05/30/12 - Rookie Mistake #1

Taken from Discovery Education.
See? Even the raincloud feels bad for me. 

It's a good thing I'm paying a flat rate for construction regardless of how long they take to complete the project as opposed to having a pay scheme that is time bound.

Rainy season.

For future reference, the next construction project should be conceptualized and planned a little after around this time of year. Then, have construction begin around September or October.

It's The Somme. Well, maybe not as bad or anywhere near as devastating.

Lesson learned.

05/29/12 - D-Day

The temporary shelter has been built on the little plot of land has been built. Also, another little plot of land outside the subdivision (rental for this comes out of my account) has another temporary shelter for the construction crew.

Now the structural work has begun.

Damn the rain delaying work.

05/11/12 - Contracts and Electricity

Mr. Z's notes

Review contracts. Ask for Mr. Z's opinion. Then report to big boss battle.

It was funny because Peter the contractor kept on emailing me a soft copy of the contract for review. As it turns out, they were all thrown into the spam folder. Probably because google thinks he's extorting me.

To an extent, he might be. 

Peter the contractor will be doing the structural and plumbing work on the house.

As it turns out, he subcontracts the electrical work. Instead of him subcontracting it, I'll get an electrician, go out to buy all the component parts, and have Mr. Electric work with Peter the contractor and get the lights working. 

Ugh. Legwork. Just like last year.

Too lazy to put a list of materials for electrical down. I'll do that eventually (it's a basically a bunch of copper wire).

Now, bunker down and read.

05/10/12 - The War Room

Meeting with Mr. Z, Pete the contractor, and the folks enforcing the rules in the subdivision.

Apparently, there are a fuckton of rules to take note of, and a corresponding fine for each transgression. Fines will be taken out of a construction bond submitted to the homeowners association. Refundable. Amount based on the floor area of the house.

Mr. Z's plans checked to ensure that they correspond to the subdivision's guidelines. Maximum height of structure based on the property's hoghest point as reflected on the topographical map, easement/setback rules, etc...

Pete the contractor warned about the people working for him and how they can only work from this time to that time and how there is a curfew time for construction workers. His temp shelter must be presentable.

Going to go to the bank tomorrow to apply for a manager's check to pay for the construction bond and another to pay Pete the contractor.

Then we start.

Initial Preparations

This is my first house building project.

Investment real estate, you know.

I have designs ready care of my architect, Mr. Z. He's also submitted a bill of materials for the estimated cost that I can use to compare with bids from general contractors (get contractor for now, next project, all the legwork should be done by me and Mr. Z).

My beef with the bill of materials is GI pipes. Apparently, there are a bunch of different types of pipe and GI supposedly kinda sucks. Let's go PPR pipes!

Mission Brief

Hello. I'm building a house.

I used to sell condos. Now, I figure I'll try my hand at some of the more behind the scenes stuff.

Let's see how far I go without running out of money.