“Have you given any thought to what kind of house you are looking for? Are there any features you want, or don’t want?” he asked.
Good, ask open-ended questions, get the customer talking. This guy was a pro. “Actually, yes. Marilyn and I have been looking through some books of plans, and have some ideas. Can you build like that? Or do we have to use your own plans?”
“Either way. We often have plans similar to what you are interested in, and can modify them accordingly.”
I dug out one of the books of plans and opened it to a page Marilyn and I had liked. I had drawn on it with a pencil. “Something like this, the Somerset, but larger, maybe about 3,500 square feet. It definitely has to be a rancher, though. My leg probably is not going to get better, so I want everything on one level.”
“I noticed the limp yesterday.”
“I hit the trees jumping with the 82nd Airborne. It’s a bit shot,” I told him.
Marsbury nodded. “Will handicap access be a requirement?”
That surprised me. I looked over at my wife and saw her staring at me in surprise. I simply shook my head. “I don’t think I’m going to end up in a wheelchair anytime soon, but wide hallways and doors, and a large bathroom wouldn’t be a bad idea. I don’t need anything special, though.”
“That’s fine. Specialty items, though, can run extra. By the way, how much were you planning to invest?”
Good, use words like investment and budget, not price, very professional. “Let’s table that for the moment. I’m more concerned with quality and workmanship than the price. This is going to be a cash deal. I know this home is larger than you normally build, but I want something nice. We’ve got 25 acres, so I don’t think a sprawled ranch is going to look out of place.”
He nodded. “Okay, let’s take a look at this.” I turned the plan book around and pushed it over to him.
Marilyn and I had gone through the books and found a very interesting plan. It was basically in the shape of an H, with two long vertical pieces connected with a horizontal crosspiece. On the right side, the long vertical piece was actually four bedrooms and two bathrooms with a short central hallway. On the left side was a large eat-in kitchen, the utility room, and a garage. In the center, the horizontal section, was actually a large great room and dining room combination. We had modified this all somewhat, making the house four bedrooms rather than the original three, replacing the garage with a library/study and an exercise/weight room for me, and just generally making it all larger. Now it had a half bath off the kitchen, for instance.
Marsbury murmured to himself for a few minutes, and made some chicken scratches on his note pad. After a couple of minutes, he pulled a book of plans from his briefcase and flipped it open, finally settling on a plan. He placed that before us and said, “It’s not identical to what you have here, but it’s close. The easy way to do this would be to take our plan and do a modification.”
I looked it over, nodding to myself. It was close, and I had read enough prints and plans over the years to know exactly what would be involved. I pushed it over to Marilyn, so she could see. Fortunately, Marilyn can read plans, too. Over the years, working with Lefleur Homes, that had been useful to her. “It’s close, isn’t it,” she commented to me.
This model was called the Berkshire. “Similar. It needs to be bigger, and it’s missing a bedroom and we need to change the garage totally, but it’s a place to start. I like how the study opens up onto the great room as well as the kitchen. I would want to keep that. That’s a nice little touch.”
“Can I take your book here, with your drawing? I’ll want to give that to my engineering people,” he asked.
“Sure.”
“Okay, anything else? Basement or crawlspace? Any particular features inside or outside?”
“Yes. Okay, here goes, get your pencil ready.” He smiled and nodded to me. “I’m not sure what the building code specifies, but I want 2x6 sidewalls with a good insulation package; a 5/12 roof with a good insulation package; no attic, it won’t be necessary; 40 pound roof load at least; everything on 16s; crawlspace, no basement, so we need to design the mechanicals into the first floor; brick exterior; decent sized overhangs; minimum 30 year shingles; good quality double pane windows, double hung.”
Marsbury was jotting notes down feverishly. I waited for him to finish, and he commented, “You know a fair bit about construction. The building code here isn’t this stringent.”
“Marilyn’s family does construction, sort of, up in upstate New York. Way too far for them to build, though. As for the specs, I’d rather be overbuilt.”
“Okay, anything specific about the inside?” he asked.
“No carpets. I’m going to want laminate or hardwood flooring throughout. We can always put down throw rugs. Forced hot air heating and central air, of course. A nice kitchen and appliance package. We’ll probably want to talk to your kitchen designer on that. We both want something relatively bright and airy. Like I said, I’m more concerned about quality and workmanship and scheduling. I promised my wife I’d build her a nice house, so it needs to be nice.”
He smiled at that. “I think we can handle that. It’s going to take me a few weeks to get some drawings going on this. I can make a guesstimate now, but without the drawings, it won’t be accurate, and I can’t do drawings without some form of deposit. Are you prepared to do that now?”
Excellent, go for the money. You’re not a pro without the money. “I can write a check. I assume that at some point somebody is going to have to visit the property with me, with us really, to stake out the site.”
“We can’t stake it out until you have your closing. We can walk the site and examine it first, though, and get an idea.”
Yes, let us know the limitations. “Fair enough.” I wrote out a check and we did some paperwork and Marsbury was on his way.
“That seemed awfully quick, honey,” remarked Marilyn.
I smiled at her and shook my head. “Here’s the alternative. We do this with three more guys. This takes us another two or three weeks. Nobody gives us a price or drawings without money anyway. All we end up doing is wasting the better part of a month. Let’s say we save some money but the project takes longer than planned. That means that next year we are still living here, and paying somebody else’s mortgage. We don’t save a cent!”
“You say so,” she remarked dubiously. I simply chuckled.
In 1982 it was going to take us several weeks to get preliminary drawings back from their architect or engineer. Thirty years later it could be done in an afternoon, by somebody sitting at a computer console, and manipulating digital plans. In the here and now, it meant somebody was going to have to sit down at a drafting table with pencils and T-squares and triangles. Commercially available CAD programs were probably already on the drawing board (so to speak) but wouldn’t be viable for a few more years, when computer hardware became more powerful and the first computer literate engineers were trained.
We had Tusker, Tessa, and Bucky over on Sunday for the afternoon and dinner. This was the first chance they had to visit us in our new digs. Bucky found it all quite fascinating and kept climbing up and down the stairs, exploring everything over and over. Our friends had read about us in the newspaper also, and they quizzed us about our vacation. I got us off that topic, only semi-successfully, by asking about their growth and expansion. Tusker told us they had been working on their business plan, but had hit a snag. “We don’t know what a new place will cost us, so we can’t figure the budget,” he admitted.