What’s Going On?

All this time and no updates. Obviously I haven’t made the blog a priority, and to an extent, the house hasn’t been either. At one point I did write a whole, thorough update, but then I ran into WordPress issues and it didn’t save and I didn’t feel like starting over. That was… months ago. I’m sorry; the house has been been depressing and overwhelming, and writing about the low spots instead of the high spots makes it seem all the worse.

The short version is that we’re still living in the basement, and not much has changed. Why is that, when we were getting quotes and getting ready to get it all done last year? Well, because we finally got quotes. Really big, really expensive quotes. We started going through and trimming things, because we’d asked for what we wanted knowing that we probably couldn’t get it all, but figuring we might as well start there.

We kept trimming, and kept trimming, and in spite of that, the project remained stubbornly expensive to finish. We discussed what we could delay and do later, what we could do ourselves, what we could live without. Honestly, spending so much time on this project, chipping away at it, we’d clung to the dream of what the finished project would be like, so this was fairly painful, giving up things we really wanted. We tried getting alternate quotes, spent more weeks trying to get better numbers, and while we made progress, we ultimately got stuck on a few key points.

First, the total cost, not just the quote of work to be done, but the overall math: what we originally paid for the house, what we’ve put into it so far (just in materials and paid labor, not counting our time), the quote itself, and finally an estimate of what we’d still have to pay down the road. When we add those numbers together, it should be less than the cost of buying an already finished house, otherwise there’s not much point in all this “sweat equity” and basement living we’ve been doing for years and years.

Second, the monthly cost: every ten grand of loan is $50 a month of mortgage payment, even with low rates. Every $50 a month we spend on the house is $50 we don’t have for anything else: savings, furnishings, going out to dinner, going on trips. The work we’re putting off for later still needs to be paid for, and if it’s not in the loan, it’s out of pocket.

Third, I’m obviously cheap. No one that wasn’t cheap would take on a project like this, and a lot of the numbers were just plain high. I’ve come to accept that we don’t really have the free time needed to do finish this project ourselves. But I still have an idea of what labor is involved, what materials cost, and the resultant profit I’m potentially paying someone. I don’t begrudge someone a living, but some of the numbers were just beyond the pale.

All of that meant we didn’t move forward on the plan, even though we didn’t have a better path forward. We didn’t magically have more time and we didn’t have the cash on hand to pay to get parts of the work done. We discussed trying to get all the mechanicals done ourselves or out of pocket so we could spray foam ourselves, and with Dean’s help I’ve done a fair bit of work on the drain and vent plumbing. Besides saving money, it ensures it’s done the way I want it, without soffits everywhere. I’ll make a post about that when it’s closer to done.

With the Covid-19 pandemic and everyone at home, it would sure be nice to have the whole house done, instead of us all crammed into the basement. Unfortunately, we don’t have much more free time than usual because we both have work-from-home day jobs, the kids need help with home schooling, and the house gets messier with everyone home all the time. When we do have free time, it’s kind of nice to spend it with the kids or relaxing rather than fighting the house.

I did take the time to build a swing set in the back yard from some leftover pressure treated lumber for the kids. We set up some toys for them to play with in the empty first floor and put up a basketball hoop in the back, since we can’t go anywhere.

We’re back to trying with the same contractor, getting new quotes and trying to hammer this into something we can stomach. We still want the house done, we need siding. At this point all that cursed house wrap will need to be replaced. It’s torn loose in more places and flaps noisily in the wind, an ongoing reminder of the unfinished project. I’d like to get a quote from a different GC, it would either reinforce that the prices are fair or give us another option. I’ve got some recommendations I need to call. One way or another, we’re getting it done. We have a goal of finishing it by Christmas, but to be honest that was the goal last year too.