Have you ever been involved in a building project or

Have you ever been involved in a building project or a remodeling effort? There are so many things to keep track of and so many parts that need to fall into place in order for things to get done. It can be very frustrating especially if you are new to building projects. When my husband and I decided to build a small cabin on a lake we had no idea what a headache it would become. It did not help that we were living a three-hour drive away from the project.

When we first bought our lake lot we parked a recreational vehicle on it. We built a small shed to store water toys in. We put in a dock and a boatlift. This was fine for a few years, but then we decided that we wanted to have more space and nicer accommodations. We contacted a general contractor and found a blueprint for a two-bedroom cabin with an opened loft. We thought this would be a way to have a nice space for adults and a place for kids to crash. The two bedrooms on the lower level were tucked under the loft and there was a bathroom in between them. We also put a three quarters bath upstairs. The living room, dining area and kitchen were all one opened space and there was a screened in porch off the living room area that over looked the lake. A patio door accessed the porch. We chose the general contractor from the area close to the lake so that he would be able to sub contract the work out to local craftsmen. When he started talking about different building and the electrical safety code we assumed that he knew what they were. We were very disappointed when the entire project had to come to a standstill because the cabin did not pass the electrical safety code. The sub-contracted electrician did not take into account the proximity of the lake. There is a different electrical safety code for lakeshore properties than there is for those located off the lake. All the work had to stop until the electrician came back to make the needed changes. He was on vacation for a week and then was scheduled for a job out of town that he needed to complete before he came back to ours. It was very disappointing to see no work being done for two weeks because we were getting close to the fall and winter months when weather plays a huge factor in getting things completed. When we first started the project in early spring we thought everything would be done so we could move things into the cabin by the end of the summer. With all the delays we were not able to start the inside finishing work until the end of October. We were so thankful that the last inspection of the electrical and plumbing passed.