The Marathon is Almost Over

Although I have never run a marathon, I believe the 26.2-mile marathon is a good metaphor for our 26-month house recovery. I’ve heard that the last mile of a marathon run can be grueling, swinging between exhausting agony of the journey and a pending sense of the euphoria of completion. So close to the finish line, but still difficulties arising, a last hill to climb, mental willpower to tap into. You simply put one foot in front of the other. In a marathon race, you push through the physical hurdles as well as mental ones. In our 26-month marathon, it’s definitely about pushing though the final mental hurdles, as our Certificate of Occupancy seems to be a moving target.

When looking forward became so full of uncertainty (we actually have no idea at the moment when we will have a move-in date – my builder stopped giving us one as each passed by without a CoO), I did look back to see how far we have come and how much work has been done. I had mentioned to someone that I wish I had kept track of how many people worked on the house build! It’s mind-blowing to me how much is needed, how many skill-sets, and the level of craftsmanship it takes. The list of skills that went into building our home (from memory):

• Demolition Team
• Architect and civil engineering team
• Survey team (markers for pilings & elevation confirmation)
• Piling drivers (pilings into the ground, heavy equipment!)
• Footers team – concrete workers
• Masons – skilled brick-layers (cement blocks in our case)
• Carpenters and Framers
• Roofers – trusses, sealing, and then metal roofing (three different teams)
• Soffit installers and Gutter installers (two different teams)
• Window and exterior door installers (who knew this was a specialty!)
• Stucco appliers
• Siding and exterior trimmers
• Exterior Ceiling (balcony) installers – another set of specialty carpenters
• Painters
• Interior Stair Builders
• Electricians
• HVAC system installers
• Smart House wiring team
• Plumber(s)
• Cabinet builders/installers
• Granite – fabricator and installers
• Tilers – two teams
• Interior Trimmers – windows & doors
• Garage Door installers
• Garage Floor coating team
• Pavers team
• Exterior grading team
• Exterior balcony rails and stair builders – welders actually
• Elevator installers
• Shutters and blinds installers (two groups so far – with both design & install teams for both)
• Landscaping crew

I honestly do not know how my builder keeps track of all the details!  He has been the consistent one throughout this 26-month process – finding all these craftsmen/women, juggling schedules, calming me down when we faced delays and issues.

The world has mostly moved on from our storm; it has been over two years. But we are still living in the aftermath of it as I write this blog post – 26 months of displacement, mourning the losses again as we begin to think what we need to buy as replacements, working through more build challenges as we face delays in material supply chains and labor shortages. I’m dealing with decision fatigue as I try to shift move-in plans yet again.

And like that last 1.2 miles of the marathon race, I’m just putting one foot in front of the other. It will get done.There will be the euphoria of completion. Just not this week.

Specific Update: Since we thought we would be in last week, we had some of the furniture delivery scheduled and so it arrived. The header picture are the interior stairs – one of the hold ups for CoO. is getting these finished!

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