After our first set of revisions were done, it was now time to start soliciting bids from general contractors.  There are many ways to do this, and we chose to engage with five general contractors and then narrow down the field to a negotiated bid with a select vendor.  All but one of the general contractors we engaged with were referred to us by either friends or by our architect or by both.  The general contractor that we ended up going with was referred to us by a stucco subcontractor that we had spoken to previously because we liked his work and wanted him to do our stucco.

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The planning department was a breeze compared to what we would encounter at the building department for our city.  Everything was efficiently reviewed in the planning department within six weeks.  Getting approval from the building department and being issued our permits would take six months - to our utter dismay.  It was almost always expected that there would be redline notes on our plans.  Our architect had warned us that no plan every submitted would come back with immediate approval not matter how simple the project.

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We had our plans done by our architect, the structural engineering performed by an engineer, the soils report finished by the geotech.  By now we had amassed $10K in just soft costs and we hadn’t broken any ground (other than the soil sample core drilling on our lot).  Now came the hardest part - the waiting game.  It’s a myth that if you are a homeowner of a single family home that you pretty much have the flexibility to do anything you want with your home.  If you value having a permit and rather not run the risk of getting a stop order (affectionately known as a “red tag” and not one of the ones found at appliance store sales) slapped onto your front door to cease and desist activity or face heft fines - you must go through your city or county hall to receive permits.

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After spending oodles of time with our architect working on a design, we had to start thinking about the structural requirements to support the floor plans were envisioning.  The largest piece of the puzzle when it came to structural engineering was the foundation, most especially since we lived on a cut and fill lot in the hills.  In our city, there are two zones of classification - A and B.  If you were in the A zone you were pretty much in the flat lands of our city.  If you were in the B zone you were on a hillside subject to all the great caveats for hillside living including: landslide, seismic concerns, drainage and or flooding.

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We determined that we wanted to go “Out” to expand the living quarters and “Up” to build a master suite, but we weren’t sure how much it would be to do either or both.  The person to eventually answer that question would be our architect.

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Once we decided that we would remodel to address our foundation issue, it was time to figure out the scope of our remodel.  Our home was built in the 1950’s.  Our home was a bi-level house with all the sleeping quarters built on top of the garage.  The living quarters were all downstairs on the first floor.  While determining the scope of the remodel we listed out priorities for remodeling.

1. expand the living quarters for our future family
2. create a master suite for us
3. modernize our interior - especially the kitchen
4. take more advantage of our view of the San Francisco Bay and canyon

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The diagram below shows a contour map of our previous floor plan.  To create this map, a structural engineer walks around the first floor of your home with a fancy instrument called a manometer.  You can read more about contour maps and manometers from manufacturers like this one.  In our case, there was no high-tech device just a bucket of water, a yardstick and siphoned hose taped up against the yardstick.

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The Original House

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that our old house was totally shabby.  Built in the 1950’s, it was a typical home you would find on the San Francisco Peninsula.  1,400 square foot living space, 1,700 sq ft if you count the garage.  Our home was a bi-level home with the sleeping quarters built entirely on the garage.  The living quarters were all on the first floor in a separate wing.  The interior was definitely in need of some modernization.  Our kitchen for example, still had the original GE electric range that the house probably came with.

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