Today is one of those truly glorious days. Clear and 79 degrees...no matter that it is November. Virginia has the most beautiful shoulder months. After my Medicare post, I decided that I should re-engage with some healthful habits. I took my dogs out for a walk. I later came back and snapped a couple of pictures. The odd angle on the leaf is because the wind was blowing it.
We live on 6.5 beautiful wooded acres. We bought this land back in 1984. I was 24 years old, my husband 29. We were so very poor, as I was just out of college in 05/82, and my husband had been out of work for a while due to the recession (commercial electrician). But we managed to buy this piece of land because there was owner financing--something that I'm eternally grateful for.
We literally designed and built our own home. Because the land was so perfect, we were faced with the dilemma of building a home that we could afford with sufficient quality that we would not say in 20 years, we were still living in a "starter home". The financial aspect was daunting; and the physical aspect was almost impossible at times. My husband and a 65 year old carpenter/mason built the house. Tim is dead now, but he was a master craftsman. Tim and Mark hand cut all of the rafters, framed the structure without the benefit of pneumatic equipment, and mixed mortar and laid brick. My husband nailed every plank of red oak flooring...we put it everywhere except the kitchen and bathrooms. I still remember one sweltering August evening where the air was so thick with humidity we were drenched. I laid out each piece so that my husband could nail it. I wiped up every drop of sweat that cascaded off his nose onto the boards. We truly had sweat equity. I painted everything--every piece of trim, every wall, stained the cedar on the back of the house and trimmed the exterior doors and windows. I do not paint anymore. I did a lifetime of painting then.
We did most things right. We did a few things wrong. Our drywall contractor was a hack. Our cabinet man pointed that out. We didn't know. Buck said that the finish coat would not be acceptable because they had not put enough mud behind the tape. We had to hire another drywall contractor. Before he could start, Mark's job was to take a garden sprayer and spray every !#@%^#@ seam and pull the tape off. It took him two days, and by the end of the second day, he could barely move his arms his shoulders were so sore.
It took us nine months. We planned meticulously. We had to make our own decisions on very damn thing. No one offered us 3 choices of this or that. We had the universe of possibilities that we had to winnow down to meet our budget and our mutual tastes. I remember laying awake at night with my heart pounding (I didn't realize at the time that these were anxiety attacks) thinking about the credit card debt that was amassing (I used that in between draws) and the $400 per month Amoco bill that I was having trouble meeting. My husband wasn't working, and I was making $20K per year. And we decided early on that we would manage our budget to a payment that I could make solely on my salary, given that commercial electrical work had suffered so badly during that time. Our mortgage principal was $65K, and we secured a 20 year mortgage. We conservatively figured that we had saved about $50K doing much of the work ourselves.
Today we live in a home that we probably could not afford to buy currently. So when we have a beautiful day such as today, that is clear and crisp, I'm frequently reminded of those sweltering August days where sweat and expletives flowed freely. And I'm reminded how important planning, courage, confidence and a measure hope are to building your life. Of even greater importance is finding people who will support your work. So many helped us along the way--the engineering/contracting firm that our banker made us hire to ensure that if Mark and I floundered someone would step in and finish the house. Tim and Buck who gave us quality craftsmanship. My banker who made the draw process flexible and stopped by from time to time to check on us. Our parents who worried over our over committed physical and financial resources.
As I build my financial house, I'm reminded of the process of building my physical home. I'm certainly wiser now than I was then, but in many ways I'm like that 24 year old--I'm going to charge ahead. I'm going to plan meticulously, be realistic in my expectations and work hard. I have lots of support, and I've found lots of resources. Perhaps 20 odd years from now, I'll be writing of this financial house building launch as I am writing now of my house building launch.
4 comments:
Thank you for this wonderful, inspiring story. The lessons you've drawn are useful to all of us.
gemma star...thank you for your kind post.
When I read about a house deliberately built to last, I wonder about so much of the construction that I see, including hotels and office buildings. The construction often seems just a step above shoddy. I spoke to a friend's husband, who is a contractor (designs and builds beautiful homes), and he said that a lot of new construction is designed to last only about 50 to 75 years. I thought he was kidding. He wasn't!
"You can just tear down later and build something different," he said.
I lived in Europe for a few years and realized how significant it is to the human spirit to live in and alongside centuries-old buildings. It gives one such a sense of place and belonging.
I now live in New York City where the value of so-called "pre-war" apartment buildings -- because of their beautiful design and solid construction -- is generally greater, and sometimes significantly greater, than the value of newer buildings. Most of the new construction lacks the "heft" and "weight" that exists in the older buildings.
I also recall reading an article years ago in which a contractor described the discussions around the dinner table between his father and uncles who had a significant home building business in the northeast. The constant discussion point: the fact that they thought their homes would last at least a century, maybe longer -- but how could they build to improve the likelihood of a "maybe longer" duration possibility? The contractor was pointing this out because this kind of duration -- and quality of construction -- is no longer a meaningful home building goal.
But why isn't it?
It makes no sense to me to construct a building, including a home, to last only 50 to 75 years -- if this is truly what's going on. It occurs to me that possibly there are tax considerations at play -- costs and amortization rates -- that prompt what I view as short-sighted construction decisions. Or maybe we really are a throw-away society in a major, significant way.
Since you are a CPA who has also personally "built to last", do you have any thoughts on this? Or am I just completely off-base?
Our home was exceptionally well built (I don't wish to sound arrogant). We planned for energy efficiency. We have 2x6 walls rather than 2x4's to accommodate a higher R factor in insulation. We say that it was built like a fort. We have wide trim, solid wood doors blah, blah.
My husband has worked in million $ plus homes and they have narrow trim and luan doors. Horrific quality. If I had the choice to buy a new v. old home, I'd go with an old home so long as the plumbing and electrical systems could satisfy my needs.
Recently we spent about $17K on our kitchen. That DID NOT include cabinets. Unbelievable. I was worried that the new counters would make my cabinets look shabby. We had the same man, Buck, install them. It did not I did get a Thermador gas cooktop ($3K) a double oven to replace my previous double oven (2.7K) new dishwasher (1.2K) Corian counter tops ($8K) and new Blanco sink and faucet (2K). Now, I was FLOORED by those prices.
YOu know that you are old when you remember the prices of what you bought things for 20+ years ago. My POS (piece of $hit) GE double oven was about $550. My Kitchen Aid 2x with top convection is as noted. What a difference!
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