January 2017 Archives

Enter Mother Nature

Ed Building a House January 19, 2017March 23, 2017Earthquakes, Le Marche Italy, schedule 0 Comment

Soon after I published the previous post about project timing, Marche got hit hard, first by a major snowstorm and them by a series of fairly strong earthquakes.

Snow fell over a number of days in mid-January, piling up as high as two meters (6.5 ft) in some villages. (Kevin said there was less in our area, but over 4 feet.)

Then, on January 18, there was a series of four earthquakes in the magnitude range 4.1 – 5.7. These quakes follow the even stronger quakes of last October and August. (There have been more than 45,000 aftershocks since August.)

Rigopiano Hotel before and after avalanche — Hotel Rigopiano – Before and After
Click image to enlarge

The biggest catastrophe was in the region just south of Marche, Abruzzo, also hit hard by snow, where the Hotel Rigopiano was buried by an avalanche set off by the quakes and 29 of the 40 people inside died.

The impact on our project is only on timing. Very little work has been or will be able to be completed in January. Kevin reports that the contractor, Francisc, has been able to do some work in his shop, assembling some of the steel needed for the support columns.

An Update

I showed a list of Marche earthquakes of magnitude over 5.0 in my post about the October quakes.

Here’s an update to that list:

Month/Year	Magnitude
Oct 2016	6.6
Aug 2016	6.2
Oct 2016	6.1
Sep 1997	6.1
Oct 1930	5.9
Jan 2017	5.7
Jan 2017	5.6
Oct 2016	5.5
Oct 1943	5.5
Oct 1936	5.5
May 1987	5.1

So the top 3 and 6 of the top 8 have been in the last six months.

Image sources: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/18/italy-hit-four-powerful-earthquakes-four-hours-bringing-terror/
By TVSEI – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6La91fbpbbg, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55271832

Project Timing: Starting 2017

Ed Building a House January 15, 2017March 13, 2017Construction, schedule 0 Comment

We feel like we’ve made excellent progress on the building project in the last six weeks of 2016.

Kevin sent us a timing plan for the rest of the work, roughly showing activities by month. It stretches the project out until February 2018 — which was the completion date he proposed in October.

Looking at the plan, it feels conservative. There are few concurrent activities, maybe because one contractor and his team are doing much of the work.

Anne can’t understand how it can taKe over a year from where we are now. She really wants to be able to be in the house for Christmas 2017.

I’m a bit more relaxed about the date. I don’t see us being able to furnish and have the house ready until the spring of 2018. That sets us up perfectly for “introducing” the house in the summer 2018. Also, I’d rather take an extra month or two than rush the contractor into cutting corners.

Here’s the project flowchart Kevin sent along.

Workplan for house construction in Le Marche — Workplan Flowchart
Click image to enlarge

Watering It Down

Ed Building a House January 11, 2017March 13, 2017budget, Construction, Payments 0 Comment

They’ve been trucking water to the site so far, but we need to get a direct water connection to allow construction to continue, so Kevin has been working with the local utility company. Today, he gave us an update. It’s pure Kevin:

In mid-December we conducted an on-site assessment with the water company – TENNACOLA. Just before Christmas we received an estimate from them. The estimate, which I attach to give you a chuckle (it elicited a decidedly different physical reaction on my part!), was for €13,511.25 + IVA. Obviously, complete BULLSHIT.

Kevin’s approach was to sit down with Tennacola and our contractor, Francisc, and work out what could be done by the contractor and what Tennacola absolutely had to do. (Either way, Tennacola will oversee the work and be sure it’s all up-to-snuff.)

The reduction is cost was dramatic: to less than a third of the previous number. Great work by Kevin.

Activity	Original	Revised
Installazione grupo presa Electrical switch installation (?)	€210	€210
Allaccio a corpo con scavo fino a 5m Connection to the system, excavation up to 5m	640	0
Allaccio a corpo con scavo maggiore a 5m Connection to the system, excavation over 5m	14,405	0
Posa in opera tubo maggiore 5ml dm 1′ Laying additional pipe	1,055	1,055
Riduzione 20% scavi su ghiaia 20% discount, excavation over gravel	-3,099	0
Pozzetto coperchio in ghisa Cast iron cover	80	80
Gruppo misura DM 1/2 Group measures (?)	130	130
Anticipo consumi. Deposit for consumption	26	26
Total Tennacola	€13,537	€1.649
Total Contractor	€0	€2,800
IVA Value-added tax	1351	428
Total Project	€14,888	€4,729

The next utility up is the electric company, ENEL. Kevin says this will be a crap shoot as well, They don’t provide estimates in advance, only when they show up to do the work. So Kevin will take the same approach to try to peel off whatever Francisc can do at a lower cost.

Image source: http://www.pixabay.com – No attribution required

Special Carpentry

Ed Designing a House January 10, 2017March 13, 2017budget, Design details 0 Comment

One thing that has been TBD in the budget so far and not included at all, even as an estimate, is the special carpentry for the hall closet doors and the nicchie.

Now, we have an estimate for this work. My first reaction was that the costs seemed high, but Kevin reassured me that the carpenter was very good — the only one he works with these days after trying others — and that the costs are reasonable, actually even better than others charge.

In total, the carpentry will add about 2,500€ to the project budget.

Carpentry Item	Notes	Cost
Two hallway closet double doors (Coat and linen closets)	Will custom fabricate Timber to be aged and distressed as per house style Delivery and mounting, included	960€
Four wall nicchie (3 bathrooms and study)	Four shelves to be made in solid 3.5cm oak, custom width and overhang detail, to 25cm deep. Timber to be aged and distressed as per house style Delivery and mounting, included	1,500€
Total		2,460€

I mentioned to Kevin that the total nicchie cost should probably be somewhat less. as the three bathroom nicchie are only 15cm deep and have three shelves. I expect this will get reflected in the actuals.

Design Changes and Costs

Ed Designing a House January 6, 2017March 13, 2017budget, cost breakdown, Design details, electrical and network, Exterior, interior 0 Comment

As we’ve been planning the specific layout of the house, we’ve made some additions and changes, such as some exterior features, like a water trough, a wider sidewalk around the house (marciapiede), an interior stone wall, added electrical and network, a window in the stairway, and some wall niches (nicchie).

Here’s Kevin’s summary, with pictures of some examples of the additions.

design details for a house in Le Marche — Ground floor and exterior additions
Click image to enlarge

Design additions to a new farmhouse in Le Marche — First floor design additions
Click image to enlarge

Of course, there is some added cost for these items. Kevin presented the following list. We need to look and see what, if anything, we’d like to cut out.

TIPO \| ITEM	Costo \| Cost
	(Euro)
Long wall living room stone faced	€1,630
Add pigeon roosts external wall 4-6	160
Builder works for main entry door with arch Iron grill to choose, will be outside this budget	205
Construct wider sidewalks at back end of house, go from 80 to 140cm + 1/2 moon terrazzo at master Bedroom + wider sidewalk at wood store include works, materials, tile setting	3,745
Build 4 niches	300
Carpentry work niches	TBD
Sliding door et al for 1stfloor storage Carpenter	TBD
Build works for added window at stairs	100
Wall exits for A/C x 3 - Mobile units to recommend...outside this budget	150
Wood store in stone with coppi tiles	1250
Add 3 bathroom ventilation fans, SILENT models Units and Associated Works	600
Add 6 external water points + drains Note Faucet Styles etc. are to choose, costs Outside this budget	1200
Install Fountain outside, fountain cost Will be based on choice, outside this budget Cost of pump and electrical connections for fount.	235
Install country sink outside, sink cost Will be based on choice, outside this budget	50
Basic build works for recessed spots	220
Electrical and internet plan needs above STANDARD	1,690

	€11,535

	Plus carpentry works
	Plus IVA

Electrical cost breakout

One big cost addition is in the electrical plans and costs over the amount built into the preliminary budget. I asked Kevin to break out those costs so I can see if there is any potential for savings.

Additions	Euro
Hard Wired Fire Alarms - 7	490
Outlets Over Base – 9	90
Light Points Over Base – 8	135
Irrigation System Predisposed	105
Kitchen Ice Machine	55
Floor Mount Plugs - 3	120
Pump Fountain	145
Associated Labor (discounted from actual of 850)	550

Total Electrical Additions	1690€

Cost Update

I asked about reducing the biggest cost, the 3745€ for the marciapiedi. Most of the incremental cost is for the areas in back outside the French doors. It seems wrong to have a narrow sidewalk there, so we’ll need to just absorb this cost somewhere.

We eliminated 2 of the “water points” (faucets) to save 600€ and one smoke detector at 70€ and Kevin was able to get the cost of the wood store down from 1250€ to 850€, so our adjustments will “save” 1070€ from the list of additions.

In total, the additions will hit the budget in these areas:

Builder budget: 8890€
Materials (tiles): 1675€

So final additions total 10,465€. Plus those TBDs for the carpentry.

← Previous

Our Big Italian Adventure

Month: January 2017