December has been a major bummer for us. We were supposed to start building in November and the underwriter found an issue with the title when the land was inherited by my dad and passed on to me. So now we are waiting for the lawyers to clear that up. Very bummed but still love seeing these pictures of all the other construction going on!

I haven't posted in a while-it's been a crazy ride! we made the drive from southeastern PA to central coast California in 6 days without mishap! As we drove down Rte 46 heading to Cambria we were greeted with this sunset-confirmation that we were "home" and making the right move. This was taken once we were in Cambria but the view coming down the mountain was even more magnificent.Not sure how to post multiple photos so will make several posts.

So far our builder has been easy to work with and doing an excellent job. He has his own crew which is working out well for all of us.Of course it figures that the 3 year drought ends in California just as we start the build. It's been a bit stressful trying to get the foundation poured between rain storms(the rain is badly needed so we're trying to not be selfish about it-just wish it had held off until the house was framed and roof on). So far the only issue(other than dodging rain) has been having to dig through sandstone for the foundation. However, it means that our house is not going anywhere as the foundation will be very solid!This was photo was taken two weeks ago-foundation has been poured and forms removed. Hoping slab gets poured this week(except that its supposed to rain today through Thursday). We are having a few issues with our neighbors with requests regarding noise(wanted us to ask our builder to start work at 9 instead of 8 am on Saturdays-which my husband doesn't want to do as we are behind due to weather and shortened daylight hours-I'm in the middle -ugh).
Really enjoying everyone's photos and hearing about their progress-

We are a week out from our close date.
The wood floors are going in today. The painters are finishing up.

The plumbers will be finishing up some last minute details on wednesday as will the final bit of work on the stairway/railing. The carpet will be installed on Friday.

The final code inspection is happening Thursday to get the certificate of occupancy.

Right now the thing that is stressing me out is the exterior stone. It was supposed to be installed weeks ago and has been sitting out front waiting to be installed. Apparently it is only a 2-3 day job but I'm still freaking out about it as it is also preventing the last of the exterior lighting to be finished.

Progress! The first floor walls are up! I think they're doing the rafters and deck for the second floor tomorrow! Crossing my fingers the New england weather cooperates! This thread is awesome, but it can be tough to follow and comment since you have to wait until the end to post a comment!

Have an appointment for signing contract tomorrow morning. I am excited LOL

We've decided to hold off on siding until we get all the windows and doors installed. Seems logical doesn't it? DH was insistent that we get the siding on, and assuming he'd talked to BIL/GC, I went ahead and booked the siding. They ordered the Hardie, from a place we can't return it to, and the siding guys and supplier all assumed we wanted the fake wood grain stuff. In the hurry that DH imposed, I forgot to ask. By the time I realized there was a choice and I hadn't been asked, I had 30 minutes to stop the delivery and wait 3-4 weeks for a custom order of smooth siding; or accept the delivery and take the wood grain and get the siding done NOW. I swallowed and accepted delivery of what I didn't really want.

But we are NOT ready for siding. DH was trying to rush it because he feels like the build is going too slow. The fact that we are moving at all when we are in full on winter, and I am working almost full time, is amazing progress to me. I told him we need to slow down and not make these mistakes anymore.

2 things we need to do before we get siding is to paint the siding trim, fascia and soffits. So I ordered that stuff today, and am having it delivered to my current house, so we can paint in the heated garage.

welcome to the ones just signing papers - thanks for sharing your excitement! it helps me remember how exciting the beginning really was.
hooray for all the progress being made, despite weather, delays, mistakes ... it is worth the stress, as those finished and lovely pictures remind us.

after waiting on the electrician and fireplace to finish up, our rough-in inspection is behind us, and we can start insulation today and hopefully drywall before the end of the week!

I still don't know what color white I'm painting the exterior, and I'm hoping 2 more paint samples will settle my uncertainty.

My husband has next week off work, so he'll be building porch railings, painting, etc. We are taking on much of the finishing work to save on labor costs.

It is such a relief to see this fireplace sitting in our living room. If any of you reading are looking to get a real wood burning fireplace, meet with the fireplace company directly while you are planning. Just allowing for open space and assuming a chimney is wide enough (like we did), makes getting all the pieces in place much harder. We probably could have saved several hundred dollars in chimney pipe, if we had worked directly with the fireplace company to design a piping plan in the beginning.

I'm trying to wrap up my Christmas shopping/preparations this week, and not get too emotional that this will be our last Christmas in this house! This is the only home our kids have known (going on 8 years now), and I do want it to be special for them.

Good progress and happy holidays to you all!

Not much but finally moving along.. After so long of having delay after delay with paperwork I finally have some activity.. Although it was just some basic location work as we needed to locate the pre-existing sewer line for the final application to be submitted to the town.. Now is the final wait.. Once they approve the sewer application the real work can begin..

Almost two years, we are now do have construction agreement enforced this morning and grading will be started next week. Can't wait to see

Huzzah the stone guys finally showed up today!

They did most of the exterior wall prep to receive the stone, built the stone pillars for the porch, and installed the electrical boxes for the exterior light sconces. Now if we can get a few days of decent weather we can get this sucker over the finish line in time.

Passed the zoning inspection today.

Plumbing is done, electrical is 99% done, painting is 99% done, wood and tile floors, door knobs, and bath accessories are in.

Tomorrow the closet shelves and bath mirrors etc. go in and we have our final building code inspection.

We are also doing a walk through with our realtor in the morning.

Unfortunately, the exterior painting, landscaping and the finish coat on the driveway will have to wait until spring.

Happyvalley,

Thank you so much for posting your paint color! I love your Simply White cabinets and trim. Tell me, did you have white interior windows and white toilets? If so, does the Simply White match them pretty well or is there quite a contrast?

This white paint issue is sending me over the edge. I have a warm white(not BM Simply White) chosen for my kitchen cabinets as well but am afraid to send it throughout the house due to my windows and toilets. Any input you could give would be greatly appreciated.

I've got walls! Like I've heard on here many times before, the home really does look bigger now that we have walls. Struggling over paint colors at the moment, such a tough decision. Move in is expected sometime around the end of February. So close, yet so far!

Mrs.B, I too am struggling with paint colors. Texture on the walls just went up a few days ago. I am submitting some ideas to the painters so we can test them out and see.

The tile guys went today to prep for tiling our bathroom showers. I caught something else a couple of days ago. Our master shower was supposed to have some high ledges built into it to hold our soap and stuff. (A Houzz idea.) It wasn't framed the right way. My husband went up there today to talk to them about how they were going to address the ledge and we then found out that the tile boss didn't tell him that our shower was going to be a roll in shower and they were going to make a 1-2 inch drop which was not what we wanted at all.

I guess is it our job as the homeowners to catch these little things that have been missed because good grief I have caught several small mess-ups.

We nearly had our first major disaster this week- really dodged a bullet. After months of bugging him, my concrete guy finally found room on his schedule to pour our two concrete pads- one in front of the garage, and one in front of the barn. He showed up Monday AM, and the following conversation ensued:

Me- Are you going to wait until tomorrow to pour? They're calling for rain.

Guy- I already ordered the concrete- they'll be here around noon. I didn't here anything about rain.

(Later in the afternoon) Me- They're still calling for rain over night.

Guy- No- no rain in the forecast.

Me- The noon news shows rain by midnight. Should we cover the slabs? (Now poured)

Guy- Can't- it'll smudge the broom finish. (Checks smart phone) See? There's no rain in the forecast.

At 10 PM, the concrete was still pretty soft, due to cool weather. I woke up at 3 AM to the sound of- you guessed it- rain! Nothing I could do, but needless to say, I didn't get back to sleep. Luckily, the concrete was JUST set enough to handle the rain. Phew! Why don't these guys pay attention, though? He was a bit freaked out by the rain, too. He couldn't believe his 'smart' phone was wrong.

Anyhow, we now have nice concrete surfaces, and I splurged and bought some tumbled blue stone pavers to make a path to our front porch. I guess that means our hardscaping is done! I'll post pics when I take the plastic off. I always cover new concrete for a week or two which helps it develop more strength, and reduces cracking.

aimless, you've reminded me that we need to make sure we have room for our shampoo niches. Our plumber is a moron, I really can't stand the guy. In a 6' long shower, he has used up every wall cavity for venting. There are 2 vent pipes filling up half the space (because he can't just run them vertical, he has them running back and forth), which then join up just before it goes out the roof. Why couldn't he tie these together lower, and only have one pipe cutting through the shower walls?

Jason, I think I missesd the details about your build? Your lot looks almost as urban as my own. Most of the builds on here tend to be much bigger lots.

MushCreek, glad the rain didn't hurt your concrete.

I finally feel like I can play! I am building on a lake in Northern Ontario. We poured the engineered slab on October 30th and we are finally closed in with windows and a roof. I finally feel like it is real, it has been our dream for 10 plus years.

Here is a picture of my new view!

mattpies: Just....WOW!!

Mattypies, welcome! I am in Calgary now, but I grew up in Ontario. Pretty much all of it. I spent time in Moosonee, Sandy Lake, Timmins, and several years in North Bay. I miss the lakes. :(

Amazing Mattypies! Welcome!

Beautiful view, Mattypies! SInce you are so far north does your lake freeze over so you can ice skate on it? I think I would spend my day out there on that lake of yours year round if so! What a truly gorgeous setting!

I can't wait to get out to the house again and see all our brick completed in the front. My builder just sent us another change order for the cost of our stone for both interior and exterior. Here I thought I would be saving money on cultured stone from real... apparently not since I am doing ledgestone and not field stone. He had priced out the field stone cheaper than any real stone we could have found so all I can think is that he was going to put a lot of mud around it. I didn't want field stone so am paying more for the ledgestone even if it is cultured stone.

Everything we have ordered is costing us more money.... ching ching ching ching. But I keep telling myself how beautiful the home will be when we are done. Right??

Zoe, having grown up in northern Ontario, I would guess that the lake probably does freeze over. However, they usually build up with snow, so you still have to maintain your rink. To me, a frozen lake means cross country skiing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing.

Thanks so much for the warm welcome!

Our lake does freeze however it is rare that it is like glass for skating. We maintain a rink but we get a ton of snow so we use the lake more for skiing, fishing and snowmobiling. We had a great winter season last year with snow coming in November and staying. This year we haven't seen much winter yet. The lake freezing is not guaranteed with the wild weather everyone is experiencing.

I'm still here. I'm still here. just wanted to say I'm still here.

I've been drowning in house/work/parenting but I'm still here. Haven't read posts yet to catch up but sure did scroll thru some amazing pictures.

I have no idea what to pick for under-cabinet lighting, whether to choose fake stone real stone or no stone for my 2 story fireplace, and what trim I want or don't want. But I have to decide by tomorrow and noooOOOO one helps. I just... pick. I'm all choose'd out, people. Know what I'm saying? I wish I could just build this house. Then I'd be ok. If this could be my full time job. But I fight for time to research. And make choices with eenie meenie minee moe. LOL.

Anyway, my house is beautiful but way too big. Happy December, fellow building friends.

and a little interior dry wall.

Juniper! Hi! I've been wondering how things have been going for you. House looks fantastic! I totally get what you mean...I'm so over making decisions. I think I was obsessed with building this house for so long before it actually started that I'm over it now. :). Have to say....I'm jealous that you're so far along in your build. We started a couple of weeks behind you and our framing isn't even done yet. Ugh. When do you hope to be completed?

Anyone know when a home is considered half done? We started framing in mid-Sept It is a 4100 square foot home (bc of finished FROG).

Just wondering bc our builder was aiming to have finished the wallboard by the end of this month. And now, it is NOT going to happen. He is going on a week's vacation the 22nd. But we may still see the brick layers and the stone masons here while he is gone.

Is that the half way point? If so, we are screwed bc our rental ends in early April.

Hi All...

We are officially in and getting settled. Spent Tuesday and Wednesday getting the old house ready to be turned over to the new owners this morning. Sad to say goodbye to a house that was home for 14yrs and that I brought both of my dd's home to. Now I am ready to focus on getting unpacked and ready for Christmas and visitors next week! Will try to post some pics soon. Love all the pics...everyone's builds are coming along nicely!

Mom2sulu....thanks! We are really happy with BM simply white. My windows are white Anderson and the paint blends very nicely with them....can't tell any difference between the trim and the windows. I also chose white fixtures. The simply white is warmer than the fixtures but blends nicely. Hope that helps.

Hi Michelle! Don't be discouraged. The time between finish framing and where we are IS about 2-3 weeks. Windows and roof and sheet rock can happen really fast. Our projected closing is April 8th. Still a LONG way away. If we land near that date it will have been an 8 month build. We are not longer in a hurry which takes some of the angst out. The plan is to put our house up for sale Feb 1st (eek) and hope it's sold and closed by May 1st. Which would give us 3 weeks to own both houses for an easy transition. Course the best laid plans... I've been so focused on meeting my deadlines for the new build I haven't really wrapped my head around the ENORMOUS job it will be to get our current home ready for sale. Double eek!

onward!

Happyvalley,

So excited for you and your new house!! How wonderful to be able to celebrate your holiday season there!

Yes, you did help me out with the paint details. We also have Andersen white inside so Simply White sounds like a good trim for us. My new kitchen cab color is a bit warmer than that and I didn't want to trim everything with that color. Thanks so much!

Merry Christmas everyone.
We are dreaming of spending next year in our new house instead of in our cramped rental. Went by there today and were excited to see almost all the drywall is up and they are starting to tape and mud!

Michelle! You have an actual house in your pictures. I'm excited for you.

MFatt - I am excited for you too. You finally mentioned CO in one of your posts...lol. Been a long time coming.

Mushcreek - Glad your concrete is ok and happy for you that yet another thing is complete.

Happyvalley - I hope you are settling in and not too stressed about setting everything right before Christmas. Congrats on the move.

Crafty - Drywall is an excited stage to see. Glad they got that started before the holiday lull.

Juniper - your house does look big but it is beautiful and your peeps look happy.

Zoe - I think the halfway point is probably finished drywall but I'm not really sure because I think we did a lot of things out of order.

Amberm - I see that your saga continues. I hope DH can handle things while you're away.

Houses14 - congrats on the start date.

MrsB - I love your big room pictured. Don't stress too much over the paint colors. That's one of those things that are easy to change later.

Aimless - The mess ups are constant and you won't catch them all but I promise you that most are not the big issue they seem to be once you move in.

Mattypies - Love your view.

Everyone else, love your pictures and just ran out of time to comment to each of you. Everyone's builds are looking awesome! Hang tough.

Went out today to see the roof trusses up. I'm really liking it now!!

Juniper: Beautiful home. Your home has a great curb appeal even without your siding up yet.

Crafty: You are really moving along with your build. Cant wait to catch up.

JDez: Well if wallboard being up is a half way point we are not doing so well on time at all.

Michelle: Has the snow complicated your build at all? I would think it would be tough to do much in the way of finishing work outside. Good to know they at least are finishing up your roofing.

Just got back from our own build and we now have stone.. even if it is just a little bit right now.

But I really love my brick and how the exterior is all coming together right now. I can't wait until our new front door is installed now.

Here is a picture of our new staircase...looking towards back of home. It will be finished in place at a later date.

And here is the front of our home now.

MrsB! Your great room looks a lot like mine. What do you plan for your fireplace? Stone? Tile? Just painted sheet rock? Love to know. Looks great!

We gave our first official non-family house tour this afternoon. I had been going thru some boxes and stuff was everywhere. DH, who works nights, comes out of the bedroom all sleepy headed and tells me he just talked to his buddy who is in town visiting family and invited him and his wife over to see the new house. They are on their way. That was the fastest cleaning job ever. I would've killed him but he had to go to work.

We did finally get the slabs poured!!! Yay, I think ours were rained on but they seem to look good. Washed aggregate is the finish with a smooth border. It looks like 4 little separate pads without the border but I can see that it will come together nicely. I am finalizing the closet organizers today and after the deck we can apply for the final inspection/co. We still need carpet and that finish paint but most other stuff is done, at least enough for CO. My loan person at the bank says we need to be done by Jan 1 to avoid a bunch of paperwork. We went with this company because there were no financial penalties to going over the 12 months but we still have to extend the loan formally. I am really hoping to avoid that mess. We have been living with our in laws for just over 2 years now. I can't believe we are almost done.

Zoe - what brick are you using?

Keperey: The brick is Triangle Chesapeak Grey

After a long (about a year) process we close on our house this morning.

The exterior stone will take another week or so and we will have to wait until spring to finish a few things (landscaping, bit of exterior painting, finish coat on the driveway).

Overall we are really happy with the finished product and all of the colors and finishes we chose. The only thing I'm not absolutely in love with the tile in the master shower. It ended up being more of a warmer tone than I would have liked while the rest of the bathroom is cool tones. Good thing we decided to get frosted glass in the shower door it won't be quite as noticeable as it may otherwise be. It still looks pretty good but not stunning.Oh well you live, you learn.

Only a few more days left in out cramped townhouse.

HerrDoktorProfessor congratulations! What an amazing Christmas present.

Please post pics of the finished product. My build is on hold through Christmas vacation and every picture posted keeps the dream alive.

Enjoy!

We finally have a slab! We poured it last week, but we are on hold until next week with Christmas. Ready for framing to start! Love seeing all of these homes in later stages. Can't wait to be there.

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Hey Professor, Congratulations!!!

Does anyone have experience with James Hardie pre-colored cementboard? We were looking at using that for the soffits and fascia. All of our exterior will be brick and we have to let the framers know whether we're going with vinyl or hardi next week. I really don't want to do vinyl, but don't want to have to caulk and paint the hardi. I know it will look much better though. Anyway, on the pre-colored stuff, I understand it has a 15-year warranty on the paint, but I'm wondering how the nail holes and joints are caulked/covered to match? I guess I'm going to visit a supplier next week, but wondered if anyone here had experience with the product.

Juniper, our home is a pretty traditional colonial style home so will stick with a traditional white mantle and some Carrara tile like in this picture

This post was edited by MrsB1227 on Wed, Dec 24, 14 at 9:28

Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays to all my fellow home builders! JDez, Michelle1973, MFatt, and all the others who were on while we were building.

We've been in since the middle of Sept, but it hasn't really felt like home until the holiday decorations got unpacked.

Had to de-tox of the whole build process for a while and go back to focusing on the rest of what needs attention. Job, kids, parents, etc. So I've been off the board for a while. I love looking at everyone's progress. Been getting my periodic 'build fix' by wandering thru the rest of the neighborhood houses being built. We're 2nd in a development that'll eventually be 11. Another finished a month or two after us, and three more neighbors are building now for spring completion. Nice to see everyone's selections and tastes. It's like this board, but 3-D. ;)

We were going to have a big holiday celebration around thanksgiving, but realized we have hardly any furniture! We ditched most our old stuff and only sent a few nice pieces to storage. Intended to buy new furniture to go with the new house, but overages ate into that budget. One of us getting downsized halfway thru the build didn't help either. Had to scale back on the finishing details, drop most of the landscaping, etc. We'll get back to it in the spring.

Best of luck and continued progress to you all.

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Here is a link that might be useful: Our Home Build

I am joined the party. Grading should be start next week if the weather allow

I am joined the party. Grading should be start next week if the weather allow

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