The Money Pit

That's tough, sorry to hear all that.  I do a lot of utility work and you can never tell what is in a wall until either it comes down or you start poking holes, and sadly until you own it it's hard to do that.  You said that the house wasn't in bad shape, just outdated, so is the decor something you can live with for now?  If you've taken the exterior walls down at least you can paint it something more updated which can do a lot for the space.  Also, a tough line to walk, but if depending on how you're paying the contractor you can attempt to negotiate some of his prices down.  They usually have a pretty rediculous markup on goods and labor, and you definitely don't want to him off, but a lot of the time you just have to keep them in check.  I deal with contractors here in Boston daily and I understand that everyone is out to make a profit but sometimes it gets out of hand.  Then there's always the option of leaving certain things (master bedroom typically because only YOU have to suck it up) until later and prioritize the rest of the projects within the house.  Best of luck to you though.

Edited:  PS, don't jinx the indian burial ground thing.  I had a 200,000 sf project that completed documents and they did a prelim excavation and found some Indian remains and the Mass Preservation something-or-other demanded that we dig 2' down over the entire 50,000 sf footprint and have Indiana Jones come in to make sure there wasn't anything substantial there.

It is much better to find out these things now before you are into the house, so the possible mold problems are already taken care of before you move in.  I have had to completely gut bathrooms because of the mold from leaking toilets, showers, sinks etc......  Tear the floor down to the floor joist and made sure those were not rotted.  It happens.

Just work your way through it all and make the money go where it must go now to get it fixed, and you may have to not do some things, until later down the road.  Built in 1981 doesn't mean good or bad, it all depends upon the builder and how quickly they threw it up compared to how correct they were with making things right.  I have seen houses ready to fall down that were built 20 years ago, because the person didn't have a clue on how to build things.

Good luck with the build and hope it all turns out for the best.

Ouch, man that is one right after the other. I hope you can get everything worked through without too much hassle.  We did windows this year and the cost was a bit more than we were hoping for. But look around, there are a few options out there that may be a bit less than you think.

On the plus, 6.5 acres in this area is not easy to find.

Be careful on the building side too depending on where you are building.  I've had two friends who had bad experiences, both in different parts of the country which shows that the problems weren't specifically the contractor or the region.  One was a cookie cutter build.  He bought in a new development, customized things as he wanted, and they built.  The quality was just poor and my buddy doesn't know a lot about construction so I went by one day with him while they were building and just noticed quality things they were trying to skimp on like where the joints on the sheetrock were going to be, insulation quality on the walls and the piping, the HVAC system poor installation.  If you're not familiar with construction it really does pay to have someone walk it with you and do some punch lists before they close things up because once they put that last cover plate on the outlet they are out of there and it's hard to get things done once they are gone.

Good luck with all of that. So far my wife and I have been pretty lucky with the 40 year old home we bought in fall of 2011. Had to replace all the windows, which we knew we were going to do when we bought it. repaired a few leaky faucets and am saving up to replace all the old plumbing pipe in it and have a water shut-off valve installed at the house (right now if we have a problem, the only place to shut off water is at the main street level water valve at the end of our long driveway.) So far the only thing we have found that we did not know about is the need to reinsulate some of the HVAC vents that run to the bedrooms and I need to redo all the gutter downspouts and drains.

This is the first house either my wife or I has ever owned and we are learning all sort of fun and entertainment from it, not to mention becoming more and more handy. It sounds like you have owned before and this new place is just a bigger adventure than you expected. My best advice? Increase your timeline for getting the improvement projects done and just focus on making it liveable. Do any work yourself that you can too.

Wow.  Sorry to hear about your problems.

I'm on the board of Habitat for Humanity in Sarasota and we've been doing a lot of rehab projects over the last five or six years, including some abandoned foreclosures that we've bought back from banks and then rehabbed.

You never really know what you're getting into with rehab projects until you start opening things up.

One of the  biggest issues we run into is water intrusion in older homes and the resultant mold and rot.  Stuff just likes to grow in our climate down here.  You didn't mention the roof in your post.  How old is it and what kind of shape is it in?  Obviously that's the starting point to keep water out.  I'd be real suspicious if you have multiple layers of shingles.

It's unfortunate that you're having to open up walls, but have you considered doing some code updates while you're doing it.  Stuff like hurricane straps?  My house was built in '83 and we were able to reduce our insurance bill a few years ago by adding additional strapping to our roof trusses, including running cables from the trusses to the slab. 

Windows are expensive, but new ones will be more energy efficient and have high enough wind ratings to eliminate the need for hurricane shutters.  New windows can also reduce your insurance cost.

If you think you may be forced into moving in before all the work is done, then I suggest you focus on getting the kitchen done first, followed by the bathrooms.  That will help to at least make the house livable while you finish the remaining rooms. 

I'd also have to say quite frankly that your home inspector should have picked up on most of the things that you've mentioned. 

Good luck to you. 

Mark   

An update...

After several visits with the termite company (who covered the house under warranty) and a few threats of a lawsuit, they have agreed to pay for the fixes.  Looks like they are going to have to pull ALL of the brick down and then replace all of the studs.  This means pullout out all the electrical, plumbing and windows.  Essentially I will have a 99% brand new first story.

Wow.  You have no idea how relieved I was to hear this.  Just waiting on the paperwork to kick it all off.

These pics really do not do justice how eaten thru many of the studs really are.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151834283995031.1073741825.500450030&type=1&l=8725577a9d

Termites are nasty little critters.  Glad you got things worked out.

Mark

Yes we have always had a termite warranty.  Well worth the money.  $300 a year in trade for what is probably close to $100k worth of repairs.

Yes we have always had a termite warranty.  Well worth the money.  $300 a year in trade for what is probably close to $100k worth of repairs.

Hey on the bright side at least it will be done in two weeks!

And remember it is two pats on the butt to get the water to flow and be very careful when using the stairs or the bath tub!

We keep quoting that part of the movie.  TWO WEEKS!

"You sound like a parakeet, two weeks, two weeks!"

So 2 months (not 2 weeks) after my initial post the termite company has finally gotten their act together and they started work on the house.  We'll have to move into a condo fro 2 months while they do the work as my current house has sold.

I'll post a few pics later.  They are quite scary...

So this WAS our kitchen...