Heavy Lifting

I know, I know, I'm sure you're wondering where on earth my updates are if we're going to be moving into a house in 6 months. It's a fair question, but I can't deal with that today. The short version, we are in permit/zoning hell. The long version will have to wait until we are through it, when my emotional state is a little better.

However, in the meantime, we have been busy with yard work. Let's be honest, we really thought we would be off the hook when it came to mowing the lawn this summer. We thought it would be all torn up. Wrong.

Regardless, we knew there was a broken chain link fence that needed to be taken down. That fence only went around part of the lot (we have no idea what the former owners were thinking). Anyway you look at it, this lot has been in rough shape for quite some time. Admittedly, we didn't have any idea how big this project was when we started it. However, as we got into it, we quickly realized that there were actual trees growing through the fence (not tiny trees, 5 inch diameter trees).

However, thanks to great help from family and friends, we were able to knock it out. The results are like night and day. I will admit I was a little nervous we were going to have some angry neighbors due to how terrible it all looked. They couldn't have been nicer when they us there working. Plus we cut down a bush that was blocking the view when coming out of the alley - that definitely made people happy.

Before: 

  

During:

  

After: 

Next up is some more tree trimming and tree removal on the site of the actual house (you know, assuming we ever get approval to build it). If we don't, there could soon be a beautiful lot for sale. Baby steps, right? That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

Rollercoaster

Let me tell you, this project is not for the lazy or weak. There are a lot of ups and downs.

First, let's start with the highlight of the week. Wednesday I had the pleasure of going to speak to some staff at Walden University about our tiny house. My good friend and college roommate was part of their Green Week committee and asked if I would be willing to come in over lunch one day to do a little Q&A about our house and the process. The good news is, they caught me on a good day. It seemed to me that the stars were finally aligning. The final documents needed for the loan had been notarized on Monday. I thought we were all set to meet with the loan guy next Tuesday. I was a little nervous no one would come out to hear about our tiny house. However, I'd say we had about 15 people been the Minneapolis campus and the folks who joined via webinar (which I consider a major win!). Of course, I'm not a tiny house expert, and I know very little about building - so there was only so much to learn about me. But going back through the journey was a welcome reminder of why we've been attempting to jump through all these hoops for the last ten months (and counting).

Of course, the tiny house high could only last so long. By the time I got home from work that evening, Brent had gotten all sorts of frustrating news from our bank lender (who is impossible to track down, by the way - it's as if he doesn't understand who the client is in this equation). First, "sweat equity" is not allowed in construction loans so we will not be able to participate in the building of our tiny house without being subcontracted through someone else. Secondly (and most importantly), even if we sign the paperwork on Tuesday for the loan, we won't be able to "close" on it for 30-45 days, which means we likely won't have access to the funds until mid-July. This was a big one. Since according to the time line our architect drafted, we were supposed to be applying for permits in March/April so we could break ground in June. Now we won't be applying for permits until mid-July.

Luckily, our general contractor and the Dunwoody team seem to think they can still work with this schedule and still be done by December. We'll have more details on Tuesday after the meeting, but the way it stands currently, it sounds like we've averted the crisis.

Hopefully we'll have more good news coming next week! (A girl can dream...) In the meantime, everyone have a wonderful holiday weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

It Takes a Village

We had our first meeting last night with the Architecture professor, and I feel really good about it. It sounds like members of the administration (particularly the PR people) are pretty excited about this project.

Hopefully we'll be getting design contracts soon so he can get started on some drawings, and hopefully we'll have plans to present the city before too long so we can get the approval process started.

The build may take longer than originally expected. It sounds like it will be over the course of two semesters. However, he anticipated it may save us about 1/3 of the costs, which would be pretty awesome. To be clear, that wasn't our intent in forming these partnerships. The intent was to find a group of people willing to think outside of the box, who didn't want to build us a "regular" house with smaller square footage (because that isn't the goal of what we're doing). Plus I like the idea of having so many people involved. I like being connected to the community.

Next on my agenda is setting a meeting to talk to someone about financing. Brent is going to set a meeting to find out who we need to talk to regarding surveys, utility access, etc.

It's going to be a process... it's going to take a village to make this happen... but in the end, it's going to be amazing and worth it.

Tag Team

My epiphany might pay off. My chat with the one of the Senior Professors in the Architecture program was very promising. As in, our build could maybe be part of one of the design studios for next spring (read: reduced labor costs for us!).

We have a meeting next week to sit down with him.

This post is not expressing my enthusiasm properly, and I know that. However, I'm trying not to jinx anything. Yet the idea of having students involved in this makes me crazy excited. It's part of why I love Tiny House Nation so much. The whole idea of raising awareness outside the status quo.

More than that, we want to be a part of our community and the neighborhood we live in. So having a local school be involved in our dream project, is like icing on the cake.

p.s. We've got more bags ready for Goodwill!