We, my studly guy and I, purchased this way less than charming--a craftsman wannabe-- bunglelow last June. We saw possiblities galore that would take some addin' on and fixin' up, but nothing fancy and it shouldn't cost too much...we thought.
We put our thinking caps on, the creative juices started flowing and the designing began. We would carve out a new kitchen on the existing rear and within part of the add-on, continue the front porch around the corner for a spacious screened in outdoor room, move a wall to create a foyer, turn the one bath into a powder room, add a laundry room, downstairs master bedroom and bath, reconfigure the upstairs rooms, move the stairs (too narrow, too steep, and too in the middle of things), add a bath upstairs, bump up the roof....whoa there, Dreamers. Yep! We would need to bump the roof due to having only 6' ceilings upstairs...one of the bedrooms, a 9 x 9 box, was only 6' at the door decreasing to 30" at the windows.
Well, I think you get the picture. This was not going to be a small project. But we weren't thwarted.
We received the variance for side and rear set backs in September, got the plans drawn up and submitted Bid Requests to 3 quality, reputable builders by November.
One declined to bid and two came back at a number, approx $250/sq ft, that couldn't be supported by the location or our financial where-with-all. What we had was a clear need to rethink the whole thing.
To be continued....