tinyjoys
Ruby
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Post by tinyjoys on May 25, 2017 11:56:27 GMT -6
I *think* HilarityEnsued did an addition on her home fairly recently, but I could be mistaken.
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Sundae
Builder
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Post by Sundae on May 25, 2017 12:03:46 GMT -6
Does anyone have any experience with this? We want to add a fifth bedroom because it is a lot cheaper to do this than find a house with one in our town. I am not really sure where to start. I was going to get plans drawn up by an architect and then hire a contractor I think? Is that the right process? Basically I have no clue and wanted to get an idea of the process. My timeline for doing this is 2 years so no rush Yes, start with an architect familiar with permitting in your town. This will be a great help to have them know the process, know people in the building department, and pull the permits. Your architect should also be able to point you in the direction of, or help arrange a good GC. The General Contractor should do the estimating, coordinate all the sub-trades, etc.
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Post by joybaby on May 25, 2017 12:08:07 GMT -6
We're in the process of pricing out an extra bedroom. We just asked 3 contractors to come out, and look at the area, and our house. They then have to price out lumbar, and get back to us.
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Sundae
Builder
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Posts: 5,338 Likes: 25,468
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Post by Sundae on May 25, 2017 12:09:23 GMT -6
Yes, start with an architect familiar with permitting in your town. This will be a great help to have them know the process, know people in the building department, and pull the permits. Your architect should also be able to point you in the direction of, or help arrange a good GC. The General Contractor should do the estimating, coordinate all the sub-trades, etc. Awesome. Thank you! You're welcome! If you do already have a GC in mind, sometimes they will have affiliations with architects to do drawings for the permit. So you could go that way, too.
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Sundae
Builder
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Posts: 5,338 Likes: 25,468
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Post by Sundae on May 25, 2017 12:12:33 GMT -6
You're welcome! If you do already have a GC in mind, sometimes they will have affiliations with architects to do drawings for the permit. So you could go that way, too. No. We know no one for this stuff. Plus we aren't sure where the addition would work best structurally so I think we will start with the architect if that makes sense Yes, definitely then in that case!
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Post by thankfully on May 25, 2017 13:19:24 GMT -6
We're in the midst of the process. Our plans are being drawn up now, our variance hearing is next week.
We identified a contractor first. We met with a few. The ones we met with had their own architects that they worked with but were also able to bring in the other consults (an engineer and electrician specifically). We described our goals generally to them and they started the plan. We looked at a couple different options of where to place the additions before arriving at our current plan. We're using a mortgage product to finance it so that narrowed down the playing field-- the bank prefers to work with contractors that are experience with that, and not all contractors are into it.
I'd say step 1 is figuring out generally how you might finance it. Everything is a gazillion dollars. We ditched our first plan when we learned pouring concrete would cost 60k. We're now working on expanding on our existing footprint.
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Post by anastasia on May 25, 2017 13:22:33 GMT -6
We didn't end up following through, but we talked to a contractor who had an architect on staff.
Have you thought about asking your town Facebook page for recommendations?
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cyprissa
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Post by cyprissa on May 26, 2017 4:01:25 GMT -6
Make sure you talk to a number of architects and builders and ask to check references. The quality of the work is important to ask about, but also budget! We were doing a second story addition on our house before we moved to Europe and learned that lesson the hard way.
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