Self-construction of our house, the big start

By Blue Latte Blog

Entrance 1 - May 24 to June 15, at a snail's pace

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already know that my boyfriend and I are starting the self-build project for our house. It is not a small project and as it is our first house, I wanted to share our journey with you.

How is it going to build in times of a pandemic? How is it going? What are the problems ? Our good and bad moves. In short, I share everything about the project and I bring you with me from the beginning to the end of it!

It interests you ? Be part of the adventure! I will publish one article per month.

Psst. For insights into what's going on with the house every day, follow me on Instagram, I post all updates on it.

Self build

So how did we come to build a house? It's a very big project, especially for a first house you will tell me. Well, my boyfriend already has a lot of experience in real estate since he is a real estate investor and appraiser. It's not his first project, but I am!

Last summer, he and his business partner renovated a house with the aim of selling it and making a little profit. What's good is that this house came with a vacant lot right next to it! At first the plan was to sell the land too, but in the end we decided to build.

Easy decision, the land is already paid for and well located. The house will be semi-detached. We will live on one side and my boyfriend's business partner will live on the other. So it's a joint project.

As you know, I love nature, I miss it a lot with my move to town. I really am a country girl. The house is set back from the city surrounded by trees, it's really great!

So here it is, the decision was made last fall and since then we have been in the organization of all this. Self-building our house means that we don't have a project manager to manage everything. We are in charge of all the coordination and the choice of contractors. Fortunately, my boyfriend and his partner have their contacts.

The organization of the construction went fairly well. We had a little trouble with the surveying, but all in all, the legal preparation and the choice of contractors went very well! If you want me to give you the details on the preparation of our self-construction (plans, financing, choice of contractors, etc.), let me know in pm on Instagram.

So, it was finally on May 24 that it officially started. Let me tell you how it goes so far.

At a snail's pace...

Well, so far it's progressing really slowly! I would have liked to tell you that the foundation is poured and that we have already reached the frame, but that is not the case at all. The excavation company is not even close to finishing digging.

Initially it was supposed to be a 2 or 3 day job… three weeks later we are still at it. Not because it is more complicated than expected, it is rather because the worker takes his time. Despite everything we can tell him, he is moving at a snail's pace.

Here comes the first difficulty of not having a project manager. We live 40 minutes drive from the field and we work all day. That only leaves us evenings and weekends to go and do our visits, and the worker has already left by that time.

So there you have it, a lot of exchanges between us and this company that don't yield much. It's quite frustrating. I would say that the project is not starting very well, we are already several weeks late.

But OK ! These are things that happen, we try to remain optimistic. The goal is for the framework to be started by the beginning of July. I'll keep you posted on Instagram...

Hoping that I will have more to share with you next month.