Best Intentions Prove Costly

First Place: Remodels and Additions

It seemed like such a good idea at the time: Take a classic 1910 bungalow slated for demolition, move it 18 blocks to a vacant South Hill lot, bring it up to code and sell it for a profit.

But something happened on Archie Oestreicher’s way to the bank.

For starters, the house he acquired for free needed much more work than he’d anticipated. Then the project dragged on, eventually taking 2-1/2 years and a bigger crew than he’d budgeted. And finally, when a contingency offer for $175,000 fell through, Oestreicher was forced to sell the house for much less than he’d invested.

How much less?

“I’m too embarrassed to say,” he admits self-deprecatingly.

But delays and cost overruns can’t obscure the fact that Oestreicher succeeded in completing an extraordinary makeover of what others dismissed as worthless scrap lumber.

After moving the two-story house to 930 E. 30th and securing it on a new foundation, he grafted a two-car garage onto the main structure. Then he installed nine steel beams in the home’s ceiling and floors “to straighten it up,” Oestreicher explained.

It wasn’t long before he realized his budget was shot. “I thought I could do the whole thing for $40,000 or $50,000, and the new garage alone cost me $20,000,” he said. “But once you get in that deep, you can’t just walk off.”

So Oestreicher kept plugging away - literally. “We used cans and cans of filler on the woodwork. It was a mess.”

The home’s exterior and its living spaces were kept as authentic as possible, Oestreicher said, and the kitchen and baths updated in a style “sympathetic to the character of the house.”

The heating, electrical and plumbing systems were replaced, along with insulation and storm windows.

The result: “Basically,” Oestreicher said, “it’s a new house in an old shell. And we did a better job rebuilding it than they did building it the first time.”

“Lots of hard work and pride went into this job,” observed Inland Northwest Home Awards juror Walt Carlson.

“Great to see house rolling on to a new life,” noted fellow juror Sue Ellen Heflin.

By the way, Oestreicher says he doesn’t regret undertaking the costly project. “In fact, I’m doing another one right now.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo