Author: Michael Jamieson

I must say that I am somewhat disappointed with he progress on the exterior of the house in week number eight. Don’t get me wrong, there was progress this week but it was the inside that benefited with drywall and electrical work and the outside remained the status quo once again this week.

My thinking on this would be related to the second and third home being installed in Sturgeon Falls over the next few weeks. It is my belief that the crews will return and complete the work on our house and then continue with the two others so as the work would be localized for a given period of time. At least this is my thinking at this point.

As for the work that was completed this week, The stairs and windows for the basement have been installed. It was so cool to walk in and make our way down to the basement for the first time. Now the house is closed to outside eyes as they are not able to get into the building anymore.

The electrician was able to install the electrical service and all the connections to the panel in the day and a half he was here. His work was neat and tidy and took the time to walk me though what he was doing. We talked about what was where and a few little things that every house has, those secrets and special cases all home owners need to know about. He even set the ocular temperature of our outside lights to what we wanted. The things you can do with LED lights today.

The one thing I wanted to not happen was forgotten and now I have to undo it later though. I had asked that the network cables not be terminated so I had all the extra cabe length needed to install my own network rack once we moved in. He admitted to forgetting this and apologized but now I have shorter cables that may cause an issue as to where my rack can be placed. It will work in the end I am sure, time will tell.

The drywall crew completed all the patches and primed all their work so the house is ready for a final coat of our liking. We have been encouraged to wait a year for the house to settle and any resulting cracks or nail pops can be repaired under warranty following the one year inspection. We can also choose to paint the walls and make sure we have some paint left to make the touch-ups as required which is most likely the path we will take. But for now, white will do.

Speaking about painting, we took the time to find out details related to a driveway and interior furniture. We are waiting for quotes and are even thinking about having an interior decorator come in to aid in this process. We have never done this so it should be interesting.

Next is the plumber followed by the HVAC people which should bring use to the HUG Date of July 20th when the house becomes ours. Lots of little things need to happen before then but it is just a matter of weeks before we can move in; the end of the tunnel if you will.

It is now the seventh week of the build and unfortunately there is little visually to share that demonstrates a large difference as the house is being completed.  Most of the work this week has been in the interior, closing up the two modules to make the building air tight including patching cosmetic damages from their time on the road.  This is also the beginning of the Trades making their appearance on site beginning with the drywall/finishing crew.

If you were to enter the house at this point you would find no evidence to indicate there are two separate modules joined together.  The final hardware to make the building whole have been installed, covered and hidden under the final pieces of flooring or drywall which was left unlaid at the time of travel.  This hardware is huge plates of steel fastened with bolts to ensure the midline of the building will remain level over time.  In the last home we lived in, also a modular home built some 35 to 40 years ago, had a little wave in the middle where the two halves joined.  You could tell it was there but it was not any concern.  I am sure these metal plates are now installed today to prevent this, only time will tell but I am betting there will be no “wave” in our future.

The other progress of note this week was the pouring of the floors in the basement and garage.  Three cement truck loads and a very long day later, the crew from Turncliffe Contracting completed both tasks with a high level of proficiency and expertise.  What surprised me was the age of these individuals.  It has been my experience, although very limited, this type of work is lead by a well seasoned individual and a support crew who have come up the ranks of time.  Well there was a well seasoned lead for sure, but his outward appearance did not match the level of experience exhibited.  He was a third generation young man continuing the family business and it showed as the years of wisdom that have been transferred from generation to generating down to his steady hands masterfully levelling the concrete and managing his young crew both with words of encouragement and criticism along a few moments of frustration when there was the expected action of the crew was not in time.  This was an old master in a young body.

Next up I have been told is a crew to complete the exterior such as the remaining siding and the basement windows to close up the house.  This will hopefully prevent the prying eyes from coming around to look at the house.  Just the other day our new neighbour informed us that an individual climbed into our basement to have a look about.  I will admit that when I was a young lad I too visited a few new construction sites to have a look around, but this was a grown stately man.  I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go round

 

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When we decided to move forward with building a new home we decided to go the prefabrication road and chose Quality Engineered Home as the provider.  After a lot of thinking, many questions and meeting with Quality Homes representative Julie Armitage, we have reached the magic moment when our house flies home to its final perch.  This was the first time we saw the outcome of our decisions and choices made late fall of last year.  In one day, our home now sits at about 80 percent complete.  Now it will take about six weeks to fully finish and we can begin to move in.

So you can have a sense of how events unfolded during the week I have summarized each day beginning with financing just in time through to the last day of the week when the hard working crew had a weekend to refresh themselves to continue the following week.  That is one thing I can not say enough, these people from Quality Homes are beyond professional, they are focused, precise and personable to no end.

Day One – May 31, 2021

We generally live in a trailer for six months out of the year in our “Condo on Wheels,” now you might say this week will result in a step up or, more accurately, a quantum leap in our living accommodation for the other six months of the year.  To finance this type of build we secured a Construction Mortgage which allows you to draw funds as required to keep your build moving forward towards completion.  For a modular home, in our case, this draw of funds is the final cost of the home upon delivery.  They will not ship the modules without a guaranty you have the funds in hand to give to the driver when they arrive because of the logistical nightmare involved to move oversized loads down Ontario highways.  Permits, equipment, manpower, and various utilities staff required to move low-hanging wires are all need to be coordinated to move prefabricated modular homes.

Well, despite negotiating with the bank nearly eight to ten months in advance of the delivery date and arranging a lawyer to register the mortgage with time to spare, it was down to the wire to get the funds before the arrival of our home.  The bank was ready to give out monies but the lawyer was not so accommodating despite communicating with them three months in advance, so we were running around the day of the delievery.  With a gentle pushed from Quality Homes explaining the extent of the affects of not having the funds available in time and the efforts of our mortgage broker to ensure the lawyer was able to receive the funds in a timely manor, we were able to provide the funds in time.

 

Day Two – June 01, 2021

An early start to the day, grabbing chairs, water, the dogs and umbrella for some shade, we were off to the building site to watch the two halves of our home be placed on the foundation.  What a show it was for us and a small handful of interested neighbours.

First on site was the crew, a well oiled machine if I have ever seen one.  Everyone had a task and a place to be throughout the next four hours required to place each half on the foundation.  We were the next on site setting up our viewing position followed shortly after by the in-laws.  Following this was the 300 tonne crane, a massive beast and well overkill for the task at hand.  The smaller, more appropriate crane was not available today I was told.  Now was the beginning of the setup period to lift the building.  For a massive machine this crane is surprisingly agile.

 

 

Next was the parade, two halves of our building moving effortlessly towards their final resting place, our foundation.  The crews began preparing the first half for the lift, unpacking the building from its road dressings and preparing to place the straps and lifting harnesses.  This was our first time to have an unobstructed view of the interior.  Next they positioned the module in front of the crane.  In the meantime, a second crew was completing the final tasks before the lift, like removing the roof structure of the garage they had just built, while waiting for the crane to set up.  Once clear of that the first half was airborne.  About 20 minutes later, it was in its final position after and few minor adjustments.  They took the time to reposition this half by a quarter of an inch.  This screams professionalism let alone precision.  Now time for the second half, much the same process and procession.  Next the roof peaks, ridge beam and then on to the garage.  Four lifts later, a garage for two.  There was even roofing shingles started on the roof structure as the crew not required for the lift were working on other tasks such as the garage roof shingles.

With the heavy lifting done, the crane was packed up and sent on its way.  We were approached and invited to see our home for the first time once they had made it safe for us to do so.  This was the first time the lines on the drawing, which we spent hours pouring over; adjusting this or that, moving a wall here and there, requesting a light here and not there, became real.  What a feeling it was knowing there was a final product on the horizon.

   

 

Day Three – June 02, 2021

It was down to a crew of two to keep moving our project forward as the balance of the crew from the day before, were off to the next lift on Manitoulin Island.  They worked on closing up the building sealing the two halves together.  We did not get over to the site until later in the afternoon to see them pouring the concrete porch at the front door.  They also had the back of the building completed with vinyl siding.  I am sure there was a longer list of tasks completed but those were the two most visible during a drive by.  We do not want to get in the way of their progress as they have instructions to put down their tools if we or another visitors are onsite.

 

Day Four – June 03, 2021

Much of the same as above continued on this day, more buttoning it up, or closing up the exterior to make the building water-tight.  This included completing the roof singles, placing a roof over the porch and more siding.  It is looking great from the street now.

 

 

What is Up for Next Week

We have been told the basement floor will be poured next week along with the sewer and water hook-ups.  Then in the weeks to follow the other utilities will be added but more on that in the next instalment.

I hope you have a coffee or tea for this one, or maybe you should just get something more stronger for this.

When we first purchased the land in September 2020 there was a small waterway running through the back quarter of the property next to good old mother nature — a granite out crop. We thought the rock would be interesting to develop with some flower boxes and fencing and the water would be a simple culvert and backfill. It got even better when in closing the purchase there was no easement against the waterway so we did not need to worry about issues with the municipality.

Come the spring we started moving forward with planning the lot so we asked our contractor about culvert pricing and what the cost would be for installation. Let’s stop here and take your first big gulp of the hard stuff before we proceed. We were informed during this conversation with he contractor that there was a need to communicate with the municipality as to the size and installation design before they would cost out such a project, so the call was made to the municipality and we found out that there was an error with the easement and we are not able to fill in the waterway.

To put this into perspective, this waterway is about six to seven feet below the level of the basement foundation and approximately 28 feet away from the back wall of the house like a giant “V” carving through our property. So when we heard the words “no you cannot do that,” all our hopes and dreams were dashed and now they wanted to put an easement on record with the Land Register Office which would give them control of about 2400 square feet of our land consisting of the waterway and the granite out crop. Well, this did not sit will with us and we proceeded to negotiate with the municipality.

More drinking is suggested here. We arranged a meeting with the Manager of Public Works to meet on site so he could understand what was being asked of us with this easement. The resulting conversation ended with a few ideas on how to proceed but after receiving a summary email from the manager that basically placed the cost burden on us to provide them full access to the whole of the back of the property. With a few days of stewing on this email, we contacted the CAO of the municipality to put forward our concerns about loosing a chunk of our property. This conversation was informative from both sides and resulted in the conclusion that the waterway was indeed on our property and with a few changes on the town’s side, there was no need to register an easement and therefore we were free to do as we pleased. In other words, a culvert is in our future which means more money out of our pocket. 

Now, a few weeks have passed when all this has transpired and the ability to have big equipment moving about the lot is becoming harder to do especially with the house being placed on the foundation at the beginning of next week. This might make things harder to complete but we are in charge and our original plans can move forward.

At the end of week three I asked when the backfilling was to begin and I was told Thursday of course, so I plan for Thursday to be onsite. Well I missed the memo that said this week Thursday will be moved to Monday and so the backfilling was underway when in the course of checking the mailbox like we do every other day, the crew was on site backfilling. Grab the camera and out the door I was just in time to see the work needing to be done for the garage. But that does not mean the week was without a highlight.

   

When we purchased the land to develop there was a small waterway the cut through the back of the property. At the time of purchase it was thought this could be addressed with a culvert and Bob’s your uncle, no more water to deal with. As with any purchase you hire a Lawyer to ensure the land can be yours with no issues and that is what they found, no issues and no easements related to the waterway through the property so on-ward and up-ward we go. Well, do you wish the long version of this story or the shorter version. Seeing that I am the one writing this blog I will collect my thoughts and bring you up to speed in the next instalment .

This is the week for not much to be done other than watching concrete dry. At the end of the week a small crew of two waterproofed the basement outside walls on Thursday of all days. As there was not too much to be done on site it was a good week to line up some of the utilities so the house could have gas, power and the most important service of them all, the Internet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The issues of load restrictions continues this week so moving to the next phase of the foundation was in limbo over the weekend but persistence availed and an additional exemptions was granted by the Municipality to allow for more concrete at the end of this week, allow for the forming of the basement walls.

The corner placements for the outer walls where marked by the surveyor and work began on erecting the forms for the walls. This task was so quick I did not even get a chance to get to the site to watch the work being performed.

About mid week I stopped by to see the progress but the crew were not there and the walls where ready for the concrete trucks to pull in on Thursday. It seems Thursdays are the days that the magic happens.

True to form, Thursday came and so did the trucks. Again I was not in time to see the crew at work but the I had plenty of time to watch the concrete cure over the coming week as the forms were off the walls the day after the concrete was poured. Today’s building materials have come a long way from when I helped my family make concrete slabs and such when the forms were on for days and even a week at least, but today it is a day. Now the next steps are more curing time and then backfill the property in preparation for the big day; the day our house flies onto its new resting place.

It has been two years in the making and it has finally begun. This morning the shovels are out and the earth is moving for a foundation. This is to our dream home and it is off to a great start a whole month ahead of schedule given the incredible start to spring. The frost is out of the ground and construction season has officially begun.

The excitement of starting this project waned somewhat with a phone call asking us to come to the site as soon as possible as there was a small problem developing. Large boulders found at the back side of the foundation dig resulting in more earth being required to be removed to find undisturbed ground. Things like this do happen when building.

Laughter was not the expected response to the pending additional costs, but to us, the funny thing was, we had been intending to have a walk-out basement to gain access to the back yard which would require the foundation being dig four feet deeper than the current plan. Under careful consideration and guidance, we abandoned this plan due to costs and uncertainty of what would be found underground. Well we now that an additional four feet would have been no problem but we now have to backfill a trench about five feet deep in order  to secure the ground before the back wall footing can be made.

So at the end of the day, with no further surprises, we now have large piles of soil around a giant whole in the ground where the foundation is to be and an engineer’s report saying that we need to fill the hole compact the fill before we can move further.

Day one, a hole in both the ground and our house building fund.

The next day brought the solution to the previous day’s issues. Stone and more stone to fill the hole thus allowing the forming of the footing of the foundation to proceed. An inspector and engineer passed their eyes on the work and approved the work to continue. The final placement or pinning of the corners of the house’s footprint were then established by the surveyor and the foundation crew proceeded to place the footing forms in their respective locations.

With the forms in place, levelled, supported and inspected it’s time to pour the concrete on day three of this build. The problem remains, the weight of the concrete required to fill the forms is beyond the half-load restrictions thus some slick negotiations with the municipality was required to arrange for the delivery of two cement trucks with their loads along with a pumper truck needed to distribute the cement to the footing was granted for our building site. However the same story was not true for a second home being built by the same crew just across the way on the next street over, no concrete for them for this time. We will take the wins where we get them so the project moves forward but have sympathy for the owner of the other home.

With such an early spring things like construction can get a jump on the season, however the municipality is understandably reluctant to remove half-loads off roadways due to potential frost damage. For now, we have an exemption to move the concrete required for the footings and a possible second exemption required for the pouring of the foundation walls next week.

The weather is changing over the next few days from warm with plenty of sunshine to white stuff floating in the air and at town hall so is the thinking about half loads, so time will tell.