Let There Be Light (And Running Water)

Happy new home!

It’s my first blog post for the year and I’m grateful to be able to start it on a light note, pun intended. I haven’t posted for a while, but thankfully this time that wasn’t due to a lack of progress -- on the contrary, there’s been maybe almost too much progress to keep up with.

As you may have guessed from the title, I finally have some functional utilities in my building. While I’ve technically had running water on the property since early 2020, being able to turn on my shower or bathroom sink and wash my hands is a completely different feeling of accomplishment to some water coming out of a hose outside. Sometimes you have to feel the city water on your skin, no one else can feel it for you…  or whatever Natasha Bedingfield said. Adulthood hits you hard, but one of the clearest realizations that I may be growing up too quickly was when I realized how excited I was to be able to buy a cesspit.

Those of you reading who may not have been involved in the construction process before may be wondering what’s involved in the stages to get to this point. Firstly, early on in the process you should approach Water and Sewerage to hook you up with a meter and turn water on at your property, so that the construction workers can have running water to mix cement etc. throughout the job. After that, there may be a long pause in getting the rest of the utilities set up.

To ensure that said running water is actually flowing through your home, your plumber will first of all have to set up their pipes in the foundation of the building itself, then run more pipes throughout the building after the interior walls are near completion. Once that part of the job is done, the walls are then closed up entirely. 

As for the gross part, you will need a groundworker to dig a hole deep enough to place the cesspit, then a licensed cesspit provider will have to place it under ground. This will be necessary to have a functional toilet. In the meantime, the other construction workers can tile up the bathroom so that once the cesspit is ready, the plumber can hook up the toilet and all other bathroom fittings at the same time.

My electricity experience hasn’t been so seamless. While my electrician has been working on setting up his pipes and boxes for a few months now, I tried to start my application process to have the electricity official switched on late last year. As any Bahamian or resident would know, though, the holidays are the best time to get business done here (read this sentence with intense sarcasm). Nevertheless, we’re getting there slowly and I couldn’t be happier moving forward. 

While each stage is stressful, these two in particular are exciting because it means that I’m one step closer to qualifying for an occupancy certificate, which opens up a number of both figurative and literal doors in the real estate world. I have been working on lots of other seriously exciting real estate-related activities lately, so be sure to subscribe and keep up with my posts here!