Navigating the complex world of encroachment and real property report compliance

Sometimes as a builder you also need to become a negotiator to try and extricate yourself from potentially alarming and usually costly interactions with the local authority. In the recent case, upon successful creation of a utility corridor easement (for over head power lines), the builder justifiably thought he had done the right thing. The power company had come to a fair agreement that allowed us to comply with our approved DP, and build what we needed to do to make a marketable project. When the time came to create a new RPR, we just went ahead as always, the new easement was shown on the map, and all parties were happy. And then it was time to get the City to stamp compliance on the RPR. Instead we were notified of an encroachment advisory stamped on the RPR, as if you can encroach while everything you built was contained within property you own. The slightly overzealous nature of the receiving clerk at the City end certainly wasn’t helpful. We were then advised of a lengthy (yes this is the City) process to have the encroachment reviewed and a likely agreement made to accept the building that we did inside of our lot (the building that is required to do inside the DP).

The happy ending here was I was able to get the direct line of the encroachment desk, and the staff there was agreeable and immediately sent me back the RPR with the encroachment voided. It was a pleasant surprise to have that turnaround within the hour and the docs were shipped off to the surveyor and lawyer. Another lesson learned about the compliance process and how to navigate within the rules of the City. Even better was the avoided fee of two encroachment agreements, that can really add up!

What a relief to have the City void this encroachment into the utility corridor that the power company (City owned entity) created. Saves so much time and cost for the builder to get this granted.

Construction random updates

Significant progress again to report at the K35 semi-detached, currently receiving the vast proportion of my attention and energy. A productive week with good weather again for the outside work, and we also had the long awaited precast window wells installed. This was interesting because I ordered the largest size they make, it requires quite a good sized hold to be dug to contain them.

A lot of juggling of equipment, schedules and materials was done to get the precast in on a comparatively tiny site with lots of other work ongoing. The HVAC crew started and basically finished the first unit, the plumber completed the drainage plumbing, and the framers were back to work on the second basement and lots of back framing work. The stairs arrived for one of the units, and install was well underway this evening. With 3-4 crews involved on one site over the week, much logistics and communication is done to keep everyone happy, with space to work, and with plenty of material.

As the builder, my job at this hectic stage has been reduced to the cleaner of mud off the street, and bringer of materials when shortfalls are identified, with the sporadic rain we’ve had, the mud has been awful, and with so much progress occurring, shortages of material is regular. Aggravating daily hardware store runs are now proving necessary as unexpected materials are needed. Once again, attentive site management (time consuming and inefficient) pushes everyone else forward, leaves no crew with a reason not to work (even if they may be wanting a reason), and greatly increases the pace that the crews can work toward stage completion.

Prepossession touchups

With the sales of the Richmond project moving along we were able to move out the furniture and address a bunch of drywall deficiencies. The house will be looking vastly better and we can conduct a walk through with the clients.

Touchups underway. Unfortunately screw pops and drywall joint issues are unavoidable when building in a place with such temperature and humidity fluctuation.

Garage building

The mild fall conditions have been very nice for the builders so far as we get near the end of September. The crew I usually use to do concrete work gets very busy with a late season push to pour flatwork before the ground gets cold. Immediately after gas line install we had them lined up to do all the sidewalks, patios and garages. A noisy and messy affair but we can try and get the garage built next week.

Pads and patios done. Next up is the garage framing with lumber and trusses booked for next week. Once the garage is framed we can hook up the electrical system to permanent meters from the temporary pole. That will energize the plugs and lights inside the house. For trade convenience

K35 - 1 month update

Lots of progress to report at the k35 semi detached project as we have just passed the one month milestone from the day we poured the footing to early this week. We finished the first full construction month with the shingles on and the basement slabs poured. The plumber is partway through the drainage network, and can now get down into the basement to do the network under the main floor. Decent weather and a good framing crew has enabled all the other associated activity. We are now going to get the garage started and move into Hvac and electrical as we approach the end of September. Overall a really good start to the project.

By mid morning the slabs are both poured. The bulk of the day will be spent by a portion of the crew that sticks around to hand trowel, and later power trowel the finished surface.

The temporary stairs in place have allowed access from the very start of the project where we installed the drainage plumbing, and later the Styrofoam and hydronic rough-in tied to the rebar grid. Getting these in place makes it much easier for the trades to access, and especially the inspector who wont do the inspection unless safe access is available.

Roof re-do

After truss assembly it was clear we had a problem. The roof peak was offset somehow to the centre of window. It didn’t look terrible but was one of those items that once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it. Rather than bungling around attempting to fix it on site I called the supplier. They agreed to replace the affected area and rushed it out in a couple days. The framers pulled off the offending area and reinstalled the repaired new truss pack. Overall a small but significant problem overcome with a lot of cooperation. The rain caused more delay than the wait for the new trusses.

Roof peak is noticeably offset

It all came down as one assembly thanks to the power of the machine

Always sad to see work get undone

And the new trusses are installed and we are back in action with the shingles loaded and roofers hard at work all day

Roof peak is good to shingle now. Old trusses cut up and in the bin. Lots of teamwork on site with pro crews that move quick.

Full house renovation complete!

After a lot of difficult and time consuming effort, we managed to wrap up the renovation project. This was well beyond a lipstick type house flip as shown on HGTV where some photogenic hosts are able to perform renovation miracles with a tiny budget. Somehow those TV couples seem able to hire trades who like to work for free ands shop at suppliers where material costs are a fraction of what you might purchase at your local hardware store.

Some lessons we’ve been able to draw from this project include the following:

• While my speciality remains new building, which I prefer over old homes, renovations are possible because the trades we use have a lot of renovation experience, and at some stage of the project it just becomes routine construction, and we can do that. Many of the same managerial and organizational skills of the inner city home builder translate well to renovation.

• Renovations are much cheaper and quicker than home building, thus the attraction to this type of work. After the endless marathon of permitting, designing, and struggle to get big projects launched, a renovation is a modest outlay of resources (1/3 to 1/2 of a typical new build budget).

• Changing the layout was a powerful and cost effective way to transform the dated living rooms on the old bungalow, and restoring what we could, such as the hardwood floor, made a huge difference for a small expense.

• Remaining in control of the deal, by being in control of the realtor/buyer is essential. You just cannot allow yourself to be operating at the whim of a client who hasn’t actually paid you yet. The endless barrage of wants/demands/requests/changes is just not tenable for the budget or schedule of the renovator. As long as you are the owner of the building, you make the decisions that suit your business, and any potential client can choose to buy it when it is complete, or not. Entering into a pre-sale arrangement of a 60 year old house may lead to a false expectation that not only are you changing every single item on the build, you are going to be delivering a new product. The impossible standards of this type of client can quickly sour relations.

• Transforming a date and horrible old bungalow into something refreshing and new is quite possible on a budget, provided you have the right knowledge and contacts. Since most people lack the fundamental skills needed, I’d advise they avoid this scale of a build. Too much risk!

Final product is very rewarding for the builder!

From dated and nasty to a really livable, like new, 60 year old home. We’ve extended the life of that bungalow indefinitely and it can house a new family for generations to come.

Hydronic rough-in ready

With a large crew of zip tie helpers we were able to knockout both basements quickly. This is definitely a job where 3-4 people makes it go way easier. Inspection is called and we can likely get this approved and then poured in the next few days. We do need good weather to pour the slabs so hopefully the fall remains nice and dry.

Framing day 12

With the trusses delivered and assembled we again ran out of material. Fortunately a late day delivery got us back in business. Hard for the builders to keep up with the framers when conditions are optimal.

Tall wall building

This is another post commenting on the remarkable productivity of the framers. No technical hurdle appears to slow these guys down. They just proceed with limited discussion or philosophy and productivity ensues. Raising a 25 ft tall wall wasn’t a challenge for the two of them although there was some bludgeoning needed to get it to fit. Enough scrap has been produced to fill a bin and almost all the framing is done with the exception of the roof, planned for delivery after the holiday weekend.

Framing day 7

The framers are continuing to produce at a rate we’ve had a hard time keeping up with for material delivery. The pace will slow with a long weekend approaching and the low likelihood of us moving the roof truss delivery day forward. Regardless we’ve been blessed with stable weather and a great crew.

The machine is the framers secret weapon. Anything to make a tough job easier.

Framing progress

Lots of updates from k35. We’ve got plumbing in the basement, the sewer and water deep services connected and the framers are on the second floor walls.

Framing begins

With foundation backfill and a large load of floor joist material delivered, the k35 project framing work is officially underway. It is always a nice stage of the project to see the structure go up. Summer weather and a good crew will mean quick progress and we can get it sealed up by the time fall arrives.

Raspberry season market update

We are well past the midpoint of 2019 and various reports in the industry are cautiously calling out a bottom. I’m not so certain. I think we may be observing a behaviour common to the Calgary market where stubborn and prideful sellers refuse to drop prices or even list property they no longer want. Most people consider their primary residence an investment and certainly for a rental property there is this built in expectation that even a cash flow negative rental somehow inflated in value each year. In my view most Calgary rental properties don’t warrant the valuation they already have and certainly haven’t earned a boost over the past couple (5) years … I had a seller contact me recently and offered to sell me a bunch of low demand low rebuild potential properties at very high cost. The local market seems not to have instilled any discipline in ambitious sellers.

2019 is more than half over and the raspberry crop has peaked. The raspberry crop was better than the summer real estate market this year.

Cribbing stage

We have now arrived at the stage of the project where we are building the basement walls. This is another specialized task that uses some really old building techniques with plywood forms held together with metal ties and wood braces. It is the sort of rough and hard construction labour that most people would not be capable of doing. Various high tech prefab approaches have been considered for building basements. For now the old ways seem continue to be the most predictable and cost effective.

Footing pour

It is always nice to begin the process of building up rather than tearing down at a new project. With the footing in place the wall forms can be raised over the next few days.

Are single detached homes some kind of endangered species worthy of our conservation?

I’ve heard this type of comment before and always found it inherently cringeworthy. It often relates to a sentimental view of the ‘gold old days’ because homes aren’t ‘built like they used to be’. I’ve torn down enough of these so called jewels of 50’s construction and they are far from wonderful once you see the guts of how they were built. The old house conservation sentiment also can come from a wish to protect history. The problem is the old bungalow doesn’t have any architectural value that couldn’t be easily replaced. We aren’t talking about mid century modern builds from Palm Springs. Just simple boxes with thin walls and site built trusses that need a lot of partition walls to be held up. Often they are plagued with vermiculite and asbestos drywall compound. The plumbing and electrical is completely rotten and would never pass an inspection today. Yet these are considered worthy of protection by the same people that’d never want to live in them without a full renovation. Yet the renovation expense isn’t worth it as the property only can trade at land value and not much more. And the same people that want other people to pay to conserve bungalows would also complain about the cost of suburban sprawl. Replacing the bungalow with a rowhouse project is perhaps the best way to add some density back into older neigbourhoods where the population is dropping because family size is less today. So I was interested in seeing a new map made about the proportion of single zoned land in Calgary. Definitely seems to indicate we aren’t short or detached housing options. What we are really short on is reinvestment in inner city urbanism that’d make more people willing to live in a smaller attached home vs a cheap house in suburbia.

Look at the desperate shortage we have of detached zoned property in Calgary!

Excavation complete at k35

We are deep underground at the k35 semi d. At this point we can get the Footings poured and walls set up. Unfortunately we missed the window to get my survey crew in and the footing crew is also booked elsewhere. I’m hearing reports the industry is quite busy. This conflicts with the other end of the business which is sales. Perhaps a positive forward looking indicator?

Sidewalk removal and restoration project - almost done

During the permitting phase of the Richmond semi d project we had a large security deposit requirement to fund the eventual sidewalk replacement. Unfortunately the funds are required in advance of the DP being issued by the City, so that while you have paid for the work to be done, it won’t likely be done for another year, but the City gets to use the funds for whatever purpose it desires. It is a terrible use of precious builder capital to tie up that much money for work that can’t be done for a year, but you can’t delay funding these deposits or you will never get a permit to begin work. An option was to hire a private contractor to do the work a little sooner, however, we were shocked at the pricing for replacing 50 ft of sidewalk and curb. It was far better to wait for the City to bid out a large number of jobs so the work could be done according to its rates (about half of the lowest private contractor). Despite the City getting a way better price on the job than we could ourselves, our original deposit wasn’t enough, and we had to top it up. Despite this added cost, the overall project was as much as $15k less than hiring it out ourselves, so we feel we really dodged a terrifying cost.

Work is almost done and finally our clients will be able to access the front door by driving in from the street.

About that vintage hardwood restoration project...

I have been neglecting my website updating this past July, maybe too distracted by the summer weather and lots of other business related stuff ongoing. Anyway, the hardwood project at the renovation site was quite a lengthy process, and I learned a fair bit as well. One factor was the requirement for good power to run the sander and vacuum machine. That pro level equipment doesn’t play nicely with the old panel still in the house (electrician was away and it didn’t get changed soon enough). We got lucky and salvaged a bunch of identical material to piece in from another job site, which was free to acquire. This was great and the finished product looks totally fantastic. I am super impressed with the way it turned out, from absolutely awful to a charmingly restored ‘like new’ hardwood floor. I would estimate that to do this in a new home with new site finished oak would cost about $10,000 for the small bungalow we worked on, if you could even get it from a store. We’ve considered salvaging enough of this to do a full new build such as at K35, but it does not seem viable. We’d have to do a lot of work to get 2000 sq ft of product. Are we that motivated?

Just a light buff and this is done. Walked around today on it barefoot. Lovely natural wood, and extremely old, probably 200 year old material here that looks almost new in 2019.

One of the many stages of sanding, this is the final round…already looked great raw.

Hidden gem of a floor right here, and this was a good spot. There was some really bad areas…