Delays

Government, Weather, or Bank

All work comes with delays be it needing a midnight snack while your writing your final report for class tomorrow, to a snowstorm grounding your flight home. Building a house has more moving parts that just about anything else on individual will ever do. We had crazy aspirations when we started that we’d be in our house in 9 months max. Any guesses as to how long we’ve been at this? [tiny](The sidebar shows current countup)

This is very location dependent of course, some localities are better than others (and I would love to live in one of those permits, where we live we don't need permits areas). My local town, county, and state have tons of red tape when it comes to building a house. From septic approval, to storm water runoff mediation. We’ve had nearly 2 years of back and forth with various governemnet agencies awaiting each’s approval. Having a well respected local civil engineering firm help you is the only way to go to move through the processes.

Engineering

The same way you would interview a builder, you should interview the engieering firm that’s going to do your work. Are they well staffed and can take on your job? Are they familar with all the laws that are relevant to your property? Are they reasonably priced?

Those questions will determine if you’re looking at a fast turn around, or a long slog.

Government

Of course, you’re still at the mercy of the government. And that will be the case from the moment you submit paperwork up until you’re waiting for that C/O. Be nice to them, they control everything about your build and can be the difference between “this nail need to be 6 inches from the top, your’s are 5.5 inches, I’ll be back next week when you’ve fixed it”, and a much smoother experience.

Weather

Government is a known entity, and after two or three inspections or interactions you’ll get a feeling for what type of situation you’re in. Weather on the other hand is anything but predictable. Again this is very location dependent, some states (or areas of states) only have four working months for building, if the house isn’t dried in by winter you’re either in for a bad time, or a 6 month delay.

We live in a traditional 4 season state - hot summers, mild or missing sping & fall, and a hit or miss winter. As luck would have it as soon as we got most of the blocking government approvals and were ready for pre site visits by people, we got dumped with feet of snow. Nearly 6 weeks were stuck under between 8 and 18 inches of snow, and subfreezing temperatures keeping that snow around for longer than expected.

Money

Where’s your funding coming from? Traditional mortgage backed by a bank? Gold is at amazing highs? Sold some organs? Whatever your funding source, make sure it’s easy to get to and get from. This might be a surprise to you, but when people are getting paid, they tend to work better and faster.

Also, make sure you have budgeted at least 15% overage because nothing is cheap. Be it a tarrif, a spike in gasoline prices, or new minimum wages, you are almost guaranteed to go over budget so be prepared to either cut something out, or have the funds available to cover it.