When You Do This For a Living

Imagine if you were a builder and you hired a builder to build your house. You'd be more in tune to what was going on and probably a lot more critical, micro-managing, etc. Well, I am a project manager by trade and a huge part of being a builder is being a project manager ... identifying the activities, put the activities in the order in which they must happen, resourcing the activities ... who is going to do them, estimating how long each activity should take and developing the overall schedule... and then managing to that! 

The key to success for a project manager is anticipating what will need to be done and making sure everything is in place at the time it is needed to keep to the schedule.  People doing the work are "living in the now."  Project managers have one eye on "the now" and one eye on the future...preparing for what's to come.

Our schedule has now slipped a total of 3 weeks due to the trim guy.  He was given 15 working days for his piece of the project.  We are now in week 6 of his effort.  I talked to the builder last week (and the week before and ...) asking him how we can "crash" the schedule ... perform tasks in parallel that would otherwise be done in sequence.  Ideally you want to paint the trim before you put up the siding or the stone or even the roof.  But you re-paint trim on existing houses all the time and just mask what you don't want to paint.  The trim guy could just finish the eves and gables so they could move on with the roof and go back and do windows and doors.  Yes, it would require moving scaffolding twice, but that's what you give up.  You could have the stone mason installing stone where the trim is already done.  A couple days later, you could have the siding start.  There are all kinds of ways to be creative and make up some time.  But it's not happening.  And the trim guy is still plodding along. 

And very soon to be an issue (ie. today or tomorrow), is the fact that for some reason they haven't built the front porch which has 3 posts that need trimmed and the two sliding glass doors haven't arrived yet.  The first ones were damaged in transit and had to be re-made.  Those also need to be trimmed.  Not having material on-site when you need it is one of the biggest reasons schedules slip.  I've seen this happening a lot with the builder.  I told them the end of May they needed to be ordering the roofing metal because I happened to be there looking at samples and the supplier told me it was taking more than their typical 2-3 weeks due to a tornado that came thru the manufacturer's town.  It was the end of June before they ordered and I think that is also affecting their ability to crash the schedule.  And remember ... no roof, no insulation... interior work comes to a screeching halt.

And so it goes...

We are doing what they call "flash & batt" insulation.  They spray 1" of closed cell foam and then put in regular batting insulation.  We are up on a hill where the wind used to blow thru our house all winter.  We felt by filling all the cavities with foam would be a big help in keeping us warm.  That, and having windows that don't require plastic over them.  So they sprayed the foam on Friday... our request was "all outside walls."  So the wall between the garage and house was not sprayed... and it's the wall that faces the west.  So is that an exterior wall?  We think so.  So that's on this week's meeting agenda. 

On a more exciting note, my Mom and Dad are on their way here from Florida for a visit.  They should arrive Wednesday afternoon.  I'm excited to show them the house.

Some pictures from this week ...

Butterfly in the dining area window.

a Daddy Long Legs got spray foamed, but was still crawling around.  He liked his new disguise.

trim guy's trailer ... be glad when that is gone

missing sliding glass doors

Glad I'm Not Doing This Alone

Last week was a rough week.  Preston was on his first business trip since this project started and Terry left Wednesday for vacation with Carol and her family.  So I was left to handle all the little stresses.  We are also at a frustrating stage where many tasks have to come together. 

Friday, we got a lot of rain and that little puddle in the dining area I showed you in my last post was WAY bigger and my fear became reality ... the water ran down into the heat duct and into the furnace.  There was a puddle of water at the base of the furnace when I got home.  HVAC Steve pulled the doors off and dried things out with a towel and left it open to air dry.  Hopefully there is no permanent damage.

The builders had been pushing us to proceed with the insulation so they can keep the interior schedule going.  We have been adamant that there is to be no insulation until the roof is on.  So after this flood and apparently a few other minor leaks, the builder told me yesterday that we were right... the house isn't ready for insulation yet and they realize they should wait for the roof to be installed.  At least they were big enough to admit it, but it's scary none-the-less that we are paying them to be the professionals.

garage doors installed

Saturday, the garage door guy came and installed the garage doors.  They are beautiful!  There will black handles installed later.  The trim guy worked about a half day on Sunday and made a little more progress.  Monday, I worked from home so I could meet with the whole house vacuum guy to decide where the inlets for the hose would go.  I'm excited about having a w/h vacuum.  I've never had one, but everyone who has says they'll never be without one.  

pouring step from garage into the mudroom

finished step

I was surprised and excited when I heard a big truck coming across the front pasture just after lunch.  It was a cement truck!!  We weren't expecting that, so I ran out and watched as they poured the second step into the garage and then poured the posts for the decks.  It's the first time I was home for a cement pour.

pouring the posts for back deck

The builder thinks the trim will be done by Thursday or enough so that the painter can start caulking and paint early next week.  The stone trim that goes around the base of the house is scheduled to start next Monday and the roof will go on starting August 3rd.  I hear they can't get an ETA on the roofing material, so a little concerned there.  It was supposed to take 2-3 weeks and it's been 4. 

I was certain the cement truck was going to roll on its side down the hill

They also need to put felt paper over the exising IB-3 underlayment.  I alluded to a roofing issue a while back (the day the windows were installed).  Our architect apparently hadn't designed many (any?) homes with a metal roof, so he did some reseach on what underlayment should be used.  He specified an "ice guard" underlayment.  The builder told us later they questioned the use of that material and made some calls to the underlayment company who said as long as the metal manufacturer says it's ok, it is fine (although there website says it's not intended for use under metal roofs).  They called the roofing dealer who called the metal manufacturer and they said it "should" be fine.  We knew about none of this and still wouldn't if I hadn't accidentally stumbled onto some information that said you shouldn't use ice guard under metal roof because it doesn't breath, so it will trap moisture and cause the metal to rust. 

Since then, the builder has been trying to get something in writing from the metal manufacturer saying the metal warranty (45 years) won't be voided if we use the ice guard underlayment.  It has been several weeks and he doesn't have anything yet.  Regular felt paper is approved and so they seem to think it would be ok to put the felt paper over the ice guard rather than tear the ice guard off.  I still think there could be a moisture issue and warranty risk, but nobody else thinks it will be a problem.  So it looks like this is the direction we are going in.  I just feel like manufacturers hand out these unbelievable warranties (there is a 50! year warranty on the composite trim material ... really? more than metal?) and then when you file a claim, they just have to say it wasn't installed properly and you don't have a leg to stand on.  I just wish the builder had brought this to our attention when he was questioning it, so that we could have had some input to the decision. 

Meanwhile, the mud wasps apparently got their own occupancy permit and have moved into the basement (because there are no doors installed yet and there are big holes full of mud and water out back.)

So, Preston and I are running away this weekend to a bed & breakfast in southeast Indiana.  It is actually in the same town as the soapstone dealer, so it's a good excuse to make a weekend of it.  We might go up to Metamora, IN which is apparently a quaint little touristy town. 

Exterior Trim Critical Path

The exterior trim is now holding up the rest of the construction project inside and out.  The rough mechanicals are finished, so the next step is insulation.  We don't have the roof yet and we still have water coming in one of the valleys in the dining area.  Until the roof is on, no insulation.  The builder wants the trim up and painted and the stone on the chimney before the metal can go on the roof.   This has suddenly added 2 weeks to the schedule, realistically about 4, pessimistically 6.  That would make it Thanksgiving... trying to be thankful knowing I'll be showering outside the end of November in Ohio. 

So all we can do is keep pressure on the builder to keep pressure on the trim guy.  He worked thru the day yesterday with on and off rain down pours all day and got more done in a day than I've seen him accomplish yet.  It does look good! 

The doors are still sitting in the garage.  The two glass sliding doors were damaged in transit so they are on re-order with no ETA.  The garage doors should be here late next week.  Kitchen cabinets were ordered yesterday... yeah!!  I get a brief break in product decisions. 

Here are some updated pictures.

trim around gable and porch. post started on left corner

this is our bedroom in this front corner

garage trimmed out; corner post.  stone will go from the ground up to the bottom of the post/trim

single garage door

double garage door & corner post

start of deck framing

wood box framed in left of fireplace



leak in the dining room; the ducting is just trash ... looks like it goes into the wall, but really doesn't



Mechanicals

Not much to update lately of any excitement.   The only person to really work over the 4th of July week was Steve, the HVAC guy.  But when Monday came, we had a full house!  HVAC, plumber, electrician, exterior trim guy.  The place was rocking!

Monday, the electrician nailed up all the electrical boxes.  We walked thru the house Monday night and made notes on what we wanted moved or changed.  It has been the most stressful piece of this project to date.  And if one night wasn't enough, we did it again Tuesday night. 

When, in the process of deciding where exactly the floor outlet should go in the living room, your husband asks "Well, where is my chair going?"  ...because every man has a chair they call home.  It is their sanctuary within the house that the woman takes pride (i.e. control) in decorating.  So when I tell him that his chair will not be in the living room and he asks where it will be and I say in your Man Cave in the basement... well, let's just say the rest of the electrical discussion was a little stactic-y. 

I guess 2nd only to the electrical decision was the stress of where to put the A/C compressor.  The builder / HVAC guy wanted to put it right outside our master bathroom / bedroom window.  Seriously?  Remember the picture I posted of my kitchen window and the others adjacent to it? Having designed the house for nice views on all sides, we didn't want to see this blob adorning the house.  Nor did we want to hear it right outside a window.  Since it's going to be zoned, there may be a time when the A/C is running upstairs, but I have my north facing kitchen window open.  So after much consternation, we settled on putting it next to the small deck and putting shrubs around the deck and hope it will blend in.

So we survived this phase and I walked thru the house with Dan, the electrician, one morning and made quick work of all the changes ... this of course against our builder's wishes.  They don't like it when we talk to the subs because it will only impede the schedule.  Ok.  I'm sure they could have gotten the electrical changes communicated much quicker, but I'll be ok with the schedule slip (??).

Other excitement ...all of the windows are now installed, the chimney framing was completed, the fireplace arrived and was installed, the doors arrived today (without the 2 sliders which were apparently damaged in transit and have to be re-made ... ouch!).  The upstairs shower was installed.  There is wire, PEX tubing and HVAC duct work running everywhere.  We have about 40 can lights installed.  The master shower was framed.  They measured for the kitchen cabinets.  I finalize the order in the morning!  Woohoo!  I'll try to get the drawings from her and post them here. 

Cody, from Tuscarora Wood in Covington, OH, measured for the wood floors.  They sell reclaimed lumber milled into tongue & groove flooring.  We have some of the flooring that we took out of our house that we'd like to use.  He took a look at it and since it is a full inch thick, he can re-mill it to 3/4" with a new tongue & groove and it will blend in with the other nicely.  They will also provide treads for the stairs.  The wood will be in the entry, the living room and the kitchen / dining area.  It is going to be stunning!  We may also have him cut down some of the beams we took out of the house.  We plan to put some on the ceiling and one for the fireplace mantel.

OH... the driveway was cut in ... not sure if it's going to be big enough ... you can be the judge.  The trim is going amazingly slow...slower than slow.  When they do show up ...once a week, they might get 2 windows done... in 8 hours.  I see that soon becoming the critical path to the exterior finish.  We shopped for stone yesterday and brought 2 samples home.  The sales rep gave us an address for each sample so we could see it in full scale.  We did pick the fireplace stone and the pieces and parts that make up the hearth and mantel support.  Preston has been busy making cabinets for the kitchen, mudroom and laundry room.

Well, I guess a lot has been done ... just not very picture worthy.  But here are some anyway...

house and the BIG driveway!  Ulterior motive .. less grass to mow.

front door, no porch yet, but windows are framed ... will be painted white.

exterior doors arrived today.

Laundry room - we are using PEX tubing instead of copper...cheaper, quicker to install and no one wants to steal it ;)

Wood burning fireplace.  Wood box will be framed to the left and then built-ins on either side.  Remember when the foundation oops almost eliminated the right built-in?

The framing of our shower.  The exhaust fan is sitting on what will be the bench.

2nd floor shower

This is the view from Colton's bedroom looking over the garage.  This space sort of presented itself.  Although we aren't putting a door there now or finishing the walls in the storage area above the garage, it could become a very cool hang out space in the future.

View from Colton's room into the family room.  They are going to put OSB on the backside of the wall, insulate and then put up drywall. 

Spider web of HVAC duct work above the 2nd floor.

Framing Almost Complete

The framers worked Saturday and put the last of the windows in ... except the one that was missing and one in the garage.  They took all of the bracing out so you can finally walk around it room-to-room unobstructed.  They built the chimney and framed in the fireplace today in anticipation of it being delivered tomorrow.  Here are a few pictures ...

The double frieze board, fascia, corner trim and window trim.  It will all be painted white

Laundry room.  (window for the garage)

Mudroom looking into the garage.

Entry into the master bedroom

Window view from master bedroom

Colton's room (missing window, but great view of sunsets).  Walk in closet to the right.

2nd upstairs bedroom. Another great view.

Living room window.  You can see part of the fireplace framing on the right.

Dining area (eat in kitchen).  There will be sliding glass doors at the left out to a small deck.

Kitchen ... doorway goes to pantry.  Stove is to the left and sink is under the window.

This will be my view from my island where I'll prep dinner... minus the ladder that is currently going across the window.