Friday, September 21, 2007
We have been working on our home non-stop for the last month in addition to our full time jobs. We are both exhausted but it will all be worth it and we are proud to say that we put that siding up, painted it all, built the deck, installed the flooringthe list goes on and on. They dont call it Sweat Equity for nothing.
-Also check out my helpful painting tips
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 11:21 AM |
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Friday, August 24, 2007
Being Flexible through this process can make things move smothly and keep the stress level down for everyone but remember to set your limits, do your homework and only bend so far. You are the one who has to live with it.
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 12:22 PM |
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Wow things are happening really fast. After almost a full year of planning and preparation I am shocked at how fast it is all coming together. We broke ground less than one month ago and we have a fully framed two story home. Soon we will start doing some of the work ourselves to earn some sweat equity. We will be doing all of the siding and some of the roofing and plumbing. We will also be insulating, painting, installing flooring, trim, cabinets, and fixtures with the help of generous friends and family. From here on out the schedule will depend greatly on the pace of our work. So it is go time.
Building our own home and selling our current home have been more of a strain than we had expected and it was wearing us down. We decided to get away from it all and skip town for a week...
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 2:55 PM |
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Monday, June 18, 2007
Since we first broke ground the amount of communication beween Jon and I and our builder has gone from 1-2 times / week to at least 2-3 times / day. All of this communication needs to be managed in order to keep everyone up to speed and moving ahead. I have found a few simple tools to help me do this.
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 10:29 AM |
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Thursday, April 26, 2007
Just a few tips from the "School of Hard Knocks"
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 11:47 AM |
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Friday, April 06, 2007
Corral
(transitive verb): to gather together and take control of people or things.
Tame
(adjective): changed from a wild or uncultivated state to one suitable for domestic use or life.
At the moment that we decided to build our home I transformed into a sponge for ideas. My growing databank of unmanaged thoughts and ideas quickly led to a total data overload and we hadn't even started building. I knew I needed to step back and establish some way to manage it all, organize it, distill it into useful data. So I decided to start compiling an idea book that I could dump all of these thoughts in and free up a bit of memory, at least enough to maintain those involuntary functions like breathing and blinking.
First I bought a nice new 3 ring binder and a box of 100 sheet protectors (great investment if you ask me) and rounded up some copy paper, double sided tape and scissors. Then I...
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 12:20 PM |
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Thursday, March 22, 2007
So now that we have our finished floor plans in hand, the cost break down sheet and the signed contract with IPH Tony has ordered the appraisal. From what I understand the appraiser looks at the plans, cost breakdown and the site to determine the total value when it is completed. We are eligible to borrow up to 80% of the appraised value so higher is better. That doesnt necessarily mean we are qualified to borrow that amount.
We got word that our appraisal came in at $350K, Wow!!! 80% of that is 280K but we are hoping to keep our building costs under 200K in order to keep our monthly payments reasonable. The total cost breakdown had me concerned at first but some of the estimates are coming in lower than expected and the breakdown includes the market rates for all of the work we are going to do (which should be much less...
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 3:54 PM |
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Monday, March 12, 2007
About four months ago we jumped back into the home construction game with a new understanding of building costs. Read more on how we selected a builder and the perfect floor plan and managed to stay within our budget.
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 10:48 AM |
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Monday, March 05, 2007
I am happy to present a brief glimpse into the life of a happily married couple as first time home owner / builders and their very first experience in the home construction arena. Lets just say they have the scars to prove it.
| Posted by Sarah Pokorney at 4:15 PM |
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