Well it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. The whole intention of the site was wiped out when I found out the cottage I planned to build was too small according to the municipality (See – Building a Cottage: Shattered Dreams). The municipality rejected my minor variance application so I was stuck with building drawings and contract I couldn’t use.
I had given up entirely. I planned on selling the land and moving to New Brunswick to see what life was like on the east coast. Then the weather started to get nice in May and I called up the building contractor to see if there was anything we could do which would meet the minimum requirements of 800sqft and fit my budget. I suggested a two level model that was 842sqft and the quote I got back was $10,000 less then the old smaller cottage! How that worked out I have no idea. Regardless between the lower price and our savings over the past year it looked like this was doable again!
I contacted contractors to clear the lot, grade the land and put in a driveway, install a septic system, pour a foundation, and frame the building. I figured that I would have a finished building on the outside and bare studs on the inside for now given our budget.
The last hurdle was to have the Building Officer at the municipality review the new drafted plan and see if there were any problems, which of course there was. A big one. The minimum size for a multilevel building is not 800sqft it’s 1000sqft! So here I am thinking I’m back at square one again. I contacted the builder, he made a few adjustments and for a very low price our building was now 1050sqft. I quickly got a pre approval from the building officer and we are on our way!
This past Tuesday I received my entrance permit which approves the location of the planned driveway. Now I have to wait until the full building drawings are complete and I can approach the municipality for building permits. I expect to have everything by the end of July and hope to break ground in August. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
BTW thanks to everyone that has continued to visit the site and add their comments. It’s been great to see there is a following out there. Posts won’t be as frequent as my time has been taken up by my son whom we had in January, but I’ll do my best to keep you updated.
Thanks again.
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