Close but no cigar (Certificate of Occupancy)

It’s almost done. Ran into an issue with the septic system. County says it was never inspected, septic guy says it was inspected. Either way, I can’t move in until they figure that out. Septic guy is on it, but the inspector won’t be back in the office until next Tuesday so that’s the soonest I could get the Certificate of Occupancy. The remaining major items from the builder are: Install dishwasher and power to the range hood. Other than that there are minor things – need the hub that comes with the smart light switches; replace the black heat unit with a silver one when they come in, install toilet paper holders, finish trim on cabinets by the fridge, adjust window or wax, I think so it slides open easier, I can’t remember what else.

Apparently, I also need to file a permit for the water treatment system (vendor is taking care of it) and for a yard hydrant I had installed because I couldn’t put water to the shed. The kitchen sink is making gurgling noises so I might have to have the water treatment people come back to look at it. The driveway is getting paved tomorrow, unless it starts pouring down rain. That will be nice.

I SHOULD be able to move in next week unless something else comes up.

Peek the new handles! And I LOVE my range. The hood is ugly, but will have a nice cover eventually. I’m kinda burnt out doing any DIY projects until I’m in the house. It’s such a pain to take stuff out of the shed, set it up, then pack it all up and put it away. So I’m waiting until I’m in the house and then will do it.

Overall, I think the project went pretty well, Lots of people (friends and family) say it took too long, but COVID added about 6 weeks, possibly more with crews getting sick and having to quarantine. I think the house is well built, it has almost everything I WANTED and certainly everything I NEED. Regrets – should have met with the kitchen people instead of just approving things via email. Had I talked to them, I would have had the cabinets I wanted versus these brownish ones, plus I forgot to have at least one full height base cabinet for a garbage pull-out. Forgot about the electrical outlet inside a base cabinet so I can have a sweep-in vacuum there.

I’ve been learning about Agile (SCRUM) at work and wonder if that would work well in the construction world. I think it would work well in the design phase and post framing. Basically, get all the people needed for the phase together and work through all the tasks needed to be done. The linear project management takes so much time. A week for each thing and if one sub is late or misses something, it bumps everything out a week. Not that I’ll be doing this again…..but you never know. Maybe it’s like childbirth…hell when you’re in it, but looking back, you think how wonderful it was and you could do it again.