Pictures & Story documenting the 14-month saga that transformed our deck into a 2-story addition.

THE CAST
Home owners: John and Jane Goodwin - Newly arrived to North Carolina from Los Angeles.

The Contractor: Kurt Dixon - Attorney, newly turned building contractor. Owner of K. Dixon Custom Homes LLC.
Motto: "If you can dream it, we can build it".

THE CREW
Local Sub-contractors in the verious trades needed to get from the deck to finished 2-story workroom/sunroom addition shown in the before and after pictures below.

THE STORY
After careful consideration it was decided the useful but wasted space below the deck, the high humidity and large bug population of the area created a desire for a work space below and a sunroom above the existing deck. In some respects our dreamed addition took on nightmarish aspects. In the end we are happy with the results with the exception of 2 things. If you would like to see our pictures and read our story please scroll down. If you are considering having an addition built of your own, then I encourage you to take the few minutes to read and consider carefully the following before you proceed.

The question? Would we do it again? The answer! Absolutely YES!
The question? Are we happy with the results? The answer! The end results, 95% Yes. 5% NO!
The question? Why not 100% yes? The answers! There are 2. Wording of the contract and our willingness to allow the strict wording of the contract not to be fulfilled is one. The other was a decision I made in agreeing to keep an error in place even though by the time it was made we were almost 7 months behind schedule.

THE EVENTS
August 2006. Jane Goodwin and Kurt Dixon met and struck an agreement to move forward on the project. Kurt was on a case which was due to end in September. Jane investigated local building requirements and designed the plans. The saga begins.

February was the month in which we entered a new phase. Below are some important suggestions we would make based on our experiences.

1) K. Dixon Esq. put on his attorney hat and drew up the contract.
(Suggestion #1) We suggest that a totally neutral person be hired to draw up the contract, making sure all parties are fully and fairly protected in that contract.
Have the cotract drawn up very early in the process. As soon as the agreement is made as to who will do the contruction. What will be built. When the work will begin.
Very IMPORTANT: The contract should include a Start Date; A projected Ending Date; Proformance Bonus for early completion; A late penalty for work that goes far beyond any reasonable delay. And of the utmost importance: Make sure your contract has a clearly stated agreement as to how mistakes are managed.
Finally include exactly what sort of agreement it will be: Cost-Plus, Per Square Foot Cost or Total Job Bid to name a few possibilities.
The contract should list all details concerning who will do what. And should include in writing exactly what freedom and limitations the builder and the property owner will have in the proforming the verious aspects of the jobs to be done. (For example: If the property owner is a very hands-on person who wishes to supply materials for and do all painting, floor coverings, select light fixtures, etc.) These things should be clearly state in the contract.
Very Important: As any changes take place, the changes should be added to the contract and all parties should sign and date on a regular basis. This applies whether the project is done by a friend, business firm or relative.
Be willing to be forceful and clear about what's going on. I was actually kind of dinged for being too nice. ( No kidding! Well shame on me )

Any contract should require the builder to give weekly updates of costs along with copies of all paid receipts for labor and materials. These should be provided to the property owner without exception.

Also include clearly stated agreement as to how payments will be made. (Under no circumstances should the a job be paid in full before it has been started.) But rather in agreed upon payments. After the first "earnest money" payment is made, each payment should to be paid in exchange for properly prepared accounting and documentation for ALL the perviously completed work.

Only then should the next payment be made. At the end of each phase, ALL charges must be fully supported with proper documents for the work just completed and before the next payment is made.

2) Ground breaking took place.

In February we read and signed the contract. Our first payment was made.

After 6 months of waiting for the work to begin, several false start date, and more delays for unknown reasons, at last we were making some exciting progress. The supporting deck posts and the bottom 2 steps on the stairway were removed. The deck platform was supported on 2 pieces of 2x6 beams and the nail-biting began. How could that deck stay in place held only on those 2 beams, we wondered. 

It turned out that this was not our biggest worry. But that would come soon enough.

The earth was removed. Trenches were dug. Rebar and plastic were put in place. (The required Silt Fence was not installed though we did ask about it. We were told we didn't need one. Turns out we did) The forms were set and all was made ready to pour the concrete for the floor and ribbon sidewalk in front.

The reason for the months of delay soon became clear when we noticed that the work was repeatedly being coordinated between our job and K. Dixon Custom Homes, LLC nearby house, which was also under construction. The work on that house began at exactly the same time as ours and we later learned that the permits were both in plan check and approved only 2 days apart. 

Whoops #1 - Still in February and barely started, the cement pour was measured incorrectly and we were faced with a choice. A) Either tear out all the cement, dig down 4 inches and repour. A costly and time consuming prospect involving the removal of several tons of cement, rebar and dirt. Hard and dangerous work during which the deck had every potential of collasping, taking a costly portion of our back wall with it. Or, B) Tear down the deck, raising it up a foot. Then beginning all over again with the corrected construction.

We let the contractor make the decision. Whatever was done would be at his expense and he decided that tearing down the deck and beginning again would be best. To remove the concrete would require a huge amount of back-breaking work, over 27,500 pounds of broken cement and rebar would have to be jackhammerd out, removed and loaded on dump trucks with a skiploader. That would then need to be hauled to the landfill. The area under the deck would then have to be excavated to a lower depth. New forms would be set and a new pour would be done. The estimated cost would have been at least $5000. The cost of either choice was the responsibility and at the expense of K. Dixon Custom Homes, LLC. 

Still in February 2007. Very busy month. Lots of decisions to make. I had originally wanted  a couple of things done in my addition.  I wanted as many windows as possible, going as close to the corners as possible. And I wanted a sunroom and a small deck built on top of the existing deck platform. Kurt Dixon had his motto: "If you can dream it, we can built it" and he kept saying we will find a way to do it.

But when the deck had to be torn down and raised up a foot we had a 2 more serious problems to solve. First, we were already as close to the water as we could go. I mean to the inch. If we raised the sunroom floor up a foot, the additional step added to the stairs would have brought the bottom step too close to the water. So we had to move the stairs to the other end of the structure. 

That created two new and serious problems that had to be addressed and solved. When we moved the steps and raised the floor a foot, that made the sunroom floor a foot above the bottom of the kitchen door. The side wall where the stairway had been,  would now be right in the middle of the kitchen door meaning we had to raise the door up a foot and then step UP into the sunroom. Impossible. I didn't want to raise the door. I didn't want to open the kitchen door and have to step up 2 steps into the sunroom right out of the kitchen.  And the wall couldn't end in the middle of the door. So we decided to build a small 3 foot wide landing. ANd then walk across the landing and up into the sunroom. 

And so it was that we gave up the deck. And widened the room so the wall  was beyond the side of the kitchen door.

It was decided to switch the stairs to the other end. Raise the sunroom floor up a foot and widen the whole sunroom by 3 feet . We would then enclose the entire room but lose the little deck. We had no choice so we moved on and never looked back. However, since these were changes not of our doing, we did not make update the contract. 

 Kurt Dixon and his son carefully removed the deck boards and the framing began. The first floor framing went quickly. One small window on the first floor later had to be relocated and causing it to be out of alignment with the second floor windows. But this was not something we could know until the sunroom floor and upper walls were framed in. By the time we discovered the problem it was too late to fix it. ( I will call this a mini-whoops. I just don't think about it. There are others we can't ignore)
 
February is coming to a close.

 March 2007 - More mistakes

 With the coming of March came several more Whoops. As stated before, having the windows go all the way into all 3 sunroom corners was a main requirement. We had requested and orders were placed for 6 windows across the back wall, evenly spaced across the wall and as close to the corners as possible. However when the wall was erected, the windows were spaced to one side, leaving a small wall in one corner. What to do now? We were weeks behind schedule. And had already had to tear down and rebuilt one major portion of the structure. We didn't have time to do more re-building. So we tried to live with the window placement. We let the crews wrap the wall for siding and we looked at it over the entire weekend. In the end we decided it wasn't aceptable. But we simply didn't have time to tear the wall down so Plan B was chosen. One that I will forever regret.

It was decided that tearing down the wall to fix the windows was out of the question. So I said I would create a stained glass window to incert in the small corner wall. The opening was formed and work went forward.

It is now the March and we have made 2 payments but have gotten no statement of charges. I began asking for payment updates. As early as March 16th, my emails reflect concern over wanting to see updates. We are regularly assured that we are on budget. The totals are stated verbally on a regular bases. We are informed what each sub is charging and what is being paid. Still no hard account sheets.




Whoops #3 is about to happen. All the windows except the small corner window and the 2 outside doors had been ordered at last and delivered. The windows were installed as were the doors. No one was on the job to inspect the work. Too bad. I discovered after both doors were perminently in place that they were both wrong.

The upper door leading from the sunroom to the new stairway landing was to have swung into the sunroom and a screen door added to the outside. But the new door was installed swinging outward making it impossible to attach a screen door. In this shot you can see one of the workers wondering why the door is opening out instead of in. It will be removed and the correct door will be installed.  

Whoops #4 was close behind.
The lower set were supposed to be French doors so we could have a full 6 foot access to the work room if necessary. However when the doors were already installed I discovered that only one door opened. The other one was not a door at all. But rather a fixed window.

I contacted the builder immediately and he came out to inspect the problem.

The doors were removed at the builder's expense and new correct doors were ordered. The incorrect doors were very difficult to remove. So  John helped Kurt Dixon remove them. Load them in his car and transport them to his other job site near ours. Work was being coordinated for both our addition and our contractor's house at the same time. Since that are also at same phase, he was able to use at least one of the 2 doors on his other house.

The new doors and all the windows were soon installed. Siding was hung except around the small window opening where the window spacing was incorrectly done.  


Whoops #5 is about to happen.  A third payment has been requested and made. Still no bills or updates. We continue to ask in person and in emails.

April is almost gone before we finally got our first and only accounting update. 3 Payments have been made. One accounting sheet, but with no supporting paperwork. We continue to be assured that we are in budget and on track.

The rest of the saga will be posted in a week or so. Below are a few pictures of the house, inside and outside, before, during and after the work.

Around the house inside and out:

That's all for now folks! Enjoy. Check back later for more story & pictures