Team AngelaIt's Like Extreme Home Makeover: Angela Edition!

We’ve got ourselves a contractor to build our special house- his name is John Corsi, and his was one of 7 companies that bid on the job. We chose him for a few reasons: he’s done much of the work on Alexandra and Bobby’s house in Westwood, and it’s excellent; his pricing was sharp; he’s not afraid of slightly unusual design and construction details; and he’s a local guy with deep ties to the area.

I knew he was the right guy when I was reviewing the plans with him, and I said “Angela and I are thinking we’ll go with a red cedar shingle exterior.” And he said, ” I can get them pre-dipped with stain if you want, so all sides are protected.” And I said, “We want to let them weather naturally… what do you think of that?” And he got fired up and said, “It’s a great look. There’s a house in my neighborhood with natural shingles, and my kids are always asking if we can make our house look like that. Hey, I’m a carpenter- I love wood.” I figure if you have a choice between an expert, and an expert that loves what he does, choose the latter. That energy might come in handy during the rough spots, and result in pleasant surprises in the details.

Our only concern was that his is a small company- but it turns out it’s powerful because it’s backed up by family. His dad is retired from 40 years in the construction industry but helps John with estimating and field supervision because he too loves the business. And while John’s sister Natalie is currently a full-time mom, she also happens to be a civil engineer, and she pitches in too.

And do they get stuff done…. In the 10 days or so since they’ve been on the job they’ve:

• dealt with shutting off the water and sewer (gotta dig up the yard for that)
• gotten an asbestos inspection (the shingles on the outside are asbestos)
• gotten the Department of Environmental Protection to waive their 10 day waiting period for asbestos-removal permitting (that one was Natalie’s doing, saving us two weeks)

And if all goes according to plan they’ll get a demolition permit and tear down the house this Wednesday, 11/4.

As a bonus, I even got permission from my neighbor to the rear to take down a big pine tree on his property that overhangs the lot and shades what will be the living room- which faces south. As I told Angela, “The sun comes up and goes down in the same general direction every day, and if I missed taking advantage of that I’d consider it a huge mistake.” Angela is solar powered after all….