Our 2023 Biggest Accomplishment!

We never intended to turn into our own general contractors but, as April 2023 came and went with no GC locked in, we were reconsidering. Our initial two potential GCs bowed out. They bowed out late enough making it impossible to find anyone with availability for this big of a project. Contractors were already booked up. Jumping into the mode of lets just get underway and the rest will come was how we started moving forward.

The decision came together quickly once we met our concrete contractor. He was local to us and enthusiastic to take on our project. Once he was locked in, finding a framer was next. Luckily, we were able to get a framing contractor committed to work with us at the end of summer.

Slabs, Hydronics, Pool

During the concrete phases we had our own building work to accomplish. Steve needed to lay in all the water and sewer lines and pass inspection before the slabs could be poured. Once inspection was passed, we then proceeded to lay in the vapor barrier, insulation and then the fun hydronic tubing.

This image shows the shop hydronic tubing as completed. It also needed to be inspected before pouring the shop slab. We repeated the work on the house side. Our concrete guy worked the concrete pour delivery dates in concert with our ability to get the hydronic work completed. In the peak heat season, it was a brutal few days. I never want to see another zip tie again. 

We did start slipping behind our intended schedule by August. The slip was attributed to a combination of things not coming together. However, biggest problem was on us. After the pool had been dug, doing the rough in, installing the pool walls, finishing the pool’s bottom and installing the liner all had to be completed before the final concrete pour. We had a both a major material delay and a lag in concrete availability. The pool bottom surface material needed to be freighted in and took a long while to actually land at the property. In the meantime, Steve stayed productive building the shed.

The shed still needs soffits, paint and gravel outside to make it fully usable. In the meantime, it’s been great to have the additional storage. The added plus is Steve now has successfully completed a metal roof install and we get to see how the metal looks before committing to using it on the big house. Yes, we love it and already found a roofer to work with us and the material was ordered!

Framing

Framing was a huge effort. Our responsibility at this stage was to create the lumber material take offs and order all the material. After having the local lumber office work on material take offs, we realized they continued to overlook or miss too many critical required components. I took a crash course in how to translate our structural drawings into actual material. That was followed up with a couple rounds of quotes from two local lumber houses. Then, finally, we got all the lumber and engineered trusses ordered.

Our lumber arrived as expected and then we waited and waited to get a final concrete pour done so the framers could begin. It was a slow ramp up for framing. The framers were just a team of two and continued to get called back to a previous job. We had them busy for 3 months.

By now, we are in December and had already decided that the roof installation would be put off til spring. Our last 4 days before Christmas weekend, the weather gods provided dry and sunny (enough) days to complete the roofing underlayment. We both installed the lower ice and water barrier, however, only Steve was equipped with a safety harness to walk on the roof. Even with the harness and rope, it was dicey and a little stressful for him trying to roll out and nail down the underlayment by himself.

Video – 2023 Building Progress

I had to dust off my newly acquired editing skills so this episode took longer to finish than I’d plan. I hope you enjoy even more background of what into the building up to this point and if you liked it, please leave us a thumbs up on YouTube! 

Almost Dried In

This picture was taken about a week before we left the property and returned back to So. California. Besides the fact that it’s too cold to be productive in Idaho, our California orchard needs a little attention. The shop is lonely as well, fortunately, Maximus (the camper) needs a major repair plus a few smaller projects done. It’ll be nice to take a break from building and enjoy the warmer weather along with visits to friends in the area!

I would never suggest being your own general contractor unless you have good experience in construction and/or even the key trades like HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc. Having done the design ourselves, Steve’s building and renovating as a homeowner experience gave us the ability to work with contractors making sure our plans were well executed. I have learned so much through this process. So much, that I’m sure I’ll forget some of it. It is nice to work in the industry as a homeowner and have your suppliers/contractors realize you know what you’re talking about.

This was our biggest accomplishment in so many ways. We wish we hadn’t been delayed but we ended the year at the stage we absolutely needed to be which is dried in and able to lock up and leave.

#Sunday Stills and our Year in Review 2023

About the Photo Challenge

A weekly themed photo challenge hosted by Terri. Check out her Blog and come back to visit for more SundayStills and traveling posts!

More Sunday Still Posts

Thanks for visiting our Retired Life & Travel blog and I hope you enjoyed finding the #SundayStills Challenge. You can join the weekly challenge by visiting our hosts blog Second Wind Leisure. and checking out Terri’s post for this week, Someone Planted a Tree.