Homeowner’s Blog about Home improvement.
Categories: Coral Gables, Life & Style, Real Estate News
hiHOMEOWNER’S BLOG: Earth Date 08.0409.00
Yesterday my office manager asked me if I was going ahead with my home improvements. I told her yes, to which she asked me why I’ve stopped blogging about it–I didn’t realize she was following the progress through my blog. Remember in previous blogs I said that the permit process is a SSSSSLLLLLLLOOOOOOWWWWW process - it is as exciting as watching paint dry. That’s the reason, I’ve not written much.
Last Friday I receive the Septic Tank permit from the Florida Health Department - now I can resubmit the revised drawings to the City of Coral Gables. I also received a price for the new septic tank. Last year when I first inquired, I was quoted around $8000. I just received a written quote for $5400 and an indication that are willing to negotiate. Good start, but I don’t expect that will happen with all trades.
I asked an AC contractor to review the AC drawings and he told me that the AC system was over-designed. The main house was designed with a split system (one 1 1/2 ton unit that covers a two bedroom wing and one 4 ton unit that covers the rest of the house, including the master suite). I also have a detached pool house with a 1 1/2 ton central unit that was also about 50% bigger than needed — but that was the smallest central unit available.
So we changed the pool house unit to a 1 ton, ductless mini-split system. We are also changed the main house to one 4 ton Ultra High Efficiency central unit with programmable thermostat — a reduction of 24,000 BTU of cooling and at about 8500 watts of heating. The new units will be 17 SEER or higher with variable speed fans. The highest efficiency ratio available on a residential Central AC at this time is 19.50 SEER. The mini-splits can be as high as 21 SEER. But I will get the best value to cost ratio at about 17 SEER. We also have ceiling fans in all rooms to reduce our energy use.
A lot of people these days look for multi-zone AC systems in their homes, however as you may see that is not always the best, most efficient or least expensive solution. An over designed AC system in South Florida that can freeze your nose in 15 minutes can result in mold and mildew - so it is better to under design.
With those decisions made, the Health Dept. permit and City comments in hand, I now have the drafts-person and the structural engineers working on the revisions to the construction drawings. Hopefully when I resubmit to the City I will get the permit - but I am not holding my breath.
Once I complete the permit process, the pace will pick up. Then comes the negotiation phase and the contract phase. From that point on our lives will make a drastic change. At this point we are planning to phase construction, so we can stay living in our home. If it works, it will save us about $25,000 in living expenses. I expect we will start the construction phase in about 4 to 6 weeks.
The construction phase is all about managing money. Construction moves at the speed of money - as long as you pay they keep moving. By the same token it is also controlled by money - if contractor’s payments get too far ahead of his progress, you lose control. This brings to mind a situation I witnessed years ago. A young professional couple were interviewing several contractors to build their dream home. One question they asked every contractor was, “what’s your main objective for building our house?” Most contractors gave them a sales pitch about quality and craftsmanship and fulfilling their dreams, etc. However one contractor with a straight face said, “my main objective is to transfer as much money as possible from your bank account into my bank account and make you happy while am doing it.” Surprisingly enough they hired that contractor because he was the only truthful one in the bunch. Once you know each other’s objective, it is easy to work together.
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Also feel free to check us out on our blog @ http://www.bidrealm.wordpress.com. I hope your project goes well, and thanks for the great blog. Please feel free to tell us what you think. We greatly appreciate your feedback.
Lorenzo Dickerson
President/Co-founder
Bidrealm.NET Inc.