Another Meeting with the Draftsman

Paul and I met with our draftsman on Monday. We told him what changes we wanted to make and he is going to work to on them. He said he should have plans for us in two weeks.

My step-father, Eddy, who you will hear more about, sent me a home design software. The software had a floor plan similar to our downstairs plan, but with more closets. We made a small change to the total square footage, bringing it to 930 sq. ft. The plan we are going to start out with is going to look something like this:

This Weekend: Do Something Good

This weekend I will be walking in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in St. Thomas. Although I am walking to support all of those who have and are fighting cancer, I will also be trying to encourage people to register for the Bone Marrow registry. I have a personal interest in this cause because in April of this year, Paul's cousin Khephra Nielsen was diagnosed with Leukemia. Khephra is currently looking for a bone marrow transplant donor to save her life. Khephra's family and friends are organizing bone marrow drives in St. Croix and St. Thomas. The St. Croix drive started today and will continue tomorrow. The St. Thomas drive will be held at Tutu Park Mall from 10am-5pm on Saturday, July 18th.

Michael's Neverland

I'm still can't believe Michael Jackson is gone forever. It feels like its just another one of his headline grabbing stunts.

Take a look at these Neverland Ranch pictures I found on the BBC's website:

Neverland Valley Ranch is in Santa Barbara County California and is over 2,800 acres. In 1988, Michael Jackson opened a private amusement park on the property. The park had a theme park with a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, zipper, spider, sea dragon, wave swinger, super slide, kiddie roller coaster and bumper cars. The park also had a zoo. The property was named Neverland after the fantasy island in the story of Peter Pan.

Making Room

After we got back from St. John, Paul and I decided to go to the land and cut down some trees. We are hoping that it will save time and money when the land gets excavated. Paul learned to use a chain saw 10 minutes before we went up to the land. Check him out:

I don't know what he did, but the chain came off the saw within about 10 minutes of cutting down trees. No, he isn't very handy, but I love him

The Other Contractor, "Joe"

So the other contractor (lets call him "Joe") we were hoping to work with is not impressing us right now. We have been waiting for over two weeks to hear back from him. Paul left him messages two Sundays and Mondays ago, after having spoken to him on the prior Friday. He did not respond. Then Paul and I went to beach with a friend of ours who is also a friend Joe's and I mentioned to her that we hadn't heard from Joe. She said she was really surprised, especially since he just finished a job and doesn't have anything else lined up. Then, Monday night I received an email from Joe, letting me know that he is working on the estimate and would be back in touch. I called Joe on Tuesday afternoon and asked him to call me back, but I haven't heard back. I think our friend from the beach got in touch with Joe. Paul and I don't want to have to chase a contractor.

We Saw One Contractor's Work

Today Paul and I went to St. John to meet with Mr. Wheatley of Caribbean Affordable Housing Company. He took us to see a house that he is completing there. On our way to the house, we saw these guys:
Yes, we do have deer in the Virgin Islands. At least on St. Thomas and St. John. I don't know if there are any on St. Croix. Mr. Wheatley's friend told us that they were brought to the islands some time ago for people to hunt.

Back to the house... the house appeared to be well constructed. The insulated concrete roofing that Mr. Wheatley used for the house's storage area did keep the area cool. The owner of the house is an artist and did some really neat paintings on the concrete floors. I wish I had pictures. Mr. Wheatley has some pictures of the house linked to his site: http://www.caribaffordablehousing.com/cahc_pictures.php

On the way back from to the ferry, Mr. Wheatley said that he was working on our estimate and that he expected it to be lower than what he originally told us. Yippee!!

Not the First

The TayMic Harris Blog chronicled the construction of their "dream home."

http://taymic.blogspot.com/

This house was finished in September 2008. The house was built in Massachusetts, which is very far away from where I am. The house was built in a very different way than mine will be built: it is made of wood, has a chimney and does not appear to have a cistern. Although the construction is very different from what mine will be, it provides great inspiration.

Rooms I Love

Remember DAC-ART? I found these great deck pictures on http://www.desiretoinspire.net/. It looks like DAC-ART, or something like it. The walls are so beautiful. Looking at these pictures make me really want a DAC-ART house.

Funky Design Ideas

So, would you live here? I found these funky houses at:
http://dornob.com/radical-redesigns-bridge-to-home-building-conversions/

How creative should home design be? I'm not this bold, but I like looking at the pics.

More Pictures of Our Land

Another Waiting Game

So, we spoke to Mr. Wheatley from Caribbean Affordable Housing Company about his prices and general contractor services. Now, we are waiting to hear from the original general contractor we were hoping to work with. Paul went to school with and grew up with the general contractor's son and the general contractor said he would try to give us a good deal on building the house, which sounded great.

A few months ago the general contractor came to the land and spoke to us about some design ideas. But we have sent him several emails since and haven't heard back about any of them. Paul spoke to him on Friday to let him know that we were sending him a copy of the rough floor plans and would be waiting to hear back from him with a rough estimate the next day. It is now Wednesday, Paul left two message for him and we haven't heard anything yet. I am not thrilled about this. If we don't hear anything by today we might have to move on. This isn't a good way to start a business relationship.

If he needs more time, that's fine, but he could at least call to say that.

Affordable Housing?!

So, Paul and I met with Mr. Wheatley the owner of the Caribbean Affordable Housing Company. Our loan representative recommended the company. Our loan representative said they start at about $125/sq ft (this is really low in the St. Thomas). Mr. Wheatley gave us a rough estimate of what it would cost to build the downstairs and the cistern. I think its going to be more than $125/sq ft. But, we can reduce the cost by buying some of our own supplies and supplying some of our own labor.

The Caribbean Affordable Housing Company uses poured concrete instead of concrete blocks. So, if we do use them we will have to get our floor plans adjusted. However, pouring concrete makes building less labor intensive and faster.

We are waiting to hear back from the other contractor we spoke to before. His son grew up with Paul. We are hoping to get a good price from him. Hopefully, we will get a call from him today. If we don't hear back from him soon, we may have to move on.

First Draft Floor Plans

We are going to get floor plans for both the upstairs and downstairs. However, as previously mentioned, we are probably going to start by just building the two bedroom downstairs apartment. We are thinking that it makes the most financial sense to build the downstairs and live there for a few years. Then when we have some more money, we will add on the three bedroom upstairs.

This is the downstairs floor plan. We are probably going to make a little larger, add closets and remove some of the windows.
We are also going to make some changes to the upstairs floor plan: adding closets, doors and deck space.

All Ours

We closed on our land today. Hooray! We spent about an hour and a half at Scotiabank signing papers and waiting for photocopies, and now we are land owners.