Cottage 46 - April Fools Joke

So the two young men who are building Cottage 46 with us in Narrowsburg NY got a surprise the other week when we sprung on them that we actually were 30% done with their home that they thought hadn't even started.

The story starts like this - we do a deal, and then the winter hit hard, and instead of fighting the elements and ending up with quality or warranty issues, we just made the mature and correct decision to hold off till spring - a hard choice, but the right one.  And a house is a long term investment, so losing 4 months might hurt, it's not a super big deal big picture.  The fact that they had made like all their decisions way early (unlike another project I'm working on not mentioning any names) made the surprise possible.

So, when the brutality of the winter settled in and we got used to it and it became just another predictable hurdle to hurdle, we could regroup and make a plan.  So we snuck in the woods and test the ground and underneath the leaves and snow, the ground wasn't frozen.  the next week was predicted to be 40 degrees, for about 6 days, before dropping back into artic land (can't pour foundation in too cold of weather - so worst case scenario was we opened the hole, dug the foundation, and then the weather dropped preventing us from proceeding or going back).

So we got the foundation in and then we were off to the races.  I'd write the guys emails like "I'm so sorry, this is the longest winter ever, and I don't know when we will be able to get started and I know this is a big bummer, but life is hard and unfair..."  I was like a kid before Christmas, trying not to tell them casue I knew they'd be digging it.

And now today we start insulating, since the mechanicals and electric is done.

Happy Easter.