"So...Many...People..."
Last week I had a fun day introducing a writer from Sierra Magazine to three of our clients. This is the magazine of the Sierra Club, America's oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization. They are writing a story about New Avenue covering the sustainability attributes of our smaller homes and the new lifestyle they provide. They wanted to really get to know a few clients as part of the story.
Over the course of a few hours we visited our clients Lorrie Beth and Larry and their good friend Kitty in Berkeley. Lorrie Beth and Larry are building a home for Kitty, who is a dear friend and needed a wheelchair accessible home. We also dropped in at Susan’s cottage as the framing was going up and our project in Orinda where the client has moved in and only has a bit of decorating and landscaping work left to do.
The writer had a great question for each of our clients: “What did you learn that was totally unexpected?” Kitty answered that she had no idea there were so many people involved in creating a new home.
And the beauty of Kitty’s answer was in her delivery. She added an entertaining extra bit of gravity and pause in her voice as she answered:
“So…many…people.”
This led to a tangent where we listed out the number of people involved BEFORE the construction even began:
Lorrie Beth and Larry, the homeowners
Kitty, the main client
Kitty’s assistant/nurse
An ADA/Universal Design specialist to discuss accessibility needs
A designer to create the custom design
A draft person to help the designer create several design options
A surveyor to confirm the real location of the property line and just how far the fences are off
A planner from the city to confirm what’s allowed and suggest improvements and review the planning permit
The head of the planning department to review the approved planning permit and provide a stamp of approval.
An engineer to perform the structural and seismic calculations
A builder to provide an estimate
A second builder to provide another estimate
A third builder to provide another estimate
An energy efficiency analyst (Title 24) required for the building permit
A building department official or “plan checker” to review the construction documents and approve the building permit
A bank loan officer to write up a loan
A bank inspector to approve the plans and budget so the loan officer can finalize the loan
Fortunately, our clients are building second units, and that means they are defining their lives by having more people around. This leads to a lot of great relationships among designers, carpenters etc...
