Morningside Renovation

Our Journey Through The Renovation Process Of Our Future "Forever Home" In Morningside (Atlanta,GA)

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Already Over Budget

Good news, our revised plans were submitted to the city today (a day later than we were told) so hopefully this holdup won’t last too long.  Still trying to get use to the residential construction world, it seems as if it’s more of a “it’ll get done when it gets done” mentality, a little different from what Julie and I are used to.

Get this, we were informed today that we’re already $2,000 over budget on cabinetry.    We haven’t even picked out our cabinets nor have we added any additional linear feet.  GC said that we will have to get creative on the kitchen cabinets; meaning get cheaper cabinets or we have to come out-of-pocket to get the quality of cabinets which were originally budgeted. 

How could this happen?  Oh, it seems our GC forgot to include the cabinetry in what is to be an office.  But those were in the original drawings and we’ve talked about them 100 times and you even stated in an email that you included them?  And didn’t we just talk about surprises?  A big reason why I wish we had gone over the plans and budget in more detail a week ago instead of being rushed through it.  Of course I asked him to double-check everything again to make sure that there are no additional surprises.

I just wonder if this extra expense should be our responsibility?  I’m thinking no and Hell No!


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Not Sure What to Think

Ok, by now you can probably tell that I’m getting a little antsy about how everything has gone up to this point… as well as us getting in on time.  Originally we were supposed to be in our house by May, then June and now possibly July… so much for our July 4th party. 

One problem, per the agreement with our bank it needs to be completed by mid-July.  I’m sure they’ll be amenable to modifying the original agreement (more $$) but still…  I mentioned it to our GC and he says that “we’re on schedule” and that we should be in before our deadline. 

Trying really hard to have confidence, really really hard


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Positive Attitude

Ok, I’m trying to put the developments from the last few days behind me and focus on the big picture; the revised plans have been resubmitted to the City Planning Department so my hope is that it won’t be another 4 week delay.   We need to get this going, our GC hasn’t been very responsive and moving in by June is looking more doubtful – it kills me to see that nothing is happening at the house – it’s just sitting there with nothing be done.

Plans are to be submitted tomorrow, per our GC, so my focus needs to be on the overall objective and trying to keep Julie’s spirits up after all of the recent setbacks and delays.


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We Shall See

I met with our GC today at my office.  I’m hopeful that something was accomplished and that we’re on the same page however he didn’t take any notes and said a few times that “we’ll figure it out when we get to it” and that he’ll “give us plenty of time” with regards to advance notice in making decisions/selections. He didn’t stay very long, he said that he had another commitment.  He also couldn’t give me any sort of schedule or timeline, however I did give him a copy of the plans which Julie and I had marked up.  We shall see but I’m not feeling too good about it, just skeptical and disappointed – really wish that I could have discussed everything in more detail and not felt like I was under a time constraint or that we were such a bother.  Confused is probably also an accurate feeling, maybe I’m overreacting and this is how it’s handled with residential construction – but I sort of feel like we’re being held hostage. 

As for my concerns with the depth of the grading, he said that it was fine, still doesn’t make sense to me but then again I’ve never built a house before.  Guess that I’ll be doing some research on Renovator’s Place and Fine Homebuilding.  And thankfully I have a lot of wood to split, great way to take out my frustrations.


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Kitchen Plans

We received the first draft of our kitchen layout today.  Pretty impressive but I have a few questions with regards to the refrigerator door opening up into a doorway as well as the kitchen sink being under a “window” that is nonexistent.  Never thought that I would, but I actually bought the most recent copy of Kitchen and Bath Ideas on the way home from work, hope this isn’t a prelude as to what’s to come of me.


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Appliances

We were just informed today that we need to have our appliances selected within the next 30 days so that they can have the proper dimensions to be able to accurately layout the kitchen.  That’s a lot to decide in such a short period of time.  Julie traditionally goes for the aesthetics however I want something that’s going to last and standup to the rigors of 2 boys – my hope is that we’ll find a happy middle ground.  So much to do; just subscribed to Consumer Reports and we’re planning to visit Builder Specialties as well as Ferguson‘s this weekend.


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A Little Anxious

Ok, I’m probably overreacting but I’m feeling a little anxious.  We’re 3 1/2 months away from the projected move-in date and a hammer hasn’t even been swung yet. 

So I asked our GC for a schedule and I was quickly informed that they don’t do that in residential construction, it was as if he found it funny that I would even ask.  He even stated that “he hasn’t lost a house yet” and that there are way too many variables.  That goes totally against my wife and my personality but what can you do?  He’s calm, the designers calm, they’ve done this before – Julie and I will have to be more disciplined with our patience.  But I still can’t help but think “what comes next”?


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Demo is Almost Done

Our GC sent us an email this morning letting us know that the first stage of demo will be completed today and that his crew will start grading for the foundation tomorrow.  He hasn’t yet been able to nail down when they’ll dig for the footings – had to look that one up www.finehomebuilding.com – great site for those that don’t know (me included).  Moving forward though, we seem to be a little behind schedule but he says we can easily make that up, depending upon the weather.