June 13, 2006
Architect Progress
I had an encouraging discussion with my architect-of-choice this afternoon when she called to let me know that she had stopped by the property to check out the existing garage. She also snapped some digital pictures of the property and reviewed the relevant zoning codes to see what our options are for rebuilding the existing structure. I was extremely excited to learn of these developments because all the architects in the area seem to be buried with existing projects and I feel very fortunate that this particular architect is able to make time for my garage plans (she’s nice!). I don’t have a fee quote from her yet, but we’re meeting tomorrow before the closing to review her ideas and talk about the details of the project. Her thinking is that the house would be more marketable with a slightly larger garage (the existing structure is quite short) and I’m interested to pick her brain about a few other items, such as the awkward closet upstairs and the potential breakfast bar addition.
[…] I knew that potentially unpleasant interactions with contractors, hired labor, zoning officials, etc, would be a regular part of flipping houses, so I wasn’t terribly surprised when the architect I was so excited about decided to completely disappear from the face of the earth. Although, I am a little taken aback because I spent an hour at her office discussing the project on the day I closed on the property and she seemed pretty engaged. The plan was that she was going to send me a formal proposal / contract for the garage the next day. Well, after almost three weeks and many inquisitive phone calls with no word from her office, it’s pretty safe to say that she’s probably found bigger projects to work on and is dumping my little garage reconstruction. […]