Sara Sage Builds a Modern Modular Home

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How can anyone get into Southern California's current housing market? Without already having equity in real estate, we hope to not only get into the market within six months, but also have 25% instant equity and have the modern home of our dreams. Read about how we will do it.

March 28, 2006 Synopsis — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 03-28-2006 15:36 — 15 comment(s)

It has been some time since I have updated our progress. Most of the interesting and dramatic events of the project unfolded during my internet absence, but that was also what kept me away from posting any detailed updates.

Stitch-up

We have been surrounded by new construction in our neighborhood for the last six months. Being absorbed in the world of construction has been consuming. Our once quiet property has two new homes beside it; right now, I can hear a nearby backhoe digging the footings for a new foundation down the road. We have become familiar with the amount of work and time that is required to build a house from the ground up. When our house arrived, David and I thought of the set day as the end of the road. In actuality, the house was delivered in a bare bones state. If I passed by a home that was in the stage that our house was delivered, I would imagine that the builder had another 5 months of full-time work in order to complete it. We were hopelessly unrealistic about how long it would take us to complete the house… doing most of the work ourselves after work and during a time of year when the sun sets early. And since our quiet town is experiencing a mini-boom at present, we’ve had some opportunity to observe less successful builders stagnate with their projects. In the end, we received our certificate of occupancy one year and two days from the day that escrow closed on the land purchase.

The very first moment I walked into our house, I put a 4” nail through my foot. I think that I am now distant enough from last years’ events that I can see that it was a fitting entrance. It was very frustrating to have our house set on a Friday. The house was set on the foundation with shims over the weekend and we had to walk around the modules gingerly until they were fully set and bolted the following week. They were very unstable where they sat and there were also gaps between the modules. We were very worried about Walter falling through the cracks and hoped that there wasn’t an earthquake or a wildfire during this vulnerable time. I was very eager to get to work on the house since I had been dreading the stitch-up period for many months. The gaps between the modules turned out to be strangely fortunate since we had no other way to remove the metal roofing that was shipped loose in the modules. It was like a ship in a bottle; the pieces were so long that there was no way to get the pieces out the door without bending them. We removed the pieces in tandem; David and his mother’s partner (who is also named David) fed the pieces to me outside and when there was enough distance between David and me to support the weight of one piece, “Grandpa” David dropped down the front door to help on the other side.

Here's an image of our floor plan, the pink lines indicate where the roofing was laid.

Removing the metal roofing consumed an entire day and that was the moment I started to fear that my stitch-up schedule was moot. In fact, I looked at an old spreadsheet recently and have to shake my head that I thought that I would have the interior painted by the end of that Sunday. It still isn’t done.

My attitude of desperation, imagining that we didn’t have time or options was very unproductive… such as dreading the stitch-up and wanting that period to be over with as fast as possible. I feel that we were bungling, not taking the time to figure out the little problems but most of all, not taking care of ourselves and allowing stress to utterly overwhelm our lives. We ate very poorly and sometimes would go without eating just so we could complete the current task. Dealing with such an incredible amount of stress really forced me to re-examine my reaction to everyday pressure and I am trying to be more easygoing about life in general.

We spent so much time at Home Depot that we became very familiar to its employees… and especially the roach-coach vendor outside the store. Every outing to Home Depot took precious time away from the house and our trips were especially filled with anxiety. Worse yet, was when we needed to make trips to the Burbank IKEA for forgotten handles and replacement parts (which I think must be the most hectic and hostile IKEA on planet Earth). On average, we have made two to four trips per month and accidentally assimilated the IKEA lifestyle. Walter and I even eat some pretty strange fish products and various Swedish foods. I made traditional Swedish split pea soup for Christmas, decorated our tree with IKEA ornaments. I really had no idea I was doing all of this; I had no control over these Swedish impulses.

We received a lot of help from our friends Jon and Vitri, who once resided in the guesthouse that sits 1” from our property line. We’ve known Jon since college; he tunes and repairs Gamelan (Indonesian percussion instruments) as a side job and is consequentially very handy with woodworking and tools. His wife is an architect from Jakarta, and she was helpful when we were trying to decide issues such as where to place the handles on the kitchen cabinets. They worked for pennies and always maintained that they were helping us for selfish reasons… being that they were helping us move in our new house so that they could move into our old place. They put in the entire cork flooring, assembled many of the IKEA wardrobes and cabinets, painted a couple of rooms, completed countless other tasks around the house and on top of everything, helped us move. Walter, David and I enjoyed spending time with them. They were always very calm and they taught Walter the names of our different fans (Whisper-Cool, Honeywell and Lasko); we had many fans running since it was at the end of summer. Just yesterday Walter and I were in Home Depot and he said to me, “Mommy, that fan is named Honeywell” and he was right!

My mother-in-law, Janet, and her partner, David, were invaluable to us during the stitch-up. They drove every weekend from San Dimas to help out, for months. Janet is a fantastic cook and every week she brought casseroles and our favorite dishes to the house because she knew we didn’t have time to make food. Then she watched Walter while David, David and I worked unfettered until it grew dark. They insisted always that they would help the following weekend even though they were tired. My dad also stayed for a while to help us out just before he left for Northern California to build a house of his own. We also had another day when our friends, David’s sister and her husband (who is also named David!) came to help in full force. David’s father was also a great moral support and we welcomed his company, compliments and diversion during times when he was able to pry himself from his busy concert and teaching schedule.

We gradually grew less frantic and became more realistic about our capabilities until we completed the barest minimum in order to earn our certificate of occupancy and convert our loan to a mortgage in November.

I hope that by being honest about our experiences this blog has been useful. When we first planned to build a home, the process seemed shrouded. Nobody wanted to freely give information about the day-to-day experience of building a home. We heard many pessimists who told us “careful that you don’t get divorced!” If building a home was so terrible, I wanted to know why it was so terrible and what was involved. Anyway, I hope our experiences have been insightful to those who are interested in taking a similar road.

Foundation Contractor

The day finally came when we could no longer hope that the contractor would either finish the work or pay us what he owed us for not completing the work. I got so worked up talking and thinking about him that I am afraid that I sounded like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction whenever he was mentioned... “and I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furrrious anger…!” We retracted an earlier complaint that we filed with the Contractor’s State License Board because his wife gave us a sob story about having trouble making their mortgage. I don’t know if I mentioned this in the blog but he bounced a check to the concrete supplier for our second pour and the concrete company inevitably placed a lien on our property; we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to close our loan because of the lien. Fortunately, he paid the concrete company and four months later, when the remaining work was still unresolved and we couldn’t imagine this guy having ever completed a job to satisfaction, we knew we had to re-file the complaint.

I was not prepared for the quick response from the License Board, they were clearly very unhappy with this contractor. We suspected that there may have been multiple complaints against him and David also did a great job of documenting our complaint. We received a call from the License Board just a few days after sending the papers from this nice woman who asked us, “Is this amount all that you want? Where do you want him to send the check?” I do not know what she told him, but whatever it was, it worked. We almost felt as though we were sending the Mafia after him.

We recently discovered that the architect who referred us to him just filed a $40,000 claim against his bond and has also filed a complaint with the license board.

Pictures of our current progress

Front View of the house; it is raining right now.

We still have paint, hardware and supplies lying around since we're still using them.

South side of the patio.

This is the north elevation. The evaporative cooler is our bane; we have ideas of how we can cover it up. For the time, I appreciate that it's energy efficient.

The yellow color is what I'm painting over and the tan is the natural color of the Hardi-plank. Yes, I know it's looks like a mess...

It's time consuming to paint siding by hand!

Entry

We like how spacious our house feels.

Family Room

Obviously, this is the kitchen.

When we retouch the wall, we'll also bring the dark gray to the other side of the wall.

Our laundry room. This is where we want to put in an aluminum roll-down door.

This will be a "living room" when we furnish it. Can you see the boxes of cork planks in the backgroud?

Master bathroom

Master bedroom

Music room

Walter's room

This is our view from the supposed living room.

Remaining Tasks

There are several remaining jobs left on the house but fortunately, we are hiring others to complete many of them. We just cannot see ourselves taking on any more large projects. The rain slowed us down considerably over the last months. We’re starting to return to our normal life of friends, food, music and family and many of the remaining jobs we just are not capable enough to complete. I will continue to update regularly.

For now I’ll skip the narrative and list our remaining items:

Contractor jobs:

• Deck railing
• Plaster over the patio
• Seal the patio
• Foundation vents
• Solar installation (hopefully)
• Fence and gates
• Gravel driveway
• Drywall patching
• Electric (some of the outlets and switches do not work)
• Paint the front door
• Install aluminum pull-down door for the laundry room
• Level and adjust all doors

Our remaining jobs:

• Etch the front door and the sidelight
• Finish/repair roofing and edge metal
• Repaint the exterior and paint touch-up
• Drive nails/spackle holes on the Hardi-board
• Spackle numerous drywall checking cracks
• Repaint the interior
• Install one more exterior lamp
• Install kitchen backsplash
• Install bathroom backsplash
• Clean and seal bathroom slate
• Install gutters and rain chain
• Repair kitchen cork flooring
• Install kitchen toe-kick
• Replace range vent ductwork
• A bit of miscellaneous hardware
• Seal cork floors with polyurethane substitute
• Replace some baseboards
• Furnish the house

As you can see there are many more remaining items. The paint has always been an issue since we have completed things piecemeal. Also, the newly primed drywall soaked up a lot more paint that we anticipated; it also behaves a little differently since it is a no-VOC paint. As a result, it is spotty. There was also the issue of not being able to complete the paint while the drywall was being stitched between the module marriage lines. Either from procrastinating the trip to Culver City for more paint, or moving things around in order to finish, the final coat fell by the wayside in the last months.

We have an ongoing leak from our brand-new LG dishwasher that in turn, ruined the flooring in the kitchen. We also had to replace an adjacent cabinet door that delaminated because of escaping steam. We haven’t been able to finish the cabinet toe-kicks because we need to lightly mop up the floor and cabinets after the dishes dry. Another issue in the kitchen was with the range vent. The ceiling hole is not at all centered with the vent itself. We tried using double galvanized elbows in order to make up for the distance but it just wouldn’t fit. The cheap dryer vent-esque ducting will have to stay there until we have time to address that issue.

Our dark gray painted interior wall really took a beating while we had many supplies and fixtures piled near it and against it. We also need to continue the color on the right side. David recently ripped off the baseboard so we can replace it with stainless steel or something that is lighter gray and also fix the slight bowing when the drywall was seamed together.

Before we moved we gave away/donated a lot of our older IKEA furniture. Our house is Spartan in the meantime but we do have a grand plan of making our own plywood furniture soon. We could furnish our house with more IKEA furniture, but I think we have already exceeded the acceptable IKEA content in our home. We bought a router and we are very eager to start on our plans. I hope we can fabricate all of our furniture with the exception of dining chairs.

We finally got most of the siding up. Goshdarnit, we were so sick of seeing the words “Tyvek” on the side of the house. Actually, there is one or two more courses that need to be in and I think “Tyvek” can still be seen. We originally painted the entire back module yellow and even though we didn’t like it, we went with it, since we needed to have it painted any color for the appraiser. Then I thought it was best to wait for the rest of the siding to go up before I changed the color. I started repainting a few days ago and now it is my current project and will have to wait until the rain clears up on Thursday.

fabprefab Zone & Modernism

It was very interesting to hear the discussion at CA Boom 3 over the weekend. There was some dialogue about the same type of difficulties that we’ve experienced such as fair appraisals, modular/manufactured terminology confusion and financing. We managed to make things work, even though it was a difficult process and none of the battles that we were involved in last year matter now that we are living in our home and nobody cares or knows that it was trucked in from Utah.

Our project was truly born from this online community and it was great to meet Gregory La Vardera, Michael Sylvester and Marshall Mayer in person. David and I are so proud of our house and we consider ourselves fortunate that Greg designed our home. Judging from the attendance at the fabprefab zone, it seemed to me that interest in modern prefab has exploded in just two years since we first started. When I was waiting to introduce myself to Marshall, there was a sweet elderly couple talking to him at the mkd booth and they were armed with all sorts of prefab brochures, not at all the typical stereotype of a modernist.

For us, having a modern home has already had a tremendous impact on our everyday lives and we are starting to feel that our work was worthwhile. The design of our house provides great cross-ventilation and natural light. We crank open the windows nearly every day and we never have stale air in the house. In fact, we took off the screens and it is feels very close to being outside; we’ll have to put them back on when the mosquitoes come back. We have a whole new attitude about spiders and insects and many times they wander into the house and we have fun identifying them and then take them outside. We are already aware that yellow jackets and most bees die off in the winter, which is something I never paid attention to before we moved. We get to watch the moon cross the sky through the different windows in the house and sometimes we get to watch it while we go to sleep. We are also so much more aware of the seasons and are very eager for the warm weather to return. In our old house, seasonal changes were nearly unnoticeable. Also, now that we have in-floor heat, ecological paint and cork flooring I no longer have asthmatic symptoms. I haven’t used an inhaler since the dust settled during construction. In addition, I felt as though we were in a restorative environment during flu season. Anyway, these are some of the many things we appreciate about our new home.

Landscaping

We are very lucky that we found our property at all, much less bought it for the bargain price of 90K. In return, I hope we can make the best use of the land that we do have. Much of what I had planned earlier has changed now that we live on the property. I am sure that a lot of the final execution will depend on how we see the property change in the seasons. We took out the pond and instead are planning a marsh area. We had our backhoe guy dig out the area. Executing that will take a lot of work and that is something we will be working on probably in the fall. The area is technically in the actual floodway and receives very little sun, there are strange mushrooms growing there and most of the surface water drains there. I hope we can house some nesting blackbirds and frogs in the future. We will be landscaping it with native riparian plants like cattails, sedge, rush and barberries. The Theodore Payne Foundation has been a great resource for learning about and acquiring native plants.

We’re planning an organic vegetable garden and started our plants on our warm floor early this year. I’ve held off from transplanting them since we have a serious gopher problem near the vegetable garden. I found a pellet from a Great Horned Owl that has been haunting our property. It was a nearly intact pocket gopher. So I will probably let nature play out and it the meantime, continue to spread fox urine in the gopher holes (yes, fox urine).

We also built an herb planter from the remains of the tiki bar slab. Actually, I think I am typing at the exact spot where it once stood! We also used the chipped eucalyptus trimmings (when our trees were trimmed) for mulch.

Here lies the tiki bar.

We’ve also considered moving the south fence to the actual property line. The fence is shy 10’ on the longest border and someday it would be nice to reclaim our space.

The property line is near the peppertree in this photo. The wash is just beyond the rocks.

I’ve completed most of the major cleanup work and planted the grapes, sage, toyon, yarrow, irises and matilija poppies. Natives are bought very small relative to their mature size so everything is very bare still. We will also include a few non-natives like flax and millet to keep things looking tidier in the summer. I the meantime, I will have to wait to continue the landscaping after the fence is in place. As usual, one job holds up another and we’re about to enter another construction period soon.

December 10, 2005 More Pictures — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 12-10-2005 20:42 — 4 comment(s) —

• Building

We're technically done with construction. There are a lot of little jobs remaining but our final inspection was approved and our lender is preparing documents for mortgage conversion.

Pictures

Here are some snapshots that I took about a week ago. We're still planning to stain and complete the patio and railing soon. We ran out of siding and fotunately our lender, Woodland Capital, who has been terrific throughout the project, let us close the loan anyway. The siding is a special order and would have delayed us 2-3 weeks so we were very happy they made an exception.

After the siding, the patio will be the next project to complete

The carport

Quick Summary

We ended up with a mortgage of $325,000 with a rate of 5.5%. All in all, we went $50,000 over budget but we are happy that we got a good rate and that we'll now be paying a mortgage payment instead of a construction loan payment. We have months more of work to complete, but it's satisfying that we can work at out own pace now. The mortgage amount included everything that we needed to build the house, including the land.

The last three and a half months have been the most stressful period of building the house. David has juggled working a 9-5 job, a full concert season along building a house. I've had to sacrifice my musical career for the last year and a half and I now feel somewhat vacuous. We've also missed a lot of quality time with our son. There has also been physical problems like fatigue, herniated discs, stress and numerous minor accidents with nails and hammers. The last month we spent the night hours working in the cold with worklamps and I am embarrassed to admit that I hated every minute of it. However, it has been a worthwhile endeavor since we now have a great home and property of our own. I will continue to update until we've finished

November 10, 2005 Little Update — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 11-10-2005 23:17 — 28 comment(s) —

• Building

The porch is being poured tomorrow and the loan is set to close.

I am gradually trying to get back on track with the blog. I really feel that this blog has been very beneficial for our work ethic in the past. I am experiencing burnout now, so I need all the help I can get.

Porch

The concrete for the porch is coming tomorrow and we're very excited. Drawings of the porch were included in the original drawings from Gregory La Vardera and we stuck with what was on Gregory's plans. Because we are on a flood fringe property, the porch (as well as the finish floor elevation) needed to be quite high. We'll be required to include a railing system so that will of course change the look of the house. We've considered the old standby, cable railing, but we're now considering recycled (or used) glass framed with Trex, since the county is demanding about the amount of cable required for our porch. I have an environmental concern with the use of glass since it poses a hazard for birds, so if we choose glass I'll etch or sandblast the panels to increase the visibility. We've yet to etch the front door glass since the window film we installed didn't hold up to our dog's nails.

I hope that our porch contractor will backfill and grade the property tomorrow as well. The outside block wall will be covered with concrete and we'll probably end up acid staining the entire patio. Or, if the resulting colors from the slab and the wall are too different in a test(they will have a different chemical composition), we'll use a traditional concrete stain.

As you can see, the porch elevation is high.

I don't think I have a photo of myself on the blog, maybe a photo makes it more personal. Anyway, it's nice to get a sense of scale.

Siding

The siding hasn't progressed since last Saturday, however I've included updated photos below. The porch will be curing all weekend and the siding guys can only work on weekends so we'll have to wait atgleast a week before the house is dressed.

Paint or Primer?

Here are some renderings of the color scheme we decided to go with:

I'm soliciting honest opinions. I started applying the yellow paint today and I'm not quite sure how it will play out. If you're wondering why the paint is spotty, I should mention that everything is done piecemeal since David works through the daylight hours and I can only do things with my 2 year old's cooperation. I haven't yet continued the light gray from the front so I know I don't have the benefit of the color juxtaposition, but I am not sure the yellow works. David likes it a lot but I think it's entirely too conservative.

The orange square was "photoshopped" in for a color comparsion

I am starting to think that yellow is a hard color to get right, especially if it's outdoors. I colored a section of the yellow siding in photoshop of an alternative color. In any case, I will continue to paint the rest of the house as it was rendered above before I make up my mind.

Loan

Our loan money is tapped out to the penny. The total loan amount was $330,000 and that includes our land purchase, permitting and construction costs. I don't have a detailed breakdown yet; most of our overages were fixed out of our control. We're expecting to close the loan very soon.

November 5, 2005 Close to the Finish Line — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 11-05-2005 12:58 — 3 comment(s) —

• Building

Where do I begin? We've done so much work and we're just starting the final push to close the loan.

Quick Summary

Finishing the house has taken much longer than we thought it would. We ended up hiring people to do the siding and the patio and a few other items that we felt we didn't have the expertise to do ourselves. The roof, siding, carport and interior are almost complete and we're aiming to close the loan in two weeks.

Siding

The siding is about 75% complete at this moment... the posted pictures are nearly a week old. We had the siding contractors halt work for about a week to allow for the porch contractors to finish their job but they didn't show up during their reserved week! The siding work continued this morning and we expect the board and batten area to be completed by the end of the day. We have enough money in our budget for only one more day of the siding contractors' work, so whatever they don't finish will be left for David and me to complete.

The color of the siding is the natural color of the primed HardiPanel which we plan to paint.

Tyvek Repairs

This has been the hugest pain in the butt. The Tyvek has been destroyed several times. The first issue was with the actual transport. During the module transport, the housewrap tore in many places from the wind. Also, the Tyvek was secured with staples instead of roofing nails (the nails with the orange caps). So we ended up with ripped Tyvek with hundreds of staple holes in it. We repaired the holes with Tyvek tape and the many ripped areas with new Tyvek. This took several full days to complete, and at our pace, it was stretched over several weeks. It would have been much easier for us if the Tyvek was completely left off. Since the Tyvek was secured underneath the anchor straps, it was very difficult to properly lap the lower areas of the Tyvek. Later on the patio contractors burned the Tyvek in the front of the house when they flashed the OSB with a torch and roofing paper. So, we had to repair that as well but at least we didn't need to worry about proper lapping in the areas under the 4' eave.

Roof

David completed the roof with the exception of a few flashings. The roof contractor at the factory made many mistakes installing the roof and flashed the shed roof modules in the wrong direction and in some areas, entirely left out flashings. The factory sent us the remaining flashings to make the repairs and David is confident it will be a quick job. Fortunately, David is comfortable with the roofing and seems to have enjoyed the job. There is also a small repair to make on the bedroom module where the metal eave was damaged in transport or the set.

Foundation Contractor

The foundation contractor we hired has still not completed his job. We still don't have vents in the foundation; I discovered a cat who has been living in our crawl space and I was only happy that it wasn't a family of raccoons. We still have a hole in the drywall where he had to retrofit an anchor strap because he embedded the anchor strap in a doorway. He still owes us money for overpayment and on top of everything, he caused a lien to be placed on our property because he bounced a check with the concrete supplier! We immediately filed a complaint with the Contractor's State License Board when we were informed of the lien. After he paid the concrete company we were easy on him and retracted the complaint. Now we're just waiting for him to rectify the other items.

We're also planning on chipping off the cheap stucco covering that he put on the foundation. The foundation was formed with 2 x 4s and when the concrete was poured, a nice pattern of lines was formed. We'll have to chip off the stucco after the loan has closed since it is a non-essetial item but I think it will make a difference when it's done.

Carport

The carport is nearly done. We have yet to install the roof and side panels.

House Systems

Everything has been installed including the evaporative cooler, water, waste plumbing, propane, electricity and the hydronic in-floor heating. The evaporative cooler is huge and unsightly but we'll have to live with it until we think of a way to creatively disguise it. The in-floor heating was hooked up two days ago by the only experienced hydronic heating contractor in L.A. They encountered several problems since the contractor in Utah, where the house was built, installed a couple of pressure regulators and fittings backwards. We still have to install the foil-lined insulation before we can really use the heating. This is our job for today and I am planning to meet David very soom at Home Depot to get some insulation pins. We need to leave a 2" space between the subfloor and the foil to create a heat pocket.

Interior

I hope I have more time to elaborate on this tomorrow. We're nearly done with the interior although we have many little fixtures and fittings left to do. The kitchen progress was halted because we had a major problem with a wall being out of sqaure and we'll have to alter one of the cabinets and a coverpanel. Now that our systems are completed, we're able to finish the bathroom that houses the door to the utility closet and access to the crawl space. Here are a few pictures:

Master Bathroom

Kitchen Sink

We still have many fixtures lying around, waiting to be installed.

August 31, 2005 A Picture Update — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 09-01-2005 01:47 — 8 comment(s) —

• Building

We've made a little progress; the electricity was turned on today!

August 17, Set Date II

The house was bolted to the foundation two weeks ago. This was the day of the set crew's real work. The entry module almost fell on its side when it was lifted with the jacks since it is really light and it has a heavy overhang on two of its sides.

Before the modules are lowered; the entry module is on the left and the bedroom module on the right.

One of the set crew members is nailing the anchor straps to the modules with a palm nailer.

A picture for the inspector of the nailed straps.

A shot of a jack underneath the module moving it into position.

Another picture for the inspector.

Interior Progress

Here's two weeks' result of hard work. The drywall patching is complete (it took a whole week) and we're starting to get the paint and floor in place. We're starting to feel the real pain of construction. We're constantly covered with dirt and paint and we're already growing tired of the excruciating heat, allergies and black boogers! David said that if he wrote a book about our experience, he would title it Black Boogers. Anyway, it's been very laborious but we've had help from our parents and friends.

The view from our front door.

Master Bedroom. The floor, paint and lighting are in. We still have to paint the baseboards and do some more touch-ups. I still need to figure out what I should do with that white mullion strip that crosses two tan windows...

We tiled the master bathroom floor. We're tying in the plumbing now so we'll soon have one functioning bathroom.

Our son's room; the most completed room in the house.

The hallway

Hallway Bathroom. The insulation is for the hydronic floor heating system.

Open Area. It was really messy after our appliances arrived but it is cleaner now.

Music Room

Family Room

Set Day Recap — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 08-14-2005 03:37 — 14 comment(s) —

• Building

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here are 40,000.

Thanks to Matt from Live Modern for the photos and the champagne.

Crane setting up 7:00 AM

The 70 ton crane that we reserved was unavailable so they brought a 165 ton crane instead. It was huge. The boom (arm of the crane) was 200 feet long!

Prep Work

The owners of the modular factory drove from Provo to watch the set. They brought some foam (I have no idea what to call it) for the top of the foundation wall.

Here's the set crew putting it on the foundation.

Truck Arrival 8:15AM

The trucks made it to our street from the truckstop without incident. I was worried about some low trees that line the main road to the property but it was okay.

These pictures are mostly taken from the vantage point of the street right in front of the property. The trucks had to turn right on the street and then back up to the property instead of taking a direct left.

The family room module arrives

The entry module arrives next.

Somehow there was a mix-up and this module, which was scheduled to be set last arrived second. Later on there was a problem at the truckstop, where the modules were waiting. The trucks just couldn't get out fast enough because it was really congested when modules number 2 and 3 were finally called.

Site Access

The pepper trees lining our street were too low and there wasn't enough room to maneuver on our frontage street so we had to cut some branches so the modules could pass through, the only trouble was that we didn't have a chainsaw! David quickly drove down the street to the local backhoe operator/handyman's house and he fortunately was home and had a working chainsaw. Whew! The crane was running $500 an hour.

The trees are too close.

Thanks one of the guys from the set crew the trees are quickly pruned. He did this on a very wobbly ladder and it looked a little scary.

Even with the trees trimmed it was still close:

Setting up the modules for the crane

Even after the trees were trimmed the truck driver just couldn't get the truck positioned right for the crane. The wheels of the trailer, that the modules were sitting on didn't have the capability to turn and there still wasn't enough room on the street for the driver to turn the truck to the right position. The improvised solution was to lift the rear of the trailer with the crane to orient the trailer so that the truck driver could then move it into position. Once the crane lifted the rear of the trailer, it took sheer manpower to nudge the trailer and the module.

Some photos:

For me, this was the most frightening aspect of the day. I trusted the strength of the crane and the rigging to hold the house safely but when they moved the end of the trailer, the modules tipped a little to the side. They were strapped tightly to the trailer but it sure looked precarious!

Family room module set 10:15AM

One the module was positioned, the rigging and setting was relatively quick.

Photos:

Shims have been placed under all of the modules. On Monday the set crew will return to remove the shims, lower the house with jacks and bolt everything together. The modules were set this way so the crane company could remove their very costly slings from underneath the modules.

Pantry module set 11:30

As I mentioned earlier, there was some delay in getting the second and third module on site. We waited with nothing to do and the crane running for almost an hour. We were very happy when we saw the pantry module finally arrive.

As before, the rear of the trailer bed was lifted with the crane.

The family room module was definitely the most difficult since it was the largest and because we were sorting out the access problem. The pantry module set went rather fast.

Photos of the set:

Bedroom module set approx12:30PM

This was really cool to watch since the bedroom module was lifted over the family room and pantry module.

The tried and true method of lifting the rear of the module's trailer bed was applied again.

Set photos:

Entry module set 2:00PM

Photos:

Interior shot the wood supports will be removed soon:

Misc.

We went overtime and ended up owing $1800 more to the crane company for a total of $6,800. I never thought it would be that high, but I'm glad that the house is here. We've had so many last minute expenses and we're finally learning to deal with surprises.

August 12, 2005 Some Quick Photos — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 08-12-2005 23:53 — 4 comment(s)

I hope to do a full update tomorrow. We are so bushed but here are some photos.

August 11, 2005 One Day Away — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 08-11-2005 18:02 — 9 comment(s) —

• Building

I saw the house for the first time!

The modules are here!

I just checked to see if the trucks had arrived in Castiac, a neighboring truckstop town. I didn't find them so I decided to get some gas and head home. As I pulled up to the pump I saw one of our modules and completely bypassed the gas station.

Here's what I saw:

Entry Module

I was immediately nauseated and nervous with excitement and I never thought I would react that way. In fact, almost two hours later, I am still nervous! I have to mention that in person the house is so beautiful, even without the siding, flooring, deck and paint.

I looked inside two of the modules and they look so terrific. I cannot wait for the set date tomorrow. I took the truck drivers back to the property for a dry run on the way back.

Our foundation was completed today as well. We found a local concrete contractor to fix the remaining anchor bolts. Talk about close timing!

More Photos:

Back of entry module

Pantry/Kitchen

Family Room Module

Bedroom Module- Window is covered

August 10, 2005 Two Days Away — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 08-10-2005 12:58 — 5 comment(s) —

• Building

The trucks left Provo this morning.

Set Crew

We had our set crew cancel their availability for Friday. Luckily, we were already in the midst of obtaining quotes from available set crews in Southern California. Because we've had so much trouble finding a set crew, we looked for backups just in case something like this happened. In the end, we hired the "set crew rockstar" that I mentioned in an earlier entry. I have to say that between the foundation and the set crew fiascos, we've learned how important it is to pay more for someone who is professional and experienced. Also... we were able to bump our budget up since we found an appraiser who is experienced with modular homes.

Set Day

I will use this entry to post information and pictures for the set date on Friday. The trucks just left the factory in Provo and should arrive in Val Verde Thursday evening. We're shooting to pick up the first module around 8 am Friday morning.

July 28 2005, Here we go again! — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 07-29-2005 00:13 — 3 comment(s) —

• Building
• Financing

Although a lot has happened in the weeks since my last post, I’ll try to keep this one relatively short.

Site Work

The septic system is almost completed. Here’s a picture of it before it was backfilled.

Nearly covered, an access pipe still needs to be installed. This will allow access for the "honey wagon" when it is full.

The leach lines are underneath that black fabric that protects dirt and debris from entering the leach lines. The leach line is just a perforated PVC pipe that rest on a bed of gravel to allow for drainage.

Delivery

The delivery of the modules will probably happen on 11th of August.

Here are some more photos of the modules:

A picture of two of our modules waiting to be delivered

The kitchen window that was redesigned at the last minute.

The front entry. The walls are primed and will be painted on site. That hole in the wall that has since been covered up is an access panel for the hydronic in-floor heating.

Foundation

The foundation is completed and not without its problems. To make a long story short, we had to fire the foundation contractor after the stem wall pour. He failed to show up to finish the job. We found an awesome carpenter with the help of Tianter General and he finished the sill plates and the remaining knee-wall in two days. I don’t seem to have a photo of the foundation but I will update and elaborate tomorrow. I think this is the most interesting aspect of our project currently since the sill plate is built differently in order to accept the modules without perfectly aligning the foundation anchor bolts with the modules… which are already built and in Utah!

I shouldn’t have said that the foundation is complete because we are still in the process of fixing many of the embedments that the foundation contractor misplaced. We’ve had to retrofit a few anchor bolts, cut out an extra foundation vent and we are now working on solving a new problem with the hold down straps. One strap was placed in the doorway of our pantry! It seems that the other straps weren’t measured (or measured at all?) and their locations vary from the plans as much as a couple of feet. We have a couple of weeks to sort it out with the help of Tianter General, which by the way is the foundation contractor that we really wanted to hire but were persuaded by a lower bidder.

Set Crew

We've had to find a new set crew. It has been incredibly challenging to find an available set crew in Southern California since summer is a very busy time for them. Usually, modular home manufacturers send their own set crew, so there aren’t too many companies who do modular home setting independently. A set crew is responsible for the groundwork (prepping, strapping, guiding, nailing the module) during a modular house set and their presence is necessary since the crane operator cannot do it on his (or her) own.

After calling scores of contractors (as well as crane companies for referrals) I found Sturdy Built in Thousand Oaks who were interested in helping out on our project. Although they are very busy for the duration of the summer, the owner promised to work with our GC to find a solution for us.

Sturdy Built offered to send their set crew foreman and a couple of their available workers, although they don’t have the manpower for a full set crew. They also invited us to observe a modular set next week, which I think will help illuminate the process. This is the perfect solution for us since it gives our team the knowledge and personnel to get the job done right. When we first got the bad news, our GC was certain that he wanted to handle the set crew himself anyway and we feel really good that we are now working toward a solution.

Money, again

We are again short and we have to have our project reappraised. I want to thank Marshall here at LiveModern for putting us in touch with Isaac Lassiter of Cutting Edge Homes who is helping to find an appraiser who is familiar with modular homes. We can only borrow 80% of the appraisal value and hopefully with a fair appraisal we’ll be able to unlock more money to complete the project.

We’ve been in contact with a lot of helpful people while we’ve been trying to sort out these problems and I feel very grateful for their knowledge. The very least I can do is link to their information.

It seems like we’re in the stage of a construction project when it’s very important to remain optimistic. I think it is really easy to despair, especially when it’s your own home. After reading through some of my old entries, I realize that nothing is unfixable and that we always have options. With some luck, we’ll have all these issues resolved within a few days and we’ll be ready to set the house!

July 7, 2005 The Stem Walls are Poured! — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 07-07-2005 16:00 — 12 comment(s) —

• Building

David managed to convice the plan checker and the inspector and we poured the concrete today in the nick of time.

David made a diagram last night of the new sill plates just to show the plan checker and inspector. They approved it on the condition that we added more fasteners to the sill plate. Our contractor said that the straps and anchor bolts now are "overkill" but I don't mind that we'll have a sturdy little house.

We're still trying to solidify the set date for the 15th which is a week from now. There is an issue with permits in Arizona. The authorities there don't like that we have an electrical panel attached on the outside of the house. I didn't have much time to talk to the factory about it since they were busy trying to solve the problem and find our set crew. They may have to stay out of Arizona entirely and just pass through Nevada but we'll end up paying a higher cost for the pilot cars.

July 6, 2005 Another Delay — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 07-06-2005 16:00 — 1 comment(s) —

• Building

This time the inspector held us up.

David here.

We're planning to pour the concrete tomorrow morning. When the inspector came to the site today he approved the formwork and embedments as they are now. However, when we told him about the second sill plate that we were planning to install, in order to provide a smooth bearing surface, he immediately became concerned because it wasn't on the plans and he thought it wouldn't be structurally sound. We tried to explain to him that because the shear panel connection is at the primary sill plate anyway, the second sill plate does not compromise the structure. I will say it's an annoyance to not have had it in the plans, it was just a verbal reccomendation from the factory and we didn't anticipate a problem.

So the engineer faxed me a short letter explaining how the second sill plate works, and it's now up to me to convince the plan checker to approve it first thing in the morning.

The county inspector basically said that they had the authority to force us to pick up the modules and fix it if they didn't like our plan. Needless to say, it will be crucial to get their authorization tomorrow. All this and I have the flu.

Here's a picture of the form work and embedments. It's a mixed blessing because the foundation is finally ready for pouring but we have to solve this problem first.

July 4, 2005 One week left & the foundation still isn’t poured. — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 07-04-2005 16:00 — 6 comment(s) —

• Building

We’ve had a dramatic week full of surprises and disappointment and we’re hoping to pull it together at the last minute.

The Foundation Contractor

I am going to have some difficulty recounting last week’s events since so much happened in a relatively short amount of time.

First of all, I should mention that the concrete for the stem wall will need to cure for a minimum of one week before the modules are set on it. We are nine days away from the scheduled set date and as of today the framing for the foundation isn’t completed. In my last entry I wrote about how frustrated we were with the foundation progress. The following Monday the workers showed up and started the interior wall. David and I were very happy that they showed up at all and we were starting to become a little more optimistic about reaching the deadline. I drove by the site every other hour and noticed that they left at 2:30.

The following day the workers failed to show up. We promptly telephoned the contractor and left several messages, which again, weren’t answered. This day of missed work was really the last straw and we quickly began to weigh alternative solutions. We wanted to fire him. In order to resolve the situation ASAP we gave him one last chance to redeem himself, while at the same time remaining firm in our position. Our GC’s opinion was that we should treat him “like he’s a very bad boy.” He composed a “notice to cure” on Tuesday which explained how we felt he has abandoned our project, that the construction of our home was complete and that we were giving him one last chance before canceling the contract. We required that he respond in writing by 5 PM Friday and sent a letter via Fed Ex and next day certified mail. Since we are short on time and money, the most ideal situation would be one in which he finished the work.

We didn’t hear from him on Wednesday or Thursday. We called our friend down the road (the one who dug our trenches) to come look at the foundation. He used to do foundation work, is trustworthy and licensed but wouldn’t be able to start until after the holiday weekend. We decided that it would be better to have him work on it later than never. We called up the factory and the crane operator to let them know that we might have to reschedule the delivery. The crane company can’t reschedule until the end of July so we we’re now looking at a possible 2-3 week delay.

David received a phone call from the foundation contractor on Friday morning. He was extremely apologetic and explained that he was out of town and didn’t know that our home’s construction was complete and was very concerned to find our letter when he arrived home. He implored to give him a second chance and promised to work all July 4th weekend. We agreed, if he would sign a contract addendum. The addendum stated that he “shall endeavor” to have all the remaining contract poured by Wednesday; the contractor promised that it would be poured by the Tuesday. Today is Monday and as I stated earlier, the framing isn’t complete and the embedments* aren’t in either. David called him this evening and explained his concern that the foundation wouldn’t be poured by tomorrow. The contractor said that he was going to the valley first thing in the morning to pick up the anchor bolts and straps, and that the inspector and the concrete were on call. Tomorrow will be tense no matter what happens and I am very skeptical that the concrete will poured. We are happy that we got the workers to work all weekend, including Sunday and the 4th of July. Incidentally, tomorrow is also the contracted completion date for the foundation.

It’s my opinion that being out of town is a poor excuse for not finishing a job on time. Nevertheless, I am very eager to move on and to overlook my anger over the circumstance. I feel that I am continuously blind to the positive end that will eventually come and that we’re just slugging it out for the sake of it. Sometimes it surprises me to look through all of our new fixtures for the house and realize that they, and our house will soon be part of our everyday lives.

*Vents, bolts, straps, etc. that need to be inserted in the forms before the concrete is poured.

Set Crew

Another huge problem cropped up last week. We had been attempting to get in touch with the set crew contractor to make sure our date was confirmed and also to let them know that our set date was in limbo. Without leaving any details, we eagerly awaited a response. By Friday we hadn’t heard from them and determined to get a response, I called and was disappointed when I was told that they didn’t have time for our project and that they were planning to give us a phone call. Naturally, I was irate and the phone call quickly took on a very uncivilized tone.

I promptly called the factory since I remembered them saying that if we couldn’t find anyone in L.A. to set the modules, they would fly a couple guys from Utah. I am very anxious to see if they are able to find someone to come to our rescue since it’s at the last minute. Sensing the set crew’s flakiness earlier, we called several set crew contractors with no luck and it is way too late to find anyone qualified in L.A. to do the job. At this point, we are not concerned about cost since we stand to lose more if we don’t have a set crew. Anyway, tomorrow will be very revealing and I feel very terrible about having to call on the factory for such a favor.

Oak Tree Obstacle

After measuring the tree and road again we have determined that there is just enough room for the tallest truck to pass if they use the wrong side of the road.

June 24, 2005 Transport Obstacle and Foundation Delays — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 06-24-2005 16:00 — 5 comment(s) —

• Building

Our foundation is nowhere near complete and we are now encountering an issue with transport accessibility.

Foundation Contractor

I am absolutely FED UP with the foundation contractor's laziness and I have been struggling to hold my temper. He didn't show up all last week and I am unsure that the foundation will be done in time. David left several messages which the contractor didn't return. I finally got permission to call the contractor and left a very stern message which he returned within minutes. He promised David that the stem wall would be poured on Wednesday, so much for that.

This week he sent two totally incompetent workers to do the form work. They worked for about 4 hours a day and without any supervision. They incorrectly measured for the stem walls. Since the contractor didn't show up to check their work, David checked it and showed them how to do it properly with wire string (it doesn't stretch like nylon), a large carpenter's square, a plumb bob and the Pythagorean theorem. I can't believe that these guys, who are technically professional foundation contractors, had to be shown how to do it by someone who has never done it before. I am furious that my husband has to wake up in the at the crack of dawn to do a job that we're paying someone else to do. It is really a hardship since David works full-time and often drives into L.A. for rehearsals after work, only to return at midnight.

I think it would have been easier if we contracted the foundation ourselves. It will get done one way or the other. He has until July 6th to complete the job or he will be in breach of contract. We've scheduled the septic installation on the 7th of July and we have a really tight schedule to get everything ready for the set day. I feel bad that I am pessimistic and angry about the foundation work so far. We didn't allow ourselves much leeway for error in our time schedule so we've stuck with the contractor instead of firing him and I think it's more stressful this way.

Here's a photo of the form work so far:

Oak Tree Obstacle

I noticed that there is a California Oak whose limb grows over the main access road to the property about a quarter mile from our site. California Oaks are a protected species and beside the fact that the tree is on someone's personal property, it would be very difficult to get a permit to prune the tree. The limb is very inflexible and I would guess over a hundred years old by itself, so I don't think we could move it out of the way. We need 15' clearance in height and the limb is 12' over the road. Pruning the Oak would not be my first choice since I think it would be costly, difficult and possibly unethical.

Fortunately, there is a side street and we are investigating the possibility of using this road. The problem is that the road is narrow, continually littered with cars and there may not be a large enough space to turn the trucks at the intersections. The Road Department has promised to help by issuing a permit to clear the road and supplying us with "No Parking, Tow Away" signs. We'll have to spend more time investigating this option.

Kitchen Window Redo

The kitchen window redesign needed to be changed again. The design I sent to the factory required 4 mullions and the window installer indicated that three mullions was the maximum without comprimising the structural integrity of the window group.

This is what we ended up with:

June 15, 2005 Pictures of Windows & Delivery Date — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 06-15-2005 16:00 — 0 comment(s) —

• Building

A couple of factory photos with the windows installed.

Factory Progress

The sheetrock is going up along with the roofing. Irontown has scheduled the final inspection for June 29th, which is two weeks from today. The final inspection is when the house is complete and the inspector approves their work. Once approval is issued, the house is ready to be tied down, braced and wrapped.

The modules were going to leave the factory the first Monday of June which would be on July the 4th. Every year on Independence Day, there is a lot of traffic on the I-5, as well as an obligitory brush fire, so it's been moved back a week. The modules will leave the factory on the 11th of July, they'll arrive in on the 12th and we can start setting them on the 13th. So July 13th looks like the tentative date.

Inside living room- We'll have to paint the mullion where it lies in between two tan windows on site.

Master Bathroom windows

Outside Bedroom Module

Foundation Contractor (again)

He hasn't showed up for work this week. David left a couple of messages for him that remain unanswered. We think he hasn't come to the site this week because we didn't pay him his second installment on the day of the footings pour. There was a bit of miscommunication on the contractor and David's part. David didn't realize it was "due" at the very moment the concrete was poured. Instead, he put in a draw for the following work day in anticipation for the impending installment. Anyway, I think that it is probably our fault but I wish he was more communicative.

Septic System

Since we have an extra week before the modules arrive, we're going to install the septic system as soon as the foundation is completed. We hope to hire the same guy who excavated our footings and cleared the property. He lives down the street from the property and he gets the job done at reasonable rates, on time and without incident. Eventhough we've found lower bids for the septic system, we're starting to see the value in having less people involved.

June 13 2005, Footings are in. — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 06-13-2005 16:00 — 4 comment(s) —

• Building

We're three weeks away from the big day. We poured our footings and now we're getting ready to finish the foundation by the end of next week.

Foundation

The footings were poured last Friday. As usual, it was accomplished with some amount of drama.

Last week we had trouble with the foundation contractor. First, he was delayed in ordering the rebar, then his generator broke. Instead of renting a generator or buying a new one right away, he decided not to show up to work and for two days his workers were waiting on the property with nothing to do. I am very grateful that David woke up early every morning to check on the progress or we wouldn’t have known what was going on. It’s pretty bad when the homeowner has to check on the contractor every day to make sure he shows up for work! David left a very stern message for him and told him that we expected the footings to be poured by that Friday; I wanted to fire him. Our trenches could collapse at any moment and we just didn’t have the time for more delays.

The next day, he showed up for work with a new generator and it happened to be the same day that the county inspector was there to approve the trenches. The concrete was ordered for the next day and we really wanted to fill the trenches before the weekend. I expected some problems to come up so I decided to show up as well just in case there was an errand that needed to be done. The inspector declined approval to pour based on two things: We needed an address sign in a second location (the gates covered up the address when they were ajar); and our approved set of plans did not indicate that our foundations would completed with two pours. It seems like a big detail to miss, but somehow we didn’t think of it.

David managed to get the engineer on the phone right away and convinced him to write an amendment to be attached to our approved set of plans. Then, he persuaded the plan checker to accept a fax from the engineer since it was urgent. After that, he called the inspector out again and he approved the footings a few hours before the concrete showed up. We put up a second sign and we were ready to roll.

Everything went smoothly with no cave-ins. Our footings required exactly 36 cubic yards of concrete, equal to 4 trucks. They roughed up the surface so that the stem wall concrete will hold onto the footings better.

June 22

This is the set date for the final inspection of our house. After that, it takes a week or two to tie up the house, package and brace it for transport. We’re busy trying to organize the details with the set crew and the crane. We’re also gathering all of our finish materials and I am becoming overwhelmed with the sheer volume of everything. I anticipate a month of hard work in July.

June 2, 2005 Footings, Window Fiasco, a Cave-in and the Set Crew Rock-Star. — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 06-02-2005 16:00 — 12 comment(s) —

• Building

We finished the excavation yesterday in the nick of time; our responsibility for the foundation is finished.

Excavation

We finished excavating the footings yesterday at 8pm. David took the afternoon off to assist the excavator with a shovel and also so he could clean out the sides of the trenches.

I was able to help a little while my parents watched Walter. David worked inside the trench, shoveling and leveling the bottom while using pruners to clip the roots on the side. We thought we wouldn’t have a problem with roots since the building pad was relatively free of vegetation when we bought the property but we were wrong. I used a hoe and rake to clean the edges; there is a lot of dirt that gets piled over the natural grade when you use a backhoe. My other job was to spot David if there was a cave-in. We reasoned that if the edges were cleaned off, at least there would be a clean edge for escape or rescue. Fortunately, nothing like that happened yesterday.

We had several cracks during the excavation that we had to brace with 2x4s. There was one that started at the beginning of the day so David and John, the backhoe operator, went down the street to John’s house to get a skill saw and some wood to brace the edge. When they got back, it was too late and the edge had caved-in. It took some time to clean out the trench after that.

We were also slowed down by many numerous cracks throughout the day that needed to be braced. There weren’t any other cave-ins and according to John, the excavator we did pretty well considering the soil is composed mainly of silt and because our footings are 6 feet deep. We saved $3,000 by hiring the excavator ourselves and helping out with the excavation, so I feel it was definitely worth it. We are also proud that two stringy musicians like us endured so much physical labor without being entirely pooped. I think we will also have a great sense of pride in the years to come that we helped with the foundation in addition to the many other things.

Window Problem

The factory has completed the plumbing, electrical, in-floor heating and the windows. I called a few days ago to check on progress and they told me that there was an issue with the kitchen window that they had been dealing with for the last week. Apparently they didn’t want to bother me with it since they thought it was something they could resolve on their own.

While the electrician was finishing the wiring in the kitchen he noticed that there was a code violation. The sink sits in the middle of an 8 ft window that is flush with the countertop. The building code dictates that there should be an outlet on both sides of the sink within two feet. There wasn’t any room to fit the outlet on the backsplash since it’s absent on that wall. Basically we had to shrink the window to 6 feet and reconfigure it. I came up with a solution and rendered it with the rest of the house just to make sure it looked okay.

It is vexing that this problem wasn’t caught in the many stages of development and permitting (with two agencies). The factory will have to rip out the installed windows and reframe for a smaller opening and reinstall the new windows. At least the problem was caught before our final on-site inspection, which would have been an expensive and timely fix.

Set Crew

It is amazing how many last-minute expenses are popping up. One surprise was finding out that we needed a set crew. I have to thank Ami McElroy, here at LiveModern, for advising me about this. On a side note, I feel like I really learned a lot from her quasi-live house set that was hosted here at LiveModern. I was a little confused when the crane operator asked me about a “set crew,” which I assumed meant a “stitch crew.”

A set crew is a group of about 6 guys who help the crane operator accurately set the house to the foundation. I received a referral from the crane operator for a contractor who worked with them often. I left several messages after faxing our project to his office and never received a phone call. This is obviously a specialized job and I wanted to hang on longer to get his quote even if it was a hassle. If all else failed the factory told me that they could fly three guys down to L.A. to set the house. Anyway, I was fed-up with waiting so I asked the crane company if they had another referral. I called some guy in San Bernardino who within hours quoted me $1000 for the crew and $500 for jacking up the house to retrieve the rigging straps, for a total of $1500. The quote was from a very experienced modular set-crew manager who has works with the crane company often so I was glad the quote was reasonable.

I also found out that we needed to Jack up the house during its last few inches of setting to retrieve the rigging straps. From what I understand, cutting the rigging straps, as was done in Ami’s case, is not the most orthodox method. The rigging straps that the crane operator uses are rated for multi-use and are very expensive and thick so they definitely want to save them. (It seems to me that the one-time use method is most convenient for the homeowner).

A few hours after I got a quote from the guy in San Bernardino the set-crew rock star called and quoted us $6000. He explained that he and his crew would need to maneuver the modules on the jacks to get the placement just right the day after the set. I didn’t tell him we got another quote but what I didn’t understand was why we needed a crane in the first place if they were going to spend a whole day maneuvering the modules in order to get them just right. Isn’t it the crane operator and set crew’s job to get the module placement right from the beginning? I only mention this incident because it has made me realize how important it is to ask questions, especially when you are inexperienced. Thankfully, we have the factory on our side and they have been incredibly helpful while we’ve been sorting this out.

May 30, 2005 Foundation work begins & the ultimate Ikea experience — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 05-30-2005 16:00 — 2 comment(s) —

• Building
• Permitting

We started our foundation excavation and got a headstart on ordering our finishing materials.

Foundation

We started excavating yesterday; it feels so good to have it started. There was a delay for two reasons. First we had to trim our Eucalyptus trees while the property was still accessible. It cost us $700 to have four large trees topped and pruned and we are very glad that we hired an experienced arborist and we think the trees look terrific. We needed to prune them in order to comply with our fuel modification plan. When the arborist examined the trees he explained to us that the trees had been topped in the past. Apparantly, once trees like Eucalyptus are topped they need to be topped continually or pruned regulary. He explained that it can be dangerous since the post-topped limbs grow tall and are not securely part of the main trunk and can fall. You learn something new everyday! We still need to do something with the leaves and branches. I am thinking about chipping and mulching it for landscaping.

The other delay was spent waiting for a 12" bucket to arrive from Oregon for our excavator's backhoe. 12" is not a very common size and we were thrilled that our excavator was willing to purchase a 12" bucket before our project starte. We chipped in for him as well.

We had a little informal groundbreaking ceremony yesterday. Click here for a short video.

First David re-marked and re-measured the chalk lines. Our chalk lines earlier were ruined from the tree work.

Then we worked with shovels yesterday and cleaned up the edges of the perimeter to facilitate the excavator's duties.

The next day (today) we started with the backhoe and leveled the pad so the crawlspace will also be level.

After that, it was time to dig the footings. David checked the depth with a laser level continually.

The footings on the west side are six feet deep and only 14" wide. The excavator's son, David and I dug cleaned out the edges with shovels during the excavation. We did a tremendous amount of physical labor today (and lately) and I felt so sorry for David because he was exhausted, dirty and sunburned (he missed some spots). I am tired too but I didn't do as much work as David since I had to stay home with Walter for a bit.

There is a precarious edge at one side of the excavation. It happens to be in the same location where the percolation test was performed. We shored it up and braced it, now we cross our fingers.

I am terrified of anyone going into the deepest part of the footings. The excavator's son spent some time in the deepest part, on the precarious side, cleaning up the bottom and the sides. I was very nervous while he was in there! He said that if it collapsed, "do me a favor and hit me in the head with a shovel." Needless to say, we are anxious to pour the concrete.

We completed 80% of the excavation and the remaining 20% will have to wait until Wednesday. After the excavation is complete, we leave everything up to the foundation contractor. Thursday the rebar will be dropped and the inspector will be called before the concrete is poured on Friday.

Unfortunately, I cannot be at the property until the footings are poured since Walter is always with me and I do not want him anywhere near the open footings. It's only for 4 days or so; perhaps I could use the rest.

Ikea

I described this as the "ultimate Ikea experience." I mean "ultimate" in a literal sense, defined as "of the greatest possible size or significance," I don't mean that it was fantastic or fun.

A couple of days ago I took a day-long trip to Ikea to pick up our order. I spent $10,000 and it felt a little strange to see such a high total on a cash register. We are very grateful to our friends who helped us out on Friday. I don't talk much about how it is to juggle the house project while taking care of our two year old son because I usually find a way to manage. However, I knew I couldn't bring Walter with me when we picked up a truckload of stuff at Ikea. Thankfully my friend Melody watched Walter all day while her husband Andy endured the long wait and backbreaking labor at Ikea with me.

Getting the order together was no easy task. For the last six months we have been working with their in-house furnishing consultants who have helped us facilitate the order. I didn't ask for much design advice and even then, the order took 6 months to organize. Despite the fact that they are incredibly busy, I feel like they gave a lot of attention to our project. They were able to source almost everything in our order which I find amazing since whenever I shop at Ikea, I can only find about 50% of what I want by the time I get to the warehouse.

We received an invoice from Ikea on Monday and had only four days to get the money to them before our reservation orders expired. We carefully shepherded the check from the title company to ensure that the check was in by Friday. In addition to meeting Ikea's deadline we had several conditions to fulfill in order for them to accept the check from the title company. We needed a letter from the title company on their letterhead stating that I was authorized to purchase the items and basically explaining the situation. They also wanted a credit card for security and needed to verify funds at the store. Actually, this was all very easy and we had no problem when we went to the cash manager at Ikea for the approval.

After that, it took 4 hours (!) for them to ring me up. Although booking orders were prepared in advance, when it came time to ring them up, their computers crashed. Long story short, it took 4 hours to rectify the problem.

Fortunately, the home furnishing consultants pulled all the self serve items for us in advance. After that it took 2 hours of waiting for the remainder of our items to get pulled from the back. Loading the stuff was a tremendous effort but we managed without any broken bones or cabinetry. Our U-Haul truck was parked in the 20 minute loading area for 8 hours, thankfully nobody said anything.

All the waiting and effort was worth it. I am very pleased with everything that we ordered and am confident that they will look terrific in our new home.

We're storing everything until the house arrives and we are still expecting our kitchen delivery to arrive in a few weeks.

A Volunteer?

A couple of blog entries ago there were some comments regarding live streaming video during our set. I have not been able to find someone locally to do this for me and I don't have the time to look further.

I have an alternative however. I have a friend who can be on site with a camera phone during the set. In that case, I would need someone to receive and post to Live Modern. Is anyone willing to do this for me?

Now I am going to take some Benadryl for my numerous mosquito bites and consequently pass out. Thank you.

May 22, 2005 A Quick Update — by Sara R. Sage — posted on 05-22-2005 16:00 — 1 comment(s) —

• Building
• Furnishing

We laid out the foundation lines today. Excavation will take place this Wednesday.

Foundation

We officially started the foundation today. David and my father marked the excavation lines with string and chalk.

The footing depths won't be dug until Wednesday. We hired a guy to top off & trim our Eucalyptus trees. This way he and the trees will be out of the way when we do the foundation.

We also have another foundation contractor. Our GC ran into a foundation contractor and invited him to bid on our project. He came in at $20,000 which was $4000 lower than our last bid. We're also saving another $3500 by hiring the excavator ourselves. The extra money will give us some breathing room.

Total cost of foundation: $16,500

A marked improvement over our $27,000 bids last month.

Fixtures

We're about a week or two away from receiving our Ikea order, our flooring and other miscellaneous fixtures. There are still more items that w