Celebrating!! Got our building permit January 15th, 2016!
San Diego, CA
May 2, 2016
Did ya notice I’ve been MIA since October 10, 2014? No?
Well, October 10, 2014 is the day Mark and I and the doggies returned from our four month Space Shuttle Adventure. And then, after sorting through a freakin’ gigantic box of junk mail, this happened:
We settled back into life in our downtown San Diego condo and plotted our next big adventure!
As it ends up, our next big adventure hasn’t had us traveling at all. Instead, we searched high and low for a vacant piece of land so that we could build a house.
Of course, being us, we had to find a piece of land that was so difficult to figure out and so difficult to build on, that no other sane person would buy it. And, VOILA!!! We found one!
And that’s what we’ve been doing since October of 2014…looking for land, buying land, designing a house, getting building permits, stressing out, going gray, and plotting revenge on the City of San Diego for what surely must be the worst, most aggravating building department on the planet.
De-stressing after a day at the building department.
It took 2.5 months to find our funky piece of land, 6 months to design our project, and 6 months in the building department to finally get our permits.
January 15th @ the building department. Nothing says, “F.U., go home,” like a locked door and a little garbage can lined with plastic!
January 15th @ the building department. So many cubicles…
January 15th @ the building department. More cubicles and some awesome fluorescent overhead lighting.
January 15th @ the building department. Very hip, if you like an impersonal institutional theme to your interiors.
January 15th @ the building department. Details….
January 15th @ the building department. And…the post-it notes come out….
January 15th @ the building department. I stared at this for about 20 minutes while Mark talked to the guy in the cubicle.
We broke ground on March 21st. Let the fun begin!! (If you’ve ever built before, you know that was a totally snarky statement) Welcome to this journey. Enjoy the photos. I’ll post more pics as things progress……I’m back!!!!
March 21st = Day #1 of Construction! Construction toys, big and small, start arriving on site.
March 22nd. Digging down 16′ to the sewer line.
April 1st. Digging up everything.
April 13th. Digging some more. Some of the biggest construction toys can barely maneuver on the narrow lot!
Power to the people! Getting temporary power pole hooked up. April 13th
Airstream Moho-A-Go-Go 
Woohoo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink one of those foofoo drinks Nancy. Did you really drink it?
HAHA!! Yes! I drank it! I think it was a Cosmo. It was definitely a celebratory drink!
Are you building a spec project to sell or to live in?
Hi Stephanie! The plan is to live in it. 2100 sf, with commercial space on part of the first floor (required due to commercial zoning of the lot), residence above.
Can’t wait to watch the journey!!
Sent from my iPhone
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And when it’s all done (in 2017, most likely), you can come over to see it in person!
I thought I remembered you already having this project underway before your big journey last year. Oh well, memory is for young folks. 😉
Having built the houses over the years, one thing I learned was if you don’t visit the project every day, some FU will occur that may not be noticed ’til it’s too late.
😤😔. Good luck.
Any luck with selling the space shuttle? Still trying on mine.
Hi Marc! Your memory is s***! LOL! We bought the lot after we came back from our trip. And you are so right about FU’s on the job site. Husband (architect/builder) is there every day, all day, watching things like a hawk!! Will message you through AirForums about the space shuttle….