Building Crane @buildingcrane - Tumblr Blog

DETERMINATION LETTER

After 15 months, we finally have our determination letter from planning. Our appeal window is open until the end of July. Fingers crossed.

When and if we get out of the appeal window unscathed, turns out our compliance meeting isn’t scheduled until October. That’s right, we have to wait over two months, for a meeting with planning in order to get the final approval.

In the meantime, we’re waiting for bids to come back from contractors. I’m hoping mid-August we start getting some back. Fingers crossed!

CONSTRUCTION FINANCING

Finding a construction loan is no different than finding a traditional home loan except there aren’t many banks that offer them. We found that Citibank and US Bank had the most competitive rates. We ended up going with US Bank because we found a loan officer who was kind, easy to get in touch with, and moved everything forward quickly. In order to get started you need to provide the following.

1. Two years of W-2s

2. Two years of tax returns

3. Most recent 60 days of asset documentation (i.e. checking/savings account statements, retirement statements)

4. 30 days of pay stubs.

Once you get them all that information, they send it off, run your credit, and see what you qualify for. Important to remember that you must have a credit score greater than 740 to qualify for the loan. You can have a co-signer, but it will affect your LTV ratio (more on this later). We were originally going to have a co-signer, but, unbelievably, my salary alone covered the loan.

The financing for construction is different from a traditional mortgage. The bank won’t finance the entire amount for the construction, they use a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio. The LTV depends on the bank, and in our case, they will only finance 75 percent. We already have a loan on the land, so this gets baked into the construction loan because the bank will not allow you to have a loan on the land. The reason why is they don’t want to have to be second in line for repayment if anything goes south. Makes sense. In simplest terms, our loan amount is made up of CONSTRUCTION COSTS + LAND COSTS + SOFT COSTS. The total for this amount is $680,000.

After that initial amount, you do get credit for what you have spent money on. In our case, this includes how much we have paid off on our land loan ($72,000), and how much we have paid in soft costs ($50,000).

Based on that, and using the 75% LTV, we can figure out how much we need in order to close the loan. In our case, it’s $65,247. Now that’s just to make up the 25% difference. The bank requires you to have cash on hand as a contingency in the event an unexpected problem arises during the construction. They don’t want you to be totally broke after closing. This is calculated as six months of your mortgage based on the requested amount. Using a simple mortgage formula plus what we expect to pay in insurance and property taxes a month, we know what this will be.

So in order to get this loan, we need to have $85,593 in cash upfront. That’s a lot of money. Considering we have already spent $119,277, to come up with another $85K is daunting. At the beginning of this process, I thought we could get to construction with just the $150,000 we were going to use as a downpayment on a house. I was wrong. Luckily, we have saved like crazy over the last year and a half, and have enough to cover this next stage.

It’s important (and a little terrifying) to remember this is all based on an estimated construction cost the architect gave us almost two years ago. The contractor may very well come back with way higher bids than anticipated. What happens if we don’t have the money to cover it? Do we just put everything on hold while we save and scrape together the amount? What if our permits lapse? Construction in LA has gotten more expensive with how much everyone is building, and the tariff wars between China and the US has caused steel to go up considerably. The mind goes to a dark place quickly.

In the event everything works out and we get a bid back from a contractor that we can afford, and we have enough to close the loan, you aren’t done yet. The bank must approve the builder. This means they go over the bid, check if they are bonded, and only then, once they say everything checks out, may you start building.

I’ve often gone back to the metaphor of making movies, and it reminds me of what my friend and director Anthony Maras told me “If I knew what a headache it would be, I wouldn’t do it in the first place.” Nothing is more stressful than the money aspect of building a house. It’s important to take everything one step at a time and not to future trip, otherwise, you'll never do it.

MAN PLANS. GOD LAUGHS.

Last update was six, long months ago. There’s good reason -- we added a third to our family. As one quickly learns: Baby = chaos. You must surrender to it’s wants and needs or perish. That means everything else -- that second draft of your book, that table you want to refinish, and certainly this blog, gets put on hold. However, it hasn’t stopped the wheels of house-building bureaucracy to continue turning.

We’re slowly making our way towards the end of the planning process. Or are we?

Back in March, I noticed online our application with the planning department was placed on hold. I emailed and was informed that our planner, who we had worked with for over a year had abruptly left the planning department. Immediately ones mind goes to the worst -- would this mean delays? Maybe losing our spot in a very long, and slow queue? A few days later, I was informed our application had been given to a new planner. We had not lost our spot, and she has proven responsive and friendly. Exactly what you want. As I write this our application is in final review with the higher-ups at planning and we should be receiving our approval letter in the coming weeks. It was always my understanding that this was the last step.

May we take this moment to remember some wisdom: Man plans, the gods of bureaucracy laughs.

Once the final approval letter is written, this begins a one-week window where anyone (literally anyone) can appeal your application. If that happens, the planning department must review the appeal, putting your project on hold. For how long you ask? There’s no official answer to this question. The last owner of our was in appeal for over a year. He finally ran out of cash and that’s when we swooped in to buy the land. Will this happen to us? I don’t think so. The only people who get the notice of the appeal window are the directly abutting neighbors. There’s three. Right after buying the land and getting the initial plans, I held a sort of meet-and-greet with my neighbors. I invited about six houses in our area and provided Bagel Broker and coffee. My hope was to one, introduce myself -- Katy and I moved to Mt. Washington for its famous tight-knit community, so presenting ourselves as open and neighborly was important, and two, to show that we’re building a house for ourselves, and not as development. The previous owner of the land was a developer and had apparently cut down a protected tree, so he never had a chance.

The meet and greet was a success. Once everyone saw that the house was modest in size (and didn’t block anyone’s view) and that we were actually going to live in it, everyone warmed up. Some even signed a sheet in support of the project. I would feel much better about the whole thing if it weren’t for the fact that seemingly anyone in the world can appeal. Like someone in Arizona could stop by the planning department and appeal our project for no reason. And the planning department would have to consider it. The likelihood of that is small, except that Mt. Washington has a particularly fierce NIMBY community that is opposed to ANY new construction. So we’ll see what happens.

But say we skate through the appeal process, then we’re done, right? HA!

Turns out there is another, final meeting with planning, called a conditional compliance meeting, that’s necessary in order to start construction. This adds yet another six weeks to the process. I have to keep telling myself that these steps are a good thing -- they protect the city from rampant over-building in an already dense area. And perhaps a city like LA with its massive homeless issues shouldn’t even allow single-family homes to be built anymore. So, like having a baby, we must give over to the process. Fight the man and you will lose. Try to speed things up and your will to continue shall be beaten to a pulp. Murder any expectations about when, and realize how lucky you are to just go along for the ride. Building a house = Chaos.

14 Months

Met with the architect last Friday to go over finishing options. There wasn’t too much to go over -- from the beginning the house was designed minimally. “The structure is the finish.” We had long established the entire floor surface, including the bathroom, would be polished concrete. I was apprehensive about this until I visited a friend’s house in Montecito who had concrete bathroom floor, and it was lovely. We decided to go with all white on the cupboards, the thinking that since the main room is open, the kitchen would disappear. However, the kitchen island will be a different color. Treat it as a piece of furniture. Simon showed us samples of FINIX laminate (think high-end Italian formica). The colors are great. And the stuff is indestructable. From the website “FENIX is also water-repellent, hygienic and resistant to mould. All of these make it a perfect surface for contact with food and very easy to clean.” Easy to clean -- that’s what I’m talking about. Best thing about it, small marks can be removed by heating up the surface using a wet paper towel and an iron. Actually, the best thing about it is the price -- far cheaper than any granite or “traditional” counter top surface you often see in American homes. Added bonus is that the material can create a seamless joint at the sink -- so you can get a clean connection from the sink to the counter.

Katy liked Colorado Rosa-- sort of soft pink red.

There was some discussion about using wood somewhere in there to add warmth to the space, but my concern is that wood demands attnetion. Even if sealed well, you have to refinish it every so often, and knowing Katy and I, low maintenance is better suited for us. Something that can take a beating and is simple to clean.

We discussed the outside of the house, and Simon recommended a grey color for the siding. I’ve always found grey dull, and already had it set in my mind that it would be white or black -- something similar to Simon’s previous house, Big & Small. I just couldn’t picture a grey house. Somehow the color in my mind felt blah. Of course, on a jog a couple days after our meeting I happened upon a few houses and a new construction on La Cienega with grey siding and they looked great. So, as I have found time and time again in this process, trust the architect. There’s a reason we hired him.

Finally the conversation turned to timeline. I have gotten it in my head that we will start building by February, and possibly move into this thing by August/September 2019. “Fourteen months” is what we should expect. Early 2020. Hard pill to swallow. Yet again, I’m reminded that this process takes a while. We’re not even out of planning yet. Though, I’m hopeful. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I got an email that our plans were ready for pick up. One steps forward.

CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

Received construction documents from JLA, the structural engineer firm we hired. Check out their projects.

I have been eagerly anticipated these documents as they are literally how the nuts and bolts of the house will be put together.

In hopes of understanding the documents better, I read the delightful book, “BUILT” by all around badass, and structural engineer Roma Agrawal. It’s chock-full of fascinating facts and history around the engineering of buildings. Here’s a taste: Globally, 1.4 TRILLION bricks are made a year.

As soon as I received the construction documents, my hope of understanding them quickly went out the window. Turns out that the vast majority of structural documents for a single-family house consists of hundreds of pages of spreadsheets of math. 527 pages of THIS:

I thought the documents would look more like blueprints you see architects carrying in and out of the building department. Big black and white illustrations that I could cover my dining room table with. But as I kept scanning through line after line, page after page of math, it dawned on me the incredible level of intricacy that is put into the engineering of our future home. Each line represents an in-depth analysis of the structural integrity of each element, and how it all works together. You decide one day you’re going to get a house built, and you never imagine this level of thought will go into the floor, the piles, the concrete, joints, everything.

As Roma’s book explains, it’s easy to be blind to all the structural ingenuity around us. Every car, bus, house, building, computer, iphone, watch, light was engineered in some way. Math, just like above, went into it. And thank god it does. I’d hate to live in a world where I questioned the structural integrity of everything I interacted with. Will this Uber I’m riding in fall apart during my ride? Will this elevator make it to my floor? You wouldn’t leave your house.

NEXT STEPS: Apply for the construction permit. Go out to contractors.

Two-foot dedication waiver

In attempt to raise their development, the previous owners of our property agreed to give the city two feet of frontage for what is called a dedication. It was the only way to get their project approved by the planning department -- it’s worth noting their project had a ton of blow-back from the locals who appealed and protested the development from day one. Because of this the project, which they thought would take months, took years. And when they finally were approved to build, they didn’t have enough money and that’s when we swooped in and bought the land.

But we still had to deal with the dedication they gave the city.

These dedications are put in place to widen what are already very narrow streets to a certain minimum width to allow traffic to safely travel through.

It makes sense on paper. The streets of Mt. Washington are two-way, but often are hardly enough for one car to pass, creating an always fun interaction of who will back up to let the other through.

But the reality is these dedications are almost meaningless when the street is already lined with houses, essentially making a full street length widening impossible.

The other fun thing about these dedications is the city requires the owner of the land to pave it out of their own pocket at the beautiful cost of several thousand dollars... for two feet of street.

As eloquently stated by the architect in our waiver letter:

Many of the existing building along Crane Blvd. are built into the required dedication area, which will prevent any future improvements.

I was a bit worried, because the city is not known to budge, but he assured me that every project he’s done in Mt. Washington he’s applied for the waiver and it was granted. A rare instance of fighting the man and winning every time. The cost to apply for the waiver was $570.

Even though Simon batted a thousand in this department, you can’t help but wonder if you’ll be the one that breaks the perfect record. With a tariff war continuing to rage on, and the price of steel increasing, having another unforeseen expense in the thousands was daunting.

Three weeks later we received the letter from the city clearly stating we were NOT REQUIRED to do the dedication. Our architect’s no-no continued. It’s the little victories.

NEXT STEP: Receiving construction documents from the structural engineers. Once we have these we can apply for the building permit and go out to contractors to find out what this will actually cost to build.

On patience

Big news:

1. Soil's Report

We submitted an updated soil's report to the city. This came with an unexpected $452 filing fee. One of the many unforeseen costs of building. We were hoping to use the company that was so helpful during the land finding process, but their bid came in significantly higher than the company who did the soil's report for the people we bought the land from. It didn't come without risk -- the company we went with were not going to do any more exploratory tests on the land. They had done them for the original soils report when the project was a much bigger house. The more expensive bid did want to do exploratory holes. The benefit would be that when it came time to drill the holes for the pile, they would know what to expect. Our architect said that if we went for the more expensive bid, it wouldn't save us money, because the hole drillers would inevitably determine how deep we needed to go. So we went with the cheaper bid.

we’re in good hands

2. Structural Engineer

The next step was finding a structural engineer. This is an important process most people don't consider when they get into the house building game. I assumed the architect determined the structural soundness of the house, but it is actually an engineer. Architect is all design and flow. And when you're building on a hillside, earthquake prone area, this is crucial.

Throughout the process, our architect had an engineer in mind he wanted to use. But when it came time to get bids, his guy was too expensive. After going through a few more bids, surprisingly, the lowest one came from one of the best structural firms in LA. They've done tons of famous modern homes around LA with all sorts of cantilevered swimming pools, and massive retaining walls, The Getty, so our modest project is in good hands.

So far working with them has been great. They've finished the schematic design, and we will hopefully have the construction documents shortly.

3. Planning Dept Progress

We went into the process begrudgingly understanding that it would take a year to get the planning permits. That's what Simon told us it would take, so we accepted it. But often, I would find myself complaining to sympathetic ears, that in a city with a massive housing shortage, it shouldn't take that long to get a planning permit. One of my friends at my job, a savvy environmental lawyer told me I should be emailing the person in charge of my planning permit regularly to get updates. She also had the idea that I should write a letter to the mayor, CC'd to the LA Times, my city council-member, both senators and the governor asking why it's taking so long. She made a good point that with rising interest rates, the length of time could potentially put the project in jeopardy. While tempting, I decided to pass on the second letter, but have been continually emailing and calling the planner. Not expecting much, I was pleasantly surprised how responsive he's been. I receive a call or email back from him within a day or two. And most recently, he sent me a full status report of my file, and let me know that I was missing a couple documents he needed to move forward. I passed the email on to Simon, our architect, and he said that meant we were ahead of schedule! The squeaky wheel does get greased!

Now, I don't know if that actually means we will get our permits that much faster. We also still need to apply for the actual construction permits. But taking on an endeavor that literally everyone who has ever done tells you demands inhuman levels of patience, it’s nice to MAYBE be ahead of schedule.

4. Next Steps

Once we have all the construction documents done, it's time to go out to contractors. I have anxiety about this step. Simon gave us a rough estimate of what he thinks the building will cost. I have become married to this number, because, frankly, we can’t afford much more. In talking with an architect on the Fourth of July about the numbers given to us, he said they didn't mean crap. "Architects are always wrong about what it will cost." I did not find these words comforting. We are already spread as thin as possible to get this project going, so the possibility that it would cost even more terrifies me. One step at a time.

Our house is spectacular.

On Appliances

April 10, 2018

Upon initially scanning our architect’s budget breakdown, I noticed a double astrix next to the construction budget line item. The correlating note stated “does not include appliances.” I didn’t think much of it it.

Somehow, I thought I’d only spend a few grand on appliances. A weekend doing the rounds on Craigslist and that would be that.

I’ve lived my entire life in a series of apartments and houses and never realized how many mechanical devices I interact with on a daily basis. Often, as they are so reliable, they just seem to disappear. An appliance blindness, if you will. When’s the last time you thought (or appreciated) your garbage disposal? Your water heater? Your bathtub?

Of course, this is the opposite if said item starts acting up. A finicky faucet or toilet can quickly become the bane of your existence.

So I quickly realized while making the list of appliances we’ll need, that we better put some serious thought into this, because these things may very well make or break our serenity.

It’s not a short list. I never thought I’d spend the better part of an hour scrutinizing sump pump reviews on Amazon. But this is the magical place building a house takes you.

By far, the biggest surprise was how in real time I watched myself go from a penny pinching cheapskate, to a cliché over-budgeter. Who doesn’t want a top of the line wall-mounted, Toto smart toilet? HVAC system? Give me the best. The heck with it, radiant floor heating in every room!

Unexpected twists:

STOVE TOP We’ve been wondering if it would be possible to do a house without a gas connection. Not only would it save us literal thousands in utility hook up fees, it, in my opinion, is the more environmentally conscious choice. Especially if we get the solar array I’m eying. And if what I read is right, induction is totally the way to go — cooks faster, prevents a burn inducing surface, and, aesthetically, it’s got a killer profile. This thing cooks by magnetic waves. Now naysayers will tell you, “You’ll have to buy new pans.” And they’re right. Induction stove requires a specific metal to work. Fine with me! Right now we only own two pans, and that covers 99 percent of our cooking needs.

TOILETS I’m going all out here. I want that wall mounted toilet seats. And I want a temperature controlled bidet. Heated toilets. Katy recently spent ten days in Japan and she went on and on about how great all the toilets were. Bring it on.

HVAC

I really wanted radiant heating. But after doing some research, trying to install this into poured concrete floors is tough. So it looks like we’re going traditional. I don’t know if this means we’ll have a bunch of visible vents in the ceilings. The idea kind of makes me cringe. But I trust Simon.

CONCIET

I believe if people spent more time thinking about how each item that they own effects their life, one, they would own way less stuff, and two, they would be much happier. Because the items that they interact with, even though lifeless, would mean something.

It’s interesting how each one of these items seems to speak of our personality and values. Where before I only saw well designed items, now I an indeed an induction stove person. It speaks to my ideals. It absolutely does. So does that Toto toilet.

The building-of-the house process is just a series of decisions. Large decisions, that are boiled down to smaller and smaller decisions. Most people don't like making decisions. When you tell people that you’re building a house, its common to get a look of horror at the litany of decisions one will have to make. Choices that come with a lot of consequences. You get the wrong kitchen faucet, you’re going to be frustrated every time you use it. Seemingly innocuous darts thrown at you by an inanimate object. If anything, this is a great exercise in understanding how important each choice in this house is. There really isn’t a small choice. Each and every part of this house, even if it’s functioning in the background needs to have purpose and meaning. If you just slap any old bathtub into your bathroom, how can you feel connected to this space? It’s no wonder people complain so much about cookie-cutter houses -- they’re soulless, pieced together by maximum financial return. I understand some people just don’t care. A house is a house is a house. And really, most people have no say in the matter. Other than paint color, I never did before. But for the few of us who get the rare opportunity to build a house, it’s a big deal. Make it count.

Budget Status #1

March 6, 2018

The original goal was to build the entire house for $715,000. After taxes and insurance, the monthly mortgage at that price point is the most we can afford. Around $3000 a month.

This also includes land, so after the $263,522 we paid for the property, it left us with $451,478 to build the house. Upon our first meeting, Simon handed us a rough breakdown of what to expect -- it included everything -- materials, labor, permits, structural, garage, geo, survey, application fees, etc. It was $483,400. Damn, already over budget. But Simon budgets the “fitout” on the high-end, so we hope to make up the difference by buying fixtures ourselves cheaply, and opting for things like laminate countertops over imported marble. And after the last meeting, I think we’re on track. Simon’s mantra of the “finish is the structure” bodes well for the budget. Of course, anything could happen. For example, with Trumps new tariffs on steel, we may be looking at an extra ten or twenty grand on the frame. Yikes.

Originally, when we were bidding on houses, we had $150K for a downpayment. Now we’re using that money as our startup cash. It covers the downpayment for the land and all the upfront expenses (see below).

The cool thing about construction loans is you can use the equity in the land as the downpayment, so that initial lump sum does double duty.

Everything in grey comes out of that startup fund. Anything with a strikethrough is paid. The numbers in red are what our construction loan will cover. (SEE BELOW)

So what have we learned thus far?

1. You need to keep stellar records. I can see how budgets explode if you aren’t keeping track of everything. Plus, with hidden costs like utility hook-up (can run upwards of 40K), and the fact that appliances aren’t included, you need spreadsheets to have a realistic idea of what it’s going to take. One guy I met who was building a container house in Topanga recently had to reevaluate if he could even pull it off after his budget doubled! And if he decides to bail, he's out a bunch of money. This is unfortunately a common story.

2. You need cash on hand. Can’t imagine doing this without our startup fund. You need to be able to write checks for thousands of dollars at a moments notice.

3. Get multiple bids on everything. So far they’ve been all over the place -- as much as double from bid to bid. It’s stressful knowing which one to pick, especially when it comes to geology and structural. When building a house on a hillside in earthquake prone Southern California, you may be tempted to go with that cheap engineer, but just remember you will always wonder if you really do get what you pay for. This is why you need to trust your architect. I’ve leaned on Simon a great deal so far. I can’t imagine doing this without him.

Architect Meeting #4

February 27, 2018

Now that we submitted to the planning department, we have time to relax and dial in the design. This part is tough for me. I have strong design directions based on how I know we function, but they butt-up against some of the Architects already established ideas. I don’t want to bulldoze his vision, but it’s also necessary to state our needs. Again, I feel very much like the producer on a film set, ever gently making strong suggestions to the director, knowing very well they don’t want to hear them. Our architect, as always, it lovely to work with, and he seems open to our ideas. If there was some inner resistance to our suggestions, he didn’t show it in the slightest. He must be a killer at poker.

There were two big suggestions. One, making the bathroom more functional so several people could use it at once. That means partitioning off the toilet and even the shower so that each is its own sort of water closet. The thinking being if someone is using the sink, another person could shower, while another uses the toilet all at the same time. It would mean swapping the bedroom over, so that the bathroom would be between the two bedrooms.

The second thing was the bump out. We have yet to see a design with any included, and Katy and I really want this. We both like to read, and the idea of a house without a cozy spot next to window over looking the view just seems like a must. We settled on one in the bedroom.

That was it as far as suggestions were concerned. We went over potential materials, and the architect showed us this fantastic metal siding sample. It’s sharply folded corrugated steel that I think would match the sharp angles of the hexagon structure nicely. I’m not sure what color, though. We may be leaning towards black, though I never like how it looks in the renderings. That being said, whenever I see it in a photo like below, it just feels right. White doesn’t look bad either, though.

As far as the interior, Katy and I like the idea of “low maintenance” guiding the finishing options. I need tidiness, and neither of us loves to clean, so anything that doesn’t require a lot of attention is ideal. The architect mentioned epoxy coating for the walls, which neither of us was familiar with. Found this on an epoxy site:

epoxy for walls are quick and simple to apply, and in no time create strong, hygienic, and easy to maintain surfaces that leave your space looking great. Particularly in settings where chemical resistance, light reflectivity, and sanitation are important; epoxy for walls is a perfect choice. It can prevent harmful bacteria growth and resist moisture that leads to dangerous mold. This is important for food preparation and handling areas, correctional facilities, locker rooms, hospital operating rooms, veterinary clinics, and more.

I’m into it!

Katy likes tile for the bathroom, but I hate dirty grout. And I have yet to see grout that doesn’t eventually develop a gross moldy coating. Again, neither of us loves to clean. There’s always the option of using a darker tint grout, but that just hides the grossness. There has to be some sort of surface that’s easy to clean. Maybe epoxy’s the way to go in the bathroom too.

Terrazzo is out. I got a bid back for $53,000 to do the entire house at one inch. Even at half inch, it’s way out of our price range. Polished poured concrete it is.

The architect discussed another house he’s doing not too far from ours, where there will be a lot of exposed steel beams and concrete, and he said “the structure is the finish.” I love this. White walls. Poured concrete floors. Accents of unstained white ash. We could be super happy with that. Our house may very well end up looking like the Blue Bottle Coffee shop on Beverly. I go here on the weekends to read, and I’ve always loved the inside. Simple Japanese style modern white-ash woodworking to soften the industrial touches.

It’s official. Happy Valentine’s Day to us.

Progress + Ideas

February 13, 2018

Today our architect submits to the planning department. Big deal. This is the permit that takes the longest. Six months to a year.

Last week we signed on with our geo-tech. It was between two proposals. One expensive, and one way more expensive. We had worked with the more expensive company before, and liked them, but for this build, which is not an invasive one, and where we are forced to be budget conscious, it was decided that we would do just fine with the less expensive bid.

Next step is securing our structural engineer. We have one bid that came back almost triple what I was expecting. Hoping the second bid comes in closer to what our budget allotted.

Our next conversation with the architect will be about the interior. I’m a bit anxious about this step. The pressure that we will make the wrong decision and be stuck with a layout we hate, lingers actively in my mind. Originally, the house was expected to be about 1100 square feet, but after the set backs, and the placement, its more like 900 square feet, not including the small outside patio area. So our original concept of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a sauna might be pushing it.

In the mean time, I’ve started scouring the internet for ideas and inspiration.

KITCHEN

Right now, half the house is going to be a large open space from the entrance to a large square window looking out to the view. The space is narrow, around 12-18 feet wide, and has to include a kitchen, which will likely be built into the wall. I like the idea of built in seating. Also, of a clean, seamless wall of drawers.

BATHROOM

The plan has always been two bathrooms. But with 900 square feet, it might be tough. I like the idea of a communal bathroom, with doors to the toilet and shower, with a couple sinks, that way several people can be using it at once. Of course, any homeowner you speak to insists you need a second bathroom, or at least a half bath, which I’m open to. A small water closet (toilet and sink) might be the way to go. But I just have a feeling that’s going to eat into our sauna space.

READING NOOK

This feels like the thing that may cause the most contention if the architect vetos. I’m even open to one being built into a wall without a view, but that would be a huge sacrifice.

KIDS ROOM

You read that right. Looks like our guest room will be a kids room. The placement will likely be towards the front of the house. I love this one. The built in bed, the plywood, the fort up top. There could be storage space underneath, so we wouldn’t need a closet.

TERRAZO FLOORS

This is my dream, but likely the first thing to go if the budget gets tight. We had them when my family lived in Nicaragua. I remember how great they felt under bare feet -- cool and soft. We also had several maids who cleaned them daily. And as we will not have a cleaning staff, it would fall on me to constantly clean them.

New Renderings! Planning Department!

January 31, 2018

This thing is getting real! Simon has a meeting with the city today to discuss submitting to the planning department. Planning is the first permit, which is more of an environmental review, so the building plans for the house do not need to be totally done. The full plans need to be done to get the second permit with Building and Safety. The plans we submit to building and safety are the ones we send out to contractors to bid on, and, more importantly, to the banks to get the construction loan.

Wait, what’s the difference between “Planning” and “Building and safety?” This always confused me too. Here it is laid out: The Mt. Washington/Glassell Park Specific Plan is “Planning.” Planning decisions take into account the impact a new building or land use will have on the neighborhood and neighbors, and also conduct an environmental review and assess the impact the new structure will have on the property.

From the actual Mt. Washington/ Glassell Park Specific Plan document:

"Seeks to create an environment with diversity, balanced growth, identity, and historical continuity; to encourage the preservation and enhancement of the community’s varied and distinctive residential character; to preserve, maintain and improve existing, stable single-family residential neighborhoods; and in hillside residential areas, to limit land use intensities and population densities to those which can be accommodated by the transportation system, public service facilities, utilities and topography.”

These types of hyper-local planning codes were developed in the late 80s/early 90s to stop the proliferation of McMansions that were starting to sprout up in the area. You can see a litany of these types of monstrosities peppered along the hillside. Looks aside, some of these structures weren’t exactly made with stringent structural integrity. While the new planning permits are a headache that adds a lot of extra time to the process -- the planning permit alone can take about a year, it does ensure that anything being built in the area is, first safe, second does not impact the local environment negatively, and third, falls in line with the integrity of Mt. Washington’s character.

The second permit is from the building and safety department. This is the classic building permit that one needs to build in Los Angeles. It’s a much faster process (about three months), but requires a full deck of plans. You may have seen those rolls of large white paper sheets that architects carry around -- those are what they submit. They include every aspect of the build, from materials, to heights, to elevations, everything.

Here’s a rather cheesy video from Melbourne, Australia that breaks it down nicely.

Because this second permit does not take as long as planning, it’s important to stagger when you submit. A building permit is only good for eighteen months. If you submit to building and safety and planning at the same time, and building and safety gets you your permit in three months, then the clock starts ticking on those eighteen months to build. But, say planning takes a year to issue your permits, then you’ve eaten up twelve of your allotted eighteen months to build. And building a house generally takes a year on its own. So then you’ll have to pay for an extension, and everything gets held up. This is why we are waiting four months to submit to building and safetly. As Simon told me in our last meeting, it’s a bit of a guessing game. Without an experienced architect, how would anyone ever know this? This is exactly why you hire someone like Simon.

Now on to the exciting part! New renderings!

It looks like these renderings are actually on the lot right next to ours, but it gives you a solid idea of what it’ll look like. I love the view from the front deck. I can imagine having breakfast right there everymorning. And if the house is out far enough, I think we’ll be able to see downtown.

Katy and I always thought we’d have a dark siding, but looking at this now, I think I like the lighter siding more. Maybe there’s a happy place between the two?

Here’s a white siding option. . It feels like it gels much better with the concrete and the car port.

THIRD ARCHITECT MEETING

January 29, 2018

Katy was out with the flu, so it was my first time solo with Simon. The first twenty minutes we waxed about our mutual love of woodworking, Japanese joinery, and how amazing and expensive Festool tools are.

The design of the house was much closer to the original than I expected. Especially, considering how we even discussed going rectangular. In fact, it was like we went full circle. After speaking to the structural engineer, Simon thought it best to stick close to his original concept. Best of all...

Lots of pictures!

The most exciting thing was the carport. It will have a ramp and some steps to go down to the house, which means the house will have a much more private feel than I ever imagined.

Love how the house peeks up from behind the carport.

The interior still needs to change a great deal. It’s a bit concerning that the only way to get into the master bedroom is through a bathroom or a guest/kids room. Also, no second bathroom yet. This will be much more flesshed out in the next version.

Gives a good idea of what the front, outdoor space will feel like.

The neighbors house ends before the end of the carport, so that outdoor seating area in the front might have a cool view of downtown. My guess is we will spend a great deal of time out there.

There was some talk of potentially, after the house is built, adding a deck, using the piles underneath to anchor. Love that idea.

Second Architect Meeting

January 9, 2018

Lots of feelings going into that second meeting. Having exerted so much energy in finding the land, negotiating the land, the insane loan process, and finally closing — handing the reigns over to Simon left me feeling listless.

I was concerned about this feeling. Building a house takes Herculean amounts of patience and endurance — had I already burnt out? Was I “over it?”

Simon had large new print outs of the house on the land. This was exciting. I had made some rough mock-ups on Pages using an old survey and an early floorpan —but they looked ridiculous and amateurish compared.

Simon had several of these with different elevations -- the house pushed farther back on the property to keep it below a certain elevation. The point was to avoid adding another foot to the side set back — which would eat some of our square footage on what is already a thin lot. But the house can’t be pushed too far back, because that would require longer piles (think stilts) to support the back part. Longer piles meant thicker piles, which meant a lot more money.

Due to a strange equation in the Mt. Washington/Glassell Park Specific Plan -- the local building code just for our area, if the building exceeds a certain height, then the side set back adds a foot — going from six to seven, essentially squeezing an already tight lot. I quickly realized that this meant the axe for the loft. An idea I had become quite comfortable with, as was apparent from my overly active “Loft” Pinterest board. Simon said the house would likely have 9 or 10 foot ceilings, and we may lose some square footage from the originally planned 1200 square feet. I swallowed hard.

Finally, it was discussed possibly losing the hexagon shape altogether for a more traditional rectangular shape to maximize the thin work area we had. Another blow. I had become quite cozy with the idea of living in a hexagon, and envisioned a litany of hexagon shapes throughout the house — tiles, windows, and had even gone so far as to research the historical importance of hexagons: apparently Charles Darwin was a big fan — called them “perfect.”

He did, however, suggest a bridge from the parking to the house, which Katy immediately fell in love with.

The next step was Simon figuring out the right height/distance balance so that we didn’t exceed a certain height, but also not too far back where the piles would have to be larger (and more expensive). He would come up with a few different options for our next meeting. I ever so gently asked if one of the options could have a loft. Simon smiled, said yes in his polite New Zealand fashion. I knew then there would be no loft.

The entire ride home Katy talked nonstop about the bridge. How cool a bridge would be — she wanted that bridge. I sat quietly thinking about the architect Alvaro Silva and what he said about building a house.

Slowly accepting the reality that this house will end up exactly how it needs to, and that the process demands that I not get attached to any designs until the day we move in and could bang on the walls, clap our feet on the concrete and hear those noises echo off the ceilings, however high they end up being.

First Architect Meeting(s)

January, 2, 2018

Our VERY first meeting with Simon Storey dates back to January 23rd, 2017. We had only recently started exploring building after falling in love with one of his houses in Mt. Washington. A little research online had produced the fascinating little tidbit that he had built it for $190 a square foot. Chicken scratch in LA building terms.

It only took five minutes into our meeting to learn $190 a square foot wasn’t possible. Those prices reflected a rare time after the housing crash where contractors were practically giving away labor just to work. He told us today, in this market, we were looking at more like $350 a square foot.

We wouldn’t see Simon again for almost a year. We had by luck come across a great piece of land that had approved plans on them, which meant that the soil’s report was likely favorable (a rare thing), and the hard work of guessing if you can build was gone. In a Hail Mary attempt I shot Simon an email with the specs, what I thought the land would go for, our budget, to see if he could make something work. I didn’t expect much.

A few hours later Simon wrote back. Just the day before, had a bid returned for a new concept using steel beams. The concept was the exact size, and would work in our budget.

Game. Changer.

A week later we once again sat in his office, surrounded by the cardboard and styrofoam house models that I stared at longingly. Armed with the soil’s report, some plans, and a survey, we looked over the land together. It didn’t take long for Simon to see that the report was favorable, if not perfect for his new design— the Easy Estate. He flipped open a black portfolio book and showed us.

If I had to give my initial gut reaction a one word summary, I would say it was unequivocally “spaceship.” It was different from anything I’d ever seen. I can’t say I loved it right away. I was intrigued. It was a hexagon. I had never seen a hexagon house before. It had massive glass ceilings, and sat on three or four piles. It took all of five minutes for us to see it was exactly what we needed.

We spoke speculatively about budget — $715,000 based on what we had been pre-approve for to buy. Katy had a great deal of concern about going over budget. When talking to anyone who’s built a house or renovated, they always say you will go over. Simon said he would recommend anyone building a house have at least twenty-thousand on hand if (when?) something comes up.

At this point, Katy and I were extended about as much as we were comfortable, so the idea of going over, even a few thousand, let alone having to come up with another twenty was daunting.

If there was one thing we both knew coming out of that second meeting, it was that building this house would be a risk.

RISK VS REWARD

REWARD: 1. Brand new house

2. Larger house than we could buy (700 square ft buying vs 1200 square ft built) 3. We have something special that is ours and we love.

RISK 1. Breaks the bank

2. Something big comes up, and we can’t afford to take care of it 3. We took a chance on something different and we hate it.

Katy and I decided to go for it. The next step was buying the land.

Cut to a month later.

Strutting into Simon’s office as land owners felt great. Especially considering the blood, sweat, tears, and almost collapsed marriage it took to get there. In the end, it was luck, patience, and more money than I would have ever thought I would spend on land, that paid off.

I had tried not to have expectations going into the meeting. Simon, did, after all, already have a design, so the traditional conversation of building the “dream” house was already off the table. There was room to get creative on the interior build out, but not much more. Katy and I had coffee the morning before the meeting, and got on the same page about what was important to us with this house.

Here’s our list: 1. Sauna 2. Bump-out/reading nook 3. Skylights 4. Two bedrooms 5. Two bathrooms 6. Loft space… if possible

Simon wrote our requests down on stencil paper with a red pen, in what I thought looked like Klingon. He clearly had his own language when it came to this stuff. I’ve since studied the piece of paper (seen below) and am still amazed that somehow these symbols will translate into our house. The way “Bump-outs” is in all caps, I’m not so sure we’ll get one.

After the meeting I wondered if our requests were too much. After all, I wanted to give Simon the room to create his vision. In the house building scenario, we were much more like the “money guy” on the set of the movie, and Simon was the director. We were the producers who watched the budget, and signed all the paper work, but in order to make something “special” we would have to let Simon do his magic. And so far he had proven himself with some spectacular pieces of work. Since our project was a modest, little art-house, house (!!!) project, we had to let him do his thing.

Vincent Kartheiser, who played Pete Campbell on Mad Men, once said of the architect Robert Dunn, who he hired to build his lovely, quirky house, “I believe that whenever you’re hiring an artist, and Funn is an artist, he’s going to do his best work if he’s trusted. You trust the artist and you don’t micromanage him.”

We officially signed and paid Simon the first installment for his services. There as no turning back.

The next step was getting the Survey updated, and getting Simon the Auto-CAD version, so he could start plugging in his plans.

We planned on meeting soon.

It was the day before my 35th birthday, and I couldn’t believe we were actually building a house.

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