Running with a wheelbarrow uphill, backwards!

Some of you may wonder what I have been up to for the last few weeks. Well, I have been dealing with lien's, design adjustments, budget, and taking over most of the work of general contracting on my home.

Newt informed me at the beginning of February, that Fortress Homes was liquidating. They had some cash flow problems, and were not able to continue as a company. Other fallout from this, is that some of the subcontractors whom I had been told had been paid, hadn't been. Newt informed me, and the loan officer agreed, that because of the way the paperwork was handled, I wasn't under a legal obligation to pay the subcontractors. So I have been dealing with getting liens placed against the house, and negotiating with the subs. Newt is going to negotiate with a couple of them. Once these subcontractors are taken care of, then I will be proceeding with the house construction, and will be taking care of all the management of the subcontractors and their payment.

I have been continuing to refine items in the design, and I talked to the plumbing inspector, and found out that one of the things I wanted to do, couldn't be done the way I had planned. It looks like I will have to put a hole in my roof waterproofing. I had wanted to avoid that, but the inspector insisted that this one vent, had to go out the roof.

I have been looking over the electrical, ventilation, and plumbing to figure out exactly how it will all run. I am thinking that I am going to use a drop ceiling throughout most of the house. I have found some tiles that have nice character, and are fairly reasonable in price. Since I am running all the utilities over the ceiling, and I don't have an attic, it will be useful having a ceiling that can be removed easily to allow access for fixing/expanding the various lines.

Hopefully in the next couple weeks, I will be able to get the insulation and waterproofing for the roof put on. That will allow other work to proceed. Work can then continue on things on the inside, even if the weather isn't vary cooperative.