(Thursday, December 6, 2012) – Although we might say the adventure initially began last spring, when we visited homes on the 2012 Spring Tour of Homes (and we began making a list of things we wanted in a new house) – the actual decision to select a builder for our new house occurred on this memorable night in December. To provide some background on how we arrived at this point – we had been looking to downsize to one-level living & had been checking existing homes for sale on the market to see what was out there, and what might suit our needs. We were very disappointed to find that most “one level” homes were rambler style that had finished basements that turned out to have more finished square footage of living space than our current home (and the associated higher listing price that corresponds to more finished square footage). We next explored the option of building, and Baby Doll searched and found some online floor plans & we selected one that we tweaked to our liking (with the help of a Designer that prepared the plans for builders to provide bids).
In the midst of the dialogue about building, we had visited more new homes on the 2012 Fall Tour of Homes to get ideas and see what new home building had to offer. During this process, we visited many building lots that were on the market for sale, and determined that there were many great values on the market (as lot prices had dipped since the bottom dropped out of the housing market in 2007-2008). We viewed many “tax-forfeited” lots on the market that had corresponding “special assessments” (for streets, water, sanitary sewer, etc.) that had yet to be paid off as well (which factored into our decision on lot cost). We found that we had narrowed our lot choices to a stalled development called “Sommersby” where there were many tax-forfeited lots available, as well as other lots that builders owned.
In our continued searching at each lot available in this area, it soon became clear to us that there was one particular lot that met our criteria (a view of nature in the backyard – either wooded or water) & had a considerably lower purchase price because the special assessment costs were less. We were excited to make the purchase of this lot from the County in early November & then began the process of soliciting bids for our new dream house from a few builders.
We sent our completed house plans to a couple of house builders that we had either experience with, or were confident in their workmanship from viewing their homes on the previous Fall & Spring Home Tours. We ended up selecting a builder on this memorable evening of December 6th & we were very excited for the adventure that was before us!
Week of Monday, December 17th –
Leading up to Monday, December 17th, we had already begun the arduous task of picking out everything on the builder’s checklist (that we affectionately named the “stress list” – LOL). On Monday, December 17th, trees were cleared on the lot, and digging began. Progress this week included pouring the concrete footings (with insulated blankets due to cold weather – brrr!). Also, concrete block was constructed for the foundation. Prior to the footings being formed & poured, the water and sewer hookups were made (that are under the footings). Here are some photos of this week’s activities:
(Wednesday, December 26, 2012) – Today was a wonderful adventure in visits to the cabinet maker, stone mason, tile store, and Menards to further fine-tune selections for the “Hawkington” (a name we jokingly picked out, since our builder had several other standard layouts for homes that ended in “-ton”, like Wellington, Hamilton, etc). It was a lot of fun spending time together making selections for our new house. It was also an educational experience in learning about how stone is cut, and how price points differ for the cuts of stone, and who knew there were 54 colors of grout for ceramic tiles?
(January 2 – 4, 2013) – Floor joists were installed on the new house this week, and we’re almost complete with all of the selections for the new house (just need to finalize the selection of stone for the front of the house and fireplace).
(Week ending Saturday, January 19, 2013) – A lot of progress has been made since the last post. The sides of the house were put up, the roof trusses installed, the concrete poured in the basement, and the interior walls inside the house have started to take shape of the various rooms of the house. To our surprise, the rough-in’s for the showers were needed this past week, so made a dash to Home Depot to see if our faucet order was in yet (and it wasn’t :0). The next day, Linda paid another visit to Home Depot and got things straightened out and delivered the faucet parts to the plumber at the house 🙂
(Week ending February 1, 2013) – A lot of progress has been made over the last couple of weeks, with the roofing being installed, the windows put in, and the sheet rock put up – it’s really starting to look like a house (very exciting!)!
(Week ending February 15, 2013) – More great progress being made on the new house with taping walls, spraying texture on walls & ceiling, siding, concrete steps poured in front, and concrete floor poured in garage! Painting has begun with primer coat on 2/15/13, and paint on 2/16/13!
(Week ending February 22, 2013) – Wow, lots of significant changes every day at the house now. Cabinets, tile, whirlpool framing, closet shelves, sheet rock in garage, front shakes on house & almost all siding completed. As more and more items are built/installed in the house – the more amazing it has become. The warmth and feel of the house is more that we could have imagined when we were selecting all of the separate items. We have been so blessed!
(Week ending Friday, March 8, 2013) – The final touches were put on the new house leading up to the Friday March 7th date that the builder wanted to have everything ready (for the Spring Home Tour that would be held the weekends of March 15-17, and 22-24th). The finishing touches included the carpeting, the stone work around the fireplace and the front outside of the house. Other finishing touches included installation of all of the towel bars, mirrors, and hanging hooks in both the master and guest bathrooms. We were amazed at how nicely everything came together (even better than we had imagined!).
We were surprised, when visiting the Home Show on Friday night, to find that our builder had put together brochures showing a house plan called the “Hawkington” – Nice!
(March 25, 2013) – First night in the new house was an adventure, after closing we moved some things in, with the help of our good friend Oreo & we retired at the end of a long day on an air mattress in the Master bedroom.
(June 2, 2013) – Update on Orchid Loop South – Tomorrow, June 3rd, the concrete driveway and walk is scheduled to be poured, so we spent some time today to layout the perimeter of each.
It’s been a wetter than typical spring, with many rain days that has delayed the completion of the concrete driveway, the patio, the finish grading, and installation of the sprinkler system and seeding of the lawn. Along with the finish work, there is landscaping included, that will include shrubs, trees, and flowers that we’ll have surrounding our home. We’ve found that there are many deer in the area, so we’ve had to research deer resistant varieties of shrubs, trees, and flowers.
(June 19-20, 2013) – Update – there was no concrete driveway pour on June 4th because the driveway subgrade was too saturated and mushy. But, the good news for this update is that we have had a block patio installed, and then on Wednesday afternoon, June 19th, the final tree removal, soil grading around the house, and soil corrections in the driveway were completed.
(Tuesday, June 25, 2013) – Today reminded me of an old saying I’ve heard before: “You’ll be happy when we’re done with the project, and if you’re not happy today – then we’re not done yet”. Well today we were happy when we returned home from work in the afternoon, as we came home to a new concrete driveway!
(August 24, 2013) – We’ll it’s been a while since a post, and there has been additional progress on this amazing, wonderful journey of building our dream house. There has been completion of the patio, plantings of trees, flowers, shrubs, landscaping, as well as planting of the lawn.
