7715 Trailside Estates

Day 3

3/31/2011

So not as much visible work today, but still - any progress is good progress. Today they prepped for the foundation, mostly just framing the corners and boundary lines to see if we can keep our tree. I suppose they're also waiting on the surveyor to come survey the placement of the foundation, since we were pretty precise on our drawing.

It also feels like a much bigger house now, if the lines they put up are actually the outer walls, and sadly, I don't think the tree can stay. We'll find out soon enough though, we have our official "pre-construction" meeting on Monday. Just a few pics for now!

Here's one of the corners they put up, you can see the strings (and us!)

You can see all four corners here, but just barely.

Another attempt to get all four corners into the same frame.

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What a difference a day makes!

3/30/2011

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So when we stopped by this afternoon, I was really only expecting to take pics of the portapotty (since I mentioned it yesterday), and maybe some dirt that had been moved around. Come to find out - today they completed the grading (we think), removed the 3 trees that had to come down, installed the "good neighbor" orange construction fence, and the temporary driveway. I think I'm really beginning to get excited, as it feels a lot more real now!

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to aim to stop by at 6PM or later, since the 2 guys on the site today when we got there (a little after 5) didn't seem completely excited to meet us (and I have to admit I wasn't totally excited to meet them either). They were nice enough though, but neither spoke much English, and my Spanish probably betrayed the fact that I haven't used it since CXC in 1997. Plus, the days are getting longer, so we'll have more evening sun to take pictures :)

Anyways, we were a little underwhelmed by the grading (pics later) -- it just seemed like very little, and I'm beginning to realize I have no perspective at all when it comes to estimating the size of the completed house. The cleared area seems so small to me, especially compared to the size of the lot. But then I look at the space that's left for the septic and pool, and they don't seem like they could fit! Ten feet also seems much shorter to me now than it used to as well. That being said, I got to introduce myself this afternoon as the "home owner", which was awesome (made it feel like there's really going to be a home to own).

After we left, we realized they hadn't filled in the septic profile holes, so we're hoping the septic company will do that when they start work. At least there's a proper fence now, so those gaping holes are a lot safer than they were yesterday. Still trying to be patient, on to the pics!

So this is taken from the same spot as the last pic from yesterday. It's pretty easy to spot one of the dead trees (the leftmost one from yesterday) is now gone. If you're really keeping track, you'll also notice that the tree that would have been in the middle of the house (second from the right on yesterday's photo) is also gone.

As promised :)

Safety first!

All the framing for the foundation is already there.

This appears to be all the grading they did, to make this corner (back right) the same level as the front right corner. Was supposed to be about 18", and we're expecting that they'll backfill this area after the house is done, so water isn't draining toward the house here.

The whole footprint of the house, cleared (this is from the back left of the lot, facing the street). This remaining tree may have to go too, but we're going to stake the foundation before we decide.

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First Post!

3/29/2011

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So today is officially day 1, as the builder installed the most important item of the entire build on the lot...the Port-A-Potty!
Sadly, I don't have a picture of it (yet), but here are a few of the "before" pictures, taken this morning, and a run-down of everything that happened to get us to this point.

They're still saying they'll be finished in July, but we know better! We're hopeful that we'll move before the end of the year.

Facing the lot from the front (near the middle of the front boundary, facing back toward where the house will be). That's the builder's sales guy, and Fuz.

A view from the middle of the back of the lot (our cars parked on the street). Even though it seems like I took these at the crack of dawn, it's actually almost 8AM. It was just cloudy/rainy today.

Last one: this is from the front, left corner of the lot. You can see the pile of dirt from one of the profile holes they dug to do the soil test for the septic system.

So of course, it took a lot of work to even get to Day 1. We actually began working on this little project way back in September or October of last year. Fortunately, we already had the best Realtor to help us navigate this process.

In that time, we selected a builder and a lender (signed a contract with the builder and loan application for both interim/construction and permanent/mortgage loans in December 2010), and customized the floor plan we wanted. We also did all our design selections (working with a wonderful designer), and selected a pool company to build the small pool we're also constructing. At this point, we have building, septic, and HOA/ACC approvals, and have made contact (well, our builder has) with all the utility companies that we'll need to deal with (just electricity and water - there's no gas or sewer in our neighborhood). So after all that "pre-construction" work, we're super excited to begin, and can't wait to see how it all turns out!

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Day 3

What a difference a day makes!

First Post!

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