I started back in September of 05 on a remodel project. After numerous setbacks I finally got a permit in November of 2006 and I thought it might be a good idea to do a photo blog of sorts of the progress.
I will say I learned two things during this project. First, do not use a company called 'Homes by Design" or any business that Steve Serrin is a part of. He took me for over $2,000 and in the end I had to hire another architect to do the job because he never could deliver a product. I waited for almost a year for him. Avoid. I finally found a company named M&M Design and Photography who did stellar work at a reasonable price (download a .pdf brochure for their company here).
Also avoid A-1 Septic. I had to pay them twice to come out and mark the septic system and I also had to have them install a new septic tank. In the process they completely destroyed my irrigation system and neglected to tell me. I had to pay my irrigation company to come out and hunt for the damaged line. Had the septic company just told me where they broke it it would have saved me several hundred dollars.
I started taking pictures in early December and I am going to add photos as the project goes along. I contracted with a company called "Solidway Construction" out of Sanford, Florida.
Permit
December 5th, 2006
December 6th
December 7th
December 9th
December 12th
December 13th
December 14th (finally dirt got shifted)
December 15th -- i think they smoothed out the dirt but it just looks whiter
December 16th - 17th -- no change
December 18th, 2006
December 20th, 2006 (still waiting on Rebar)
December 26th
December 27th -- Finally some progress!
Awaiting Rebar Inspection -- December 28th, 2006
December 31st -- No Change
We waited for the county until Jan 2nd for the rebar inspection. Then it took a few days to get the concrete scheduled. So, while there has been no change for several days everything was communicated to me by the builder so I am not stressing like I was earlier.
The concrete is down.
Jan 8th, 2007
More concreted delivered
January 15th, 2007
January 16th, 2007
Jan 17th, working on the block
Jan 18th -- Look -- I have walls
Jan 19th -- these guys are really moving along
Jan 20th -- excellent progress
Jan 23rd
Jan 25th. I think its ready for the trusses
Jan 26th
Coming along well. Jan 27th
Jan 29th. I'm starting to be really happy I hired this contractor. It's moving along very rapidly now.
January 30th The porch is coming along. I saw Julio today and he said they were going to be finished in two days! Of course he was joking but it was nice to find him in good spirits.
Jan 31st
Feb 1st -- Today one of the contractors fell off of the roof so they project may be held up for a couple of days.
Feb 2nd -- We had a horrible rain storm last night and water leaked inside my room and bathroom. Unfortunately with the contrator having a member of the crew in the hospital I am unsure on when they are going to get back on task.
Feb 5th
Wow! A second floor now
Feb 6th
this photo was taken from inside the project looking up
view from the front of the house
Feb 7th, 2007
Around 2:00 PM on Feb 8th. My roof is going on.
Feb 12th (I was away this weekend)
Feb 17th -- still waiting on the plumber. Apparantly in Orange County almost every phase of this has to be inspected by the city so there is some work that the contractor must sub out and in this case we are at the hands of the sub-contractor.
A view from the top floor of the remodel
The view to the front of the house from the top floor
Stairs have been added
Feb 20th, 2007
Feb 23rd. Upstairs is taking shape
Finally working on the inside of the house
And adding to my existing roof
Feb 24th, 2007
The view of the neighbors pool
Feb 26th, 2007
We are still waiting on the plumber to do his part. Apparantly since he pulled the permit and did the rough plumbing no other plumber wants to work under his permit and he is taking his sweet time. It's very frustrating -- but, I understand that it isn't my contractors fault and he is communicating with me.
The ceiling is leaking something fierce. It's saturday night and the phone isn't being answered by the contractor (not that I necessarily expected it to be this late at night) but I hope my ceiling holds out and that I hear from him tomorrow.
March 3rd, 2007
The glass arrived
March 6th, 2007
Patched up the area where it was leaking and installing more windows
March 7th, 2007
Plumbing is finally getting completed
More windows installed
View from the front
March 8th, 2007
Ok, the below pictures don't have much to do with the remodel but I took them looking out on the back dock yesterday and they were too cool not to post somewhere
Of course you know what the above two are; but, this is a view of the fish swimming inside the lake
March 9th -- working more on the piping
March 12th - The shower and tub have been added
March 13th - Starting to get electrical work completed and the plumbing is almost ready for inspection
15 March, 2007
I think they must be doing some fine tuning at the moment as they have been here almost all day the past two days but I can't see a whole lot that they have done. Though I did notice lots of electrical outlets around the house.
The electrical wiring is coming
March 18th, 2007
The walk in shower is taking shape now
March 20th, 2007
Another updated view of the front of the remodel
March 21st, 2007
The doors have been added. The electrical work is still being done and seems to be taking a really really long time. The framing inspection won't pass until all windows and doors are installed and the electrical is completed.
March 29th, 2007
the other bathroom window is now installed
March 31st, 2007
There haven't been too many updates because I hadn't seen any progress. When I came home today it looked like they had put some duct work in.
April 9th, 2007
April 12th, 2007
Doing some work on the roof
April 13th, 2007
Lovely rain storm from Sunday April 15th
The contractor was over here within an hour of calling him to seal the leak.
My son decided to do his own remodel at the front of my carport.
All of the above taken April 16th. The electric failed again today but the contractor swears it will pass tomorrow. He assures me once electric passes progress is going to speed up.
He also reminded me that his dad falling off the house earlier has slowed him down and that is something I forgot about and is a legitimate explanation.
Woo Hoo! We finally passed the inspections:
According to the contractor these are the last sets of inspections we need before the certificate of occupancy. So hopefully things will run along quicker now.
They started putting the insulation in today.
Drywall arrived
upstairs getting drywalled
stairwell with drywall
all of the above photos April 24th, 2007
Downstairs getting drywall
April 25th, 2007
Finetuning the drywall
April 26th, 2007
I had some shrubbery planted today in the front yard
The workers did come by today and they finished up some drywall. About 2:00 PM there were hundreds of wasps flying near where they were working. They really didn't come out in this photo but there were a bunch there.
April 28th, 2007
I had to call out the bee guy to get rid of all the flying critters. it turned out they were honeybees who had bearded on my house. according to him there wasn't a hive which was lucky. but, there are still hundreds of them out there.
My room before demo
April 30th, 2007
The walls came tumbling down
May 1st, 2007
The living room wall is coming out
May 2nd, 2007
More demolition
May 3rd. 2007
Starting the outside of the addition
May 4th, 2007
May 7th, 2007
It looks like they worked on the side of the house today
May 8th, 2007
The bathroom got demo'd
May 9th, 2007
They are working on the top now
May 10th, 2007
May 11th, 2007
They closed up the opening between the study and the bathroom
May 12th, 2007
The old bathroom is starting to change
May 14th, 2007
How long is this going to take? I think there is just this guy now working on it.
May 16th, 2007
May 17th, 2007
On May 18th I crashed my scooter and was in the hospital for a month. Sorry for the lack of updates
June 23rd, 2007
June 25th, 2007
June 27th, 2007
June 29th, 2007. They are becoming scarce and I only seem to find workers here about once a week now.
They began finishing the stairs today and putting electrical panels on upstairs. It was amazing -- two sub contractors and the contractor were all here today. The bottom picture is of the existing parquet floor which I am feverishly trying to match. Anyone able to help me out?
He started painting the stairs today. The plumber came in this afternoon and apparantly he isn't getting paid by the main contractor. He informed me he is going to file a notice with the county that is going to hold me liable for the work if the contractor doesn't pay. The downside here is I have already paid the contractor for the work so if he doesn't get paid I am screwed. July 6th, 2007
The rails went up on the balcony and the former bathroom is beginning to make its closet transformation. July 9th, 2007
Working on the stairs. The bottom photo is the hand rail.
July 14th, 2007
The stairs appear to be finished. I think they look great!
July 15th, 2007
It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Despite the update the contractor has had people here doing things that aren't too noticeable (wiring and the like). We were unable to match my existing parquet floor but found something at Lowes that came close. He assures me that once it gets treated it will look better.
I've had two types of toilets installed neither of which I asked for. I finally had to order the toilets myself because I wanted pressure assist toilets and apparantly the contractor hadn't installed those before and thought I meant something else. So, currently I have no toilets.
Additionally, it seemed that carpet remnants were used for my upstairs installation because when I went up there over the weekend there were bubbles all in it and huge gaps in the carpet that didn't belong. As soon as I brought it to his attention it was removed.
July 25th, 2006
The outside lights were installed
ceiling fans installed in office
ceiling fans installed upstairs also
August 1st, 2007
Downstairs and upstairs got carpeted over the weekend.
August 6th, 2007
Additionally today I was left another invoice which is billing me for a substantial amount of monies over the bid for the job. A letter went to the contractor today so I will update as to the status of that. But, at the moment we have a 5k discrepancy.
Definitely an odd place for the sink. But, the job is finally over. It passed final inspection yesterday.
What have I learned?
1) Have someone that knows blueprints review them for you. I had several design flaws that probably would have been obvious to someone with experience in blueprints. For example the placement of the bathroom sink above -- its just retarded. That space should have been a linen closet and the wide open space across from my toilet should have been a sink. Also I only have one AC vent upstairs and the temperature averages 95 upstairs.
2) Get many bids before making a decision. I got several and went with one of the cheaper ones; but, communication has been very rough and now we are in a disagreement over final monies owed. My records indicate one amount and his another. It might get complicated.
Update 2 October, 2007
Today the flood gates opened up in my bedroom. According to two roofing contractors that came out to give me an estimate Solidway Construction merely roofed over an existing roof improperly creating damage that isn't repairable. I don't really understand the lingo -- but, both Advantage Roofing and Rizzo Roofing said they are unable to repair the leak and must replace the roof. Unfortunately neither of them are willing to guarentee their work unless they replace the whole roof. My bid from Rizzo is $4400 and I am awaiting my bid from Advantage which I suspect will be higher.
Additionally despite a signed agreement for a fixed amount Julio at Solidway still asserts that I owe him money for overages he didn't anticipate. I never heard about additional monies needed until after the fact. He has been unable to supply me with a complete invoice so that I can double check his math so I am not paying.
But, I'm paying either way because now I have to put a new roof on because of their inept installation.