -Stairs battery room, utility room, crawl space -Back bedroom garage door divider -Wiring for fan in living room -Winch bracket for battery room hatch -Roofing leftovers - keep? -Solar installation -Water -Inside railings -Air exchange. And then there was a list for us -Measure kitchen for island size (will the dishwasher door hit it?) -SD cards for trail cams -Check crawlspace for lighting -Get picture of folding door hardware -Measure fireplace moisture -Check upstairs shower for squeak -And upstairs bath tub for insulation -Check pantry door swing for room to manoeuvre -Battery room hatch seal -Tiles -Get electric winch And then there was a list for our interior designer. I might save that till next time. The above is to give you an idea of some of the things we went through and, to be honest, some of them, I am not sure of what they mean now. I think that is enough for now. Just looking at it roughly, we were doing weekly trips to the site, some times more. There were many times when we would show up and no one would be there but stuff had been done, and things had been delivered, and still in their boxes. I took the opportunity to take pictures, of the information on the boxes, to verify they were something that we wanted. This came in handy several times. Once I noticed that the air exchange unit had been delivered. A bit of research revealed that there was a low energy version available. I called the site supervisor and gave him the model number I wanted and the unit was swapped with little extra cost involved. Then there was the time the shower inserts were delivered and, armed with pictures of the model numbers, I spent several hours trying to figure out if they were the right ones or not. They were. Oh well. And now An “Our Country Cottage” update. I went up to Our Country Cottage about a week ago. As I pulled up next to the cottage, I could see about 4 white tale deer on the west side. A couple of them watched me get out of the vehicle, and then, all I saw was a group of white tails heading to the bush. The main purpose of the visit was to check on the battery levels. They were fine. Something funny is going on with one of the trail cams, though. It only recorded a couple of days then died. Hmmm. I swapped out the batteries and we’ll see next time. It was a nice day and for the first time in a long time, I enjoyed myself. I realized that I had been missing the place and spent some time looking at the scenery instead of the problems. It was so nice that I started thinking about calling the plumber to start getting things fixed and back on track. Two days later, it snowed. I still haven’t called the plumber. Next podcast we will carry on “In The Beginning” Month 15 and A Floor & A Ceiling. For pictures and more info, you can visit our website at “ourcountrycottageanarrative.com” If you have any comments, questions or if you would like to be added to the “Friends of OCCaN” Our Country Cottage A Narrative, mailing list, you can email me at [e-mail]. Members on the mailing list will get website and podcast updates as soon as I do :). The Our Country Cottage a Narrative podcast is on iTunes, Stitcher and  Google Play so you can subscribe there and get the podcast downloaded automatically when they get released. Till next time, have a good one.