10/25/12 actual work on the house begins. Anticipating an estimated close of escrow date, I pulled my MB Air out, looked at my notes and went to work calling people to line up work to do.

Not being a seasoned veteran on house work, it was unclear as to where to start. I knew what I wanted to do, but couldnt think of who to call first, what to do, how to start, etc. Its very different from what my trade is, however I made the executive decision to move forward and pretend I knew what I was doing. Dont get me wrong...I had a clear sense of what I think we want the place to look like when its done, but no idea what happens in between....sooo....as with this blog, I will tell it as we go.

First impression on the yard...looks good and acceptable at a glance. Upon detailed inspection and several visits and paying more and more attention each visit...spider heaven, overgrown, web central, nasty spa (which was ok, but not our cup of tea), more spiders, and easy to make better with a little sweat....

Lower Level of the yard - Not bad eh? Ehhhh....

 Upper Level of the yard - Spa anyone?

Spider Heaven - Ivy bushes grown at the deck level that is raised. Fence is unknown...does one exist?

 Can someone say massive ivy growth? Behind that ivy...the deck. Cant tell, but trust me...its there.

 Kitchen side entrance...bleh.

Heres what I have to deal with...sure the pictures look ooookkkkk...but Im telling you now, its partially inviting until you get there. Quickly you will be disinvited by the plethora of spiders that will bungee down to your face and will having you running like a little "b" (ok, so thats just me...but whatever, you get the picture).

Looking at my notes from months and months of planning, the day was here and I had schedule some gardeners to begin the deconstruction of the yard as the yard was a simple thing to just get out of the way....so I thought.

My thought process was this -

- wasnt too crazy about the yard, the inspection report called for removing the lower deck due to dry rot as it was too close to soil

- spiders were clearly comfortable there and I wanted the spiders and the colony of them to disappear

-  needed something to do to feel like I was a home owner doing stuff for our house

- didnt know the lay of the land due to the over grown plants and wanted to see the untouched land that no one has ever set foot on in the deeper parts of the yard

- needed to understand the yards land in general - was it flat, slanted, sloped, concave, etc...

 Well...the answer was to nuke the yard. Bye bye spiders and creatures of nature...its time for you to move on out. Im moving in and Im here to stay...get out of my face (literally).

Found a company that could clear my yard in two days. I found them from one of the cards that was left on the front door. Rarely will I ever call any of those, but because I saw 3 or 4 of the same business cards, I decided to give them a call because it seemed they were persistent in bringing a new business card as one got older and faded from no one touching it at the door. Done deal!

Day 1 of yard cleanup - 3 people - told them to remove everything but large trees and the bare structure of the deck to allow me to asses its condition. After all, it is a 400 sq ft deck - what a waste to just remove it.

This here is the owner of the company working.

 When I met with him the first time, he was dressed in some slacks, nice shoes, tucked in dress shirt and looked like a business man. I figured he was the owner and estimator who would then delegate the work to his workers. When we agreed on a day to do the work, he then shows up in regular clothes, a company shirt and says hello to me in the morning and said "We're ready!".
I was a bit puzzled by this, but after talking to him throughout the day, he said he didnt trust anyone but himself to run his jobs and perform work onsite unless he is there to ensure things are getting done right. He said its the only way for him to be successful and to ensure things are done his way and to know that what he promised to a customer is what they get...sounds a little like me when it comes to projects. One word - RESPECT. Owner/Worker/Estimator.

So they started removing the ivy and tearing down the lattice from the deck. It was so tangled up that the best way was to remove the lattice and use a saw to cut through all the ivy bushes...or weeds. Whatever you call what was growing there...it was wild and out of control. It definitely did a good job of hiding some ugliness and now had me thinking if it was the right thing to do right now. Oh well...it started and I felt we needed to just continue.











Day 2 of yard cleanup - 3 People - This is the day they expected to finish. Was very excited to see the place cleared out.

So following the first day, clearly this task was much more than anyone expected. Something I thought I could do by myself during my spare time on the weekend turned out to be something that is taking 3 people that have the right tools and know tips and tricks to removing plants, trees, roots, etc much longer than expected. Hoping they would still stick to clearing everything in 2 days...deep down inside I knew it would be longer. What started to scare me was....$$$$$. I could see it now....

Right: A look at the side yard from the deck. Didnt even know a fence was there to begin with. Nice!




Left: A look up towards the higher part of the yard from the bottom. Clearly a lot of unusable space because of the ivy plants that have taken control of the yard. This stuff is everywhere...on the trees, the fence, the ground, in the lattice...etc.


Below: Owner and helper clearing out more stuff...they uncovered a fence that we didnt know existed on the side of the house. The area they are standing in now was something you were not able to do when we bought the place. It started to change the yard - its size, revealed fences that were unseen before, spiders were running for the lives, everything...it may sound funny, but it actually made the yard look brighter by removing some of bushes and whatever existed there.




...its been a long day and my hopes of it being done were down the drain. I could see disappointment in the owners eyes, but he clearly knew that he probably quoted me wrong on the amount of work that was needed to get this done. He came up to me and told me that as they uncovered more ivy, they would find things that were not visible at the time of the quote - very understandable. Still no word on increasing price or re-quoting the job. He simply said it will definitely take another day or two and not to worry.

Day 3 of yard cleanup - 3 People - Wasnt sure what to expect as far as progress, but still looked like a lot of work. 

Removal of the lower deck began and some continued to work uphill on the yard to remove all the ivy on the ground. The deck removal looked like a pain, but they continued to work like it was nothing carrying out heavy load after heavy load by garbage cans and by hand, wrapping cut bushes and such in to large tarps and walking it down to their truck which was in front of the house. Because the property is sloping and the layout is not your standard flat walkways, no wheel barrows and such could be used to haul things. They were actually carrying more with their technique than what I could have done with a wheel barrow or similar. 

The deck removal continued throughout the day with some trimming of tree branches. Lots of heavy machinery this day...but a lot of change happening, seeing the yard slowly open up and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for this project. My prediction at this point was still 3-4 more days. Again...I thought $$$$$....but no mention of it from the owner.

Ivy gone, but ugly fence appeared. Where the heck did that come from...remember in the earlier pictures (maybe you don't because this looks very different). I took a pic from the same spot, but it looked like bushes were closer to my feet. Well....surprise! I just gained a ton of sq ft from removing plants. SCORE!

Day 4 of yard cleanup - 3 People - More progress...lots of concentration on trimming trees and removing ivy that wrapped itself in the trees. Lots of raking going on to cleanup small left overs from the big clean up of ground plants, roots, weeds, leaves, etc.

If I had some before pictures, you would clearly see a change in this tree. It used to be wrapped in ivy from the base all the way to the top. The branches hung down so low that it grew over the deck area and all around making the yards air space look smaller than it was. I had asked to expose the trunks of the trees and to create more air space in the yard, but leaving teh tree for some privacy and shade. What a difference! It just looked so much cleaner.

Right: The picture is a bit small, but if you look closely, I had put in a red arrow that looks more like a red line. Follow it to the lower part of the red line and you will see a red sweater. That was the owner...he was also the tree climber that cleared the ivy and trimmed the branches. This doesnt show the true height...but let me tell you, he was up there. I know I couldnt do it. Oh, by the way...no ladder. Special climbing shoes with spikes and a safety harness. Thats it.

Below: The same tree, noly trimmed. Again, more air space and trunks are exposed. Oh, and for the record...that tree isnt even on my property, but I wanted it nice looking for me...so I had told him to clean the tree and Id pay for it even though it wasnt on my yard. Im sure the neighbor didnt mind...

 

By the end of day 4, it was looking good. You could see the space that was gained from removing the plants and bushes and now the upper part of the deck had yet and even upper upper part...perfect! More room for the dogs, plants and/or whatever we're going to do back here. The yard looked much larger than it did before...but a tad bit less inviting because it just looked unfinished. It was bare, but bearable. I like it - gave us a better picture of what we had to deal with and now we could try and imagine what we want to do.

Day 5 and 6 of yard cleanup - 3 People - Final days to complete the yard. All that was left was final raking, tree stump removal, spa removal.

Top Left: Remnants from a large tree trunk I had to have cut down.
Top Right: Deck removed
Bottom: Panoramic view of whats left










What started as a two day job turned into a six day job. Clearly something that Im glad I didnt try to start on my own and definitely something I could not have done on my own. What I did learn is the topography of our yard - very sloped with healthy soil with the exception of where the lower deck used to be. It was more like clay because it had been covered and very moist throughout the year. One thing that is difficult about a house on a sloping property is water. All water flows down (unless you're at some mystery spot). Well guess what, we are on a lower part of a sloped yard and all the water from the houses above come flowing down to us and gathers and saturated by the foundation of the house. NOT GOOD. Something the previous owners did not address and it shows. This was known when we bought the house as we hired Soil Engineers, Structural Engineers and Contractors to asses the land and give us their expertise on what we can do and what needs to be done to protect the home. The solution is water diversion and believe it or not, making sure the soil is healthy by planting stuff to keep the soil from moving down with the water. You guessed it...thats coming up in the scope of work.

For now, I am trying to gather days that have passed and will combine them into one post until I am updated with real-time updates. So much has passed, yet I want to capture it so I can look back on this journey we are taking on renovating our house. Its definitely more work than I had expected, but it turning out to be a crash course in every job related function that deals with homes. I am quickly learning things I would have never thought I would need to know, but it is very rewarding. Enjoying every part of it as we continue to move forward.