Meeting at another LVL

Jan 17, 2009
Today we were fortunate enough to visit another LVL project currently in construction. It really helps to see things in person to finalize some more details previously not thought of.

We also had our first design meeting with Rocio last week. The process went pretty quick and smooth. We sent a packet of paperwork and files before the meeting to help facilitate the meeting.
A couple of tips before the meeting:
- Try to make some decisions of your own layout. We used Google Sketch Up to finalize our layout. Having the layout in actual measurements helped us a lot with the plan.
- Decide what type of heating and ventilation you'll most likely be installing
- Decide the kitchen cabinetry, this is really critical if you are not going to shell out big buck for a custom made kitchen. We went with Ikea, the size of the cabinet widths ultimately decided our Kitchen layout and width.
- If you have any special items like fireplace or range tops, that location needs to be decided and incorporated into the construction plan.

We did most of our homework before hand and listed all the fixtures and cabinetry materials we were going to purchase. This not only helps Rocio finalize the construction plan, but also gives you a good idea how much total cost you need to prepare to pay for.

Next steps : Design of our Septic system. Our septic is going to be on a higher elevation than our house, so a pump design is needed. Will have to hire an engineer to design it and get it approved by the town. Fingers crossed, hope this is not going to cost too much.

Our land deal was finally signed on Dec 18th, 2008. At the same time, the contract and deposit was also sent to Rocio Romero.
Signing the land deal definately sealed the decision to go ahead with the process. We've put in a desposit for LVL+LVM+LVC. Attached is our design idea, we haven't seen any other projects with our linear aesthetic yet.
Hoping to save some money by having the foundation of all 3 sections done at the same time as well as the roof installation.

Google Sketchup has been really helpful for us making decision on the layout. We want to fanalize the details before having to meet to Rocio. From all the blogs, seems that the design fees for just talking or asking questions can really add up. The more specific we are, the less design fees at the end (hopefully). Knowing that the house resell value would probably not be higher than the cost to build in this market really puts some pressure to make smart decisions and compromise on certain aspects of 'needs' versus 'wants'.

Additional miscellaneous costs of purchasing the land also was unexpected for us since this is first time we bought just the land.

Title Fees Approx $1000

Soil Condition report Approx $ 1000 (we had to do this since the land was used previously as an orchard, high levels of Arsenic is harmful to live on)

School and Town taxes Approx $200 for the year, this is very minimal for land. After the house is built , the taxes will go up significantly for sure.

Overall, this has been a great learning experience.

The Signing

Finally, a momentus day, the contract has been signed.
Eagerly awaiting the closing date scheduled for Dec 17th to really seal the deal.

Contract - still in progress

The lawyers are still working through the contract. We had to revised the previous contract to allow for some kind of fencing near the cliff and planting of trees over 4' tall. Looks like the contract will be signed next week. The closing has been scheduled already for 12/17.

Furniture Already!

11/1/08 received the dining table and garden bench that we bought 2 weeks ago before even purchasing the land. our apartment has been turned into storage and design area.
Still waiting for the land contract to be drawn up. In the mean time reviewing Rocio Romero's general contract for details.

Visited a few showrooms today to get some ideas for the design of the kitchen and bathroom. The usual mix of highly out of reach stores..Boffi, Valcucine, Gauggenau...gave us a good idea of what we need to do.

Offer accepted!!!

After two days and three rounds of negotiations, our final offer was accepted. Hooray, on our way to become official land owners, just need to get the formalities and legalities out of the way.

The Offer

We put in our offer for the land today, fingers crossed. Learned anther party has some interest in the same plot of land. What are the chances, after a year sitting on the market, all of a sudden, all this interest at once.
The slow economy is probably helping us out with this. Normally this type of home aesthetic would have never been approved by any subdivion of colonials.
So far, no other plot in the community have been sold, so we might be the first ones there.