The First Week of Construction

Day One, June 23, 2008

The last couple of days, concurrent with a heat wave and other changes, I felt bumps and redness rise on my skin. Mostly it was around my butt and hips and it was somewhat itchy. Having gone to the doctor for other things this year but which proved unspecified and harmless, I decided not to this time. But while eating breakfast this morning I felt my right lip and face above it start to swell. It felt like blood was pumping and I looked and felt like I’d just had a shot of Novocain.

I decided to change course and call my doctor. I got an appointment for tomorrow. While I was at it I also managed to make one with my therapist for two days later.
By noon Mateo called informing me that construction had started, a bobcat was at work excavating and laying a road, and DWP had spotted for the water meter.

After eight years, Casa de La Montana Alegre was finally rising, and like so much about it’s history, it’s birth was proving just as dramatic as it’s past.

June 27, 2008 -- Fifth Day A passageway is carved to provide access to the lot's upper level.

Men can never experience what it’s like to have a child. Morning sickness, carrying around a 30 pound weight, watching something deeply personal grow. I am drawn to this analogy when it comes to this house. I know it’s inappropriate but as a man I don’t know what else to compare it to.

I stood on the dirt that is become the slab of the house. Several feet of the hill had been removed so that the elevation is the same as that of the house. In all the years of standing on the lot and looking at the view I couldn’t foretell exactly what it would be. But now that the lot was graded at the appropriate elevation I stood and looked out.

For the first time in a long while I felt excited and exhilarated. I liked what I saw. The light pole across the street was not in the line of sight of downtown’s skyscrapers. The mountains to the north were nicely framed. For a few moments I forgot about the falling real estate market and my construction loan due in 12 months and reveled in the product.

The baby would be all right.

June 30, 2008

Grading continued as I brought Tony and Todd over to the lot. Mateo said he’d hope to have the graded footings for the house done and cleared by the inspector by the end of the week.

I was hoping to figure out how to get the construction loan to kick in. This was a short week and these men needed to be paid. The construction loan manager made an unannounced visit to the lot last week and I had previously faxed an invoice, authorization, and e-mailed pictures.

Now if I could just get him to return my calls. However, while watching the grading we got inspired to call the loan’s home office who gave us the number of a Wenda. I was able to get her on the line and she confirmed receipt of my docs and that the check was in the mail. Would that be in time?

We’ll work on wire transfers next week, meanwhile Wenda was going to be my new best friend.

July 1, 2008

Arturo, the grading subcontractor and foreman, was digging the footings for the foundation. I had met Arturo last week and liked him. In Spanish we talked about construction, building homes and working with Mateo. It seemed an odd pair, Arturo and Mateo, different in years and cultures, but they have been building partners for several years.

It looks like the pad for the house’s foundation was complete. Even though there was lots of dirt that still had to be removed, Mateo figured out that the pad could be created, a foundation laid, framing begun, and the rest of the dirt removed concurrently.

A previous contractor had figured the grading differently: he proposed to take the dirt for the garage out first and use that space as a staging area. The dirt would be taken out all at once.

There is about 500 cubic yards of dirt to haul out and most of that is not mine: 318 cubic yards of it to be exact. This is part of the drama that it took to get to this point. I’ll document that eight-year history later.