Oh so close...April construction here we come

So, as promised, the City of Vancouver did indeed get back to me this week to indicate that I need to get my tree protection up before they will issue my building/development permits (yes, nice if they would have told me this before). Communication is not their fortay.

So - we're slated to get the tree protection stuff up on either Monday or Tuesday, and have the inspector come on Tuesday/Wednesday at which point, it should go back to the City for approval. At that point, I'll need to go in, and pay my fees and we're off to the "races".

First up will be demolition and decontamination. I've opted in the end to do a pretty extensive remediation with the vermiculite being removed (which sucks because it's non containing but they treat it as though it were), as well as the asbestos tile, ducting tape, and breaching cement. The demolition will include the entire inside, and for better or worse, I'm opting to do the entire exterior myself (should be interesting - especially for the higher siding...methinks scaffolding rental will be in my near future).

I should be starting to post more regularly now...the decisions are going to start coming fast and furious. Wish us luck!

My delinquent update

For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath wondering "when's the next post going to be?!", I'm back in the blogosphere with not a TON to report on.

We formally submitted our plans to the City of Vancouver on January 19th and were told that we should expect approval roughly 6-8 weeks from that date. Now, some 10 weeks later, we can safely say that the City of Vancouver doesn't really care about other people's time. Hopefully there will be approval at some point soon, but it all remains to be seen.

In the interim, we've been getting quotes, adjusting drawings, and generally getting ready to proceed once we get the green light.

The bad news over the past few months:
- Costs have escalated (shocking!). This has been mainly due to a few decisions such as opting for fiberglass windows over PVC (no offgassing, more structurally stable, etc.), as well as having the vermiculite in the roof removed, and having to increase some of the costs for project management/site super work. We're coming in around $204/sq.ft. right now, but I'm going to be doing my darndest to lower that number back down to $200.
- I've missed out on the federal energy rebate program which kind of sucks (~$5000 in lost rebates)
- People keep saying the housing market is going to implode

The good news over the past few months:
- I can still make the BC energy rebate program (~$4500)
- Ikea keeps offering deals so we'll get a chunk of money back from the kitchen/bathroom events when they next come up (~$2000)
- The housing market hasn't imploded.
- Interest rates look stable for the coming while (good given our variable rate)
- I've started to move vegetation from the front to the back of the house in preparation for the permit.
- I've realized that triple glazings don't actually cost that much more (though tempered glass is a different story).

So - that's all for now. As soon as I get the permit, I'll be trying to blog more on here, record pictures and keep this story rolling along.