Days 2 & 3- Digging The Basement & Address Change

I received an email this morning from V, telling us that 911 us making us use the street name that our house is facing, rather than the street our garage is facing (side load garage). No big deal, I like the street name better anyways.

I checked online and the permits were approved yesterday! Seems like things are rolling fast.

Today was my day off so I headed over after Lanie's golf lesson and was pleasantly surprised!

The Spot-Lots of dirt

Gravel for the construction driveway

 

Standing and looking at the back of the house

 

Lanie standing in the deepest section of basement

Side of house, couldn't get the girls on top b/c of all the dirt

Some of the backyard, they leveled it more than

I thought they would at this point. Hoping to get it  flatter.

 

 

 

Next up: Footers!

 

Day 1: Excavation, Marking, Tree Removal

I'm so excited to post that today is officially "Day One"

I had hoped that the lot grading would start today but hadn't heard anything by 1:00. I sent our contact a text and I flipped out when this came back!

 

I love V, our contact, she's so nice and puts up with my non stop questions!

We headed out to the lot after work and this is what we found :)

They removed 5 or 6 pine trees, cleared the lot and spray painted where the basement needs to be dug out. Like everyone says, it's deceiving because it looks so small! The garage was also staked. Thanks to my 3 year old nephew, Carson, he identified the machinery! The girls loved walking around and seeing such a big change. Hopefully the digging will begin tomorrow.

The girls scoping out the dirt

Hubby checking out the lot

Lanie is standing at the very back corner of the house and Addison

is standing where the garage opening will be. So basically the garage door

will be to the right of Addison. I hope to have progressive photos

at this spot as the build continues!

Standing in our foyer/family room to be. You can

see the blue spray paint!

Pine tree roots, pretty big!

The climber

Back of the lot looking up to what will be the back of the house

Heavy Machinery :)

:) Too cute

Not sure what this does exactly, looks like a very big meat tenderizer ;)

Excavator , Right Carson? :)

 

The stakes for the garage, side load.

 

Front of the lot from "the spot"

I can't figure out how to make the pictures bigger, but I'm hoping if you click them they will enlarge.



Next: Dig Basement and pour footers.

Dig Date!

As previously posted, we met with the builder yesterday and I asked a million questions! I love Vanessa, she's been my contact since day one. We also met Derek, who is probably going to be our superintendent over the build. He's around our age and he was very friendly. He answered some questions we had.

Here are some things I asked, and if you are building they should be things you will probably want to ask as well.

• Where is the attic access going to be? I don't want it in the hallway, I really want it in the laundry room. (shouldn't be an issue)

• How many outlets are in the garage? 1. We need to add a few, with our builder it's around $50/ per outlet.

• Where will the air returns be? We can decide at framing. I don' want them to be in a spot that is an eye sore.

• Can I choose outlet placements? For the most part, yes. Will do a walk through with the electrician. Example: I want one in a kitchen cabinet for future under cabinet lighting.

• Will certain lights be on their own switch? Yes. Example: Recessed lights in master will be on a different switch than the ceiling fan and light.

• How many outlets are standard? One every 12 ft.

• Is the garage insulated and painted? Parts facing interior walls are insulated. Yes it's painted

There were a ton more, but this is a pretty good list. A lot of questions will come after framing, I'm sure. The BEST news is that grading will start next week (weather permitting). It has been raining so much here that I hope it doesn't delay us too much! The lot was staked so I drove over to check it out. We were just there  a little less than 5 weeks ago and we could actually walk through. It was so grown over that you couldn't see anything! I was able to find the stake ( I think) for the front right corner of the house...but that was it! Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Lanie at the properties edge

 

This stuff was so thick, you can see the wooden stick with a pink string on it.

 I *think* that's a corner stake?

Addison fell asleep:)

This is not on our lot, but we have a TON of these trees at the

back of our property and they grow so fast! I don't know what they

are but they look like Christmas trees. They are not as full

as Christmas trees, I wonder what they are?

 

So...I'll be back next week with pictures of excavation!

 

We've CLOSED!

Building on your own lot is a little different than building in a neighborhood with a developer. We chose our own builder and own our land. Because of this, we are required to do a construction loan. This process started back in May and we finally closed TODAY! We signed about 400  60 pages of bank documents and we are done!

When the house is almost finished we will then modify the construction loan into a permanent mortgage. Hopefully this will be around the end of November. We are still hoping to be in before Christmas!

We are meeting our builder tomorrow to go over some final specs and hopefully she'll give us a timeline! I'm hoping our dig date is one day this week.

Finalized Closing Date

I'm so happy to say that our closing date of next Tuesday is FINAL! I am super excited to sign my name 300 times! :) We are meeting our contact, the builder's rep, at the office next Wednesday to discuss some other details such as light switches, electrical outlet placement, detail changes, etc..

I've been drawing on our plans trying to find the best possible layouts for these items and thankfully, there are few that I would have never though of had I not been reading tons of blogs about building! I'm adding some outlets in the closets in case we want to keep an ironing board in one of the master's. I'm adding an outlet inside a cabinet in the kitchen for future under cabinet lighting, so it's hidden and a switched light rough in above the master bath tub so that I can put a dimmer on with a pretty chandelier :) The list goes on..

I should know the official "dig" date today or tomorrow. I want to be at the lot when that machine starts, I'll be doing a happy dance!

I hate not having pictures on my blogs, it just makes it look more fun to read so I'm going to add some inspiration pictures of some features we are getting, and SO looking forward too!

I think I might just lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling for a while

Screened in Porch/Deck... It will be amazing to use this during all seasons!

Ok no, it won't be this big :) But big closets were a must.




Be Back Soon!

 

Closing Date

I received a "tentative" closing date of next Tuesday, July 23. I will not be shocked if it gets pushed back a few days, because lets be honest! We've had so many 'delays' up to this point that I don't think we are lucky enough to have a smooth closing transition. However, I am thankful that this portion is almost over.

I can not wait to update with picture of the building process! Hopefully my next update post will be to show you the lot with a hole in it! ;)

Bank Update and Plan Approval

It's been almost a month since my last post. Before I left for California I had finally gotten the appraisal back (took a little over 3 weeks.) We were so frustrated because we had been given some really shady information about why it took so long. There was nothing we could do but wait. It finally came through and it was good news.

I also got an email saying that our plan was approved through our Home Owners Association which means that as soon as we get a closing date, they'll start to break ground!

We are picking our final exterior colors today. Hopefully we will have a closing date soon!