After weeks of framing, it finally started to feel like a real house. The bones were up, and we could walk through the rooms and imagine life in them. 

It’s easy to think of lock-up as the moment you finally exhale — the walls are up, the roof’s on, the doors close, and you can finally say “We have a house.”

Ours didn’t go quite like that.

We reached lock-up just as the world was starting to shut down.

What Lock-Up Really Means

Lock-up is when the house becomes fully enclosed—doors, windows, roof, and walls are in place and secured from weather. It’s one of the biggest milestones in the building process because it marks the transition from structure to systems. For most builds, this is the point where you start preparing for insulation, rough-ins, and a lot of inspections.

Investing in What Matters

For us, windows and doors were a huge part of this stage. We spent a lot of time researching companies, walking through show homes, and making sure we were choosing pieces that would serve us for the long haul. We went with high-quality windows and a local supplier for our wood doors—and we fell in love with the front door.

It’s a 7-foot beauty with a three-point locking system, and it felt like a statement the moment it was installed. The stress of choosing a stain was like no other.

Then… Everything Stopped

Just as we reached lock-up, the world shut down.

The roof wasn’t on yet, but it was waterproof. The windows were installed, but there was no siding. We still had to get through plumbing, electrical, and heating before our next inspection.

And it all stopped. 

Thankfully just temporarily. But before we could get back to it, the ferries placed a ‘non-essential’ travel restriction. You could only travel if you were traveling for work.

We made the decision to live apart for a while. Troy kept working during the week, and I stayed with our daughter so she had some sense of stability. He came over on weekends to keep plugging away on the house. It was one of the strangest and most exhausting times of our lives.

Building Through a Boom

And just like that, construction took off.

Projects started piling up—I had a dozen client designs on my plate. I was raising a child with no school, living on a property with no Wi-Fi or cell reception, trying to manage a house build and a business during a global shutdown.

I answered emails from my car, parked outside shuttered coffee shops that had just enough signal to send drawings and keep work moving. Troy worked 10-12 hour days with his full roster of client projects, then travelled hours and a ferry just to see us and get back to work on the house.

Looking back, I have no idea how we pulled it off. It felt like holding everything together with duct tape and willpower.

A New Kind of Inspection

Once the rough-ins were complete, we scheduled our next inspection—and it came with a whole new set of rules.

Doors had to be opened in advance. Keep your distance. Plans laid out, gloves on standby, masks required. The inspector wasn’t exactly in a generous mood. In fact, they tried to have our plans altered mid-construction over an issue we’d already addressed and had approved: no continuous conditioned space.

Thankfully, I knew exactly how to push back. I had the documentation, the approvals, the experience—and the confidence to stand my ground. That’s not always the case for homeowners, and I don’t take that for granted.

What Lock-Up Really Means

Lock-up wasn’t just a structural milestone. It was the dividing line between the chaos of the exterior and the precision of the interior. It was when our build started feeling real, when the elements stayed out and the pressure moved inward.

It was also when we realized: even the best-laid plans can be tested. But if you’re steady in your vision—and surrounded by people who care—you can keep moving forward, even in the most uncertain of times.