Still more than double

Since I hadn’t added to this site for 111 days, I began rereading this blog… and it seems our current situation is, as Yogi Berra says, “déjà vu all over again.”

On March 9, we learned that the house the architecture firm had sketched for us was more than double the stated budget. So we scaled back from the original vision. A lot. And it was making me feel both stupid and cheated.

On September 11, we “celebrated” the first anniversary of sending a retainer check to the architecture firm. The day before this, we got the cost estimate from Jimmy. It was $150,000 over budget. Interestingly, all three of the other builders came in higher—at double our budget. Which seems to indicate that the original design was more than triple our budget.

Tall Guy had lambasted the drawings as being impractical and idiotic; that the glazing was out of control and that the structure made no sense. Steve-O’s guy said he really wanted his estimate to come in on budget, but it wouldn’t be possible because of the windows and the way the engineering had been established.

Local Guy was more specific. He had some observations and some theories:

• All of the windows were custom sizes; the architect priced this at $37,500 for windows alone. All Pella. We’ve heard terrible things about Pella quality. Two of the builders we interviewed called the brand crap.
• And Jimmy had estimated another $37,000 for the operable glass wall to open up the hot tub room. I went online and found several competitors to the NanaWall. Using the specs the architects had on the drawing, the La Cantina version was $16,866. By choosing a standard versus a custom size, the price became $10,331. I learned this via two e-mails after looking up an advertiser in dwell magazine. Just like that, I saved $26,669.
• The siding was a mystery to him. Later, we investigated. Parklex® is from Finland. Swisspearl Rainscreen is, you guessed it, Swiss. And a rainscreen façade system wasn’t something the local builder was familiar with. So, from a carbon footprint perspective, these two products—which we never approved—were an environmentally burdensome choice due to shipping. From a weak U.S. dollar perspective, they were a costly choice. And from a how-the-hell-do-you-install-it perspective, they were an unworkable choice.
• He assumed the guy with his name on the door wasn’t managing his subordinate.
  Postscript: The underling is off our project. Jimmy says he is now taking charge.
• Noting there was a ridiculous amount of steel being specified, he thought the engineering was better suited for commercial than residential.
  Funny story #1: When we mentioned to Jimmy that the other three builders cited the structure as being overblown for the use, he quipped that we must be talking to residential builders. To which we replied: This is a residence!
  Funny story #2: The underling specialized in footings for buildings in Manhattan. So skyscraper infrastructure is his background. No wonder we could build the Freedom Tower on our site.