3lovepie, So sorry to hear about all the problems. Did you see signs early on that things were not being done correctly? It must have been a very stressful build for you and your family, and I hope things get finished and you will finally have an opportunity to enjoy your new home!

So far, we don't have much experience coping with the challenges of building. Property purchase finalized, but architect is taking longer than anticipated to finish all drawings. We have enough of them to order some materials, but probably won't start excavating until next month.

Hi Sail_Away,

What is the story of your name? We have a small sailboat 26' that we sail on our local lake here in Montana.

It's fun using the drone to chronicle the house build. The view from the ground is much different. For example, we turned the house to face south in the rear and not be parallel with the road. From the ground, it's hard to see this. From the air, it's very clear the orientation is not square with the road.

--Russ

Russ, We also have a small sailboat. It's our second---about the same size as yours. Our first was a bit bigger. We live not too far from Puget Sound (Washington), which is DH's favorite place for boating in general. Also local rivers for sailing.

Interesting points about the advantages of the drone. I'll have to go back and look again, as I didn't pick up on the siting of your home the first time through.

I can't remember where my last update left off, but not a ton has been done to the house since December. We have our second floor poured and trusses will come middle of next week. We used the truss order "down time" to get the landscape crew in to implement "Phase 1" in our landscaping plans. They installed a concrete retaining wall that will be used to hold back one side of the driveway, and a caramel mint stone wall that will be used to hold the other side. Boulder retaining walls should be finished up this week in anticipation for the truss delivery, which I'm told, will use up all available flat spaces for storage.

This all needs to be backfilled.

Approach to the house.

In four months (to the day), I'd only been up to my house once. A friend was able to take me just before the New Year.

I went up yesterday! Here it is under snow -- first time I'd seen it like this:

Front of house (not much change, just the snow):

The builder is working on the underside of the roof over the front porch, but he's giving that a rest while the temperatures are unpleasant:

Yes, unpleasant. The temperature was about 13-15 degrees F. So, this is his current heat source.

To the right you see the base for the peninsula separating the dining area from the kitchen. While the cabinetry below will be 24 inches deep, the countertop will be wider than standard, to accomodate splashes from the sink that will be on it. That run, from the wall down towards me: under drawers opening on dining side; overhead cabinet above that, beverage station, trash pullout, sink, DW.

And here is the kitchen, looking out over the wonderful back yard. My prep station will be by the window. (From left to right: induction range, prep station, and the prep sink that you guys talked me into.)

And this is the hallway leading from the living room down to the bedrooms.

I met with the electrician yesterday, and we straightened a bunch of things up, and clarified others. He will finish the electrical work this week -- eventually he'll have to come back so I can put the workroom, root cellar and half bath in the basement -- and to wire in a couple lamps that will be in the Middle of the living room, from below. I won't know exactly where they will go until I move stuff up there.

Now that I can drive again -- I'll be going back up Next Saturday.

Our extension is almost completely built and work has begun to repair the party wall, which is a big (legal, messy) deal in rowhouses in NYC. Plans were approved and we should have that repair behind us within a week, hopefully to never look back! All our structural steel and posts also went in. Pics here: www.greenwoodframed.com

I'm not making much progress! Mostly procrastination on my part, but I'm also having software trouble with the new package I bought-- it munged my old plan. Sigh.

We broke ground today!! I am so excited!!

We are talking to the builder about possibly buying 1/2 of the lot next to us increasing our land from 6100 square feet to 9100 square feet. This would allow us to make DH's study a foot larger in each direction, add a second garage bay, put a real lanai across the back, move the pool back a bit, and increase the kitchen and upstairs guest room by 1'. It would also allow us to increase the length of the garage by a foot too. To do this we would wind up flipping the house and turn it 90 degrees so the front would face the other street.

The builder thinks it can be done. Now the only question is how much more it will cost us and if the area warrants the additional cost. We're trying to figure it out.

Dana, by the size of that excavator, it looks like you broke a lot of ground Congrats, it's fun and can be irritating all at the same time. Can't wait to see more progress.

cpartist- That's an interesting idea, if it will work financially. Having lived on postage-stamp lots in FL, I was always frustrated by not having 'just a few more feet'. I'm curious; who owns the lot, and what would become of the other half? Doesn't seem like the remaining half lot would be worth much, unless the lot on the other side bought it. It would be nice to see two custom homes on oversized lots, side-by-side.

cpartist, if you buy the extra lot it would give you the opportunity to do what you've said many times you wish you had done - hire a local architect! Actually it might even be worth it to hire the architect before deciding on the purchase, to visit the site and evaluate your design and provide you with a professional opinion on the potential benefits and opportunities.

cpartist that sounds exciting! Hope all the puzzle pieces fall into place for you.

bznbaker I have to ask..... who's the Bozo at the beginning of your video in the t-shirt with all the snow around?? I ask with as much respect as humor because it's ALWAYS my husband working in shorts through the winter! I tell him he's a Bozo clown in shorts but I do make him wear 'big boy pants' if we go to a restaurant ;-) Very cool video, btw.

Dana that is exciting - hang on tight!

Slowly we progress, step by step, inch by inch - guessing most here won't have a clue where that's from, sigh.... It is nice to see walls going up finally but then we get sidetracked with weather - again!

We are supposed to be done Friday! Things are insane but moving quickly except for a last minute sink fiasco that may require new granite I won't be able to approve before fabrication....yikes, building is not for the faint of heart! :)

It's February and we are making progress. Although it's required frequent visits to the site to ensure frost blankets are in place each night before temperatures dip down and there is no melting snow that needs to be pumped out of the basement... oh winter construction.

Our basement foundation and waterproofing is now complete and the city has signed off on it.

Steel beams have been installed.

The floor joists and subfloor are complete

Wall framing is currently underway. I think it's going to look more like a home and less like a construction site once the walls are up :)

More progress updates at www.casadivillani.blogspot.com

Our crazy split footings have been installed and we're ready for our walls to be erected / craned in place. Hoping that will start next week. We put the forms in the ground in December and January and hubby and I made all the forms in our basement, installed them, and tied ALL the rebar. Such are the joys of being your own GC... but - we are intimately familiar with EVERY part of our build.

I forgot to add a photo: My car when I drove up there last Friday, it was the first time my car had ever been in a residential garage. Ever. (Well, I got it early last July, after the Subaru took a dive at 180+K miles).

Well, frankly, neither the Subaru nor any previous car of mine had ever been in a residential garage ever, either. So, it's a landmark!

The garage is wider on the right side than the left -- plenty of room for my treadmill, tools needed for regular house maintenance, and possibly stashing extra vaccuming equipment. I will have a shed for lawn and yard maintenance.

I just hope I can navigate well enough NOT to knock side-view mirrors off.

I mean, I really have no experience navigating residential garages at all!

ON THE OTHER PAW... I'm finalizing tile choices for bathrooms. I'm getting real close. Unfortunately, most things I order over the Internet don't arrive with the stated tone or color that I think I see on my monitor, so I've been out (now that I can finally drive after breaking my ankle back in October) looking at ideas up front and personal. It's coming together...

DLM2000,

The Bozo in the T-Shirt in my video walking around in the snow is my son. This is Montana. When temps are above 50, kids wear shorts. Snow......nothing to them, especially when the sun is shining. That day was very mild.

We went out to the house build yesterday. Temps were in the 40s and my wife and I were saying, "It's so mild out today". Maybe it's the altitude and dry air, but it doesn't feel that cold. Snow is all melted, ground is muddy. Framers prefer the frozen ground.

--Russ

artemis- My wife now has a garage for her car for the first time ever. We built an attached oversized one car strictly for parking. I get the barn, so everybody's happy. Here's a tip- we placed a concrete parking barrier; about $30. Once I had the car positioned perfectly, I drilled holes and pinned it to the floor with rebar. My wife backs into the garage, and simply creeps back until the tires touch the barrier. No guess work, and she can do the backing up in the afternoon, when she's wide awake, rather than oh-dark-thirty in the morning when she heads out to work.

It's so nice getting in the car in the AM without having to deal with weather or 4 legged (or two legged) critters in the darkness.

bznbaker I hear you on the frozen ground being preferable - we're working in a mud pit, too and it's miserable.

We finish tomorrow!! Moving on Saturday. I've moved many times, always in the worst weather conditions. Six inches of snow and ice or 90 degrees several times. It's supposed to be beautiful here, mid 50s. Wonderful, except as others have mentioned our entire yard is a huge mud pit!! You can't see any gravel in the drive from all the work trucks driving in yard and getting mud everywhere. So I'm making plans to try and keep the moving mess to a minimum, but I'm guessing that's almost a lost cause. Two years in the making, I can't believe it's finally here!!!

Congrats Farmdrmr. I love your tub. May I ask what your faucet in the tub is?

Cpartist- thanks! Tub and faucet were a craigslist treasure find. They were salvaged from an area historic home. My tub refinisher did some research and estimates it is circa 1916. The faucet is not vintage, but since it came with the tub I don't know where it was purchased. It's marked home life faucet as the brand. My guess is a local supply store carries them, or the Internet. We don't live in an area with a lot of high end plumbing supply resources.

We made it!!! I'm not sure I let myself believe we would actually get here, but we move in tomorrow. So excited, and worth the very crazy journey. Although I hope we never have to do it ever again! :)

Gorgeousness! Best wishes for a smooth move and a good first night's sleep - as if that's possible! I have 2 requests.... 1) can you tell me about that beautiful door and 2) will you please do a separate post with a 'reveal' (like they do on the kitchen forum) so we can see your house all in one place? Pretty please??

Yes please do a separate thread with all your pictures. In fact I hope when each person moves in, they do a separate thread with all their gorgeous pictures.

We are starting to punch out bedrooms, which is exciting. There still seems like a lot to do before final though!

Railing needs some finishing touches:

Faucets and drains need to be installed in kids bath:

Counters still need to be sealed:

Exterior lights and hardware need to be installed:

But on the whole, we're doing well!

DLM and cpartist, thanks, I can do that. I didn't have too many pics I haven't already posted on my phone. I took a lot with the good camera, it will be awhile before I get to upload. For some reason GW pics must be messed up, the photo on my post I think belongs to someone else not what I uploaded (no snow here today!).

Our door is a fiberglass door with walnut gel stain. I can check on brand, it's whatever lumber house provides, I know it isn't name brand.

fardrmer

If you are not able to post the pics all one one thread. If you can post your pics on something like flickr or another photo share site and share the link that may be easier. I would really appreciate it also. You home is lovely, congratulations.

We finally have drywall. So exciting. Congrats to those that are done or almost.

Feb has been a great month for our house. Mother nature seems to have put a hold on Ontario, Canada's harsh winter. We never thought we would be at this stage in Feb!

Footings going in!

Back Filled!

Forms installed!

More Forms awaiting concrete.

Foundation complete!

I-Beams installed

Framing started

First floor underway.

We have a long way to go but are very excited with the rapid progress in Feb. btw.. LOVEEE seeing others progress ...

noworries22, I have drywall envy! I can't wait to get to that stage. It feels like we have been framed, zip-boarded and ready for months now, but our roofer keeps getting held up, so we wait....

Bettyloo I totally understand...my brother is building right next to me and he is about 2-3 weeks ahead of me, so I was having drywall envy when I saw his drywall go up. His house is being painted now. It's a very hurry up and wait process. All worth it in the end, but really tries my lack of patience...lol

Oh so much fun to see everyone's progress being we're still in permitting and may be for a while more. I might have some interesting news the end of this week or the beginning of next week. Just waiting to hear further from my builder.

cpartist, We're in permitting stage, too! Builder just submitted the plans to the county on Friday, so figure we'll be behind you a bit.

No if everything new pans out, you'll be about a month ahead of us. We should know by the end of the week hopefully

Things are moving quite nicely.

Picked up the lot last year.

Signed contract, home appraised and closed on the loan last month.

Sold current home in 1 day...close this Friday already!

Hopefully we can break ground late March.

We finished 6k under budget YAHOO and moved in on Saturday! Closed on the construction loan last March 17th, so it's been a long(er than expected) process. Happy to be HOME.

Love the photos, thanks for sharing!

Is this a dumb question: how long can you have a construction loan out there?

There is no such thing as a dumb question.

The common answer is 12 months...however depending on your bank...and they usually won't tell you...you can keep draws in escrow for an additional 12 months.

For example my home will finish up in less than 12 months. I'm waiting until next season to do the concrete. So I have X funds for concrete that will be dispersed to me next year.

Wrock99, for our bank it's 9 months, up to 12 with an extension.

farmdrmer, tell us about your floors. beautiful

Originally, I was told I'd be moving in for the holidays, and I don't mean the upcoming St. Patrick's day -- I knew this wouldn't happen, and there's been a lot of Waiting for Permits / Waiting for Inspections -- which in a small town with a population less than 600 means the town offices have severely limited hours. My broken ankle didn't help matters much either -- during the 3.5 - 4 months of severe down time at my end, I got up there a total of once.

However, I've now been there twice in two weeks, yay team.

I'd picked out a lot of stuff for the kitchen last summer. Had to jump through hoops to get the kitchen wood-look tile I really really wanted... after ordering about 15 samples of other stuff that when you see it in person, just didn't work out. When I ordered it last December it seemed to have been discontinued, but a call placed to South Cypress found that it had simply been moved to a different "line". I have it, now.

I also picked out two quartz countertops from Consentino last summer. They still have the Eco Luna, which I love. However, the Silestone Olive Green is no longer in production. I'm ordering a sample of Silestone Tea Leaf, to see if this works for me.

This is it: https://shop.cosentino.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/slide_16.jpg

The other counter top: http://www.silestoneusa.com/colors/color/luna/

You fine folks here convinced me to go with silgranit sinks. I'm ordering the main sink and the prep sink both in biscotti -- here's the main one: http://www.efaucets.com/detail.asp?product_id=441595 and the prep one: http://www.efaucets.com/detail.asp?Product_Id=441219. (AND you guys convinced me to put in a prep sink....)

I do believe my GC is going for the best quality possible. It's just taking forever.

This is quality pine backing for my lower kitchen cabinet/drawers, being custom built by GC. GC doesn't understand the whole "drawer" ambiance, but thanks to you folks, I'm pushing for them. Fridge will go to the opening in the left. Counters will be 38" tall, because I'm 6'1".

Ceiling vents, not required by code, but helpfully useful none the less.

Artemis, how was you dealing with South Cypress? We've been looking at flooring and came across them. They seem very customer service oriented from the little we've talked to them and BONUS, we just found out they're about 3 hours away in Birmingham where we pass through quite frequently. I want to try to swing by their showroom sometime.

Sherimcm - it's a Mohawk engineered hardwood. I can't remember the name, I'll try to look it up. The wood species is hickory, but the way it's cut doesn't have nearly as much heavy grain as some other hickory. It is lightly hand scraped. I love it, it is really beautiful. Not sure how it's going to stand up over time, we already have several scratches. Not sure if that's bc on moving day the guys had dirty shoes even though we tried to protect things, or just general life. Two small kiddos in the house here so it was bound to happen, I'm sure in awhile I won't notice them. :)

Brooks Barnes, we had a great experience ordering shower tile from South Cypress (3 times, thanks to poor calculations and a bad shipment). The first reorder, they shipped the wrong side bullnose. Had the correct order out the day we realized, knocked off 10%, and told us to keep the tile that was incorrectly shipped (which we were able to use). Despite the misstep, I was happy ordering through them and would certainly recommend!

Brooks Barnes: If I had South Cypress three hours from me, I'd definitely make the trip to see their selections in person! (I have so many tile trivets from ordering samples that, due to vagaries of computer monitor color rendering, didn't work out for me!) But yes, they were very helpful. The kitchen tile will be stunning, and while 5 or 6 pieces in one box arrived broken, they are giving me a credit on that box. The pieces will be useful where the tile will have to be broken, anyway. They are very prompt, and very pleasant to deal with on the phone, going the extra mile to hunt down answers to questions that I'd had about samples.

I will be ordering my master bath floor tile from them as well.

I mentioned that one of my quartz countertop choices from Consentino/Silestone has been moved out of production. So, I found an alternative, or so I thought. A color named "Tea Leaf". It would have green in it and not be really dark -- my appliances will be black. I went to Home Depot over the weekend to look at their sample of something not discontinued before I ordered one.. In person however -- It looks very much like someone ate a colorful menu of, say, sweet potatoes and peas. And promptly regurgitated.

Seriously, look at anything that concerns a color -- in PERSON!