You know it is a bad sign when your “home builder” is changing their business model to become a “siding specialist”. The irony is that the siding on our home has not even started! Again, wish us luck.
Check out Botan Construction and their re-branding here on kijiji. Sigh.
It is no secret that our project is way over schedule. We have completed about 2 months worth of work in over 7 months now. The original completion date of the project was May 1, and as you can see we have a long way to go. No one said this process was going to be easy, however we did not expect this!
It has been a long road since we first started doing our research to find the right architect and builder. In April of 2011 we spoke to about 7 architects and designers in Ottawa responsible for modern designs in the city. We narrowed our search to Andrew Reeves, Jacques Hamel, John Donkin and Jason Flynn. After weighing the pros and cons of each, Andrew and Jason moved to the top of our list. We were completely torn since they are both great guys who are up and coming architects with reasonable rates and amazing designs. In the end, we went with Jason Flynn and we couldn’t be happier with the design he has provided us and the way he is has worked with us as a professional. During construction, he has spent numerous hours trying to help us manage and get the project back on track, but despite countless meetings, communications and infinite amounts of patience, we find ourselves in the situation we are in today.
Our decision to go with Botan Construction was also a tough one. Although their references were not excellent, we decided to move forward due to other considerations such as cost, availability, innovation, principles and vision. We were told that the owner Patrick Reardon, is an up and coming builder who is a good guy trying to build innovative “green” homes and change the way the residential building industry operates for the better. We were also very impressed by Patrick’s initiatives in the local community. He founded a school that trains young immigrants on building techniques and various trades. This showed us that we were dealing with someone with a social conscious and the desire to do the right thing. However, previous clients also expressed concerns about execution. Despite this, we were so impressed by his passion, innovation and forward thinking that we decided to take a chance.
In terms of innovation, he has developed a custom software application to manage the project that provides us with a web portal to monitor and engage in the progress of the project. Not to mention the tablets that every worker has on site to collaborate and update progress. Being a technology guy, I could see the potential value of such a tool right away and believed the claim that it would actually reduce the time of the project. However, this distracted us from the element of experience and the ability to manage and execute on a project. My experience with large scale technology and software integration projects should have reminded me of the importance of project management and planning skills. Live and learn I suppose, so here we are.
Actually while traveling to Moncton, New Brunswick for work I saw this article about a local builder who is using technology successfully to operate a new kind of residential home building business. It reminded me of what we got excited about last year. Alas.
So the question now is, where do we go from here? Well, we have made one final attempt to give Botan a chance to put a plan together that will expedite the project. Stay tuned for how things unfold in the coming days.
Interestingly, while doing some spring cleaning we realized that exactly 1 year ago we received a 3D rendered video of the design of our home from Jason. This was a very exciting time. We always knew that what we were seeing had elements of “fantasy” in it and that the end product would not be exactly as it was depicted in the drawings and renderings. However, at this point is it difficult for us to be excited about the end product. I thought I would share this rendering to restore some sense of hope to the project and to keep sight of what were are ultimately driving towards.
Note: this rendering was done before: 1) we changed the upper balcony to just an overhang, 2) we changed the first balcony to a porch, 3) the slope of the driveway was raised, 4) the back design was completed.
Also Note: Botan Construction’s website http://botan.ca has been down for weeks. Now it just points to a blank WordPress blog. This is not a good sign. Wish us luck!
We have been waiting 3 weeks on Manotick concrete to pour the concrete in the basement and the front porch/stairs. Looks like we are waiting in line behind the big builders down the street from my parent’s place… they are scheduled to be on our site on Wednesday.
We have started to piece together Gordon’s exterior look. It will be a combination of stucco, Arriscraft Renaissance stone, concrete, cedar and of course windows. Here is a photo of the stone sample (the smooth one), the grey colour of the windows (just painted on a piece of random wood), a white board representing the stucco, and a random piece of wood representing the cedar. Thoughts?
We thought we missed the opportunity last year to have one of our close friends as a neighbour when this home sold for $407K. However, it is back on the market for a whopping $539K! It is too bad because the state the house was in last year was prime for a rebuild. However, now it is a toss up since they have renovated it. In any case, this is prime land ready to be developed at 49 Gordon. Any takers?
http://orebweb3.oreb.ca/mlssearch/SearchMlsDetails_RES.aspx?x_mls_num=831332
In case you are wondering, the title refers to the viral video “Pants on the ground“. We now have radiant heat tubing on the floor of the basement. It looks pretty neat…
We have entered month #7 of the transformation of Gordon 1.0 and time keeps ticking while Gordon 2.0 is struggling to move forward. There have been many administrative items that have set things back and our hope is that we can work through these as soon as possible. At this point we are not too sure when the project will finish and when we will be able to call Gordon home again.
Today we have all of the room divisions, the roof, some plumbing, and the main structure with the chimney. Our hope is that things will begin to pick up with HVAC, electrical, plumbing and the exterior cladding in the coming days. Also, we are still waiting on the windows to arrive. Hopefully they will be delivered soon so we can finally enclose the home!
In other news, we have picked most of our plumbing and lighting fixtures, which is great since we don’t have to run around the city anymore!
Here are some pics with the latest progress:
Well it looks like the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the city to move forward with the development at Lansdowne. Will the Friends of Lansdowne appeal to the Supreme Court next?
Here is an interesting quote from the court’s ruling:
[84] It is not for the courts to second guess or reweigh policy and financial considerations that informed the City’s decision to advance the development. The application judge aptly characterized Friends‟ bad faith argument as “largely an attempt to reargue [its] position that the [Plan] is a poor deal for the City from a financial perspective.” This position had been aired extensively before Council. It does not support a finding of bad faith.
You may be asking, what is going on with the house?! Well here is a sneak peak of what is happening…
We are well aware that this post can be classified as a “first world problem“, but we are going to ask the question anyway in hopes that you can help us out. We would like to get your thoughts on which fridge we should go with for our kitchen, which will set the tone for the rest of the appliances. Ideally we would get a built-in fridge so that we can have panel doors to match the cabinets for a nice clean modern look, but the price is ridiculous… more than double of a counter depth fridge! So now we are down to 2 options and we keep flip flopping, so we are taking it to a poll.
In one corner is the Jenn-Air JFC2290 which is better quality but we find the handles a little too curvy and not modern enough:
In the other corner is the GE Monogram ZFGB21HZSS which looks nicer (in our opinion) but doesn’t have the same track record with Consumer Reports as the Jenn-Air:
What do you think?
Things continue to be out of hand in the Ottawa spring real estate market. Although this is not as bad as the homes that are being blogged about in Toronto here, this is one I had to post for everyone’s entertainment. I guess people are right to say Westboro is hot when this type of home is going for $829K. My favourite line from the listing is, “Substantial addition and quality renovations completed in 1983.” Let’s just say 80′s architecture is nothing to get excited about!
By the way, things have slowed down at 50 Gordon as we are working through some administrative items and correcting some framing work. Stay tuned, hopefully we will have a substantial update in the next couple of weeks.
