After having to fire our initial foundation guy, find another block layer, and hire someone to fix the terrible job the initial foundation guy did, we are finally making progress!
Framing has begun, and floors are finished! Now moving on to framing walls!

Hi Everyone

Love all the pictures that you are posting. Some great homes out there!

Here are some of our home pictures. We are hoping to drive over to our build site this weekend. But these are pictures our builder took and sent to us. It is really starting to look like our home. This is a picture of the back of our home and the North side.

Can't wait to see the finished product.

This post was edited by zoe52 on Fri, Oct 24, 14 at 15:58

Here is a shot of our Master Bathroom with the barrel ceiling

And lastly a picture looking out the front door which has a double height ceiling.

Zoe52, I always wondered how they built those ceilings, but holy view, Batman!

happyvalleyhome, you must be so excited! I can't imagine reaching the point when cabinets are being installed. I will likely pee my pants.

mfatt-well I am certain your backsplash will be up before mine so I can't wait to see it with the Alaska White! From that view yours looks pretty similar to mine. *love*

northpole-oh so glad you have unpacking to keep you busy and not focused on water! Things are coming right along and everything looks great. I can't believe they moved that window so fast - or was that longer ago than I remember? That is a big item to check off and I bet you will never regret it! Our layout there is so very similar - relationship to living room and dining room. :)

happyvalley-nice built ins! I don't think I ever tire of looking at those and window seats. Love'em!

zoe-wow those views and all that nice light you'll have!

I have stayed away from the paint brush too long. The garage is calling me before the weather turns. It's supposed to be 60 here this weekend so I'm going to go for it and get.it.done! No mind it will still need trim and all that - at least my portion will be knocked out. Lol!

Autumn- We cheaped out and went with Costco stuff :) We bought a box and took it back to our tile store and we just plain liked it better than what they had for no less than $25/ft. Win-Win for us, we will absolutely post pics.

mfatt-that's not cheap - that's a SMART win-win. Whoop whoop! Can't wait to see it!

Have to ask. Does anyone here who utilizes this forum actually build a "normal" sized home closer to the average American home? I'm starting to think this forum is only for the elite and wealthy :-(

I'm building a little less than 1400 square feet here in SC. I admit that I don't post much because I feel a little intimidated, but I'm doing all of the work myself, so I am proud of the accomplishment. It's also taking me FOREVER, so my contributions to this thread are rather stretched out!

Mushcreek, that is bad to the bone! I hope you post pics when you are able. That's a huge accomplishment.

cram-our home is 2,300 sq feet for a family of 4. I don't feel like that's huge. The room sizes are pretty standard I think, maybe a teeny bit more roomy but not bloated by any means. We also did a ton of work ourselves so it has taken a longggg time (not quite as long as mush but we are probably in second for that, hahaha) and honestly we did it for the sweat equity so we could afford some of the things we otherwise couldn't. Some of the DIY was enjoyable for sure but other parts, nope. Our last home though was 1,450 sq feet so if I look at it that way quite a jump.

I think we all have varying scales of affordability or what defines luxury. Some things I wouldn't buy if I could afford them and others for sure *want* but *can't*. To each their own, have to be happy with what you have and can afford and I am. Still love looking at pics of things that are beyond me-good for those that can afford it, I'm okay with that.

There is a smaller homes forum - for those that are less than 2,000 sq feet I think. You might find that to be more what you are looking for. I've been over there myself here and there.

Zoe - Love the view. That ceiling will be awesome.

MFatt - Love your choices of cabinetry, countertop, etc.

HappyValley - Love your fireplace wall with the built-ins.

Bethanysmom - Congrats on moving on to framing. I hope the rest of your build is smooth sailing.

Northpole - Sorry to hear about the leak but glad you are all moved in. I hope it doesn't take long to get settled in.

Carsonheim - Love the brick.

Daviddj - Love your exterior colors.

Juniperst - You will have no problem choosing colors as long as you stick with colors you like.

Michelle - Nice progress and nice big walkout windows.

Amberm - Yay on the temp stairs. I can't wait to see a pic of the real stairs. They are going to be so cool.

Crafty - Yay on stairs for you too. I hope they install them where they are supposed to go so you can use them.

Autumn - Good luck with the painting. I hope your hands don't cramp too much and slow you down.

Sorry if I forgot anyone. It's been a while since I stopped in and I was speed reading. Love seeing all the pictures. We should be moving in about two weeks but we've been saying that for about six weeks now. I am hopeful though.

Hello everyone, I have been MIA for a while I know, work and life and general has been crazy!

Our house is coming along nicely. The insulation was in this week and drywall was dropped off. I finally have all utilities installed and all I am waiting on is my septic tanks to be installed this week.

Last week we also had our siding put on. I have only seen it through pictures as I am out of town at the moment but I am not so sure I like the color of the shake in the peaks. It currently looks way to light. however, the stone that will go along the bottom has some lighter colors in it.

Your thoughts? Do you think this stone will make these two colors work?

Here is a link that might be useful: Exterior colors thread

View of installed.

Love everyone's progress!!

On our front we're still waiting on permit. Just when you think all is well they throw another curve ball. The man that used to be the county inspector left, so they have an interim guy who doesn't know what's going on. He approved the plans, had all the stuff listed that needed to be submitted, now he want an elevation survey for flood cert. We had to get a flood certificate for the bank loan, but they say that's not good enough ugh!

Builder is going to go ahead and start digging on Monday, don't need a permit for that. He's supposed to meet with county Monday morning, so hopefully he can convince them we don't need the flood elevation, when they see the plot plan! Cross your fingers!!

He wants to just keep going and not have to wait once digging is done. I'll post pictures of the hole next week. We're building on a slab so hole won't be too deep :-)

Cramcrkr, what is an average American home? I'm Canadian, so my impression is based on these posts, HGTV, and friends in Texas. It may be a bit skewed. Custom homes do tend to be bigger than average. I don't know if that's in addition to or because of the fact that building custom is more expensive than buying a cookie cutter house, so only people with more money can afford to do it. Unless they're putting in serious sweat equity or have industry connections. We're doing 2200sq', but that's small for custom building only because we're building inner city and wanted space for a yard and a garage.

Jdez, we're still discussing what those finished stairs are going to look like. You may be waiting a while for pictures. But here's one of the temps looking from the 3rd floor into the basement.

We happened to be at the site after work yesterday when the concrete trucks showed up to pour the garage footings. Super exciting for DH who missed it on the house, and who is giddy about his garage. He took a great photo of the front of the house yesterday, I'll post it later if he sends it to me.

Oh, and I had a head slapping moment yesterday trying to book an appointment to have my basement rough ins inspected.

Person #1: Your building permit # isn't sufficient, I'll transfer you to the department that can look up the plumbing permit #.
Person #2: There's no plumbing permit number, it's part of the building permit. I'll transfer you back.
Person #3: I can't book just a plumbing inspection, you have to get mechanical & framing inspected at the same time. (But I can't do mechanical until the basement slab is poured, and I need the plumbing under the basement slab inspected before I have the slab poured?) Well there's nothing I can do about that, I'll transfer you to another department.
Person #4: What you're doing is called "the groundworks plumbing", not "plumbing rough-in". Groundworks plumbing is inspected by itself. I'll transfer you back.
Person #5: This building permit doesn't cover groundworks. Even though nobody in our city has ever built a house without at least a drain in the basement, you have to check off "groundworks " when you apply for the bp. I'll transfer you to the department that can add that.
Person #6: That'll be $121. Do you have a credit card? Thanks. Oh, I can't transfer you, you'll need to call back to book the inspection.

Glad to report all the extra rock/dirt has been finally removed!!! AMEN! now we can start some grading.
Spray on insulation was finally started this week, and should be done tuesday or wednesday; drywall should be starting thursday :)
I need to nail down all the paint colors, so exciting and stressful at the same time.

amberm145: I feel your pain, Im in so florida and thought we were the "lucky" ones having to deal with the incompetence of the building dept. But the more I read these posts, the more I realize it is a mess everywhere.

Jet08: we seem to be on the same step, will be checking out your progress. I love the stone you chose and think will make everything work well together.

Have a great week everyone.

Very little was done at our house this week. So I ask GC about the schedule. He tells me framing will take TWO MONTHS. I'm frustrated. This is the same guy who told me whole build would take six months. Current home (which is smaller, but not by a ton) took three weeks to frame...and there were only three guys working.

How long did your framing take?

Framing was started on Monday October 20th. We expect to be done with framing on Wednesday, October 28th. 8 Days for 2200 square feet + 1400 sq. ft partially finished basement. 8 guys on site working from 7:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.

Here's hoping I get all three: quick, cheap, and quality :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Front of house

MFatt,

I love your granite! Alaska White was one of my top choices, but it was a level 3 so not within our budget. and hubby really wanted a granite that had a more consistent pattern as well.

Thanks! Its not in my budget either but we are upgrading fortunately one upside to the longest build ever is that we had more time to save side money for upgrades and our business has been pretty steady too. We had a misunderstanding about tiled countertops which are my worst nightmare. I didn't like the uniformity of the budget granites like I used to. I thought we would want more blend-in granite countertops but then we fell in love with the busier stuff and couldn't look back. My dream counters were Cambria but granite was cheaper and probably goes better with our décor.

Im new here but thought I'd join in the fun! We're building our first new house with a builder in Winnipeg, Canada. 2226 sq ft 2 storey. Possession is estimated for May 2015.

Jet - I don't think anything looks bad. Wait until the stone is up before you decide whether or not to change it.

Amberm - That looks like a lot of stairs. Sorry to hear about your permit issues but your permitting problems have been very entertaining over the past year. Hope things smooth out for you soon.

Renee - How did the meeting go between your builder and the county? Do you have the go ahead? Waiting is the pits.

Michelle - Our framing took about two months. That was only because of our builder putting us off though. Not because that is how long it takes.

Shayne - I am cheering for you to get all three!!

KarenLynn - Nice looking house. Do you have a sunset view from the back? Like a back porch or sun room or something?

ourdreamhome - Sounds like continuous progress. Any progress is good. Glad your dirt is all fixed up.

We are supposed to get carpet this week and as soon as a couple of electrical issues are worked out and the stairs finished, we should be able to get CO. Hoping so anyway.

Welcome, Karen. I'm in Calgary. It's always nice to have another Canadian around. OntarioMom is obviously another Canadian, but I haven't seen her lately.

Michelle, I was told 6 weeks for framing just the house by most quotes. The guy I hired told me 2 weeks, but he's on week 5 now. :P Part of that was he was moving so quickly that I couldn't get materials to him fast enough. And then he had a family illness and death. So I'm not concerned with his progress.

I just got a call from my door company confirming that I want brown weather stripping and not white. Talk about never ending mundane choices you need to make when building a house. :P

JDez, it is a lot of stairs. That's part of the reason my quotes are coming in so crazy high. And my groundworks inspection went well this morning. So I can get the concrete guys in.

JDez - The county still wants us to get the flood elevation :(

But we broke ground this morning :) can you say happy dance! Now I want to drive up to see, but our rental is 45 minutes away and I have to get my neighbors 7 year old after she gets out of school, so I can't drive up to see - it would be too dark.

My husband will be up at our land tomorrow night but that's too long to wait :( and his phone is a dumb phone not smart like mine so his pics won't look as good.

Oh well a pic is a pic at this point. I will try to post one once he gets a decent shot. Waiting to hear from the builder as to when the survey company can get the flood elevation done so we can get permit. Builder is ready to rock-n-roll.

So tomorrow night I'll be watching my Kansas City Royals play game 6 of the World Series - last time they won the World Series, I had just graduated from high school and was a DJ on our local contry radio station yelling my fool head off. So I am in the 45-50 year old age group here. Building our dream home for life :)

Congratulations, Renee. I think I was doing cartwheels the day we broke ground. That, and the day we started framing were my happy, grinning like a fool days. Windows going in will probably be exciting, too.

Jet- I think your stuff all matches but the peaks are a high contrast and that's not everyone's cup of tea. Get the stone up and revaluate. Paint can always go on later to tone it down if its too much after your done. I think it looks like it will be good, but high contrast.

We are having finish electrical today. I dropped off all the fixtures, mostly big box stuff (gasp) but I am happy with it so far. Side note: Lowe's(all 3 of my locals) has excellent clearance in the lighting dept. I carried a few items around the store but ended up deciding they didn't go. One was a $300 vanity light that had art blown glass and a gorgeous dark finish for $45! I wish I could've worked that one into the mix but I couldn't. I hope to pop over later tonight and get some photos. Tomorrow if I don't make it today.

After all we have gone through, we have caught a little break. We originally planned for casement windows on he front of the house and double hung on the side and back of house. DH likes casement, but they were more expensive than double hung. Well, the window place accidentally ordered all casement windows, but are only going to charge us for the double hung windows on the side and back like we originally requested. That will save us a few hundred dollars.

The framing will start tomorrow, and we are going to go in and finalize doors tomorrow.

Jet08
I think those choices look nice together. I"ve been looking at tons of exteriors in that color family as we're doing something close but using Old Virginia Brick.

The stone choice really brings out the natural appeal of the siding color. I like it.

Renee - Bummer. At least you know what you need to do and you can get it done.

Aimless - Good deal on the windows! Hope framing goes good.

MFatt - I hope electrical went well. I still haven't put bulbs in some of ours. Need to get that done.

The carpet peeps are supposed to be here tomorrow for install. They won't answer my calls though so I'm thinking maybe not.

This post was edited by JDez on Tue, Oct 28, 14 at 9:42

Drove by the house tonight and saw that the drywall has been delivered!!! YAY! Now just need the workers to show up tomorrow :)

Michelle,

We started framing on Sept. 15th and hopefully will be done by the end of this week or next. So it has been 6 weeks already and possibly will be 7 weeks. That was with my builder on the site with a full crew here 5 days per week for 8 hours daily. They don't work weekends and my builder only builds one house at a time so he is always on site. So 8 weeks is not really a bad estimate to frame a home... but then again it may depend on how big it is too.

This picture was sent to us from our builder he is completing our roofing right now. I thought it was pretty neat looking up through the rafters into the sky.

Our framing has taken about 4 weeks. We had some tweaking to do to get the site ready for the front porch and chimney foundations, so the guys will be back out next week to finish the porch. It was a 6/7 man crew for the first few weeks, and just 3 or so once they got to the roof. Ours is a simple farmhouse style, with simple gables. Complexity of plan and roof styles will add significant time for framing.

I was wondering .. Have any of you had trouble with flying creatures while under construction? We have wasps (maybe hornets?) and ladybugs that have flocked to our attic as if we had built it for them! We are weighing our options of how to get rid of the wasps. Did any of you experience this?

I still don't have bulbs in everything either! Big expense but the rest went pretty well. We discovered that one room wasn't wired for a fan but we made something work and the biggest bummer was that we somehow missed that their are no can lights in our kids rooms. I am unbelievably disappointed that I didn't realize that during any of our electrical meetings. It will be ok, but I hated that about our old house. Such is life, ain't nothing slowing me down at this point. We also just found out that the "possible" retaining wall is now necessary to the tune of $15K. Awesome -_- and that's for a plain jane set up, nothing decorative. We also are having issues with our cabinets and bracing the granite but I think that will be sorted out soon. Everything is looking good!

We must have more wasps per square mile here in SC than any where else on the planet! We weren't fully enclosed with soffits and fascia for nearly two years, and we did have quite the insect habitat. When I finished enclosing it, I sprayed and removed the nests. I'm sure more will find there way in there through small openings; I'm not worried about them. This is the time of year when insects go looking for warmer and drier quarters for the winter.

We're seeing some progress on our log cabin. Cold is coming and that won't be fun, but we wanna have the roof on and windows up asap.

Why is winter coming here so fast??

mushcreek - Glad to hear it's okay to get rid of them once it's closed in. We weren't sure how much damage they would do to the wood while trying to make nests. Thanks for the input!

MFatt16 - if you have a Habitat ReStore near you, they have (new) bulbs super cheap. There are several items that they carry "new" - subway tile, dome light fixtures, rugs, door hardware, etc. At least it's true in NC - not sure about nationwide.

We are officially done framing as of today. There's a punch list left to do:
-moving the shower wall. (DH wants the shower 6" bigger, but BIL told the framer not to do it until he talks to DH, so I don't know what's happening there.)
-adding stub walls for HVAC/plumbing runs.
-cutting off the beams that stick into the stairwell.
-frame for a closet door in the guest room (I don't know what kind of closet door I'm getting, maybe we'll fill it with cabinets?)
-basement framing (after concrete floor is poured)
-garage

But he's moving on to BIL's other job until we're ready for this stuff.

I'm trying to get a siding company lined up, and the quotes I'm getting are outrageous. We figure that my cost for materials is about $10k. The quotes for material & labour are coming around $50k. So, assuming 2 guys 2 weeks, which is generous based on what I've seen on other houses, they're making $250/hour. I'm considering doing it myself. Not only will I save 40 THOUSAND DOLLARS, but I'll have a new career earning $250/hour. And at those prices, I'm having trouble getting quotes. I've gotten 4 quotes so far, and at least 10 simply refuse, claiming they're too busy. That's for factory finished Hardie plank. I've got one quote for stucco, and it's $25k more than the Hardie, so $75k. But I guess I'll look into that some more.

And I'm still on the hunt for a mechanical guy. I realized that the guys I've been talking to have been assuming a code minimum standard house, so they haven't done any modeling or heat loss consideration. We're doing the best we can for energy efficiency, without going crazy doing stuff that doesn't have a return on investment. So slapping in any old furnace, with ducts running anywhere doesn't make any sense. And trying to explain that to the HVAC guys who only work in houses built to code minimum is proving difficult.

Explaining that to anyone is difficult. Last week, the plumber was talking about the in-floor heat in the basement, and mentioned that in addition to his charge for pipes, we'd have to pay the concrete guy for insulation under the concrete. I said that cost was irrelevant, as we're putting that in anyway. He said, "no, I'm talking about foam insulation under the concrete." Yes, I'm putting foam insulation under the concrete. He argued with me, convinced I just didn't understand what he was talking about until the framer cut in and explained that we are doing a very well insulated house, and I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Man do I want the brick work to speed up on our build. They're not even very close to being half way there. With November about here, our temps have been dropping. We're supposed to get a bit of snow this weekend. The past few days have been pretty nice and, of course, they weren't there any of those days. During the next month, the day time temps won't be a big concern, but I'm fairly concerned about the night time temps dropping into the 30s consistently. I've read that below 40 degrees they should be tenting and heating. Do you think I'm being overly worrisome? Maybe it's not a big deal as long as the lows overnight just get down to the mid 30s?

Amber....too funny, we've done the "siding math" too. And I'm in total agreement....these guys are making some serious money, or something is crazy off. Our labor alone was over $40K. What do you think, should we go into business together? :) How hard can it possibly be?!?! (Famous last words.)

Thanks for the feedback all on the framing time. We're halfway through week two and just now have the subfloor on. That's not good, is it?

Sigh. At least I'm actually IN process now, right?

We got our front door :) yay

Well, it's onward and forward for us. Our house is looking so big at this point! I knew it was a big house, but it's hard to visualize from a blueprint how big your house will actually be. We are loving it though and have been very pleased with the progress so far. Framing is almost finished. The roofer is starting tomorrow. And the siding starts on Monday.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that about a week and a half ago we almost lost our house. Our framers had just put up some very large trusses and had already left for the day when a huge wind storm hit. Luckily our excavator was still working at the site because it wasn't long before our walls and roof starting moving back and forth. He quickly called the framers back and they quickly tried to secure everything. There were braces everywhere and chains bolting trusses to the floor. Our framers were quite creative and they saved our house with minimal damage. We really do have the best framers working on our house and feel very blessed that our house is still standing!

Anyways, here are the pictures for this month:

Front of the house. I know a lot of people don't like garages that stick out from the house like this, but I love the way it's turning out for us.

This is the view our guests will have when they walk in our front door.

Looking out from my kitchen into the great room and dinning room.

The back of our house. (The window on the upper left still hasn't been cut out). When standing in my backyard, this is when my house feels so big, but I love it!

Amberm- I hear you on the siding prices. Having just finished mine, it IS a lot of work, but still. I bought our siding at greatly reduced prices- less than $500 for all of the siding! We simply could not have afforded Hardi if we had to pay someone else to do it. I don't understand the stucco pricing, though. Around here, stucco is one of the cheapest finishes available.

Do your homework and stick to your guns re: the HVAC. I had one 'professional' try to tell me what size system I needed OVER THE PHONE! As it turned out, his system would have been 300% oversized. I did my own calculations with a $50 program. Even if I had hired someone to do my system, at least I would have known if they were getting it right. Our house is very well insulated, using only 3/4 ton of cooling in hot steamy SC. If you want to learn a lot about it, spend some time at greenbuildingtalk dot com. Here in SC, they're really not even meeting code, but they get away with it. Luckily, I've been working with a contractor who specializes in ICF, and really understands the latest technology.

Well we are 4.5 weeks away from moving in. Our brick is all done, trim is almost complete, tile is almost done, hardwoods are down and are getting the 1st coat of stain and sanding this weekend. Our cabinets get installed next Tuesday and Wednesday, and then painting will start next Thursday.

It is crush time, and they are working like mad men to get everything finished in time.

I will get pictures tomorrow to post of all the progress. We are so pleased with our builder.

Speaking of SC steaminess, we too went way above code to ensure a tight energy efficient home. Luckily the people we have dealt with have been very helpful. We are doing a sealed crawlspace, and so many subs we have talked to and other builders have mentioned how much that will help keep our home tight.

Well I am totally excited, we officially broke ground yesterday. Was supposed to have been Monday, but the excavotor guy had a 103 fever and couldn't work.

Builder has meeting set with county for Monday to get permit and he will then be ready to pour the footings and foundation walls. He said things are going to start flying and we are so ready for that. He did mention that there is a 5' 2" fall from the front corner of the garage to the back corner of the MB, which we knew from the plot plan but apprently the foundation guy didn't realize. Said it won't matter to us much we'd just have some of the walls 6' and some 4' to get below the frost line.

Michelle - I asked our builder how long framing would take just to get an idea and he said 4 weeks pending no rain out days. Our house is 2856 sqft.
My husband is going up tonight to take some pics and I'll post tomorrow.

Here's a pic of our ground breaking. Not the best, hubby took it on his not so smart phone. Lol

I'll post another one too.

Last one for now :)

Snookers, wow! What a view!

Renee, congrats on breaking ground!