As I went through my budget, it soon became apparent that I would need to put in a considerable amount of sweat equity to get the job done for what I could afford to pay. We already talked about how I would take care of the concrete ribs and steel studs.
But I always planned on hiring out for most of the more conventional trades (such as the excavation, concrete work, plumbing, HVAC, etc.), but the sum total was just too high for my budget to accept and something had to go. I chose electrical for a number of reasons. First, Cost. The electrical quotes were particularly ridiculous, electricians were doubling or tripling the quote due to FUD. Second, experience. I have done a little bit of wiring in the past, like adding a circuit and some lights and outlets to my current home. I was a bit concerned about doing the main panel or grounding system, but a friend assured me it was possible. Third, tool costs. Of all the options, the electricians tools box is the cheapest. It is certainly cheaper to buy my own electrical tools than to purchase a backhoe and bulldozer to do my own excavation. Bottom line. I think I can handle electrical better than I could handle HVAC or Plumbing or concrete work.
I am also getting some minor help from some friends with some better experience, and I plan to take it slow and learn as I go. But in the mean time, I hit my local library and got out a bunch of books on the subject, and that is also the subject of this post…
I skimmed through most of the books over about 3 evenings. I was really just looking for the books that seemed most applicable and had the best approach to teaching. I chose to renew the top few, and read those completely over the past couple weeks (including the Easter Holiday). These were the best ones…
note: with wiring, the code changes from year to year, so you really want to find the books that are up to date enough with the National Electric Code so you can pass inspection.
Wiring Simplified (44th Edition); This book had the fewest pictures, but gave the most specific references to the 2014 National Electrical Code. The authors of this book (Richter, Schwan and Hartwell) are extremely well respected. The writing style was a little bit dry, but I liked how, in addition to explaining what the NEC rules were and were to find them in the code, this book also explained the “why” behind each rule. “Wiring Simplified” really covered everything from the planning stage to how to actually setup the service entrance and wire everything up. In also included tricks for making the job easier.
Wiring a House (5th Edition); This is one of those books with pictures on every page. It stood out for me because it was really about wiring a whole house, which is what I needed to do. Many other books seemed focused only on renovations. The Author, Rex Cauldwell, also has a great reputation and brings both his experience as a master electrician (and plumber) and his degree in Electronic Engineering to this book. He tells you how to meet the code, and then common sense ways you should exceed it. The explanations and images are excellent. The book is actually a fun read with humor sprinkled throughout and as a result, I was able to read it much more quickly than some of the other books.
You’re about to learn all the top secret information about… wiring that contractors rarely discuss. You’re putting your ear to the keyhole and listening as we discuss what to buy and what to avoid, what looks good and what really is good, what works and what doesn’t. ~ Rex Cauldwell, Wiring a House, p 207.
I have one more book to go through, I may come back and put that here later…
I took some of what I learned from the books, YouTube, friends, etc. and put it here under Technotes => Conventional Systems => Electrical.
Bank Paperwork
Over a month ago, we took on the challenge of getting our finances rolling. First we filed our taxes early so we could beef up our bank balance a little. Then we filled out the pre-approval paperwork. My net worth was up by over 40% of my annual salary since last summer when we had last applied for pre-approval, and my credit score is almost perfect (in the 820 range), so we were surprised when it came back (a week later) and the bank had not approved us for enough to get the job done. I resisted the urge to panic (because we had qualified for more last time) and contacted my loan officer instead. It took a bit to get a hold of him that week, but we eventually found out that the loan amount had been determined by the max he could sign for without extra “underwriting” paperwork (I guess even loan officers try to avoid doing paperwork). I told him we needed the full amount we had asked for and he said he would get on it. It was another week later before we were sufficiently pre-approved…
With the pre-approval in hand, we set to finishing the arduous “dwelling description” and “sworn statement” paperwork. These would be used to determine the value of the home. The home would need to appraise for at least 125% of what we were being loaned or the bank would need to reduce their contribution. The dwelling description asked strangely detailed questions like the finish on the closet doors, the brand, position and color of the microwave and 8 pages of other detailed questions. It took a couple evenings for Sherri to make her final selections in these areas and then several more hours for us to sit and fill it all out.
The sworn statement took much more effort. I had already figured out most of my budget as it was attached to my gantt chart (chart of the building process). But I still had to finish off a few more cost calculations, tweak some of the build process to save a bit extra and then add it all up. The number was still too high so we looked at ways we could save money. An easy one was to factor in the amount of a Federal Tax Rebate that would come in during the build year. We also decided we could save money on rigid insulation and vinyl waterproofing by buying second hand (I updated my insulation page and my umbrella page with some info on that.) The electrical quotes we had received were high enough to justify me doing the electrical myself. We replaced some of the earth moving costs with the assumption that we would buy a used compact tractor with a bucket on the front. We can sell it at the end (if we want) for almost what we paid and save some money in between, plus it will be useful for unloading trucks, dragging steel around, etc. We decided to drop the surveyor and site the home ourselves (I could put together a whole post on how I plan to do that), etc. Finally, we decided that we needed to do our own ledge stone work to save the last chunk we needed to get things safely under budget. I felt like my time was tapped out and Sherri agreed to do that last masonry task.
After we had the total down to the right level, I still needed to adjust the format from the gantt budget to the groupings that the “Sworn Statement” required. For instance, in the gantt budget, I had steel framing costs spread over a dozen separate steps, but I needed to aggregate these for the sworn statement. The sworn statement also included details about which contractor had provided each quote, etc.
Of course all this happened during a week when I needed to get a paper done for my MBA class.
Once all that paperwork was filled out, we realized we couldn’t print it (technical difficulties)… We ended up printing part of it at my in-laws, but they ran out of paper. Mean while, the USB I had carried it on was corrupted and messed up the formatting on the dwelling document. I had to waste a bunch of time fixing the formatting and then try to print again. We also realized that it needed to be notarized before we could send it in. Since Sherri and I both needed to sign it in-front of the notary, that required some more scheduling, but we got it done. Then we drove to Ann Arbor to drop it off at the bank.
Now we wait. It could be up to 2 more weeks before the appraisal is done, then another week before closing.
In the mean time, we are trying to do what we can without spending any money. I am shopping for a compact tractor, Sherri is getting all the permit paperwork ready to go, etc.
Bored of whats on TV? Considering building your own earth sheltered home? Check out these episodes of Grand Designs…
The host, Kevin McCloud, is usually a bit pessimistic, and some times the home owners do struggle. But it is certainly one of the best TV series on the challenges of custom home building and they have a number of episodes on underground homes.
You can find even more examples if you just want episodes about homes with green roofs, or eco homes.
∞Posted on March 22, 2014 by Simon
