We missed a major deadline last Friday,
which in reality had no chance of ever being met.
In order to meet my prescribed
schedule (get dry before Sept 30), I had identified Friday the 8th of March as the day I needed to apply
for permits. I had allowed 4 weeks for
the permit process and anticipated starting to dismantle the existing dwelling
in mid April.
A visit to the District Hall on
Friday identified that this schedule was unrealistic on many fronts and will
need to be completely rethought. Up until this point, I have had this naive
assumption that everything would just fall into place as I progressed through
the planning and build process. I was counting on good karma to be by my side
and pave all the paths through the myriad of steps leading up to and through
the build.
Well, it seems I have been
optimistic on a laughable scale.
Things turned south the first time
back in September of 2011 when I found out the District was not adopting
similar measures, as surrounding municipalities have, to promote energy-efficient building
envelopes (more on this in a separate post). I should have clued in then,
that this would not be ‘easy’. This led
to a 1-year hiatus from active design while I pondered the way forward and
advanced my knowledge in the science of building enclosures. In September of 2012, I restarted the design
with a goal to reduce footprint and harvest as much solar energy as practical
for my region and lot. I have put
considerable effort into finalizing this design over the last 6 months ramping
up over the last two months to 'full time' in order to complete the 3D model and 2D plans in time for this week’s permit
application (something I was generally successful in doing).
But then a string of current
setbacks made this timeframe impossible to meet, starting with the structural
engineering which I had assumed would be straightforward and quick. Earlier last week I had to part ways with the
initial structural engineer I had chosen for the project. Within the course of our first real day of
activity on the design, it became clear that he was not the right person for
the job. I needed someone familiar with
Insulated Concrete Foundations (ICF) and someone who was proficient with Part 9
construction of the building code and could think outside the box, because this
is a fairly innovative design that will not have been seen by many people. It became clear pretty quickly that neither
of these needs was going to be filled by my original selection, and we both
agreed that this was not the right project for him. I had learned long ago to go with my gut when
working with people, and was relieved at how quickly this situation came to a
resolution. Recently, I had witnessed a
friend's build, where a gut feeling was put aside by them in selecting an
architect, and that decision plagued the entire build, which further reinforced
my conviction. I vowed that I would not
repeat this experience.
This left me with under a week to
find an engineer and complete the structural design so that I could still
submit for permits 'on time'. This turned into the second major roadblock as I
was unable to find any engineers
familiar with ICF that were available on short notice. This has been compounded by a lawsuit
currently in the works (to the tune of $1M) involving an ICF project in the
Lower Mainland where the dwelling had to be torn down after construction due to
a faulty ICF foundation installation.
News of this lawsuit is spreading across the engineering community and I
spoke with two engineers this last week who no longer design in ICF
construction. In speaking with the engineer who is acting as the expert witness
for the plaintiff in this case, it appeared that there were concerns with one
of the major brands of foam ICF, and how the structural rebar is held in place
(or not), and also a concern on the ability of the concrete to fully encase the
rebar in this ICF design. I am not proposing
to use this foam ICF, or any foam ICF for that matter, and will try to pry an
assessment of the system I would like to use from this individual over lunch
sometime soon.
With any hope of engineering
completion at least a month or more away, I went to the District Hall yesterday
to enquire about the permit application process. An engineer had mentioned I could apply for
the permits without the calculations being completed and just submit the calc’s
when needed during the plans review process.
This was not a strategy recommended by the District. They advised that checking would not proceed
without all required documents. So I
really need a complete package before submitting my application. Realistically this would set the start back a
month or more.
While at the District, I was also
informed that the approval process was currently taking 6 weeks or more and
that because I would need to apply for a variance, I could probably expect
double that time. So all together I was
looking at around a 3-4 month delay in the commencement of the build. This
would prevent me from getting the roof on and the place generally water-proof
until Dec/Jan which is a build condition I am unwilling to accept. It has been my intention from day one that I
would not be doing exterior construction during the wettest and coldest months
of the year in order to protect sensitive building materials like the TGI's
from becoming saturated and because it just is not any fun building in the cold
or torrential rains (I remember my first winter job site experience where we
had to build a fire each morning to thaw out the pneumatic lines).
The final stumbling block
presented by the District Friday, was an initial refusal to allow a holiday
trailer to be parked on site, which I propose to live in during the build. This is key to our budget, as rent in my neighbourhood
is around $1600 for basement suites and $4000+ for upper floors of a
house. With the anticipated build time
of 18 months, this would result in a $30K - $75K reduction in our available
budget (10% - 20%), and a serious challenge to our cash flow. The District is
concerned about site safety and the safety of their services which I totally
understand, but I am confident that solutions exist for all of the concerns if
we just think a little bit out of the box.
This all lead to a decision on
Friday to delay the project start date by a year. I will still work on completing the design,
getting material pricing, solving the living on site issue, putting some much
needed attention into the onside Building Lab project, and just generally
getting better prepared for the build.
But I will hold off applying for permits until probably September. This would give the approval process six months
before we would anticipate breaking ground.
I am significantly relieved by
this decision, as although I was ready for the building permit, I had not
finished the electrical and plumbing design and would have had to work those
out during the evenings as I was building.
This way I can thoroughly prepare all aspects of the build and be in
much better shape next March. This will
also allow me to concentrate on some landscaping in the back yard this year,
which will make neighbours very happy.
This also gives more time to get the project’s website up and running.
On some levels I feel like I have failed, and I have. But in a larger regard, I have succeeded to make the right decision to ensure the desired successful outcome, and for that I am proud.
I will continue to document my
journey over the next year as there will be many decisions I can now research
before making. Does ICF make sense? Why do I want to buy floor trusses from
Quebec? Rain Water and Grey Water Heat Recovery, do they make sense? How much of an existing structure can be
diverted from a landfill?
I hope you will continue to
visit, and I look forward to any comments or questions you might have.
