Status Report- What Earth Change Permit?

So, I haven't written anything in a while. The truth is I get tired about telling you about how things aren't going how they are supposed to. Being off schedule is really frustrating for me, Paul and our relationship. Every hiccup we encounter is so upsetting and makes me wonder if I should just give up on building. I wonder if all of the hiccups are some sort of sign. Right now we are still planning on building, but I am doing so with great uncertainty.

So where are we?

We decided to stick with the downstairs apart. Although we got a great quote for the upstairs from Caribbean Affordable Housing Company (CAHC), I don't want to be stressed about making my mortgage payments, so I think we will stick with the downstairs for now and plan to build the upstairs in a few years.

We don't have an Earth Change permit yet. Paul called the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) earlier this week and they said they had no record of our application. I was in shock. I called the draftsman, who was supposed to have filed the application and he said he would look for the receipt. He emailed me the receipt yesterday. It is dated 9/21/09. So, Paul is going to take the receipt copy down to DPNR and see what is going on. I am going to keep my fingers crossed that they say "oh yeah, we have been holding your permit for you here. You can take it with you now. Sorry we never contacted you. We'll make it up to you by rushing your building permit." A girl can dream can't she?!

Mr. Wheatley from CAHC, said he needs to make some changes to the plans, to prevent having to get change orders approved by DPNR after we start building. I told the draftsman and he said we can meet in January to make the changes. I hope that we get all the changes done by the end of January and we are able to file our building permit application then.

I'll be back soon.

Status Report

Contractor Estimate
Is it us? So, we were expecting to get a final estimate from Caribbean Affordable Housing Company several weeks ago, but Mr. Wheatley seems to be MIA. I got in touch with him a week after he said the estimate would be ready and he said he was working on it and would get back to me. I think he said he needed another week. Several weeks later and no word. I tried emailing him, but haven't heard back. It is really weird because he was so reliable in the past. I hope nothing has happened to him. I contacted another contractor who I had spoken to before and he is working on a bid. He said we should have his bid by early next week. We are also planning on contacting a few more contractors next week for more estimates.

Land Clearing Permit
We are still waiting for our land clearing permit. The permit was submitted in mid-September, and we were expecting to get our permit within 4 weeks. We heard that the permit process was slow, but we didn't know it would take this long.

This is really an exhausting process and we haven't even really begun. Aaaargh!

We Got a Rough Estimate from CAHC

So, we got a rough estimate from Caribbean Affordable Housing Co. (CAHC). The estimate did not include things Paul and I said we would try to supply: electrical and plumbing supplies, electrical labor, window & door supplies & labor, clearing the land, kitchen supplies & labor and flooring.

Paul and I have decided to go with CAHC. However, we are still going to need a final estimate (after we get the final floor plans) before we sign a contract. We asked Mr. Wheatley of CAHC, to give us a complete estimate, as if he were going to do all the work and provide the materials. That way we can determine if it will be worth our while to get our own supplies and supply our own labor.

Side Note: We haven't heard from Joe. We ran into his wife at a dinner over the weekend and she seemed surprised he hasn't called. Oh well, we can't keep waiting around for him. He either wants the job or not. That is something I have to give Mr. Wheatley much props for, he has been on it.

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!!

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.