I did not know the 6 month rule. The boat house permit expired in April 2017 because the last pass inspection was October 2016 and the garage / cedar porch additions permit expired on July 26 2017 because the last pass inspection was in January 27th 2017. I just missed the deadline on the latter permit by 1 day when I requested a final for both on July 27th 2017.
The boat house had actually been completed in October which is when I had the electrical inspection, but I waited to get the final because I still had the driveway to do and only wanted the surveyor to come out once which would save money.
And so that's how I ended up with two expired permits. I did follow the spirit of the building department rules but got caught up in a technicality......long story short, over the course of three business days and a weekend I talked to various people in the organization, being nice, not caring what the outcome was and pointing out all I wanted to do was get the inspection and not do anymore work. I eventually found the right person and she said I could get a final inspection for both permits without starting the whole permit process over again as long as it passed and there was no more work to do
The inspector came over on Tuesday and passed the boat house. But the other permit which was for the porch and garage got put into pending since he had some discussions to do with people in the building department about the swail and retaining wall. On Wednesday I found out that the final inspection had passed the gargae/proch permit.
Success! I have done it! Wohoo! After 2 years and 8 months of tough physical work, I have done it!
Time to post some before and after pictures:
The Garage before:
The garage after:
The porch before:
The porch after:
The boat house before:
The boat house after:
The planning for the permit work started started shortly after I bought my beautiful 1960s canal front home in November 2013 from my parents
Shortly after the purchase I purchased a software tool called home designer to help me visualize what some new landscaping would look like with the house. Based on the amount of time it caused to be sucked out my life the purchase was a big mistake! lol I quickly found out that the tool could be used to visualize what new additions would look like for the house as well.
Long story short after fiddling around the software, I decided that I would expand my single car garage into a two card garage, add a cedar covered porch and build a boat house. I posted a youtube video here of the home designer result. I estimated that all of this would only take three months.
All in all I spent 2375 hours or 13 months of 40 hour weeks on the project. Another way to look at it is I spent about 17 hours a week for the last 2 years 8 months working in addition to my full time job.
So yes the house project was like another part time job. It was a sacrifice but I would probably have been bored anyway. Nevertheless, it had some enormous benefits. Firstly, It kept me fit and healthy. This project was like enrolling in a 2 year 8 month long crossfit course. Secondly, I gained knowledge and skills on building houses and construction. I certainly could get my contractors license now if I wanted. Thirdly, I saved a lot of money by doing the job myself and increased the value of my house. And finally, although there are many other benefits it gave me some spine and I took on bigger calculated risks.
The project was like eating an elephant. This is a saying that was popular in the past used to describe a task or goal that is big or ominous and seems insurmountable. To accomplish eating an elephant you have eat it one bite at a time......and eventually you get done.....poor elephant. This project certainly was that and I did need help from my dad to get started on the right foot. I probably would have caved and got contractors to do the work if it weren't for dad. But he did leave after three or four months, and when he did I was encouraged to do the task I had set out before me myself.
Why did I do the project by myself? Because it was a challenge to do and it is expensive to get contractors to work for you. Doing it myself was very advantageous because I made changes in my design along the way and got exactly what I wanted. For example, I went from cookie cutter porch to high end cedar porch. I went from hip roof on the boat house to gable roof. In general you don't always know what you want in the beginning and you have to discover that as the project progresses.
In some cases when working with a contractor it sometimes feels like they are just doing the job the way they want to do it and not really doing it the way you want it done. If you tell them what you want and its not the way they usually do it takes some convincing and explaining. Sometimes there is misunderstanding and didn't get quite what you wanted. At least if your like me. And if they do it the way you want it its going to cost you extra.
The kind of work I had to do was custom instead of cookie cutter and I would be hard pressed to find someone to build the things I did. Not only that the contractors are busy and want the big projects like building million dollar homes. As example the boat house builders were so busy that they wouldn't even quote me for a cookie cutter boat house. I know people who asked them to build a boat house and a year later they are still waiting.
There were times when I really had difficulty convincing myself to continue on. for example when I found myself digging a trench in waste deep muddy canal water when a fish kill was going on. I looked for all kinds of ways not to do the job.....I hired help and I turned to machines. None this worked out and I ended up biting the bullet and digging the trench myself. And now at work I tell my colleagues, " the only way your going to get this done is digging, digging and more digging and when you think your done .....get digging"
The fish kill was so bad that many people called the fire department to report a gas leak.
Other times I had to battle the heat when the feels like temperature was 110 F and I was dripping so much sweat that I made sweat puddles where ever I stayed for more than 10 minutes. And of course I had to be doing worst job for heat which is roofing during the hottest month of the year (August) literally burning my ass when I sat on the roof.
But even so I just plugged along one step at a time and kept visualizing what it would look like when it was done. The vision is what kept me going. It helped me ignore all the temptations to quit.
I take my hat off to those labors who do this type of hard work 8 hours a day. Its quite amazing that you can do this and you have my respect.
Of course a big show stopper for most people is that they don't know how to do the task. Believe me I was in the I don't know how to do this boat quite a bit on this project. This often results in the fear of the unknown emotion. This is enough for the average homeowner to call in the experts and have them do it. But remember if you have fear and overcome it your are courageous because you cant have courage without fear.
My remedy to the not knowing was learning how by reading library/amazon.com books, reading articles and watching videos on the internet and calling around and asking the professionals. And then just do it one step at a time and try not to think of all the challenges, time and problems.
And so here I am with my permits completed. It is time to point out why the blogs title is half priced construction by the doctor.
For the doctor part....I hold a Ph.D. in electrical engineering which makes me a.......doctor.
The half priced part is as follows:
I have estimated that a contractor would have charged me 127000 dollars for all the projects I did. But for the most part I did not let the contractors help me with my projects. My cost was 59000 dollars and I saved 68000 dollars and so the cost of the construction project was 46% of what a contractor would have charged. This is about half the price.
Although I did not know this at the beginning of the blog, I saw a trend half way through and made it a goal by naming the blog.
A break down of the contractor cost and my cost of the projects is given below:
Contractor My Cost Percent Cost
Garage $28350 $18000 63 %
Covered Porch $26000 $12800 49 %
Boat House $32000 $14700 45 %
Stucco / Exterior $12750 $1175 9 %
Retaining / Seawall Wall. $16800 $6800 40 %
Landscaping $3500 $2039 58 %
Driveway $7700 $4033 52 %
Total $127100. $59547 46 %
The garage is the highest percent cost because we had professionals do the the block work and stucco which was a big part of the job. The stuccoing the house with finish coat was the lowest percent cost because the cost is mostly from the contractors labor and the supplies are fairly cheap.
All in all I made about $28 per hour which is tax free I think.
And so with the closing of the permits its time to end the blog.
But before I do I will reflect back what are my most memorable moments? There are quite a few actually.
In terms of injuries I have had a few but they were all recoverable. I bruised my ribs 4 or 5 times which makes it painful to work....one time I got an x-ray and the doctor said it was broken. Apparently this happens to me fairly easily....I am susceptible to this injury more than most people.
One time I hurt my back to the point that when I was at my real job sitting in the chair at my desk one of managers saw me grimacing in pain and suggested that I go see a doctor immediately. But it got better and I'm fin now. Another time, I got stucco on my wrists and it ate away at my skin causing sores. Again it got better. But the most gruesome injury happened I shot my finger with the nail gun. I was rushing, it was raining and my hand got in the way......and so afterwards I watched a dozen videos on nail gun safety.
Luckily nail did not hit the bone and our finger is ok.
The injuries were not bad considering all the scaffold climbing / roof walking / ladder climbing I did and all the dangerous tools I used like the chain saw / planar / table saw. Not to mention using electric drills around the water to drill holes through pilings while on a floating dock and tripping the GFI breaker a good 50 times when the drill got wet.
Oh and lets not forget scaffolding near power lines....
But most of the time, I was very safe when I worked. I always wore eye protection. I wore a respirator, gloves, ear plugs and protective clothing when the job required it. I familiarized myself with safety videos on the tools that I used and learned about the horrific injuries that could happen. Furthermore I was slow and deliberate and when something was too dangerous I quit immediately and thought of safer ways to do it. And I made sure I was always fresh and did not work extended hours if possible.
I was for the most part not doing stuff like this every day.
The most scariest job is a toss up between using the chain saw on a tall ladder to cut off pilings and working on the boat house roof when there was no railing to hold on to. Each one had tall heights and shaky platforms involved. Like I said I was very safety conscious. In the case of the ladder I quickly replaced it with a sturdy broad base scaffold nailed on to the boat lift pilings, For the roof, I crawled on my hands an knees until I had some railing to hang on to. Then I walked it with confidence.
A memorable event involving the chain saw, was when I was cutting off the piling 15 feet above the ground and the end of the piling fell in the canal. So I scurried off the scaffolding and jumped in my kayak to retrieve it. But then when I tired to pick the piling up and place it in my kayak, the kayak rolled and I ended up in the canal. The neighbors saw all of this and my struggle to get out of the canal (the dock was high out of the water). They were set to come rescue me. But I muscled my way out and was fine.
I think the most fun job was using the terex/bobcat to demolish the driveway. I had never driven a track vehicle before and it was amazing how strong it was and how much time it saved. The whole driveway was demolished in 8 hours with 40 tons of concrete removed. Dad had fun too and he eventually bought his own bobcat. I am so jealous.
:
Proudest moment was probably lifting the boat out the water with the new lift system....The poor thing had alot of barnacles on it and I spent I couple of days scraping them off.
The gable roof can be seen below where our very memorable visitor Hurricane Mathew dropped by..
The project was like eating an elephant. This is a saying that was popular in the past used to describe a task or goal that is big or ominous and seems insurmountable. To accomplish eating an elephant you have eat it one bite at a time......and eventually you get done.....poor elephant. This project certainly was that and I did need help from my dad to get started on the right foot. I probably would have caved and got contractors to do the work if it weren't for dad. But he did leave after three or four months, and when he did I was encouraged to do the task I had set out before me myself.
Why did I do the project by myself? Because it was a challenge to do and it is expensive to get contractors to work for you. Doing it myself was very advantageous because I made changes in my design along the way and got exactly what I wanted. For example, I went from cookie cutter porch to high end cedar porch. I went from hip roof on the boat house to gable roof. In general you don't always know what you want in the beginning and you have to discover that as the project progresses.
In some cases when working with a contractor it sometimes feels like they are just doing the job the way they want to do it and not really doing it the way you want it done. If you tell them what you want and its not the way they usually do it takes some convincing and explaining. Sometimes there is misunderstanding and didn't get quite what you wanted. At least if your like me. And if they do it the way you want it its going to cost you extra.
The kind of work I had to do was custom instead of cookie cutter and I would be hard pressed to find someone to build the things I did. Not only that the contractors are busy and want the big projects like building million dollar homes. As example the boat house builders were so busy that they wouldn't even quote me for a cookie cutter boat house. I know people who asked them to build a boat house and a year later they are still waiting.
There were times when I really had difficulty convincing myself to continue on. for example when I found myself digging a trench in waste deep muddy canal water when a fish kill was going on. I looked for all kinds of ways not to do the job.....I hired help and I turned to machines. None this worked out and I ended up biting the bullet and digging the trench myself. And now at work I tell my colleagues, " the only way your going to get this done is digging, digging and more digging and when you think your done .....get digging"
The fish kill was so bad that many people called the fire department to report a gas leak.
Other times I had to battle the heat when the feels like temperature was 110 F and I was dripping so much sweat that I made sweat puddles where ever I stayed for more than 10 minutes. And of course I had to be doing worst job for heat which is roofing during the hottest month of the year (August) literally burning my ass when I sat on the roof.
But even so I just plugged along one step at a time and kept visualizing what it would look like when it was done. The vision is what kept me going. It helped me ignore all the temptations to quit.
I take my hat off to those labors who do this type of hard work 8 hours a day. Its quite amazing that you can do this and you have my respect.
Of course a big show stopper for most people is that they don't know how to do the task. Believe me I was in the I don't know how to do this boat quite a bit on this project. This often results in the fear of the unknown emotion. This is enough for the average homeowner to call in the experts and have them do it. But remember if you have fear and overcome it your are courageous because you cant have courage without fear.
My remedy to the not knowing was learning how by reading library/amazon.com books, reading articles and watching videos on the internet and calling around and asking the professionals. And then just do it one step at a time and try not to think of all the challenges, time and problems.
And so here I am with my permits completed. It is time to point out why the blogs title is half priced construction by the doctor.
For the doctor part....I hold a Ph.D. in electrical engineering which makes me a.......doctor.
The half priced part is as follows:
I have estimated that a contractor would have charged me 127000 dollars for all the projects I did. But for the most part I did not let the contractors help me with my projects. My cost was 59000 dollars and I saved 68000 dollars and so the cost of the construction project was 46% of what a contractor would have charged. This is about half the price.
Although I did not know this at the beginning of the blog, I saw a trend half way through and made it a goal by naming the blog.
A break down of the contractor cost and my cost of the projects is given below:
Contractor My Cost Percent Cost
Garage $28350 $18000 63 %
Covered Porch $26000 $12800 49 %
Boat House $32000 $14700 45 %
Stucco / Exterior $12750 $1175 9 %
Retaining / Seawall Wall. $16800 $6800 40 %
Landscaping $3500 $2039 58 %
Driveway $7700 $4033 52 %
Total $127100. $59547 46 %
The garage is the highest percent cost because we had professionals do the the block work and stucco which was a big part of the job. The stuccoing the house with finish coat was the lowest percent cost because the cost is mostly from the contractors labor and the supplies are fairly cheap.
All in all I made about $28 per hour which is tax free I think.
And so with the closing of the permits its time to end the blog.
But before I do I will reflect back what are my most memorable moments? There are quite a few actually.
In terms of injuries I have had a few but they were all recoverable. I bruised my ribs 4 or 5 times which makes it painful to work....one time I got an x-ray and the doctor said it was broken. Apparently this happens to me fairly easily....I am susceptible to this injury more than most people.
One time I hurt my back to the point that when I was at my real job sitting in the chair at my desk one of managers saw me grimacing in pain and suggested that I go see a doctor immediately. But it got better and I'm fin now. Another time, I got stucco on my wrists and it ate away at my skin causing sores. Again it got better. But the most gruesome injury happened I shot my finger with the nail gun. I was rushing, it was raining and my hand got in the way......and so afterwards I watched a dozen videos on nail gun safety.
Luckily nail did not hit the bone and our finger is ok.
The injuries were not bad considering all the scaffold climbing / roof walking / ladder climbing I did and all the dangerous tools I used like the chain saw / planar / table saw. Not to mention using electric drills around the water to drill holes through pilings while on a floating dock and tripping the GFI breaker a good 50 times when the drill got wet.
Oh and lets not forget scaffolding near power lines....
But most of the time, I was very safe when I worked. I always wore eye protection. I wore a respirator, gloves, ear plugs and protective clothing when the job required it. I familiarized myself with safety videos on the tools that I used and learned about the horrific injuries that could happen. Furthermore I was slow and deliberate and when something was too dangerous I quit immediately and thought of safer ways to do it. And I made sure I was always fresh and did not work extended hours if possible.
I was for the most part not doing stuff like this every day.
The most scariest job is a toss up between using the chain saw on a tall ladder to cut off pilings and working on the boat house roof when there was no railing to hold on to. Each one had tall heights and shaky platforms involved. Like I said I was very safety conscious. In the case of the ladder I quickly replaced it with a sturdy broad base scaffold nailed on to the boat lift pilings, For the roof, I crawled on my hands an knees until I had some railing to hang on to. Then I walked it with confidence.
A memorable event involving the chain saw, was when I was cutting off the piling 15 feet above the ground and the end of the piling fell in the canal. So I scurried off the scaffolding and jumped in my kayak to retrieve it. But then when I tired to pick the piling up and place it in my kayak, the kayak rolled and I ended up in the canal. The neighbors saw all of this and my struggle to get out of the canal (the dock was high out of the water). They were set to come rescue me. But I muscled my way out and was fine.
The most nerve racking part was when the cement pump guy was filling up the forms for the retaining wall next to the sea wall. The seawall was part of the form and it let out a huge crack noise and broke letting cement flow out into the canal. I feared the whole seawall was going to fall in the canal and damage was going to be done to my neighbors seawall costing me thousands. We had to stop the poor in the middle and come back the next day to finish the job. It all came out good though and my neighbors walls were untouched.
I think the most fun job was using the terex/bobcat to demolish the driveway. I had never driven a track vehicle before and it was amazing how strong it was and how much time it saved. The whole driveway was demolished in 8 hours with 40 tons of concrete removed. Dad had fun too and he eventually bought his own bobcat. I am so jealous.
But also exciting was when we first started and tore out the front of the house by using a concrete saw and dads truck with a chain. I enjoyed working with dad and learned new things about him even though we had known each other since my beginning.
:
Building forms for the first time was very fun and they turned out to be works of art and overkill which is my trade mark. Dad would often say it was overbuilt when I did something. But since it was my house that was good thing in my book.
The garage form:
The patio form:
Part of the the retaining wall from:
Of course I have to mention the contraptions that were made due to the fact there was not enough man power to do the job by brute force. For example the piling hoist made out of a harbor freight engine hoist and wood for the lift arm was probably the coolest. This was my dads brilliant idea.
Although we were successful at placing most of the pilings the engine hoist ended up like this probably because I modified the wooden boom and made it shorter and the piling got stuck under the boat as it got pried up.
So I called in the professionals to put in four pilings......It was very informative and I learned some tricks of the trade. Especially valuable was the knowledge of how they held the boat still which we did not have a good way.
But how does one transport large lumber by one self? With a home made lumber dolly of course.
No one to help you place that beam on the roof, how about the using a crane using a cheap harbor freight electric winch for lifting the beam to the top of the pilings.
And the crane for placing the rafters on the porch was very helpful too.
Neatest tools include the jet pump for sinking pilings
Or what about the stucco sprayer air compressor setup? The compressor was probably the most useful tool of all that I had purchased.
Never thought I would own a cement mixer....it was useful for stuccoing and making the driveway curb...Love it.
.
Proudest moment was probably lifting the boat out the water with the new lift system....The poor thing had alot of barnacles on it and I spent I couple of days scraping them off.
Or maybe it was building my first gable roof by following instructions from the internet and youtube....
The gable roof can be seen below where our very memorable visitor Hurricane Mathew dropped by..
Which took many shingles off my neighbors roofs but not a single one from the roof I did. His roof was quite old and may be excused but there is no excuse for the new boat house across the street...many shingles were missing off that.
Luckiest find was the pearl I found in an oyster during that period.
But it was lost due to the fact that the maid vacuumed it up or threw it away not knowing what it was.
And just being a scientist and finding out I could make a battery out of canal water
There were many other memorable moments and they are documented through the rest of the 52 blogs.
So now that work is done what are my plans? Of course there has to be celebratory party for having finished.
So now that work is done what are my plans? Of course there has to be celebratory party for having finished.
There is still lots more to do with the house of course. But I'm going to accept it as it is for awhile.
I hope my readers enjoyed the 380 pages of blogs that I produced over the last year and a half and I hope that it was valuable to those looking to do projects on there own. I have the heart of a teacher and if the readers were helped with their projects by reading my blog then I am happy. If they learned a few things or were motivated to take on projects on their own then the goal of my blog has been fulfilled.
Thus ends an amazing journey. Good luck on your next project!
Happy Building
The Dr.
