Demo days are under way! Walls have been torn down and construction is officially underway. I must say, this is very exciting and nerve-wrecking all at the same time! I’m also super bummed to report that after much consideration, we had to chop down an orange tree. Unfortunately it was right up against the bathroom that had to be demolished. We tried our best to save it but ultimately there was no way to keep it. We are planning to plant another fruit tree after construction is done in its honor.
The orange tree that sadly had to be sacrificed for the ADU
The lead up to this day was no easy feat. Not sure where to begin, we reached out to a few of our colleagues to see if they had any contacts on who can help point is in the right direction and start building the ADU. Luckily, we were referred to a great contact who previously worked at the city planning department and now offers services specifically for helping assist permit paperwork get through the city as smoothly as possible. His previous experience with the whole process as well as his contacts have been shown to be very helpful! We’ll call his role the “Permit Expeditor”. Not only was the Permit Expeditor able to help navigate paperwork with the city, he was able to introduce us to the Drafter and also the Engineer who worked with the drafter. Together, the Drafter and Engineer were able to team up and create plans to submit to the city.
The day our plans got approved by the city and the permit was officially obtained!
Between the Permit Expeditor and the Drafter, they were able to work directly with the city, going back and forth for months with corrections until our plans finally got approved! About 3 different visits to city hall that required corrections every time and over a span of approx. 6 months, our plans finally got approved! Once we got the permit we were ready to finally choose a contractor.
We’ll dive into how we chose a contractor in the next post. Stay tuned!
