In which our heros commit to five months of…interesting times.

Sometimes in life situations develop that only the half-crazy can get out of.

— François La Rochefoucauld

At eight o'clock yesterday morning, give or take, Deb and I committed to a home renovation project.

[Photo]
[Flickr]

Back (before)

Our cape of several years will sprout a new living room and library, a new garage, and a new front entry. The kitchen will move to accommodate the addition. My office will be in a different room. Doors will move, closets will change, and windows will be added. It'll probably get a new roof, and did I mention that the septic tank has to be moved too?

[Photo]
[Flickr]

Front (before)

It should be in interesting five months[1]. Wish us luck!

[1]For software development schedules, a good rule of thumb is: take whatever estimate you start with, double it, and move to the next larger unit. So if you think a project will take two hours, budget four days. I hope schedules for physical artifacts aren't quite so elastic.

Comments:

Best of luck! Given that long list, perhaps you should list whats not going to change! :)

Posted by Leigh Dodds on 04 Nov 2005 @ 02:37pm UTC #

Not quite as bad as my 11 month reno, but then again, we lived somewhere else at the time.

It looks like you've got lots of space there for a rental trailer/RV!

Posted by Mark Baker on 04 Nov 2005 @ 04:09pm UTC #

I think the measurement of slippage is at least double, maybe x4. We did a home reno project - that you got to see partway through - that was supposed to be 5 weeks and it took 5 months with a few things ( some outside painting) that never got done.

My helpful hints:

- admit that you have to be a project manager. You must know all.

- almost no decision is a "no-brainer".

- make sure to hold back $$.

- move out

Posted by Dave Orchard on 07 Nov 2005 @ 07:25pm UTC #
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