Tuesday, May 10, 2011

New House - Part 6 - Count down begins

The builder has given us the two week warning! I can't believe we're this close. Before going through the photo update, I am going to reflect a little on this whole process. Today's topic ... the budget!

Suffice it to say this is by far the largest financial investment we've ever made and probably ever will make. At work I manage project budgets pretty regularly, but none have compared with this! At home the closest we've had to managing a project budget was during our wedding.

In both the wedding and this house my wife and I started out with a very firm budget in mind ... "there's no way we'll go over $x" was something said frequently in the early stages in both the house and wedding "projects". However, the further along we got the budget grew and the less strict we became over those increases.

Early on while picking out the finishes for the new house, we negotiated regularly with the builder to ensure we got the most bang for our buck. But once the walls started going up, our excitement overtook our keen negotiating skills! Thankfully the project is almost done and we've remained under our "worst case scenario" budget! :)

Now onto the latest pictures:
The trim is going in. This includes stairs, crown molding, wainscoting, built-in shelves, etc.

And then the trim was primed and painted.


Hardwood floors are going in ...
Stone has been laid on the outside ...
The counters have been installed, including our huge kitchen island!


And last but not least, the tile is being installed ...

Thursday, April 28, 2011

New House - Part 5 - Things keep on rolling

When I started blogging about the new house I expected to write posts detailing every aspect of the house, all the decisions we made, anything that was going well or going poorly. However I haven't had the energy and it's now more of a photographic diary. Enjoy ...

A couple of relatively quiet weeks have given way to more fevered pace at the house.  Sheetrock is hung ...














and taped and floated ...












Trim and cabinets are going in ...

















And driveway and porch are poured ...


Thursday, April 14, 2011

New House - Part 4

The pace has slowed a bit over the last couple of weeks so I figured I should catch up while I have some time.
Baby Q made her first trip to her new house ...
Exterior paint is almost done ...
Plumbing, electrical, and A/C have been run ...
This is a mega joist hanger that took 2 days to install ...
Dry wall was delivered and is ready to be hung ...

And insulation is going in ...


Friday, March 25, 2011

New House - Part 3 - Break Neck Speed

When I last updated this blog, we were eagerly awaiting the new baby and were enjoying watching the newly poured cement foundation cure. We didn't have to wait long for either of those things.

About a week after pouring the foundation, we received this bundle of joy. And a couple of days before she arrived framing on the new house had already begun:

By the time mama and baby were discharged from the hospital, we had progressed to four complete walls:










Since then we've got windows, a roof, siding, and some utilities being run. The overall speed in which everything is getting done is great. But I can't help but be worried. Plus I had planned to capture every square inch of the construction with pictures. However I rarely bring my camera with me and I'm forced to snap a few pics on my phone as I stop in after work each day.





Thursday, March 3, 2011

New House - Part 2 - Let it begin!

There has been more progress with my beautiful wife and baby to be than there has been on our house:






The lot sat like this for two months while we sorted out an issue over our property line. That is behind us now and we have finally started the construction process for the new house! It was a race to see what would come first ... baby Q being born or pouring the slab. Despite my wife's wishes the baby is still simmering and the foundation has been poured: