“Settlers of Catan” – Vermont Style

We own a farm with 25 acres of grass (think grain). It currently has 11 sheep (think wool). Time to add brick and lumber. We’ll worry about ore later.

Next week construction will begin at Savage Hart Farm. No, not a barn – though that may come sooner than we expect, depending on how lambing progresses in a 200 square foot “barnlet” and how fast our flock grows.

The process has been arduous at times, but we’re ready to pull the trigger on a project to convert the bedroom above the garage into an apartment that will hopefully supplement our sheep farming income. Let me be more precise – since no one seems to make any money with sheep, a rental unit will hopefully bring in some bling. We actually tried to jump start the project by getting a contractor on board before we even closed on the property last July, but we are learning that there is such a thing as “Vermont time”.

We picked a contractor who provided creative ideas, but three months later, feeling frustrated at the lack of progress, we switched horses. The first time we met Mark,he brought along four others – two people from his team, a septic inspector, and a well digger. Sometime that day I said to Mark, “The other contractor wasn’t acting like a general contractor. Will you act like a general contractor?” Of course, he said, “yes.”

Before we switched contractors and started all over, our naiveté concerning life in the country started showing through. We thought, “An apartment, how tough could it be?” The stumbling point – septic. The Town of Hartford won’t issue a building permit without State approval that the septic system will accommodate the needs of the property. By converting a bedroom into an apartment, the State guidelines say the required capacity of the septic system increases. Huh? In simple terms: a bedroom = single occupancy; an apartment = double occupancy. Thus, more needed septic capacity. Having never lived without town water/sewer, it took us a bit to get our heads around this.

Simple enough. Where are the septic plans? Those took a few weeks to track down. The engineer who did the plans had retired, so the first contractor had to track down where they went. She found them, along with the engineer who actually did the work (for the guy that had retired) and we all met at the farm on a beautiful afternoon in late July. Chris (the engineer) took out the plans, laid them on the hood of his truck, and looked out over the septic field. “I can tell you just by looking out there, the system under the ground is NOT the system on this plan.”

Pow. Time for a little Vermont real estate history. When the house was built in 1997-98, State regulations did not require approved septic plans for lot sizes of 10 acres or more. The original property was on 12 acres (twenty more were added later). Apparently, to save some money, the septic system was subbed to a New Hampshire contractor, and New Hampshire does things differently than Vermont, and the septic plan be damned.

Flash forward to 2012. Now the State DOES regulate septic systems on larger lots. What to do? Chris recommended bringing the State engineer to the site for consultation. After that occurred, Chris told us we’d need a new separate septic system for the apartment, and that could cost $20,000 or more.

This was the last straw. We felt like we were being strung along. A few days later we called Mark. After our initial meeting, we agreed on a first step – figure out the configuration of the septic system. The crew came out, put the little cameras in the hole and through the pipes, and provided a plan for the current system. That yielded some interesting findings. First, tank capacity. The seller thought it was 1,000 gallons. The survey told us we have 2,000 gallons – a 750 gallon tank and a 1,250 gallon tank. Hmm, that’s good news. Second, distribution box. The guys were able to figure out where it is in the field and dig down to get a close look at it. When I walked over to see how they were doing, I noticed two large pieces of concrete sitting on the grass. “That’s the D box cover. It should be in one piece.” It had cracked in two. Fortunately the D box still worked, but it would eventually need replacing.

How could the D box cover crack? George goes over the septic field with his heavy equipment every time he hays the east field. Been doing it forever. George was surprised, and we just agreed to keep the heavy stuff off the septic field from now on.

Now that we knew the layout of the system, Mark suggested a different engineer to develop a plan. Also named Mark, he came out and reviewed the situation with me. Turns out we have a “Presby” system, named after the guy in New Hampshire that designed it. A Presby system uses a certain kind of pipe AND requires a special kind of sand – Presby sand. (Maybe Peg and I can come up with a special kind of sheep poop to market – Allen poop, no Savage Hart poop.) Mark looked at me and said, “I was an engineer for the State for 15 years and have been doing engineering consulting work for another 15 years, and I can tell you – there is no Presby sand under those pipes.” Huh.

But the good news (there’s good news?) – we don’t need to build a completely new system to accommodate the apartment. Mark could come up with a plan, using and possibly expanding the existing system, get State approval, and bring it in at a cost much less than $20,000+.

So that is the path we followed. We signed a contract with Mark on September 18th. But Mark was very busy, the weather wasn’t accommodating, yadda yadda yadda. Almost 3 months later, Mark sent me an email that the State had approved the plan (YES!) but they were wondering about the water quality test results. Mark had forgotten to get water samples. Another week.

Finally, on December 21st, we received our Wastewater System and Potable Water Supply Permit from the State. Next step – apply for the building permit. Contractor Mark and his team put the numbers together; unfortunately they were a little on the steep side. Why?

When the house was first built, the Town had permitted it as a three bedroom home. It was sold to us as a four bedroom home – somewhere along the line the Town reclassified the house, adding the space above the garage as a bedroom, BUT hadn’t collected the additional permit fees that would go along with that bedroom. Since we were applying for a building permit, this was the Town’s opportunity to “catch up.” Darn.

It took about a week to get all the numbers right, and on the afternoon of New Years Eve, I walked into the Planning and Development Services office of the Town of Hartford with all the needed documentation and a check. I had been there before, last summer to get a permit for the “barnlet” and had met both the Supervisor Jo-Ann and her assistant Brenda. But on that afternoon, Brenda’s desk was vacant and JoAnn’s office was dark. I rang the little bell on Brenda’s desk, and Matt came around the corner. It took some time, as Matt wanted to be sure all our ducks were in a row, and he didn’t really do building permits, but we got it done.

A few more weeks passed as Mark and Brenda worked back and forth about the actual square footage of the project. By the end of January, Mark came by with a poster for us. It was a large red P – about a foot tall – and it needed to be placed facing the road for 15 continuous days. This was the review period, where neighbors could see the P and check with the Town about the project. As the crow flies, the front door is about 250 yards up the hill from Jericho Road. Needless to say, no one asked about the project. We now have the building permit taped in the window, and Mark’s team should get started late next week.

With that long-winded preamble, what the heck are we doing?

• The garage bedroom will turn into a studio apartment, with a small kitchen, bath, washer/dryer (we hope – the space is a little tight), a little mudroom at the base of the stairs, and a separate entrance on the east wall at the back of the garage. We hope to add a dormer on the east side to bring in more light.
• The room that connects the garage bedroom to the rest of the house will have the roof line on the north side raised, making room for about six feet of windows facing a gorgeous view to the north. When this room is connected to the garage bedroom studio, we will have a one bedroom apartment.
• On the second floor of the main house, we will build a wall with a door that provides privacy to the occupants of the north bedroom and bathroom. When that door is closed off, the one bedroom apartment can turn into a two bedroom, two bath apartment.

We’re excited about the possibilities.

Todd