Nate & Rita

Lifestyle problem they faced

Nate and Rita’s home was a gorgeous, well-maintained Victorian masterpiece. The construction methods used for their matching garage were, shall we say, not as enduring. Simply put, it had no foundation, so the walls that rested on the ground had begun to rot from the bottom up. 

For them this was more than just a garage. Nate was in the early stages of transitioning his home brewing hobby to business, and as we all know beer-related hobby/businesses rely heavily on garages.

What we helped them achieve

The initial, simple solution was to replace the garage with a pre-built shed. However because of zoning regulations, if they replaced the garage with something smaller, they would lose the right to re-build something of that size, in that location. Additionally, being in an historic district, they had to pass the proposed design before a five person review panel. 

We were able to quickly sketch up a nicely detailed garage that sailed through its historic approval and precisely detailed a dormer & interior stair to ensure that its attic space would be able to support the ancillary needs of the budding beer business.

How we coached them through it

In addition to handling the presentation to the historic district— which they described as great relief, after the stressful first meeting they had with them— we helped triage an all-too-typical construction issue. Their original contractor, who had been so helpful at first, came back with an unreasonable request after beginning their work. 

You can imagine the stress this caused! When they ran the issue by us, we agreed it was unreasonable, which gave them the confidence they needed to stand their ground. We ended up helping them quickly source another contractor who was able to complete the project as planned.