House update: we moved in!

It’s been a very busy 5 months! Being a new dad, dealing with the construction of a house, packing, moving and unpacking has been quite the challenge.

Things are now starting to settle a bit and I wanted to write something about the house.

Overall, the construction went well, and we’re happy with the house.

Dealing with a low-cost house constructor (PaPamaru House) however, had its downsides.

We did spend a lot of time checking and re-checking the plans and quotes we were shown along the way, and it’s a good thing we did. More than once we found things that didn’t match what we had requested and needed to ask them to fix it. In the end though, it was worth it: the house matches what we wanted, and we had the pleasant surprise of finding very few defects at the final inspection.

The speed at which everything went is one of the things that amazes me most. Here’s how it went:

• 2023-07-17: we first hear of PaPamaru House and request an online meeting.
• 2023-07-30: we see our future piece of land
• 2023-12-16: we sign the land contract
• 2024-01-19: construction starts (micropiles, foundations)
• 2024-02-20: the house frame is brought up
• 2024-05-10: the house is done
• 2024-05-20: outside work starts (car port, approach, fence, etc)
• 2024-06-08: house completion inspection
• 2024-07-27: outside work is done
• 2024-07-29: we’ve moved all our stuff
• 2024-08-02: I bring Yuko and Amélie back to the house

It’s amazing that it all happened in barely more than a year!

We’ve been in our new house for about a month now, and we’re just getting used to this new lifestyle. Personally, I quite enjoy it, though it has its inconveniences at times!

There’s a lot more I’d like to write about but if I do so now it’ll take me forever and I won’t publish anything. I’ll try to write more in future posts. (Though this is not a promise!)