Big Plan Home Page
/bigplan

Pre-Web Page:     Way back when we bought the house, we knew we wanted at least 2 bathrooms.  We also wanted a garage and 3 bedrooms. So what did we buy? A house with ONE bathroom and TWO bedrooms and a garage that a car won't fit in. Now we call it a SHOP.   
     We thought long and hard about adding on to this house so that we could have another bathroom.  We divided one of the bedrooms so that we now have two, but in our thoughts was always the idea that bedrooms that would be big enough to have dressers in would be nice. Also the 2nd bathroom thing is always on our minds to. This is why we decided to go for the addition.
     We got some advice from our long-time friend Dan Dyke who was optimistic enough about us doing work ourselves that we got the confidence to go for it.  We contacted a few architects and they gave us bids for the drawings/plans that ranged from $8000 and UP UP UP!! I decided that for that kind of money, I could learn how to draw plans.
     I got on line and read everything I could about plans and drawings and structure and framing and everything else I could find to read about building houses and additions.  I talked to the City Of Redmond and they gave me more confidence (and they were really nice for being the agency that virtually every person I talked to in the building community said were really difficult to deal with). Then I borrowed Steve and Kristen Poulter's plans that they had approved for the garage/bonus room they had built behind their house.   Their addition was nearly the same size and nearly the same function as what we want in our addition. I used their plans as a guideline and drew the plans that you see on this web site.  I handed in my plans August 10 and then we left for our road trip to California, etc.  When we got back the city had called and had a couple questions.  After talking to them again, we got our plans back in the end of August! APPROVED!….

Site Plan
/site

3D View
/3d

Vertical (elevation)View
/vertical

Foundation Plan
/foundationplan

Foundation Details
/foundationdetails

Lower Floor Plan
/lowerfloor

Upper Floor Plan
/upperfloor

Plan Details
/plandetails

September:     I got out the phone book and called 20 or more concrete contractors to get bids on the concrete work.  The bids we got varied a ton, but the guy we finally settled on was SCOTT TALLMAN and his company S & S Concrete.  His bid was reasonable and he seemed really knowledgeable about concrete and suggested some things no one else had suggested.  He also gave us a portfolio of work he had previously done and the phone numbers of a few people he had done work for.  I called them and of the ones I talked to they were quite happy.  We hired him (at least informally, signing of paperwork and money come later).

October 11, 2003:     Today I met at 9:00 am with Scott Tallman, his biz partner Carl and the Side Sewer contractor that they recommended, John

Palmer.  They all were here and let me know that I was sadly underprepared for having the concrete poured or even having trenches dug.  We need some PLUMBING done first! John Palmer suggested that I get permits for replacing the sewer lines and the water feed and moving the electrical lines around the building site.  I will do that Monday 10/13. 
     At this time, Scott Tallman will re-do his bid ($8000 or so) in order to accommodate the fact that John Palmer will be doing the grading/scraping and trench work on the site along with the underground plumbing.  It seemed to me like John was trying to prepare me for a hefty bill.  We'll see what he comes up with on Monday.
  As of now, I will look forward to going on Monday to get permits. Then we will hope that the bill for the work will be manageable.  I'm not sure what we'll do if it's not.  I guess we might just put it off and start doing some major shovel work ourselves!  The value that we'd have in getting it done by John Palmer would be that the plumbing under ground would be done professionally and we wouldn't have to sweat it any more.
We're hoping that it'll be that way.  That the bid that comes back on Monday isn't a deal breaker.  I'd really like to get going on the foundation at least. Then after that we can get our hands dirty and really start doing some stuff that is our own work.  I'll feel better then.   Click on the orange arrow for more in the coming days!!