Help Complete Kate and Tim's New Home

Hi, my name is Kate. My family and I have been living in a 900sq ft apartment for the last 20 years.

6 years ago we came up with a plan to get our own place. We have a 2 acre plot of land at the edge of my family's farm to start us off, but the pandemic made the cost of buying a home triple by the time we were ready to start.

With careful budgeting and cutting back on all but the most necessary extras for the house, we could do it. So we found a modular home plan that was modest, but enough for us to spread out a little. A bank approved our application for a mortgage and we set our plans in motion.

A year after approaching the bank, we finally closed on the construction loan. Another 11 months waiting for the basement contractor has the cost of everything mounting higher and higher.

The house itself is nearly done with just the trim work to finish up.

The basement, however is nowhere close to being done. We have walls and a floor but little else. I don't know if it was miscommunication, my ignorance, or simple lack of planning, but the basement contract did not include windows, doors, or heating. We have borrowed from our 401ks, loaded up our credit cards, and borrowed from my sister trying to gather enough to finish what is needed. We are re-using materials where ever we can, primarily wood left over from other projects and other bits and pieces tucked away after 20 years of repair projects.

We have paid for most of the heating system and the windows and only lack a few hundred dollars to pay the final installment to the heating contractor who rescued us.

I have been working on the parging for the outside of the basement walls myself one bag of concrete at a time in my days off. I am down to one small section that 2 more bags should cover.

This weekend, Tim was able to fit 2 of the rough openings for the windows we ended up getting. The original openings were made too late because I was ignorant of how basement windows work. If we had ordered windows to fit the openings, it would have cost us $6000. We ended up purchasing smaller windows, but only paid $2500, so we were able to save a good bit , but made more work for Tim to put them in. Still, it was a good decision and I can't wait to get them in!

Before we can get our Certificate of Occupancy, we need to make sure no one will fall out of our front door that is currently about 8ft off the ground. Tim has a plan to build a deck that will actually be more of a balcony until we add stairs. We still need to purchase 6-4x6 posts to support the deck as well as the decking to make a solid platform. The posts, concrete to set them, the decking and railing will cost just under $1500 unless we can recycle posts of the right length like we did for the back deck.

One of our biggest needs is the wood and sheetrock for the walls and fixtures for the small bathroom and kitchen that will allow the kids to have space of their own.

After 20 years in a tiny apartment, the desperate desire for our own place leads me to ask for help. I have finally come to the place where I have to admit that we cannot do it alone. And for anyone who knows me, you know how hard that is for me to admit. I have done everything I can, tried everything I can think of, but it hasn't been enough. I am asking for help with whatever you can easily afford, or just to share my story so perhaps others can add their little so that a long time dream can finally come true.

I have been reminded many times lately that many small pieces can fill a giant hole. If 100 people were able to give $5, that would get us $500 closer to our goal. I hope a time will come that I can pay it forward and help others who may need a hand.

Thank you in advance for your gift, but even more for your support, encouragement, and prayers.

Update: since the start of this campaign, we have been able to complete the basement stairs with upcycled wood and have been in touch with a plumber who is going to help us get our water supply and sanitary lines hooked up. We should have running water and flushing toilets by next week!

The radiant heating system is almost ready to go, and once the plumbing is done and we can turn the water on, that can get completed as well.