I don’t recall exactly why I wanted to design and build a new house but perhaps it was nothing more than the fact that the property was vacant and had terrific views. Or was it the fact that I have an architecture background and seeing this lot made me want to put my background and job experience to work. I work in the City of Los Angeles Construction Services Center and have never known anyone, either in my department or the building department, to have completely gone through all it’s processes.This house was also going to be for myself.
It seemed poetic, and I said that more than once to my therapist, as I struggled to get it off the ground.
When I bought the two lots I lived around the corner from them in a house with a great view. One of these lots had twice the view so when it came on the market I went after them. I didn’t get it because the sellers, living next door, changed their mind. A few years later they put it back on and I snapped it up.
Thus began more than a three-year period of designing. At one point I commissioned a world famous artist to come up with a design. A friend also came up with several designs, one of which to this day is my favorite, but in a meeting with a contractor when they were discussing how to connect the walls and windows in this innovative design, and how to teach a tradesman how to maintain it, I decided it wasn’t going to be affordable or practical. Just like most great architecture.
If there were computers when I was in architecture school I might have been an architect. Not being able to draw a straight line helped put an end to that idea so instead I dragged my friend Edel through months of Monday afternoons while we designed together.
Every possible way to do this house was considered. I’ve heard that a vacant lot—a veritable blank canvas--is more difficult to design on than a lot with topographic or zoning restrictions. This wasn’t the case with me; it was the best and most fun part of the whole process.
All the designs, except for the renowned artist’s, incorporated the same siting in order to take advantage of the view and hide the adjacent house. This was my only requirement that almost mandated the house be configured in a “T” shape. However, it still took literally countless designs and re-designs for me to feel satisfied.
And now, as the first earth has turned, I am wondering how my vision will turn out. It is one thing to get down on paper, another to see it in all dimensions.
A WORD ABOUT DESIGN PHILOSOPHY -- Being a good Berkeley graduate I could never approach the house design without first developing a design philosophy. I wanted the house to blur the boundary between inside and out, landscape vs. interiors. I chose a design which I believed reflected this approach: lots of glass, minimal ornamentation. However, as I began to think about costs and my finances, the design evolved into a different philosophy of mine: a house is a machine for living and therefore can be absolutely minimal. Variety comes with furnishings, don't lock into a style because they change.
July 2003 – July 2007 The Entitlement Processes
This is what I do for a living, advise people on how to get through it. I’ve been training and supervising staff in this for 18 years. It is incredibly involved, complicated, and throws for a loop the most experienced architects and attorneys, let alone single property owners.
It threw me for a loop.
Rather than bore everyone with the details, let me summarize, in order of chronology, the applications I filed for in my office for only the lot I am building on:
--a project permit per the specific plan in the area
--an environmental assessment
--a lot line adjustment to move the property line between two lots
--a zoning administration hillside determination
And because I missed filing a simple time extension in my office (the loop I missed):
--an environmental assessment reconsideration
--a second zoning administration hillside determination
December 2004 -- December 2007 The Building Permits
One of the great things about having gone through the entitlement and building permit processes is that I can look at customer's in the eye and say, I do know what it's like to go what you are going through. In fact I can usually say I've gone through much more than they have.
July 2006 -- A Tortuous Sale
Somewhere the idea struck that rather than build two houses, one to live in and one to sell, it would be easier to sell the second lot with entitlements and building permits, ready to build. At least selling was worth a try, certainly easier than building, so I tested the market and got two interested buyers.
My realtor suggested one over the other so we opened escrow and soon I met Manny—one of the most difficult persons on earth.
I recall many long and arduous meetings with Manny, one over 3 hours at a Denny’s, where we discussed fine points of plans, soils, and construction. Manny was a construction estimator who was reviewing the plans with the hope of building the house for the buyer. He wasn’t getting paid to torture me; he was doing it on spec.
The issues Manny was torturing me were over were how much detail needed to be put on the plans. I admit that I learned a lot but eventually I had to tell him that he’s jeopardizing the sale and his chances of getting work if he kept up the torture.
2007 Contractor Issues
In my current house I worked with a contractor rebuilding the foundation after the 1992 earthquake. Before that I lived in a house where the same contractor helped me re-design and re-do a problematic hillside deck that also covered an accessory living quarter. With all this experience together I fully expected to him to build this house.
But it was not meant to be and we ended up separating. Break-ups don't come easy, and it is often said that while construction one is married to their contractor, so it was a decision, that didn't come easy. It took months for us to realize we weren't communicating well.
2007 Spring - Summer: The Dirt Pile
318 cubic yards of dirt were piled on my lot before I started construction. It was put there over a year earlier without permission by the owner of the adjacent lot, after I sold it to them. I spent that time angsting over how to address it.
In contrast to the difficulty of breaking up with the contractor, the issue of the neighbor's dirt pile was intractable. It was the first time I needed to talk to my therapist about the house. I was in a corner. In order to continue with the project I removed it myself.
2008 Contractors and Loans
I received my building permit in December of 2007, the same year I left go of my contractor, so in order to get construction started by summer and avoid the fall rainy season I needed to find a contractor and loan.
I was scrambling. Everyone I talked to had a contractor that should be interviewed.
Meanwhile the mortgage industry was imploding. I wasn't sure how it would affect me until I settled on Mateo and applied for a loan. And so at the last minute it imploded on me but my mortgage broker was able to come up with an alternative loan. Not the best loan but in order to keep the momentum going (and my building permit) I went ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment