A picture's worth $28,000

Well based on the price per square foot, thats about what the living room is worth. Here are a few pics with the drywall up:

Living Room from Morning Room

Morning Room from Kitchen

Kitchen(I guess it comes with a wife) from Living Room

Mr. Gorbachev, DON'T tear down this wall

Went by the house today just to see what was going on. As I pulled up, so did our PM. He was very accomodating, took me and the boys through the house. Workers still working, and low and behold, WE HAVE WALLS. Fantastic! They have hung most of the drywall, and will tape and mud next week. Its funny, perception that is. When there were no walls, it seemed like the house was much smaller than I knew. But with the drywall up, the house seemed to double in size. You really would think the inverse would be true, but i can attest its not. It was great to "see" the rooms. I did not take pics as I was to busy BS'ing with the PM. I will try to get in this weekend for some pics, although when I went by yesterday, much to my chagrin, the house was locked up. Remember: A house is made of walls and beams, a home is made of hopes and dreams!

Pluggin' away

So we had out pre-drywall meeting today. All in all it went well. I am very pleased with some of the new standards they have to meet, such as a VERY high efficiency furnace, due to the new Energy Star 3.0 rules just set into place. I did ask about the hose bib, and the PM said he could raise it anoher inch or 2. I told him not to bother. That wont really make a difference. Another thing I noticed, we have a crap-load of outlets and switches. I love it. I dont have enough plugs to fill half the outlets. HA. We also received our pre-settlement and closing date. July 5th. 45 days. I am excited. I know it will be a long wait though.

I found out I have shingles, and was floored

So stopped by the house today. Gaurdian was there pulling wires. The guy was really cool and we chatted for awhile. We have shingles(they have been done for sometime, just havent gotten around to taking a pic), and the porch, basement floor, and garage floor are all poured and set. Even the furnace is in.
        One thing im a bit annoyed about, and please let me know your thoughts. So when choosing the placement of the hose bibs, the SR talked us into one in the garage as opposed to the front of the house. I loved this idea, as you dont have the faucet sticking out of the front of your house, can leave the hose hooked up and stored in the garage, etc. Well little did I know, and we were never told, that when its in the garage, its literally about 6 inches from the floor of the garage.. I couldn't get a kids sippy cup under it let alone a watering can or anything else. I was there while the plumber was there and asked if you could move it up and he told me no. I think im going to press the PM to have it moved. Sorry I didnt take a pic of it. Next time I am thre I will and will post it. Our pre-drywall meeting is Monday, so I will bring it up to him then.

       Also, while going through the house, I noticed a lot of issues with the wood being chewed up, pretty badly. I saw where the PM went through and marked the bowed wood and other things that needed fixed with his orange paint, however none of it addressed the crappy wood. I will definently be bringing every piece up on Monday.
Here are a few pics, just of the shingles and garage floor.

Love thy neighbor

So I took my parents out to see the framed structure today. As for now, we will only have neighbors on one side and none across the street. So they will be our only neighbors. They were outside today and I was able to meet them. A young couple, and to my best estimate, maybe in their late '20's. They have a new baby, of about 4 months, and a dog. They were extremely nice. This meeting makes me even more anxious for the house to be built. I can't wait until we are able to move in, have the neighbors over and shoot the breeze over a nice bottle or merlot. Just another thing to look forward to that will make it seem like its going to be forever before we are able to move in.

I've been framed!

I can officially say I've been framed. I visited the house today and took the contractors lunch(a platter from Subway). Gotta keep t he ones building your home happy! Well it must have inspired them. When i went back after work, this is what I saw:

Keep in mind that is not where that circle vent goes. it will be moved(its fake anyway)

Kitchen and morning room from garage

Looking in toward the front room, powder room, back room from garage

Garage door to inside

Kitchen and Morning room from gargae

I need some structure

Now we are getting somewhere. After the Amish not working on the house at all yesterday(due to the rain all morning) they did a good job catching up today. Second floor is almost done. I imagine we will see roof on tomorrow. Some windows and doors are already in. Starting to actually look like a house now.

1 floor down

Holy mackeral the Amish work fast. I went by this morning and they had just started framing, by 5pm they have the whole first floor done. Im loving it.

Not Tigers Wood

The wood was deleivered today as promised. Of course we are supposed to get thunderstorms tonight, but i think its going to be dry the rest of the weekend. Was hoping for dry wood when they started. Funny how all the doors are just sitting outside too. Im not to sure im happy about that. I dont like the idea of the interior doors taking on all that water. Wont they wind up warping? I may say something to the PM on Monday.

FIll 'er up

Foundation is officially complete!! We are back filled. Woohoo. Confirmed with our PM today that lumber gets delivered tomorrow, and framing starts Monday(barring any weather delays). From what I hear the crew is Amish, which is fantastic as the Amish certainly know what they are doing and don't cut corners. I love that they use them.

The Wall

They removed the forms as scheduled and will start waterproofing the foundation tomorrow. Its exciting we actually have something that resembles the beginning of a structure. We no longer only own a hole!

Foundation Poured

Went by yesterday and saw the forms up! The foundation has been poured and we officially have walls of a sort. Also, I noticed that the sale of the land from the developer to Ryan showed up on the county auditors website, which is just another "official" step.
Here are a couple pics of the foundation with the forms on.