I got my shed delivered this week! Buildings 200 square feet or less do not need a permit, so I purchased a 10 x 20 shed. I added full height walls with a barn roof giving me added height. It has two lofts inside for storage as well. My belongings are in two 10 x 10 storage units so my hope is to move my stuff to the shed and save money on storage fees. Once the house is done, I will have a nice garden shed. I’ll add windows to the shed and electrical. I love the color. It will fit in nicely with my modern farmhouse.
Builder Update: I emailed my first builder this week and asked him to stop all work on my project. I was very disappointed with his one line response of “ok, we’ll stop everything”. After working with him for 8+ months, I had hoped for a better explanation of why the project never got started and/or an apology that it didn’t work out. Seems that is basic customer service. It’s probably better to stop now, than to be in the middle of the project and have major issues. Moving on!
I reached out to two builders. The first is a local, family owned business that builds 50-60 homes per year. My next step with them is to call the references they provided and get a concept floorplan that I like and will fit into my budget.
The second builder is a franchise “on your lot” builder. They have floorplans available to choose from, but none of them work for me. The sales guy said they have a couple new modern farmhouse plans that are in development right now that might work. I’m meeting with him on Monday to take a look.
The goal this week is to have a solid concept from each builder with a budget to choose from. Then I’ll write out my pros and cons between the two and make a decision. The franchise has good reviews on the product, but customers told me they take a long time to build, like 12-14 months. Given that I’m starting over, I don’t want to wait that long.
Franchise builder – Pro for them is the cost per square foot is a lot less. Con is the time to build and the fact they don’t have a floorplan that works out of the box.
Family owned builder – Pro is they know the community and familiar with the architectural requirements AND the timeline to build is a lot less (6 to 8 months). I prefer to support a family business, but I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. Con is the cost per square foot is a lot higher, but I’ll have to weigh out the quality of each to see if that’s really a con.
Carrie's Building Journey 