Our addition has made our home, well…more of a home! We absolutely love it. We have had close neighbors that have the same lay out come over and tell us how much they wish that their home was built as ours is now. I mean, the addition that we had built last year really makes sense to have done; it should have been this way from the start 🙂

Our dining-room and entryway had high vaulted ceilings; we covered about 315 feet of that by extending our second story over the dining-room and entry way. With that extension, we built a sixth bedroom and a new loft. The idea of extending our second story was one of those things that Ryan and I had talked about since we moved in; we pondered the thought for several years and then finally went for it. It was a big decision financially. We weren’t sure if we would ever get what we put into it back once and if we ever moved. We finally came to realization that the extension will add value to our home for our family, but we may never get what we put into it, back. We changed our mindset and looked at it as an investment while we live here. We can only hope and pray that when and if we ever decide to move, that our addition added a significant value to the house.

So, how do you go about making these kind of changes to your home? Well, it takes research. I googled and googled, as well as made numerous calls to educate myself on how to do so. For most major additions or changes to the structural aspect of your home, requires the City to get involved. Prior to involving the city, you have to seek out an architect, or a construction business that will be handling your addition that does the plans for the addition as well. It helps if you have the blueprints to your home, or so I was told. Unfortunately, we did not get the blueprints when we moved into our home. We went down to our City Office and thankfully, they had the ability to get their hands on the blueprints. I was in a frantic in the beginning of the process because we had a lot of misleading information from person to person that I had contacted. We live in a small town, I had made a phone call to our City of Riverbank, and received incorrect information by the person I spoke with on the phone. I was told by her that I would have to go to The City of Modesto and speak with them. The City of Modesto is the nearest largest city; I was told that they would have to handle the permit for my addition because they would more than likely have my blueprints and the department to take care of my permits. After making my trip down to the City of Modesto, I was told that they don’t hold onto blueprints longer than X amount of years, which I was not within. At that point, with that news, I was so frustrated and left with so many unanswered questions. What do I do if I can’t get my hands on the blueprints? Why wouldn’t they back the blueprints up to a cloud? What is my next step? Can I get this addition done if I don’t have the blueprints?

All while looking into the blueprints and how to go about getting permits, I was also in search of a good architect for the best price. RESEARCH!!! Architects will range from $5,000.00 to $15,000.00. I mean, I had prices all over the place. Also make sure they are licensed and have engineering experience. Google, questions to ask an architect. Make sure they know what they are talking about and are educated in what they do; you’d be surprised on how many people are out there that are just ready to take your money. They’re are also a ton of well experienced architects out there who are used to doing BIG jobs for companies that feel it necessary to charge residential as they would for a business. Don’t get taken for your money; there is a good price out there suitable for your project.

With all of the confusion going on with the blueprints; the architect that we found suggested that I get someone involved that would help re-create blueprints, this would involve a laser. Getting someone out to your home with a laser to figure out how deep the foundation lays, where all of the beams are, where power runs, etc etc can cost THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!!! Realistically, this just wasn’t an option for us. I just couldn’t believe that this was the resolution for my issue, so I called and asked to pretty much speak to several people within the City of Modesto. Finally, I got a hold of someone who said that I had call City of Riverbank and he wasn’t sure why I was referred to their City and apologized for everyone else within his city for not explaining that to me from the start. I can say that they were all lacking the knowledge that they should have carried with them for their particular positions, which happens often. This time around, I drove down to The City of Riverbank and asked the several people sitting behind desks who I would speak with for permits for residential areas. I was then directed to a Janice, head of that department and once I spoke with her, all of my questions were answered and they DID in fact have my blueprints!!!! grrrr. I carried the stress of possibly not being able to go through with my addition all because of the very first person that I spoke with gave me misleading and wrongful information. Don’t make my mistake and always seek approval if you feel it necessary; I wasted a lot of time and energy.

Now that I can get the ball rolling….. I had the liberty of finally giving the architect the information needed from the blueprints. Note that prior to my hunt for the blueprints, he was able to get his hands on most of what he needed without the blueprints, I assume online or possibly a program that architects own, but he had a few questions in regards to the foundation of my house that he couldn’t find answers to. Without the plans, like I said before, he had mentioned laser work to see through walls and under my floor, he also mentioned an option of breaking the concrete that lays around my house and digging to see how far down the concrete goes.

When everything was said and done, I will say that although the architect we used was literally the best price for the job I was wanting done, it was frustrating down the road to find out that there was quite a bit of information about the job that he should have known without the blueprints. For instance, explained by Janice, head of the permit department for residential, the architect should have known that all two stories has to have an X amount of footers and concrete as foundation to meet code. With that said, technically we did not need to have any kind of information in regards to the foundation of my home. Can you imagine if I had my husband break up our concrete around the house to dig or we hired someone with a laser to figure this out…… I WOULD HAVE HAD BEEN ANGRY! and out a lot of money!!!! Another frustration was that the architect drew up plans that consisted instructions for our contractor to tear up an area of my hardwood floor to place a post in the middle of my house, as well as using a larger crossbeam opposed to using a beam that would have worked just as well. Thankfully my contractor was very knowledgeable in what he does for a living and questioned the post. He went down to the city and was able to get permission to have the plans changed to where we didn’t need to tear up my floor and place a post in the middle of my house. (In the middle of our house, we have a huge staircase; with this staircase already having the support posts needed to support the addition, we didn’t need the added post.) Keep in mind that the city has to approve the plans prior to starting the project. They approve it by abiding to codes that are set in place; if they are “extra” safety features in the plans aside from what is needed, they will, more than likely, still sign off on the plans. They look for areas in the plans that are missing steps that don’t meet codes; any added steps that are not necessary may cost you more money, as well as create unneeded chaos and use more home space than needed. As for the crossbeam, we just went ahead and used the beam that was in the plans; the contractor didn’t see this as an issue, but more of a nuisance.

Jumping back a couple steps, after finding the architect and having the plans drawn up and having the city approve them, we were able to began our hunt for a contractor. The contractor is the party that will be carrying out the heart of the project and bringing your visual to a reality. We had interviewed several contractors and given numerous quotes prior to making our final decision on who to go with. This part as well, you will get quotes all over the place. We had quotes as high as 100 K, and quotes as low as 15 K. We found that neither quotes worked for us; this was based on a series of questions that we asked each party, as well as the quotes. We ended up going with someone more in the middle; we couldn’t have been more pleased. We absolutely loved our contractor!!! They were very kind, professional, and friendly. It was, for the most part, just two men that worked on the project. Every now and then, someone else stepped in to complete certain tasks such as the outside stucco, and I believe one or two other tasks as well.

It took a little under a couple of months to finalize everything. There is a process, and along that process the City has to come in and sign off on certain parts of the job to be able to move forward with the following step. You will need to make appointments with the city for these sign offs. Our contractor took care of all of this, we did not need to contact the city at all once the project was started, you may want to include this into one of your questions while interviewing your contractors. Keep in mind that any light fixtures or added home accents that your contractor will be adding for you during your addition will be added expense. These are all things that normally won’t be a part of your quote.

Because our contractor boys were so great and friendly to my family and myself, I made it a point to buy them doughnuts every now and then, as well make them lunch a time or two. You are not required to do so, but great hospitality isn’t only polite and the right thing to do, but if you show that you care for them, they will show that same caring act in return, at least, that was what I was taught as a child growing up. It has nearly been a year since we had our addition put in, and we couldn’t be more happier with the outcome. (If you live in the area and are looking for work to be done around your home, Veray is the guy to go to!!! Give him a call or text @ 1-510-302-7414) Zero complaints on how well it came out and we couldn’t be more happier with making the decision of having the second story extended over the rest of our first floor. We left a little opening, that way when you look up you can see our second story. We didn’t want it to look to enclosed, we also wanted to keep an area in the house for a 9 foot Christmas tree. I literally tried thinking about everything, which is what you should do prior to making such a huge decision. Think of the near and far future in the decision that you’re making, including family growth, holidays, space for parties, etc. Anything that is important to you and your family should go into your final decision. Our main reason behind our add on was the fact that we wanted one more child and needed the extra bedroom. We wanted to follow through with this addition prior to kids, but with kids now in the equation, they were our extra push in going through with it. Check out my post on https://prettytothet.com/emaries-baby-bedroom/ to see what I did with the extra bedroom that was built. If you have a little more spare time, also check out https://prettytothet.com/utilizing-every-inch-of-your-home/ for more suggestions and advice on how to utilize wasted space within your home.

Perfect opening for our Christmas Tree

I am sure that I “talked of your ears enough,” or drilled your eyes with words to the max at this point so it’s fair enough to say, “signing off now and as always, Stay Pretty to the T!!!!”

Please feel more than free to leave me any questions or comments!!