We are three months into our build. The snow is slowing us down but hope to be party ready by June :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Mountain Home Blog

We have progress! drywall starting in 2 weeks!

Still waiting on stone and shakes, the weather has been nasty around here lately. Finishing up drywall and will start on floors next. We will have barn doors covering the tv over the fireplace.
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We had freezing rain and ice this weekend and the excavator was slowed down a bit but they got started digging for the foundation (4' crawl with concrete floor) today. Foundation crew is scheduled to come in Monday so if the weather hold I might have some footings or maybe even walls next week. Of course the weather in the Missouri Ozarks can change in a hurry.

Didn't hit one rock yet and that is really unusual for here!!

Dixie331 - Love your home, it is very similar to what we plan to build this spring. Do you have a blog or any other photos?

Everyone has such lovely homes and land. Can't wait to join this group officially this year!

Hi there!! I have been lurking this forum for many months as we planned our new house, and we are finally under way. My DH and I are building a two story home in SE Iowa on 7.5 acres that backs up to privately owned hunting land. I just wanted to finally share our progress on here. The framing is nearly complete, ready for shingles, and windows have been delivered. We finalized our plumbing fixture order earlier this week and will be placing our order for light fixtures this afternoon. We will be meeting with the builder and electrician sometime next week to do a walk through. So far everything has been fairly easy. We absolutely love the builder we have chosen. He has been very attentive and available for us despite building his own home and his wife's recent health concerns. It turns out that they will also be our neighbors as their new house is only about two miles down the road from us. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself and I look forward to following everyone's progress!! We will be visiting our site later today, and I hope to get some better photos. As well as, figure out how to post multiple photos on this forum.

It's really exciting to see everyone's progress! We are shoring up plans and specs and are waiting for the preliminary appraisal.

Lucy0214 ~ Your mountain view looks very similar to what surrounds us here in western NC!

Beautiful Homes everyone! Love all the land locations with picture perfect views.

Izerarc; A little excited your windows came? Hopefully none will get broken during the roof construction :-(

Lots of progress today!! Most of the windows are in. Front and back porches are up, just need railings. And we found our unfinished basement has been completely framed according to our future plans that we intended to finish ourselves. We immediately called our builder to ask him if he was aware of this "mistake" only to find out that he had actually asked his framers to just go ahead and do the framing for us! This was a very pleasant and welcome surprise, and will definitely save us some time and headaches when the time comes for us to finish it.

Front of the house just before sunset. There is a third bay on the garage that is being blocked by the machinery.

Back of the house.

Finally got the foundation dig finished on Friday and will get the home squared up in the hole on Monday and foundation is scheduled to begin on Tuesday (weather permitting).
I put a gate up the other day and have a trail cam aimed at it...the gate will probably only keep the honest people out but might deter the neighborly lookly-lou's

Just had our trusses installed

Next week should see the final area over the garage built. This will be stick built with rafters.

All this building going on in January! Love it!
No pics to share here. We are finishing up the drywall and have been tending to interior design and trim details. As this is owner built I get to start painting next week. Yeah! Finally. We had some storm damage from hurricane Sandy that slowed us a bit and with the holidays we are slowly getting there.
lzerarc you'll love the Kolbe windows and doors but I must warn you about the 3 Pt lock on the 8 Ft doors. We have it on 4 of our doors and have had no problems but some of the subs we have had have not been careful and this had been a problem. Banging doors to get them to close, leaving doors unlatched flopping in wind cuz they couldnt figure it out. We finally nailed up blocking and no one can use the doors.We put a cheap steel door into the garage and thats the only one usable. You're house is looking great!
LOTO we also put up a gate but still have had problems. Good luck to you all
Peg

Man, I'm jealous. Can't wait to be able to post in the "how's your build" posts - maybe March!

nr81inIA...you're house is looking really beautiful. So much progress from your first posted picture to the second! I absolutely LOVE your wrap around porch. We really wanted to incorporate that into our house plan, but unfortunately it did not work out (other things higher on the priority list I guess). I should really get some pics posted on here. We're building in WI. We have most the siding up and electrical roughed in. It's so exciting! I'm looking forward to seeing how your house progresses :)

Kate_84...Thank you so much! Our original plan actually had a full wrap around porch, but it was just too costly to do. This porch wraps just around the corner so we still have the look from the front of a wrap around porch without all the cost. We are so excited to see all the progress each time we drive down there, but I expect it to start slowing down here in the coming weeks as plumbing, electrical, and HVAC get under way. Good luck with your build!!

PPB-thanks for the heads up. We do not want any subs using the front of patio door, so I am not even installing the handles on them! They will have to go through the garage.
We installed all doors and windows this last week. Really like them a lot.

SEIowa - Great looking build. I am just across the river in west central Illinois!

A couple interior shots after we installed the windows this week.

Framing is complete!!!

We got footings poured yesterday!!! The foundation crew still has to pour the footings for the front and rear porch foundation/walls and then will pour the garage foundation/floor after the crawl space walls (4') are backfilled and compacted.
Before everyone jumps on...I know there are no caps on the rebar but the foundation crew poured the footings and left and then I left and locked the gate behind me so there shouldn't be anyone on site until the concrete crew arrives and unlocks in the morning.

This post was edited by LOTO on Thu, Jan 24, 13 at 8:49

Where are the footings for the piers?

Our specs are going to be final as of tomorrow, & the contract will be signed! The budget is agreed upon (only $35k over budget, so I am feeling pretty good about that!). I can say our GC is a top-notch dude! Next week, I think they will start clearing the lot. I feel like the hard first trimester is over, & I am ready to sail into the second trimester & enjoy some calm for a couple of months. We are hoping for a 6 month build, planning for 7 months, & hoping it doesn't go 8 months. GC seems to feel we won't have issues, as our specs look solid. The rainy season won't start for a few months, so I am glad we are getting things moving now. If I get around to it, I will start blogging the build.

Thank you again to all the advice we have received. I would not be feeling this way had it not been for all you wonderful people!

People, it's winter & all, but I am SO jealous of everyone's views! Such amazing lots you all have!

Doouble post somehow :)

This post was edited by LOTO on Thu, Jan 24, 13 at 20:45

Robin0919....Even though the home has a 4' crawl space it will have a 4" concrete floor instead of dirt and the footings for the piers will be dug down after the gravel is leveled for the floor slab. Lam beams and floor trusses will eliminate the need for an abundance of piers.

This post was edited by LOTO on Thu, Jan 24, 13 at 20:41

wishiwasinoz - can we see your view? :)

Laura12, eek, I do not even have one! How bad is that? I really need to get over there before they start taking all the trees & scrub away. It's very Florida-ish, flat, & no excitement whatsoever. It's a little over an acre.

Here is a link that might be useful: It doesn't get much more exciting than this!

The foundation crew really humped it and got the rock brought in and also the exterior walls poured.....hope to see the crawl space floor poured next week and the garage foundation/floor too. There is 4" drain tile around the entire interior of the footing (under the rock and will be under the poured crawl space floor) and there will also be a 4" drain tile around the exterior of the footing.
Electric CO-Op got the poles set and meter base and will come back out Monday and finish up.
I ran across a house fire on the way home...total loss it looks like.

double post again

This post was edited by LOTO on Fri, Jan 25, 13 at 19:13

lzerarc
The windows are looking great! You will still have to be careful of the subs with the doors. We do not have our knobs/locks installed yet and the subs used a flat screwdriver in the lock to open and close. That coupled with the 3pt lock mechanism and we had to nail them shut!!This week we have been battling condensation on the inside of the windows from the propane heaters the drywall guys used to warm the place to do drywall. No air exchangers running yet.
LOTO
those poor people with the fire. Are they future neighbors? Saying prayers for them.

ppben...the home on fire is not near where we are building but it is near where we are renting during our build process..it was a total loss but no injuries.

Beautiful pictures everyone! We are bricking, wiring and plumbing at the moment. Just joined this site...wish I would have over a year ago!!! My husband and I have learned so much building our home and still so much to learn! Enjoying reading posts and picking up lots of tips!!

Happy building!

We got garage doors last week!!
We also got insulation and drywall will be going up this week!

We closed on our property and are in the process of getting our drainfield moved. We will start digging the well within two weeks, we hope.

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Parkview 601 - its the Southerland by Don Gardner....we made some modifications to it. Do a search in the home forms for Another Southerland and you will find more pix.

LOTO - was the fire off KK? That house looks very similar to our friends' vacation home.

kaljr82 - those garage doors are beautiful,beautiful,beautiful!

Thanks dpusa! We weren't sure how they were going to look but once they were on, we loved them!

I like the Garage doors too kaljr82!

Our slab was poured yesterday. Wish my build was as nice as some, but I love what we are getting :)

This post was edited by amtrucker22 on Tue, Jan 29, 13 at 10:18

Well, we offically broke ground Yesterday- Haven't gotten out to take any more photos of the finished dig yet but just excited to finally have something to post other than a floor plan or elevation!

We're in but still only on a temp. CO. Waiting for a dry enough day to finish up the grading so we can get the final & looks like it'll be at least another week. We absolutely love our new home & it was totally worth all the stress!

Kitchen - favorite features include the TV over the fridge and the snack drawers/coffee bar area.

Kitchen Island - granite is Sage Brush from South Africa

Great Room

Covered Porch - I see us spending many, many evenings out here!

Still need a few shutters, landscaping and the temp handrail will come down as soon as we get the final CO.

double post

This post was edited by kaljr82 on Tue, Jan 29, 13 at 15:39

also, here is an updated picture of the front of the house. Still a small bit of siding on the garage side of the house that needs to be done (all of the empty space on the front will be covered with stone), and found out today that our drywall won't be delivered until at least Thursday because of the weather here (lots of rain and snow) So we are another week behind. BOO!

Posted by parsonse (My Page) on Tue, Jan 29, 13 at 12:18

We're in but still only on a temp. CO. Waiting for a dry enough day to finish up the grading so we can get the final & looks like it'll be at least another week. We absolutely love our new home & it was totally worth all the stress!
Kitchen - favorite features include the TV over the fridge and the snack drawers/coffee bar area.

I was wondering how your build was coming along. Congrats on finally getting in, told you it would be all worth it in the end! :) Can't wait to see more pics! :)

Kal- what is the brand/color of your siding? We are searching for a gray and can not find one we like so may go the paint route even though I really dont want to.
thanks

The siding is Made by Mastic and it is a Double 5" in Harbor Gray.
And the Shake is Made by The Foundry. It is the 7" Split Shake in Greystone I believe.

So excited that I finally get to post here. I mostly lurk but have asked a few questions. We are building a very modified version of the Frank Betz Candler Park. Framing just finished. Zip wall taping needs to be finished though. Roofing starts tomorrow, plumbing is semi roughed in.

Garage/storage shed

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