I bought my home two years ago at the bottom of the market. It was a short sale and it needed a ton of work. Inside we've replaced all the flooring, did a full kitchen remodel, bought new appliances, replaced most of the lighting, and painted the whole thing. Outside, we got completely new landscaping, new fencing and gates, and had the walls and wood trim painted. When I ordered my Model S on June 16th, the whole thing left was the garage.
It was unpainted, filthy, with oil stains on the floor, bare incandescents on the side wall, and some strange piping leftover from the previous owner's water softener installation. There were no cabinets. It was not ready for my new car! Okay, I told myself, you need to get this place in shape in three weeks... ready, go!
I had a few builders/general contractors come out to provide quotes for fixing everything, including flooring and cabinets, and the best offer I got was $15K. So I decided to act as my own general contractor and hire subs to complete each piece of work.
Steps:
1. Plumber removed pipes and drain from previous water softener installation.
2. Electrician moved lights from bare incandescents on the side wall to fluorescent strip lights on the ceiling, one above each bay. He also installed a NEMA 14-50 for my Model S.
3. Drywall contractor patched the holes left from the plumbing and filled in the vents (I live in a very windy area and the vents were a great source for dust and leaves to get into the garage - and with the MS, I don't have to worry about CO accumulation!).
4. Painters painted the whole garage.
5. A flooring company laid down a three-layer epoxy chip floor, using a custom chip combination I assembled from chipsunlimited.com.
6. Cabinets!
7. I hung some tennis balls and rubber gardening tape as parking guides. My F-150 fits with less than four inches front-to-back clearance and less than six inches side-to-side clearance.
The final product:
It was officially "ready" this past Friday, one day after my car arrived at the Costa Mesa service center and four days before my scheduled Tuesday pickup.
I made it.
It was unpainted, filthy, with oil stains on the floor, bare incandescents on the side wall, and some strange piping leftover from the previous owner's water softener installation. There were no cabinets. It was not ready for my new car! Okay, I told myself, you need to get this place in shape in three weeks... ready, go!
I had a few builders/general contractors come out to provide quotes for fixing everything, including flooring and cabinets, and the best offer I got was $15K. So I decided to act as my own general contractor and hire subs to complete each piece of work.
Steps:
1. Plumber removed pipes and drain from previous water softener installation.
2. Electrician moved lights from bare incandescents on the side wall to fluorescent strip lights on the ceiling, one above each bay. He also installed a NEMA 14-50 for my Model S.
3. Drywall contractor patched the holes left from the plumbing and filled in the vents (I live in a very windy area and the vents were a great source for dust and leaves to get into the garage - and with the MS, I don't have to worry about CO accumulation!).
4. Painters painted the whole garage.
5. A flooring company laid down a three-layer epoxy chip floor, using a custom chip combination I assembled from chipsunlimited.com.
6. Cabinets!
7. I hung some tennis balls and rubber gardening tape as parking guides. My F-150 fits with less than four inches front-to-back clearance and less than six inches side-to-side clearance.
The final product:
It was officially "ready" this past Friday, one day after my car arrived at the Costa Mesa service center and four days before my scheduled Tuesday pickup.
I made it.
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