When Woodland Heights neighbor Dakota Woehr set out to purchase a house to rehab with his father, little did either of them realize it would be a life-changing experience. Woehr had recently graduated with a degree in electronic media production, and was working as a videographer. He had helped his parents with a couple of their restorations and decided it was time to do a project of his own. After looking as several homes, they decided a house in Woodland Heights would be the place to start.
“I didn’t know anything about the neighborhood, but it was in a nice location, affordable and could be rehabbed for a nice return on my investment,” said Woehr.
His four-bedroom, two-bath had been built in 1918, so was well constructed, but had sat vacant for over a year, and “was pretty torn inside from squatters,” he said. The bones of the little house were solid, and Woehr thought he and his parents could revive it, so off they set on the road to rehab.
The first thing he and his dad did was sit down and plan the renovation. There were floors to fix, insulation to add, walls to replace, plumbing and wiring to bring up to code. The work would serve as a good hands-on education in construction.
Working his day job, and spending his nights and weekends at the house, it took Woehr most of the last year to get the house to the point where he and a couple of roommates could live in it, but he’s very happy with his results.
That’s not to say there weren’t bumps along the way.
“The foundation needed more work than originally planned, and adding that third bathroom was tricky. Evidently there had been a fire in that laundry room/pantry at some point in the past, so that took some rethinking,” he said. Still, each step was taken in stride and treated as a learning experience.
With all the knowledge Woehr has gained, he’s found he enjoys the work and has decided to do construction full time. He’s now works for Moffett Construction. Once all of the exterior work on his house is complete this spring, he will begin looking for another hidden gem to purchase, polish and sell to finance the next project.