After the Deadline: What Active Solution 2 Projects Still Need to Accomplish

The Restore Louisiana application deadline passed on October 31. That milestone matters for homeowners who were racing to apply — they either made it or they didn’t. But for homeowners with grants already executed, or grants that will execute in the coming weeks, the work is just starting.

This post is for Solution 2 homeowners who have an award letter and ECR in hand, or are about to. The process from here.

Week 1: scope review with your contractor

Your ECR is the program’s estimate of what it will cost to repair the damage. It’s not the final scope — that’s what you and your contractor work out together and capture in the Project Plan.

In the first week after grant execution:

Walk the property with your contractor, ECR in hand.
Go line-by-line through the ECR against current site conditions.
Flag anything that’s changed since the ECR was developed (further deterioration, for example).
Identify any long-lead items that need to be ordered immediately.

A good contractor will ask questions during this walk — not just nod through the list.

Week 2-3: Project Plan drafting

The Project Plan captures scope, timeline, and draw schedule. It’s the document the program uses to track your project. Our earlier post on Project Plans covers what goes into a good one.

Two specific things to nail down here:

Draw structure. Up to five draws. Each tied to a concrete, inspectable milestone. Not front-loaded.

Change-order procedure. In writing. No verbal agreements.

Week 3-4: permits

Permitting varies by parish. East Baton Rouge moves one speed, coastal parishes move another, and every one of them has current backlog from the 2020-21 storms’ reconstruction work still happening.

Your contractor should submit permits as soon as the Project Plan is signed. Don’t wait for the first draw to clear; don’t wait for materials to arrive. Permit lead time is independent.

Month 2-3: construction start

The 180-day clock started at grant execution. You want first visible construction — with a documented inspection — well inside that window.

Our practice: start by day 60 so we have 120 days of cushion. The program gives you 180; we plan for 60.

Documented inspection doesn’t mean the whole roof is off. It means there’s a verifiable milestone with a photo, a timestamp, and (where relevant) a parish inspector sign-off.

Month 4-9: the middle

Most Solution 2 projects consume their middle months on the actual work:

Tear-out and disposal
Structural repair
Rough mechanical (electrical, plumbing, HVAC)
Envelope repair (roof, walls, windows)
Drywall and interior finish
Exterior finish

Each of those milestones is a potential draw trigger. Your contractor should be coordinating inspections with the program so draws release without delay.

Month 10-12: the close

The 365-day clock wants construction complete. The last 60 days of the project are typically:

Final punch list
Final parish inspection (certificate of occupancy where applicable)
Final program inspection
Final two-party draw (draw 5, generally)
Warranty documentation handoff

This is also where a lot of projects miss. Punch lists can stretch. Inspections can reschedule. Don’t plan to be finishing work on day 360 — plan to be closing out paperwork on day 360.

If you see the clock going sideways

Talk to your contractor immediately. If the conversation suggests you’ll need a hardship extension, document the cause and raise it with the program sooner rather than later. Hardship extensions are granted on the record — “we were slow” is not a cause; material delays, weather, and program-side delays are.

A note on post-deadline pacing

With the application window closed, the program’s internal focus has shifted to moving active applications through. Practically, this means:

Expect faster turn-around on ECR development and grant execution for applications already submitted.
Expect the program’s inspection and draw operations to remain at capacity for a while as the pipeline of active Solution 2 projects peaks.
Don’t assume the program has infinite patience on your individual timeline — the whole portfolio is moving.