Mistakes

I've got lots of mistakes and little problems - from construction to delivery to the trip up the hill to the set and on and on and on - that I need to detail over the next week or so. Nothing huge, but I feel it's time for an intermediate post mortem (if you can do such a thing).

But in the spirit of such a future post, I think I've discovered the first big mistake for which I am solely responsible. One of the most imposing tasks of acting as your own GC is ordering materials and making sure you've got the right stuff on hand at the appropriate time. I've been driving all over the place getting stuff for the last few weeks and that's one of the realities of not having someone else responsible for that kind of thing. Anyway, the math for ordering lumber is not always straightforward. In calculating the amount of cedar siding we needed, I had to compute the square footage of four sides of the house, subtract the volumes of windows and doors, multiply by 3 to account for the number of 1x4 cedar boards that make a foot, and multiply by 1.1 for waste. Or so I thought. Turns out 1x4 is a nominal measure (much like a 2x4 is really 1.5 x 3.5). And turns out that you need FOUR boards of 1x4 to make a vertical foot, not THREE. So it looks like even with my extra 10%, I'm going to be 15% short. Which means more ordering, acclimatizing, sanding and staining. Ugh.