Carson, do you own the house you're living in, or is it a rental while you build? I can just imagine neighbours telling your landlord about all that renovation material being brought in. :D

Michelle,
Your story resonates with me as we went though the exact same thing with a very similar budget and sq footage. We did 2 redesigns with our original builder (who we knew personally and also knew was a high end builder) both coming several 100k over the budget that we repeatedly brought up. We ended up walking away from the builder after 9 months of not being able to get things where we needed them even with giving up square footage and finishings. At that point we gave up and figured building was not in the cards for us. After a few months break as we really needed a mental recharge we contacted our Real Estate agent and had her show us some homes. After looking at a few homes and hearing what we wanted she recommended another smaller custom builder (whose work i had seen before and liked and assumed was also out of our budget) He was able to bring us in closer to our budget numbers as he did not have nearly the overhead of the larger builder. He has been a dream to work with...wish we had started with him and not wasted so much time. What i am trying to say here is that I think Ambern gives you some really good advice. A step back and looking to see if there are other options that might work at this point might be a good idea. Good luck...I feel your pain!

amber -- its a rental -- we sold our house last summer and were optimistic about getting in our new house by January.... this past January (eek!) We'll be lucky if we are in by the COMING january!

Michelle, I too feel your pain. We also went through a similar step and the above advice is good. Sometimes just taking a step back will give you a new perspective and a fresh outlook as you review your options. One thing I've noticed on the build is that it can be mentally draining, all the choices, decisions and costs. Sometimes, I just need to shut off for a day or two and then I'm mentally ready to look at it again.
Quick update on my plumbing dilemma. Thanks for all who chimed in on suggestions. We ended up going with all Hans-grohe, which got us to the point of valve orders. I still have time to order the actual fixtures and am still considering brush nickel which my husband prefers for the maintenance and chrome and polish nickle which are a tad cheaper. We will have hard water with a softener and whatever I have will have water spots. But at least I can take a little breather. We head up to the build site in about a week and then we will be up to our necks with decisions. I love it and hate it LOL.

BTW, NWHobart, your front door is amazing. did I see it was from Simpsons? The glass is perfect!

Michelle, I'm so sorry to hear that -- I remember your charming Craftsman-not-farmhouse plan was quite lovely. If your builder has been pricing that, hopefully he can get you in the ballpark and folks here also can offer suggestions to help. You might be able to save quite a bit on finishes, trim, cabinets etc. So maybe for now skip the shiplap ceiling and hunt for deals on appliances, leave the hardscaping (other than driveway) for later, leave the basement unfinished, etc.

Michelle, I tracked down your post about the elevation. Is that the plan the builder is quoting on? Or have you already tried trimming that down?

haha carsonheim..that's funny..i think we have you beat though...sadly!

Jkl our floors are marazzi American heritage in saddle. They also have darker and lighter tones available. We chose a dark brown grout which is not yet applied and the spacing is 1/16 I believe. Wood is not for me and our family of 7. I have happily lived in several tile floored homes and love how stressfree and carefree it is. If I lived in a cold climate I might feel differently about doing the whole lower level.

Carsonheim, we moved to TX from out of state and took out a 6mo apartment lease thinking it took 6 mo to build a house. HAHAHAHA. 6 mo in design, a move to a rental house, and then a long delay before building now here we are moving in just about 2 years to the day from purchasing the land.

This post was edited by ellenandco on Thu, Jul 10, 14 at 22:14

Amber, yes that is the plan. Thoughts? Husband is pretty set on not reducing sq ft. He feels like we shouldn't have too...I feel like we could definitely reduce the upstairs....by about 300 feet.

This morning, I expressed my frustration to the builder (who was chosen for his economical building style, he is able to do very reasonable trim work including beautiful built-ins), and he was very understanding and quite apologetic. He told me and his office manager cleared their schedules today to work on our estimate. And we've been texting back and forth a bit about changes on finishes we could make, work we're willing to do ourselves, etc.

So, we're going to give him a few days to hopefully work some magic. Thanks for the support and feedback everyone. :)

Well, some of my thoughts on that plan are that it has a lot of bump outs and cuts. Squaring it off would help. The roof line is rather complicated, losing the dormers might help. The plumbing is all over the place. Moving it all close together would shave the cost of plumbing labour. I'd probably only put one bathroom upstairs. Skipping the basement would be a huge savings. Put the plumbing rough in so finishing it later doesn't cost as much. But I'm sure the builder would have better ideas and know what these changes will save.

Well carp, ellenandco and carson- y'all are making me feel like the roadrunner for a change, when I usually think we're moving along at tortoise pace. Carson, I don't quite have the situation that you do- my forgotten stuff is in a storage unit. But I do feel like I've been camping out for 2 years!

Today, I packed DVDs and listed stuff on Craigslist. Watched Downton Abbey and sold three barstools. I call that a productive day:-)

Oh, I know all about storage! I've got three units with everything I love and cherish in them. We decided to take our least favorite furniture items to the rental. The stuff that's taking over the living room and hallway are materials we've purchased to be used in the house. Since we have no truck, I can't cart some of that larger stuff to storage. Not that any of our three units have any space left in 'em!!!!

ellen- I think that'll be our timeframe as well. We bought the land about 14 months ago, and I expect to get in somewhere between November and January. What part of TX are you in?

Framing is done! Roof is done! Plumbing/HVAC next week, electric the week after.

Only setback so far is the basement egress windows were poured (concrete walls) too small for the windows we have to meet the egress code. Hoping to hear from my concrete company tomorrow to discuss the options. My preference would be to have them cut the window openings as needed, an inch or two on each side, and put the windows we have in. We'll see...

hola!

Long time no post.

We have dirt finally on our yard. Now I've been in the garden section trying to figure out how to get it evened out and seeded. Didn't realize it was such a big job on such a small lot.

We are also JUST getting central air next week. And hopefully finally closing on the house loan soon. We've been living in the house since April 1st!

kellithee! I think of you often - nearly every time I double and triple check those dumb doorknobs to make sure we aren't locking ourselves OUT....again! I really don't like that 'always feels unlocked' design! No worries - we won't have grass until next spring...yes NEXT spring. Makes no sense to do it now with a barn being built soon and sprinkling and blah blah blah.

northpole-that is some view. Ahhh, so relaxing. I am sure you will enjoy it once the crazy busy build is complete!

zg-oh no! That is a bummer - surely they can cut the concrete? We added one in the basement of our old home (already existing) and dh cut the concrete. Surely at this stage it shouldn't be a problem?

michelle-yep. Similar pains here but we were trying to beat winter so we rushed and probably shouldn't have. Designer was confident he was accurate in cost per square on his plans and we gave him our firm budget - firmed up the design and took it for bid - gasp. Way higher than we wanted - not even close - grrr. We did minor adjustments and forged ahead anyhow as it was more than we wanted but not more than we could afford if that makes sense. So now on the other side I am so glad we are finished and in but I often wonder what we would have ended up with if we'd have just slowed down! It's 2300 sf and some rooms no definitely not to be made smaller but sometimes I wonder if this or that could have been laid out more efficiently? Who knows at this point it's water under the bridge. I will say I know we saved significantly in sweat equity. If you and dh can do some things I definitely would.

carson-yeah we had boxes piled up to the ceiling too for months. When we could finally move them into the new house for install the rooms looked bare, haha!

ladyb-don't be shy - more pics more pics! I have been wondering what you have been up to!

So close to finishing stone - dh is off this weekend and yep you guessed it - storms forecasted all weekend long. Come on now mother nature, give me a break!

Barn lumber and trusses came in (did I already say that)? They are to be delivered next week. When it will be framed is anybody's guess. Dh's brother is super busy and he is going to help dh do it on the side. He also needs to come back and finish up some crown when he can squeeze that in also. I am ready for some of those things to finish up so I can take some inside pics...and get the seeded glass for my kitchen cabinet! It's still a 'reach in'. :)

Off to quick glance at Michelle's plan again. Happy Friday everyone.

edit: Michelle I remember now why you love it and want to keep it. It is a really nice plan - so much to love. I know that doesn't help but it's true. I really hope they can get you where you need to be.

This post was edited by Autumn.4 on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 12:58

All done. Closed back in mid May, just too busy to post pics. We're very pleased.

Edit...let me do this a different way...

1/3.

This post was edited by Bungalow14 on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 13:58

two of three

three of three
jeepers is this interface a nightmare

Autum4- Ilove the rug, of course it is similar to one I won :)

Robyn- I love those fixtures

Bungalow- It looks fantastic

They are workign on getting our stuff closed in, and we are supposed to meet with the electrication soon, the plumber is out of town next week.

My big sadness for the week, learning we were going to need to spend 13k on an engineered retaining wall. Only good news is the guy came down 2k when we offered to pay cash, so then it is now 11k, so thank goodness for coming down a little.

bungalo -- your house is sooooo pretty! Great job :)

and yes, this interface is rather nightmarish. Welcome to 1998 computing....

Autumn.4, talked to the concrete company today and they're planning to be out on Monday to fix it and clean the tar out of my sump pump as well. All is well!

Going to go out this evening to build a workbench from the scrap we have, should be fun :)

Zg- 2 thumbs up!

Bungalow-what color is your siding? We are starring at way too many samples of blue and trying to visualize the them on our house. Yours is very pretty.

So we met with the builder this morning to get written estimate. It was even higher than he thought. But, we spent quite a while working on reducing some numbers. We took out 13 windows (window quote was $60k!). We decided to leave the basement unfinished. Simplifying exterior trim. Not finishing garage. And a bunch of other stuff. We think the builder is very much in line with his pricing for this house, so don't feel like getting another quote would help much. If these reductions don't get us close enough, we'll look at reducing square footage. Any other tips without changing floor plan quite yet?

Jennie-you won a rug?!! How awesome is that!

Michelle-windows are so costly aren't they?. I was surprised at how much they were. I don't have anything to add but hope the number comes in for you. Do you have all of your finishes spelled out to be sure you aren't thinking one thing and he something different? We ended up delaying the finish of our basement too. We did have the garage drywalled though. Good luck! Pulling for ya.

Big news-we bought an old used needs a lot of work but runs tractor today. I guess we can use it to help put the yard in, haul wood and build the barn. Dh is thrilled to have a project while I am thinking another project???? No thanks better you than me, lol!

Ellen-your Bianco Antico looks a lot like my Alaska white so of course I LOVE IT! Ds saw it and said hey is that ours? Very similar. :)

I actually expected the windows to be higher than they were. We are doing custom color vinyl on both the inside and out, triple pane, euro style windows. All our quotes came in under $40k. That's only a 2200sq' house, though. And we only have 1 small west facing window. Everything on that side just looks at the neighbor's house anyway. We also limited our north windows for energy savings. But that's the side looking into our back yard, so we have more than the environmental consultant wanted. One thing you might consider for saving money is to put double paned windows on the south side and triple on the north. It'll let more solar heat in during the winter and save on the cost of the windows. I don't know how much it'll save, though.

We were at the lot today, cutting down and dosing more weeds. Vendors who have refused to quote for us are putting up advertising on our construction fencing!! Hey people, if you want work, QUOTE ON IT!

We put the fencing up last fall because people were turning the empty lot into a garbage dump. We found furniture in our bushes, aside from all the construction debris from other new houses in the area. Putting up the fencing slowed it down a bit, but now it's been so long without activity that people have started ignoring the fencing again.

I noticed the other day our engineering drawings showed our floor joists sitting on top of the concrete basement walls. That's the traditional way of doing things, but due to height restrictions, most new houses in our area are built with the joists perpendicular to the concrete walls. It makes the first floor closer to grade, which makes for a nice transition to outdoor spaces. And the architect has been saying all along that's how we're doing it. So I asked him, by voicemail, if the engineer's drawing was wrong. He answered me by email, yes, the engineer is wrong. Then I realized the architect drew it that way, and the engineer went off the architect's drawing. So both drawings need to be changed. Argh! Hopefully that can get done before the insurance company gets back to us. Otherwise that'll hold us up again.

Bungalow- just lovely:)

Autumn- my daughter would be so jealous of that tractor. They run a tractor on acreage up in central Texas when she and her huband visit his side of the family. She has a lot of fun with it.

Carson- 3 storage units! I see you have a new boxed Keurig- I have new Le Crueset that I am looking forward to using.

As of today, we have a lot less to move as the Craigslisting has paid off. Sold a buffet table and my entire bedroom set, so we are living out of boxes now. Visited our storage unit and got more boxes out to pack more DVDs. Got our pebble tile for the Master ensuite by freight today, and our power and gas utilities are turned on. AC units go in next week.

Selling things this week has been liberating in a way, and has gotten my mind off the squirrely situations at the new house. We really are down to the last finishing details on the items the builder should address. The long covered pool will be addressed this next week too, so I am super excited about that!

Granny, that's SW Bracing Blue on our Nichiha.
We went down to the wire between it and SW Storm Cloud, and Bracing won out.

So we painted our island Storm Cloud.
Win win.

I got kicked out of my office at work while they renovate. So, I have nowhere to work until Wednesday. The sadness is making me giddy...lol. Some guys were installing our carport today. I went over to watch and ended up sweeping every room and then cleaned all the windows and removed the stickers that I had not yet bothered to remove. This little project took all day. It was hot. The guys didn't finish until right at dusk and my phone couldn't get a good picture because it was too dark. Looks good though. Now we are ready for cabinets. So that's it.

Jdez-that's it??? That sounds like quite a bit and now you are ready for cabinets! Woot woot! Hallelujah for some extra time off too. Can't beat that!

Bungalow-pretty!

Music-the boys are excited about the tractor too. Oldest is excited to work on it with his dad and I think it will be a great bonding/learning time. :). Congrats on your craigslist success, freeing for sure and some cash in the pocket!

Amber-crossing fingers you can just get started already. I can't believe how difficult things are being made for you.

Life in the woods with an animal lover and an animal hunter....
Oldest using the pellet gun to shoot at things and youngest using his air soft to shoot near them to scare them away so the don't get shot by his brother. Good thing aim has not been perfected.

Yesterday's progress below. We need to finish the ledge on top and then the bottom row which requires thinset to adhere to poured concrete walls (or at least that is our plan).

I'd really like to just get started already, too. That post about the NPDES permit makes me feel a little better now. We've only been at this for a year.

Your houses are looking great!

JDez, I was just asking our builder about window stickers this week. Can you believe we aren't supposed to remove them until after final inspection? The builder told me they once had a project where a cleaning crew removed the window stickers by accident so they failed the final -- they had to go back to the window vendor, photocopy the manufacturer's info and stick it on each window and get the vendor to vouch for the fact that those were in fact a certain kind of window. I think our state/local requirements are just something else.

Thanks for the heads up, Oaktown. My city is such a pain (we have 4 different organizations doing inspections so far), I think I'll leave them up for at least 2 years, just in case.

Drove up to the site this morning, and what a difference after a few days away. Most of the lights and fans are up now, and there are knobs and pulls all over the place. Very few door holes left! Little things were done like the corner floodlights on the house under the eaves, garage lighting and the jackshaft openers installed. I will go back tomorrow and maybe get some painting done on the tray ceilings this week. I guess my work schedule will depend on whether the AC guy shows up early this week or not. Mid 90s now during the day.

This post was edited by musicgal on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 16:57

Just wanted to pop in and say "hi!". Getting all packed up, not much to do on that end until the last minute stuff. Anxiously awaiting the news about final inspection (I was there Friday morning while the inspector was there). As soon as that happens we can start moving things into the garage (stuff the movers won't touch like gas powered machinery, and other stuff it would be nice to just get out of the way before hand).

Did a bit of shopping over the weekend. Just a few items needed like new shower curtains, sheets for the new guest bed (nice to have an extra bedroom for guests so the kids won't be displaced from their rooms when visitors come). We aren't going to do everything at once. Want to take our time to find the just right rugs, sheets, bedding, etc. (kids using their same bedding anyways). We did get some new towels for the master bath at Costco. Perfect color and perfect price (11.99 for the bath sheet size). At that price it's a low risk choice. Washed them all up and ready to use!

Had a blind shopping appointment. Now that's going to be stressful. I went in wanting woven woods but they are not available in cordless so now looking at roller shades in the 'designer' fabrics that sort of mimic the look of the woven woods. Just for the great room areas. Probably do duettes or applause for the other rooms. Clean and unfussy and functional.

So I guess we are almost wrapped up but there is a punch list and some of the hardware and appliances are still not installed.

And OH YEAH, getting some hardscaping done hopefully this week. Due to our lot challenges (carved out a nice hole in the back yard to get the walkout basement we wanted so badly) we'll have some retaining walls and outcropping beds. A nice focal point outside of our big great room windows instead of looking at a steep slope of grass. i'm pretty excited about it- so hopefully it turns out well. Grass won't be seeded until mid August.

We are READY to get in there!

Illini - Sounds like you are pretty much in. Be sure to share some final pics because I love your house.

Musicgal - We are in the heat too. Working A/C at the house would be a true blessing indeed.

Oaktown - Our building inspector approved all of our windows on the last inspection so I figured the stickers could come off. I hope I didn't screw up.

Autumn - Love the stone. It looks so good with your siding and white trim. We have the same 4 over 1 windows. I don't know about you but we absolutely love ours. Anyway, nice job. And congrats on the tractor. It will really come in handy.

JDez -- I'd bet you're fine. I was just grousing about all the rules here, many of which are new so folks don't have a set method of addressing them.

amberm145 -- your city kind of sounds like ours. If we had submitted plans just a little bit earlier we wouldn't have needed a civil engineering report, but the planning dept had a policy change that set us back a few months and some $ and what did we get? Some drawings and a couple of bubble boxes in the ground . . .

On a more positive note, I really admire everyone who is working so hard on their homes! Many of you are so close!

And once people figure the rules out, it'll be time to change them again! :D If I don't laugh, I'll cry.

Bungalow14 - beautiful house!

Illinigirl - congratulations on the upcoming move. Can't wait to see the pics.

Michelle - hopefully things are getting better for you. The key word is prioritize. Always. It will feel as if you "need" everything, but you will be surprised as to how easy you can let go if things you think you need.

Framing and electrical walk through tomorrow! Hoping we don't get too much of a hit with the electrical overage.

We passed final inspection yesterday!!! We started the move-in over the weekend. Furniture delivered Saturday and yesterday. Unpacked a bunch of kitchen things, running through dishwasher and hand-washing them. Then trying to see how things will fit in what drawer or cabinet. Have done several loads of sheets and towels. Everything is working. Well, there was an issue of the gas dryer not drying, but after I noticed a light on the dryer saying to check dryer vent, DH found that the vent had been painted shut and even after prying it open, he noticed not much hot air coming out. Turns out there was a huge amount of insulation stuck inside! That was a fire waiting to happen!!! Whew, glad we got that solved.

Eventually we'll get towel racks, tp holders, vanity mirrors, and cabinet shelves installed. We hope to spend the night later this week!

Stone on the fireplace is complete and we finally hung the wine barrel ring light in the foyer. Also, the Walker Zanger leather tile is going in the mud room. I love it!

Hobart- beautiful floors and light! I know you are excited because the electricians just put up my orbs too! Very pretty look IMO.

Today's progress. Two steps forward, one step back. We have a leak somewhere. Better to find out now than later. But... after a week of tracking down my vanity with Plumbers Surplus and Averitt, this is what I found in the powder room today.

Say cheese, window cleaning guys...

More window cleaning from afar. That is a Levon helicopter fan, and the power is ON.

Orb light-

NWHobart, that fireplace is awesome. And Musicgal, I'm jealous of those windows and that view!

Hoosierbred, congratulations! That must feel great. Hopefully we're about 2 weeks behind you.

Shutters today!

Windows delivered today but the framers no-showed :( they will put them in tomorrow. We did have some rain so perhaps that was why...

I'm so in love with my stairs too!

Aaaaasand, the exterior so far...