Building a New Home - With 2 Men and a Bobcat:
In 2011 we undertook a major project in tearing down our house and custom building a new one.
While that seems normal, the story is something if not amazing. I was considering undertaking a renovation at my home to add to the existing footprint when I received a knock at the door. The knock was from a developer who had privately purchased my neighbors home and was indicating that he had just received approval to build and that construction was about to commence and he was asking for approval to violate the 1x1 requirement between the properties. I was leaving with the family for a vacation so I called my buddy (John Valente) of Avro Construction and Valente Homes - an experienced home builder and close friend. He said to leave it with him and to enjoy my vacation.
I came back a week later to find the following notice on my front door:
Basically, Johnny had filed for a demolition permit - he was tearing down my house and I had two weeks to find a place to live, pack up my family, move them out and empty whatever I could in preparation for demolition. Now you have to realize, I had no plans to move and/or start any type of renovation - the house was full!!
Why the Hurry?
Cost. The reason for the urgency was that my new neighbor (a builder) was 6-8 months into his planning stage and was immediately starting construction. Johnny agreed to drop everything to work with me as we had to race to catch them, pass them and therefore we could save the significant costs for backfilling between the properties. We had to draw up plans, design the house, demolish the existing house, not to mention a solid concrete pool, regrade the property, rebuild and move back in - all in 8-9 months! There was also one small additional challenge - I had to do all this while continuing to work full time. Ironically, my other neighbor (on the other side from the builder) was having issues with leakage in their basement so Johnny approached them with a proposal to dig out their foundation and re-seal it as part of my construction. This was very convenient as it meant that we could dig out between the property lines and then backfill for both structures.
The Demolition:
It is safe to say that the demolition began almost immediately and the house was still mostly full of "stuff". Food was still in the fridge, the basement freezer was literally full and all appliances were still in place. There was no time to recovery the majority of our belongings as I had to focus on the most critical family heirlooms... Basically, I had to move at light speed. I called moving companies but they were were weeks away from being available. I used my SUV and moved everything I could out by myself. Demolition started within the first few days, focusing on the inside while we waited for our formal demolition permits to be approved.
Design:
We basically had to "design on the fly". No time to engage a designer - I was it. We made preliminary drawings and filed those with the city in order to get our permits. Everything was done in parallel. While the house was being demolished, we worked on the draft plans for the new house. I was researching new appliances, getting ideas for design features such as kick plates for central vacuum, heated towel racks, sound/speaker systems and wiring requirements, bulkheads, etc. I was moving walls in real time, picking paint colors, door hardware, floor stains, tile patterns, countertop designs, etc. all on the fly. Not ideal but in the end, it all worked out. Everything in the house is custom designed and the only pre-fab materials used are floor TGI's and a couple I-beams in support of the open concept. Everything else is custom built - including the roof rafters and heating ducts (made by hand by a tin specialist - old school). Every inch was scrutinized, including building a bread box with a roller door into a wall stud gap to increase counter space in the kitchen. One of the many design unique features is that I designed the sound system to leverage 36 speakers in the ceilings - the basement, main floor and the master bedroom each have 8.1 surround sound with the speakers in the ceiling mapped to a bulkhead. Each room also has speakers mapped into a central sound controller with panels located next to the light switches that can control music locally or centrally in the data center in the basement. Internal and external security cameras are all wired for power and signal back to the data center. RFID/keypads are used for access control to the main house and the garage entries. Currently, the house is a "smart" house with all lights, heated towel racks, gas fireplaces, etc. being controlled by digital assistants (Google and Alexa). These are just some of the unique design features I incorporated into the house.
Construction Videos:
You can see from the videos that the entire project was completed using a single "bobcat" - no cranes or large machines were used. Did blow the hydraulic lines and broke the bucket mount on the machine at one point - likely as a result of having to use the jack-hammer to break up the concrete pool in the back of the property. Getting the second floor I-beam in place with just a bobcat and 2 guys was quite a feat - balancing on a wall 20 feet above an open pit (not something I hope that I never have to do again!).
Short Video:
Longer Video:
My Little Helpers - My Kids Get into the Act:
Timeline - 9 Months:
We began the process on Aug 22, 2011 - filing the demolition permit. The house was designed, old house demolished, site prepped and the new custom home built. We moved back in around the middle of June 2012, 9 months later - all with 2 Men and a Bobcat!
The Bobcat (Actually a Case Machine) Hard at Work:
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