an addition for Aunty in ithaca

This fall we had the privilege of designing and buildng an attached mother-in-law unit for some great clients on the south side of Ithaca.

The work started with an intese bit of demolition requiring a large U-haul moving truck to remove the debris-2 trips in fact. Once the house was prepped for the new addition.. no small task we began the creative process of attaching new to old. After a few days we were framed in and things were looking up! For a number of reasons, additions can be more difficult than straight up new construction. Site access is often one of those reasons.

This project had next to impossible site access. Fortunately arrangements were made with the exceedingly friendly neighbors to allow us to use their adjoining backyard to bring in a skid loader for the drilling of he foundation holes. These neighbors were in fact more excited about the addition it seemed than the client was! Maybe you had to be there....

Anyway, the limited access made for a lot of carrying marterials the 30 yards or so around from the front of the house and of course the aproximately 6000 lbs of debris out. Oye Veh!

Even so, building is for the most part enjoyable work. But what i enjoyed most about this project, was how much it meant to the family we were doing it for. They told us each day how much they appreciated our efforts and how pleased they were that the addition was fianlly being built. You see, the family was struggeling to continue to share their living space with a well meaning great aunt who had come to live with them a couple years earlier. They loved the relative, they just couldn't take the accompanying lack of privacy much longer. They had considered building an addition a year before, but felt that it would be too expensive for there budget. Much to their delight, our estimate came in around 25% under what they had previously been quoted. Their desire to stay in their home by "adding on" for the aunty was now possible and quickly becoming a reality! The simple but nicley appointed independant apartment was completed with hardwood and tile floors, a full kitchen and bath, and simple pine trim throughout. Aunty just loves it!

The home owner writes "As soon as the project started, they moved so efficiently and professionally. We were pleasantly surprised at how much they could get done in a short period of time. Further, as they got closer to finishing, we saw that not only was this going to be done in a timely fashion, but also the work was clearly of the highest quality.

as I sit and write this brief note, my aunt is comfortable in her new independent apartment, close but not too close, and my wife and daughter are playing cheerfully with the privacy that we dreamed of. We couldn't be happier!!!"