Where I'm At

I have the time stamp on the photos to tell me how much time I have spent on the work so far. This is looking good, but I am lacking in some very important ways and I am getting ahead of myself. I do not have any kind of drawing to guide me to the finished product. The only guide I have is the walk on the other side. That isn't good enough.
When a design flaw becomes apparent a solution has to be created. Going one step at a time does not inform the plan of the variables in future steps. Some people take things as they come. But if I am creating future difficulties for myself on account of a lack of foresight I want to know it sooner rather than later. If I have bent my back producing one thing only to get to the end and find that it does not square means bending my back again re-doing what would have been painfully obvious had I taken the time to work through the various equations at the start. If the project has to be gone back on, it looses something and isn't quite what it could have been.
This accounting is exactly what I want to address with this little job. So I will go back to the drawing board armed with the notes, pictures and sketches to produce a plan. It is a relatively simple job but it touches many elements of design. There is more than can be addressed in one post. I am trying to get to an overall "package."

A Practice Accounting Project

I am working on an improvement project in the front. There is a previous post showing the before and after of the first part of the project. It is walk way between the front steps and the car parking area. It includes a low retaining wall which creates a planting bed behind it. The wall is lined with border grass and the border grass has a brick border in front of it. Then the gravel path with a brick border on the outside.
Now I have to carry it through on the other side of the steps. It is a short run. I detail the work in my other blog, The Argenta Gardener which is at: http://www.bnbsgarden.blogspot.com/. In this blog I put this same project out there in economic terms in the way it relates to the value and improvements to the house. So I am going to put together some kind of documentation which I can develop into a template for future work. In this way I will grow into doing more and better work which will add monetary value in direct proportion.
Here is the starting picture....

The completed project is seen on the other side of the walk. This all begins like the home budget process...I will just start to gather up the transactions and sort them into categories by date and time. As the collect I can then add them up.

FINANCIAL EXERCISES AND ESTIMATES

The whole slate of improvements would be accomplished much more economically and efficiently if we built the garage apartment first and moved in there during the rest of the work. But if our faith was only to carry us only as far as one part of the project that would definitely mean doing the structural repairs first. But bearing in mind the level headed thinking of the guy that renovates income spaces on HGTV, we would be better off building the income space and the garage which we have been told will add much value, then attack the structural problems.
I could do much of the work provided I had clear architectural plans. I think we should have the garage built with me doing the sheetrock and painting work. Then contract a firm that specializes in the structural installations that we need. In the mean time I can do the other tear out and framing. I would get bids for the electrical, plumbing and ventilation work. But acting as the general contractor, I could would be able to complete much more of the work if we were living in the apartment out back.

Costs:
Architect, engineer fees……………………………….........
Construction of the garage apartment………………………
Permits, rubbish disposal……………………………….......
Structural engineering………………………………............
Electrical installation……………………………….............
Plumbing installation……………………………….............
Materials………………………………................................
Equipment rental………………………………...................
Tools………………………………......................................

Something to make life a little better

These are before and after photos of a project I have recently completed on the house: 

I did not spend any money to construct this new walk. I have discussed my plans for this project a couple of times on my gardening blog and now I have finally gotten this much done.

Now I have to do the other side of the steps to complete the thing. I regret that I did not take the time to document the construction with progress photos to show how I did it. I am resolved to do this on the other part of the project. It will more or less be done in the same manner.

THE PROJECT

The renovations break down into three or four separate parts. They are:
Structural repair and upgrades to the back of the house.
The addition of a mud room with a laundry room at the back, kitchen remodel, converting the downstairs bedroom and bath into a master suite and converting the former laundry room into a powder bath.
Front porch remodel, structural improvements to the front room ceiling.
Construction of a garage and apartment.

CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE
There are questions as to how we should proceed. Option 1 would be to construct the garage and apartment first. Then we would move into the apartment. Then the structural work can be done along with the rest of the interior work. It seems that this would be the most cost effective way. Then as the back is finishing up I can start the front porch demolition work and the front porch concrete work done last.
Option 2. It seems like option 1 is the way to do it, because of the savings in time and money to combine all of the interior project into one project. We can get a pod to store all of the household stuff and live apart from the dust of the work. This would allow much wider latitude in the demolition which I would be doing thereby making the framing much easier. By our not occupying the house during the work I would be able to do more of the work on account of there not being a very strict time frame to get the work done. If we try to occupy the house while the kitchen and downstairs bath is torn up the work will have to be on a fast track. As it is, if we can avoid occupying the house while doing the work, we should.
Option 3. Do the emergency structural repairs needed in the basement, kitchen and upstairs, then build the garage apartment so as to make the house salable first. I still think that the way to go is option 1. Build the garage and apartment first, then do the remodel.

MONTHLY INCOME POTENTIAL

The proximity of the property to Main Street makes it an excellent candidate for the addition of an apartment which would be rented out for monthly income. The house was split into two apartments in its former life. We would construct a garage with an apartment above. According to current rental rates this apartment would rent for around $650 per month. The rent could go higher if we built a three car garage with one space reserved for the apartment.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Development has been planted in this neighborhood. The area is growing with more people choosing to relocate or otherwise visit here on a weekly basis. The master plan for the downtown is very attractive. This house sits in the historic district along with a limited number of craftsman dwellings. This house has good bones. This house is the closest single family residence to a trolley stop on the whole line. This house is the closest house to the grocery store. This house is far enough away from the urban core to not be crowded and far enough away from the boundaries to still be secure. The urban area is home to many attractions and possibilities for activity like the baseball park, the arena, the river trail and downtown Little Rock. The neighborhood is becoming walkable and sustainable.

SWEAT EQUITY

I am the banker. I will pay the bills for the project as they arise and account for every dollar.
I am the contractor. I will have the power of the purse and I am the one in the drivers seat. I will make the deals and have the oversight on the project. The buck stops with me.
I am the laborer. I will do the demolition work and the clean up work. I will manage the job sight keeping it orderly and secure.
I am the painter. I will hang and finish the wall board and apply all the finishes.
These cost savings will translate directly into the check we will receive upon closing the sale of this house when we decide to sell.
Through the years of my trade work I consciously developed these skills for this project. However, when I would tell myself when I was mixing mortar under the hot Florida sun that I was doing that so that some day I could mix mud to build a house of my own, I did not believe that the day would really come when I would really do it.
My mother bought a house to fix up and sell for her retirement, but she died before getting it done. That put the idea in my heart. I thought it was a good idea then and an even better one now. Fixing the deficiencies of a good house adds to its value. A fixed up house adds to the value of the neighborhood. I believed in what my mother was trying to do.
These things constitute the “sweat equity” portion of the project. An inventory of my abilities in this regard reveals that I have a large treasure to contribute to our sweat equity. Sweat equity can save money on labor costs. The savings can be realized by getting more and better work done within the budget, which results in a higher profit margin on the sale. But sweat equity is an element that can only come into play when there is sufficient cash to cover the whole project beginning to end.

Options

One thing about renovations to our house is that I have to be in the drivers seat. It is very easy to fall into the mindset of waiting for something to happen. At my age I recognize that things happen when a mind has called for the thing to happen. I forced myself to sit down and write out my objective again and again. It's not that I can never hope to achieve my aims because they are too high. The thing is that I can't inject faith into a project that is as vague as fog. Becky and I have been kicking the ideas around for years and soliciting ideas from the neighbors. But they don't know. I have to decide then I have to convince Becky to decide with me. Our two minds together will set up the eternal spiritual forces that set the universe to swirling. These forces will go to work for us and help us with what ever we need when we need it. Once the mind begins to meet problems and make decisions designed to solve the problems faith begins to grow. This work will require faith.

Project 216 - Imagineering

This house at 216 West 6th St. had reached the bottom, being neglected so badly as to become uninhabitable. The girls, as we call them, the sisters who purchased this house and brought it back to life, exercised faith to invest their treasure for the chance to earn a little profit by updating then selling the house. They were successful according to their aims and now the same and even greater opportunity is in our hands.

The two year project the girls undertook was aimed at bringing the house to just above par for the neighborhood by the time they completed the work and put it on the market. “Par” at the beginning for them was a goal that anyone would have called ridiculous. The neighborhood was still very ugly when they came looking at this house, but they had a vision and a dream. From the time they took over this house, about seven years ago until now, the neighborhood has made rapid strides in improvements in the quality of life and there is a new “Par”.