Michael and I had only seen our new house once, for about 45 minutes, before we made an offer and left the island in April ~ I now know why police are concerned about eye-witness statements.  We THOUGHT we remembered what the house looked like but our memories sometimes clashed, had major discrepancies and lots of blank spots.  We had a few pictures to rely upon, but they were few and not that great, so it was with wonder and trepidation that we entered the property for the second time as homeowners.

Eureka! Our instincts were right on, even if our memories were somewhat flawed.  The house is lovelier than we remembered.  That being said, some of the details were quite different from what we remembered.  The living room is square – not rectangular, the eating area of the kitchen is smaller (but still quite adequate), the bathrooms in better shape, etc.  What was (and is) wonderful is the feel of the place is right on.  The pool and patio area – while needing some upgrades to make it more attractive – are both wonderful and the view is even better than I remembered.  There are lots of mature plantings and tons of flowers, all in bloom when we arrived.  And those beautiful arched windows and doors (the house is called “The Arches”).  Yes, we made a good decision and we both felt right at home the first day.

When we arrived, the house was in great shape.  Lots of upgrade work had been completed, Nadica had spent a week cleaning everything and the house was shining.  Absolutely the best change was the pool.  We had the pool converted from a chlorine to a saline system.  This is heavenly.  Chlorine smells, makes your skin feels dry and a little itchy, but saline feels soft and luxurious both while you are in the pool and after you have gotten out.  We jumped in the first night, watched the night sky unfold and were completely charmed.  Another wonderful thing about the pool is that it has a solar heater.  This might sound crazy to our “northern” friends but it is delightful because the pool never feels cold so I know we will use the pool at least once every day.  It is always inviting.

The owner left a few key things in the house – a couch and a couple of chairs, 3 beds, a few lights, 2 dining tables with chairs – all which were greatly appreciated.  It was just enough to give us places to eat, sleep and relax.  We picked up our 5 boxes of “essentials” that we store in Grenada ~ things like sharp knives, a large fry pan, glasses, ice-cube trays, beach towels, and our hammocks, etc. ~ all the little things that make a rental house feel more like home.  We also brought some items from the US with us that we knew we would need right away – place settings for 4, silverware, sheets (!), towels, etc.  Between what the previous owners left, our stored items, and the extras we brought in our suitcases, we were fairly set for luxurious house camping.

We had 2 weeks to acclimate ourselves to the house, make plans for what we wanted to change and figure out what we would need to bring back with us on our December trip.  As you might guess, this involved a myriad of details as well as some strategic and tactical planning.  Michael started out by working through the original punch down list with the contractor and then started a new phase 2 list.  The house has mostly UK electricity and we knew we wanted both more outlets and US electric added.  My job was to identify where outlets should be added and which voltage each outlet should have.  Michael immediately started working on getting our internet up and functional and then worked with a network specialist to figure out how to make the whole property have wireless access.  Michael had researched and purchased all the necessary components and now we needed someone to get them all working properly.  In the meantime, we had working wireless in the kitchen which became our electronic headquarters for the 2 weeks.

I also hired COCOA (Caribbean Office of Co-Operative Architecture) to help us make some design changes.  COCOA had designed all the buildings for our resort project and I was pleased to work with them again.  Bryan Bullen, one of the firm’s principals, came over and we discussed ideas.  The key things we wanted to change included creating more airflow in the living room and kitchen, making the pool/patio area more inviting and changing the back wall to enhance the view.  I was also hoping for some ideas on how to stage furniture in the 30 by 30 foot living room and how to integrate the two courtyards leading to the house to make the front entrance more welcoming for guests.

Michael’s phase 2 punch down list for the contractor included changing the windows in the arched living room doors to increase air flow, opening up a door in the hallway, blasting a new entrance door near the garage, installing the new electrical system (cutting through concrete block walls), moving cistern tanks, changing the water feature in the living room so it could be viewed both in the house and from the patio, plus removing a lot of external, non-working wiring and pipes and others details to make the house look nicer.

We also bought a car, Nadica learned how to clean and maintain the pool, Michael did some photo shoots and met with the engineering company to discuss how to expand and transform the guest cottage into a photography studio.  All in all, it was a pretty jam-packed 2 weeks.  We generally ate out since we didn’t have much in terms of cooking supplies (one large fry pan and one medium saucepan).  This gave us the chance to see our restaurant friends as well as have some good meals.  We didn’t do any of our normal visiting with friends, there just wasn’t time, so we have a lot of catching up to do in December.

One thing that kept bugging us is the height of the living room ceiling.  It is 10 feet high slanting to about 9.5 feet, stained dark brown with large joists and makes the living room feel very low and claustrophobic.  The low ceiling also captures and retains a lot of heat.  We’ve discussed a number of ways to try and get more airflow into the room so it will be cooler, but nothing has felt like the right answer.  Michael recently decided that no matter what we did, we probably wouldn’t be really happy with the result so we are now exploring raising the walls a few feet and putting in a peaked roof.  The engineering firm is working out what would need to be done, creating the detailed drawings, and estimating costs.  Ultimately, we know this is the right answer and are waiting to see if it is feasible to tie these new higher walls into the other roofs and if the price will be somewhat reasonable.  Fingers crossed, stay tuned.

We are now back in the US in the Jacksonville area for a short stay.  We’ll get our annual medical checkups while we are here and start the process of buying and then shipping our things to Grenada.  We’ve started a huge list of what we need to bring – everything from kitchen supplies, to couches and a gas grill.  We’ll need to go through our storage unit to decide what we’ll ship down, add items that we have been taking with us during our US travels and then buy everything else.  All this will be loaded into a container and shipped from the port in Jacksonville in early December to meet up with us shortly after our arrival in Grenada in December.  (So happy we previously lived in a port city)

For the past couple of years, when someone has asked us “Where do you live?”, Michael and I have looked at each other, laughed, said we didn’t live anywhere and then told our nomadic story.  The last time he was asked, Michael said, “We live in Grenada, West Indies and travel 6 months each year”.  I LOVE the sound of that!  We’ve got lots of planning to do, lots of things to do, lots of excitement to have and then back to our new home country and residence for a glorious 6 month stay.  YAHOO!

Traditionally, trying to get ANYTHING done remotely in Grenada has been a challenge.  We’ve had a lot of experience over the years working with contractors, consultants, etc. working up plans and getting projects completed and have learned extreme patience.  You can think you have a plan for work getting done, can have update calls where promises are made and then arrive in Grenada only to find that nothing has even been started.  Face to face has seemed to be the only “reliable” way to insure work is getting done ~ and even then, it can be a challenge.   AND after the work is finally completed, then you have to plead to get an invoice so the bill can actually be paid.

Now we have bought a house and want to get work completed right away.  We planned to travel to Grenada in mid-September to see what we purchased and to begin figuring out what we would need to ship down via an ocean container for our December visit.  Michael’s goal was to get the key items that were identified in the engineering report completed prior to our September visit.

We made a conscious decision not to work with previous contractors based on history and Michael began soliciting ideas from our network of Grenadian friends and business associates.  Our attorney gave us the name of a general contractor she uses regularly and has been pleased with, so Michael contacted him.  This would be a good test before we made any major changes to the house.  We had a rocky start.  Of course, it was Carnival season.  Not much gets done in Grenada … prior to … during … or directly after … the 2 weeks of Carnival that takes place in early August.  UGH! Emails had been exchanged but we couldn’t get a conference call arranged.  Finally we made contact, Michael had a good conversation about what we wanted, he left the call thinking the contractor was aligned and we came to agreement on a work plan and pricing.  The contract included upgrading the electrical system including replacement of the electrical main wiring to an underground system, replacing electrical outlets, rerouting water and other plumbing work, generator maintenance, new fans and air conditioners, etc. ~ the list goes on and on.

All of Michael’s business experience running remote teams across multiple countries has really been an asset for us.  He knows how to speak and write clearly, to make milestone checkpoints and to listen critically for what people are saying when they are communicating “progress”.  Everything sounded like it was moving according to plan and we eagerly awaited our arrival date to see the house again and to determine the progress and workmanship.

When we arrived in Grenada, we were pleasantly surprised that 97% of the punch down list that Michael had provided from the Engineering Report was not only completed, but was well done.  YEAH, success!  The contractor was unhappy that he hadn’t gotten it 100% completed, but he had some very reasonable delays that prevented him from finishing and Michael was very happy with the amount that was completed and the quality of the work.  YEAH, again!

All projects in Grenada are complex.  Workers have limited skills so you need to contract with a wide variety of people to get a project completed.  Workers may or may not have the tools they need and may or may not have transportation to the site.  Our house has an electronic gate so getting people in and out of the site also needed to be managed.  Oh, and then there is the ever-present problem of “parts” or supplies that may or may not be on the island and sometimes have no projected ETA on when they might arrive.  Therefore, hiring the right General Contractor is essential and we were thrilled we found someone who listened well and could be counted on to produce great results.

We also continued a contract with the Property Management company that worked with the previous owners.  Their job was to pay all the utility bills, manage and pay any “household” staff – like pool maintenance, house maintenance and maid service and be the local contact if anything needed to be done.  This came in very handy as we made the transition.  For example, we wanted Nadica to clean the house and get it ready for our arrival.  Kim, our property management contact, made sure Nadica knew where the house was, drove her there the first time, gave her keys so she would have access, bought all the cleaning supplies she would need, introduced Nadica to other people working at the house and in general, showed her around and made sure she was feeling comfortable.  Kim also was able to accept payments from us and pay the general contractor and his workers.  This has made things much easier for us.

On our end, Michael was researching networking equipment that would need to be brought with us to Grenada.  We want wireless access to be available anywhere on the property and since the buildings are concrete block, we ended up needing a commercial set up.  After extensive research, Michael determined the necessary components needed and is now a local distributor of this networking gear!

Michael also researched and bought special locks that allow us to give each person their own code to get onto the property and into the house that we can turn on and off via the internet.   This would allow us to give a plumber access, for example, to do some specific work on a specific day and then turn off that access when they have completed the job.  It will also record when people enter and leave the property.  Pretty cool!

We would also like to have great wine while we are in Grenada but we haven’t been able to find any good sources, so Michael will also be looking into becoming some kind of wine distributor.  This has given me the idea of creating a “Straley’s Favorites” storefront where we import things we like but can’t get locally and selling off extra inventory to others on the island.  In addition to wine, this could include specialty cheeses, great olive oils, etc.  We’ll have to see if this is feasible or just a crazy idea.

So far, the remote project management has worked brilliantly due to Michael’s great organizational and communication skills as well as his determination.  I don’t think I’d be prepared to try this without him, so big kudos to Michael for making this seem easy.   This, plus a great General Contractor that keeps his word has made us much more confident in making larger changes to the house while we are off island and we’ve created a large list of improvements that will make the house even more wonderful than it is already.