After closing

So here's the process for anyone interested in extensive renovations:

1. Find contractors. Not easy, believe it or not. Internet, word of mouth, newspapers. I found four who came by. Then I found out that to get an accurate bid I needed to first...

2. Hire an architect. My friend Maria Camoratto from college is one, but she's based in Philly. So she partnered with a friend of hers from school, Manny, who's based in Jersey City. Now, getting the actual plans takes time. It requires on-site measurements, and a lot of back and forth over details. Weeks... and then, once the preliminary plans are competed, they must be submitted to the zoning department for approval of the exterior changes. Then it's on to the next step, which is...

3. Get bids from the contractors. Three came in quickly. The other one took weeks of delays (just to get a bid). I waited for it because I liked and trusted this contractor and his experience. But his bid was wildly over my budget (and the other bids). So that was three weeks wasted. But then I was able to...

4. Select a contractor.

Believe it or not, that was the easy part.