The bodega for the workers is up and the temporary electric and water lines have been run for the construction process. The crew foreman has laid out string on our building pad representing the dimensions of our home so we can tweak the orientation. I have spent many hours on site watching where the sun rises and sets and feel fairly confident about its position relative to the lot, views and solar exposure. We have a about a week and half before our designs come back from the Santa Cruz Municipality with the necessary permits.

Which brings up the subject of process. Forgive me if I digress but probably a key element to the project success is due diligence which, for us, has been an on-going process. As you are aware with my last blog we visited many fine homes and spoke with lots of folks. Almost without exception all gave us an account of who built their home and the structure in which they paid the builder and what they would do and not do again. This is an important process before working with your builder. Although, there are several reputable homebuilders in the area we felt Doug and Steve would give us the best experience, quality, and value for our budget. Plus I like and trust them. However, I think it is important to note that this blog is from an owner’s perspective for other lot owners who are considering building.

So, first talk to as many people as possible. Than choose your builder and architect who will work together with your ideas and their experience to create a rough design of your home. We actually spent a couple of years in this phase as we were trying to sell our farm.

Get a rough estimate on the costs so you can begin to scale your designs to meet your budget and work out the exact payment arrangements with your builder. It is then necessary to meet with the Tierra Pacifica Architectural Review Committee. We met with them on our lot with our designs in hand. The purpose of the committee is to make sure the building plans align with the CCR’s and the community goals.

Then it is time to agree to a final rough draft of your design, work up an electrical schematic, and send it off………this is where we are now. I spoke with Doug last week as to how it all comes to play out. It is a lot…and Doug has it down to a science. Here is my boiled down understanding…

The rough draft and rough electrical schematic goes back to the architect who oversees this whole process. They send it to the draftsman to put on an AutoCAD system, which puts it all to scale. During this process a mechanical engineer works on the structural elements and an electrical engineer works up the electrical pages. This is all sent to the College of Engineering, which reviews the structural, electrical, zoning, and water access. This takes a few days. Once approved, three sets of the plans get stamped and are sent to the Santa Cruz Municipality along with some paperwork for the building/construction permits. At the Muni they review twenty plus or minus items like water information, zoning, taxes, corporate names…to basically make sure there are no discrepancies and all the legal signatures are there. Part of the building prerequisite is the builder needs to have a workmen’s compensation policy through the INS for the whole job depending on the square meters of the job. Of course, all this meanders through the different branches of the Municipality for about two weeks. They will then fax the builder that the permit is ready and voila you start building. Now, again, this is my limited understanding of the process and I am sure there are many other administrative hurdles the builder must jump. My intent is to give the reader a basic understanding of the complexities that must happen before a single block gets put down.

I really appreciate the encouragement from our fellow lot owners and I will keep posting as things happen and time permits.


John