Final Inspection (Day 538)

On Monday afternoon, after the ceremonial dance of the inspectors (when is he coming, did I miss him, will he make it today), ours showed up at 4 pm. Apparently only 2 of 3 inspectors were on duty Monday, which generally more requests than other days of the week. This is because any requests called in between Friday and Sunday will be scheduled for Monday. Nevertheless, he came and he approved. It was sort of casual. Jim (the inspector) strolled through the house, asked a few questions, said it looked good and with the stroke of a pen approved our house for occupancy. We still had to get the certificate from the county, but we're legal of live there now—538 days after breaking ground (Oct. 25, 2008) and about twice as long as Kala Point thought it should take anyone to build a house. Contractors yes, home owner/builders no. I suspect we waisted a few months of the 18, but there was no way we could have even finished it in a year unless we were strictly subbing everything out. Here is the list of major chores we did in building our house (in chronological order)

WHAT WE'LL HAVE DONE AT MOVE IN TIME
Staked out the house and marked all trees for felling
Installed basement and perimeter drains, and sump pump (in basement)
Laid 2300 ft of Pex tubing in the Warmboard, another 1000 ft upstairs for do it yourself radiant
Installed all the drain pipe (ABS) and fresh water pipe (Pex) in the entire house
Laid main lines for electrical, water, cable, and phone (in ditches)
Drilled studs and pulled all the wire in the house for electrical
Installed all the lighting (except 4 of 6 exterior) fixtures
Installed all the receptacles and a few light switches
Strung and wired all low-voltage circuits (TV, computer, phone, and cable)
Hung about half of the soffit (T&G cedar)
Hung all the exterior window and door trim (36 units)
Hand dipped about 5000 shingles (Nancy) and I sprayed another 2500 for exterior
Painted all the facia, soffit, window and door trim
Spray painted the interior of the garage and man cave
Finished all the interior fir window trim with brushing lacquer (Nancy)
Cut and finished about half of the other window and door trim
Helped mount the kitchen and pantry cabinets (about 35 units)
Mounted all mudroom cabinets (6 units)
Laid the cork tile in the pantry
Mounted 40 feet of maple butcher block counter tops in pantry and mudroom
Cut and laid tile in the kitchen, guest bath, sauna, and mudroom
Cut and laid tile in the master bath
Cut and laid tile in the master shower, including travertine shelves from polished slab remnant
Built door thresholds (4) to match hardwood floors
Put up American Clay plaster in great room (green) and dining room (gold)
Helped with the crown molding on the kitchen cabinets
Painted and mounted all the paint-grade trim and baseboard
Mounted all the fir baseboard
Installed all interior lock sets (20)
Installed all the appliances (except propane hookup to counter top range)

STILL TO DO (from now to who knows when)

1. Complete the upstairs bedroom; shower, tub, cabinets, toilet, sinks, ceramic tile and hardwood flooring, and base trim, as well as painting of trim (most of upstairs).
2. Carpet the stairs and closets.
3. Build cabinets (built in) and mantle in the den.
4. Build the mantle and hearth in the living room, plus add rock to that wall .
5. Complete the sauna and shower in guest bathroom (first floor).
5. Put down some sort of flooring in the man cave and add base trim.
6. Build cabinets and table in the wine cellar.
7. Complete the landscaping.
8. Build my Pygmy kayak.
9. Take a nice vacation.


THINGS WE PAID FOR (aka the "heavy lifting")

Tree clearing, excavation, and grading
Foundation and slabs, forming and pouring
Framing, installing windows, and 5 exterior doors
Insulating
Drywall and painting interior (primer and final coat)
Cabinets (purchased assembled and delivered to site)
Hardwood flooring on first floor (red birch, tung oil finish)
Crown molding in kitchen

All in all, I suspect that we saved about 25 percent by being our own contractor. Of this, the majority was from our labor (15%) and the remainder (10%) was from doing our own contracting and researching/purchasing of supplies. We avoided subcontractor markups on materials and appliances by doing this ourselves, using the internet for some lighting fixtures, all the cabinet hardware, Pex supplies, and other hard to find items.