At the start of 2017, only the foundation walls gave a hint to what the design we had on paper would look like in reality. And holy crap that footprint looked huge. The whole year was ahead of us and we had it all planned out.

Looking back we’ve managed to accomplish a lot this year. The house is framed and closed in. Steel roof is 30% complete. Insulating has started, roughed in plumbing, heating and electrical are complete. Electricity has been run from the road to the house and we have limited power at the house. Septic is installed as well.

Building this house is a first time project for both of us, and not without its challenges and lessons about the process:

Top 5 Things We’ve Learned About Building a House

5. You can’t plan for or change the weather.

As anyone in Southern Ontario could tell you, spring 2017 could be summed up in one word: wet. From April to May the total rainfall was almost double the norm, causing problems all over the area, flooding lakes and drenching farm fields. For us, it made the woods green and lush, but it caused significant challenges to framing and creating our own indoor pool in the basement, which set our schedule back by a few weeks.

Our guys made every effort to keep things moving forward, but in the end delays unfortunately impacted other areas. Our fireplace was installed this fall as temperatures dropped, and became too cold to finish the chimney in time to enjoy this winter. The recent super frigid temps has paused insulation and roof work for now.

4. Constant communication is key.

I don’t know how many times the vision I had in my mind ended up being slightly different to what Greg pictured. Why not? We’re two people with different tastes and perspectives, it’s inevitable our visions may differ. The colour or position of the radiators, the look of the mantel above the fireplace, the trim around the exterior of the house, the style of the lighting. The key is constant communication. Not a day goes by that we don’t talk about something to do with the house. Lots of visuals help too. Sketches on paper and dry erase marker on windows, tours around our neighbourhood picking out what we like and don’t like. And many, many online images. Pinterest became our friend real fast when it came to pulling together ideas and using the visuals to help clarify our individual visions to truly agree on a direction. We have boards for every element of the house.

3. Be realistic with expectations

At the start of the year, we had huge expectations. Believe it or not our goal was to be able to stay there for the holidays at the end of the 2017. A cozy winter cottage to enjoy, fireplace and all. Considering Greg was the general contractor from a project 150km away, with full time jobs of our own, planning to do much of the interior work ourselves and learning as we go…needless to say those plans quickly evolved over the course of the year. We joke that our method of calculating our remaining timeline is now: whatever our original estimate is, double it.

2. Be willing to be flexible, enjoy the little things and have fun along the way.

No matter how much planning you put in, the unexpected will pop up. The weather, contractor schedules, product delays, etc. You can’t control them so why stress over it? The trick is to roll with it and adapt to what comes up. You may find the revised approach ends up even better than what was originally planned.

And most importantly….

1. Celebrate what you have accomplished

Compared to our gigantic expectations at the start of the year, we may not be at the point we had originally hoped to be, but in the end we’ve come a long way. From a hole in the ground we now have built the framework for our dream home, one that has been with Greg since he was a boy. Many of the essentials like heat and electricity in place and ready to come together very shortly.

We’ve been able to spend more time in an environment we love. It’s been great fun camping at the house on weekends in the summer and fall, experiencing the woods and all of its inhabitants. Birds have made spring homes in our rafters, we’ve been greeted by woodpeckers and been serenaded by cattle and coyotes.

We’ve connected with family and the community in the area – and likely provided them with some form of entertainment at times.

We’ve had much fun and laughs along the way, we’ve learned a ton through the whole process, even witching wells and operating heavy equipment. The first year is behind us and we know there are more adventures ahead. We can’t wait for 2018 and all that is in store. And sharing it with you of course.

 

All the best to you and yours, and may 2018 bring you joy and adventures of your own!

Heather & Greg