Jo is learning CAD

Some might not see sense in that. However in her new life as an Interior Designer (Check out Bitens and Grams) CAD is a necessary evil.

It means that we get to grow our design and every variation is on our own dime.

The learning part is huge, but the design is coming along to a point where we have a more affordable and realistic outcome.

Sadly we have had to let go of fancy notions of Basement dining cellars, Rooftop art studios, the deep and dark internal courtyard, Ida’s multi story bedroom, the rooftop outdoor kitchen, and the whiskey room. Very sadly indeed.

We have returned to the Warehouse apartment that we originally wanted.

So Jo is learning CAD. The worst part of that is that CAD doesn’t like Macs, and we don’t like PC’s. The standoff didn’t work and to my disgust we bought a PC. True to my expectations we had to return the first one for replacement because it had ‘issues’.

I hang my head in shame (about the PC).

 

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All of a sudden

There came a time when the prospect of building made us depressed/angry/frustrated.

Provoked by the constant stream of expensive expert statements that contributed little to the actual build, we took a moment and questioned whether we were prepared to risk an unsustainable level of debt to build something that we had fallen out of love with.

We had invested heavily financially and emotionally.

We chose to STOP

We withdrew our consent application, and informed people of our decision.

We identified that we wanted to live in the city. Early morning coffees confirmed that.

We will build on our site.

Our original brief to both architects was that we weren’t worried about how it looked and that the fun stuff should happen on the inside. The first architect blew our budget by more than 50% just in the concept stage. Our brief to the second architect asked him to modify the design so that we could build something we could afford. Neither of those things happened.

We ended up with a whole new design and it was out of budget. We have to take responsibility for that because we let it happen. We would still recommend both architects.

 

We will build to the original shell, keeping it simple, elegant, and affordable. Apparently this is possible.

 

And we will put the fun stuff on the inside. We will reference our old place in Lyttelton.

We have been working on our floor plan. Things are looking up.

 

 

 

The advantages of owning a Heritage building

25 Armagh Street - a Heritage Project

25 Armagh Street
– a Heritage Project

1- The district plan says that Telecommunication utilities cannot be built within 20 meters of you.

2- Their stories are well documented.

3- People will always have an opinion about what you do (not always an advantage)

4- The building has its own story

5- You don’t have to choose colours …. somebody chose them for you when the place was built.

6- ‘They’ broke the rules before the rules were made.

7- Random people come and talk to you about their lives (not always an advantage)

 

Problems versus solutions

Today we lifted some floorboards.  Actually it was the builder.

We were looking for underfloor space for ventilation.

Didn’t find it!

Did find some very scary borer though – could argue that they contributed to ventilation … but probably not a convincing proposition.

A48Q9764

What to do? What to do? What to do?

We have a conundrum. Do we lift the floorboards, and dig in the mandatory clearance for access and ventilation? Or do we leave it as is?

The floorboards won’t survive the lift, the joists will need replacing, The digging would lower the soil to below the surrounding ground creating the potential for a lake under the building, the piles would need replacing, and the archeologists could stop everything if we find a broken plate. We would, however, get better ventilation and would be able to install insulation.

The Heritage people would prefer us to keep the status quo, because we get to preserve the original fabric of the building. Certainly the saving in time and money works for us.

Rather than open that can of (borer) worms we are inclined to agree with them.

In a way the borer is the solution.

 

 

Tree

The Elm tree at Cranmer Square

The Elm tree at Cranmer Square

It needed a trim.

I wanted a new chainsaw. The one I needed was $1000. There were a hundred reasons to get it.

There were a thousand why I shouldn’t … so I got a sharper saw instead.

The pruning took three days,

Inside the tree

Inside the tree

Sitting in the tree on Saturday I could smell something burning. It was acrid.

Across Cranmer Square there was a car on fire.

The fire engine turned up.

Its obvious that living in the Square won’t be boring.

Red Project Elm

Red Project Elm

 

 

We met with the Engineer

Red House Land

This is where we will build the addition to the Red House. This photograph was taken before the weeds took over.

We met with the engineer a few months ago

Well actually, we met with them all. The engineer, The builder, and The Architect!
We said you must be freaking kidding!!

IT was obvious that our build was stupidly over budget. So stupid that we didn’t know what to do.

We included a Quantity Surveyor in the meeting.
There was no point in him determining our costs because we were undeniably sunk and we refused to pay $5000 for somebody to confirm that.

The QS was there to bring reality to the discussion.

Our plea was to bring the design back to at least almost affordable.

After the meeting the first thing the engineer and architect did was to send us an invoice. CRAP!

That wasn’t the solution we were looking for.

From depressed we went into denial.
We walked away from it.

And then Jo decided to change her career, re-educate, and get a new haircut.

The Red Project -To build, or not to build?

Every day we look at each other, and that is the question! The options are loud.

The answer is terrifying.

The consequences are our future.

Our happiness, our anger, our loss, and our gain. And not a decision made lightly.

Red House early image

The Red House when we bought it

To get here we have spent time, money, and emotions recklessly. Hoping that each would somehow get us to the outcome we wanted. Only to discover that we never fully understood what that really was!

Experts charged endlessly for often poor advice and wasteful reports, leaving opportunities to charge again for further strip-mining of our savings to get the advice right.

Our design mutated many times. All of a sudden we had a curve and a rooftop kitchen from what started as a small courtyard and a basement. Go figure!

Don’t start me on issues with owning a Historical building …. too much fun to poke a borer ridden stick at.

Our friends humoured our frustrations. They let us vent, rant, and rave. They kept us sane and remained our friends. In spite of making no visible progress in the almost three years we have owned the land, we still feel passionate about The Red Project. We still love the Historic building. We still love the location. We still get excited about the opportunity that it is. So here we go … to build!

That is the answer.