Rolling into closing our second year of construction, but progress is definitely on track now that we have a new builder on the scene. I swear, it feels like an HGTV show, where the owners have a bad builder, and the host of the show/new builder comes in and busts balls to get things done right. We finally have water and sewer trenched the 250 feet to the street hookups and paid all the inspection fees. We lucked out and found an unregistered sewer hook up the builder next door installed so we didn't have to tear up any of our neighbors landscaping and driveway. We did have to scope the hook up and submit the video for inspection. We're sealed up for the winter with construction heat keeping the inside trades warm. Working on completing HVAC, plumbing, and electrical at the same time. Lakefort is progressing nicely.

ITS OFFICIAL!!! picked up our building permit today and digging starts tomorrow! lot is all staked out. Merry Christmas to us!

Slow week here. Next up is the insulation and it has been too cold for them to start the blown in insulation. Looks like they may be able to start tomorrow. In the meantime my husband and dad did all the insulation in the garage and the sound insulation in the interior walls over the past few days.

Looking at the pictures of the ICF forms surrounded by snow, it looks like we're building an igloo! :-)

Went to another granite warehouse and this green granite caught my eye and has me rethinking things....

Nice Lakeerie. But then again, I'm very fond of the green granites. What are you rethinking?

Rethinking painting the perimeter cabinets and staining the island dark. With the green, leaning towards staining the perimeter cabinets a medium brown color and paining the island. Also nervous to commit to the green vs a more neutral stone. I am loving the green, though.

This is how it looks as of today. Windows are going up. Another month or two before it is ready for us.

The green is stunning and your stone is actually tame compared to mine so I say go for it.

Mm...what happened to my pictures...

Appliances are in the concrete mantel and hearth are also in. Unfortunately the fireplace is on hold until we get the proper faceplate

Dazureus, I LOVE that weather vane and your house is looking great.

Susu, my guess is you might have more than a month or two, especially if your builders are anything like ours. However, looking good.

Rmverb, I love looking at your pictures. Your aesthetic works with mine.

rmverb- so pretty! love the floors. appliances look great.

our foundation forms went in this morning, can't wait to see when I get off work.

did anyone else feel like their house looked small when its in this stage?

cslaughter27- Your house will keep 'changing' size at each level of completion. It will be too small, too big, too small, too big, and finally, just right.

Mushcreek is right. It looks really small when the foundation is in, still small when the walls go up, big when the drywall is up and even bigger when you get moved in.

Actually mine looks huge because we are on 1 1/2 lots compared to the houses being built around us. Of course when I map out the rooms and the garage, it looks tiny. However, I've already measured so I know it's correct.

Our contractor gave us back our keys today. Still some very minor things outside and need a final DOB construction inspection, plus two doorknobs which are backordered but no more 8am arrival. It's been almost 19 weeks of living with the construction workers and over two years since we bought the house. It's a christmas miracle.

This makes me happy

That would make me happy too, Greenwood.

To finish the week, they poured concrete into the basement ICF forms. So, the foundation is finished, other than them having to do a bit of clean up & remove the bracing wood from the forms on Monday. Next week, they plan to start framing.

Passed U&O, given the keys. First thing I did was replace the AFCI breaker feeding the fridge with a standard breaker. The breaker had already popped once, and I was informed by our job supervisor this is a common problem the last few years since the code changed to require AFCI breakers, and that most people just swap out the AFCI breaker feeding their fridge.

We have the start of drywall! It finally warmed up enough for them to get the blown in insulation done the past couple of days and they started drywall today. It was dark when I took the pic so excuse the photo quality.

Looking good Amber.

Drywall in the great room!

Drywall in the great room!

Showoff! ;) LOL

Merry Christmas, from my puppy in the window to you! Hope everyone is having a joyous and relaxing day!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy all the Holidays celebrated this time of year

Greenwoodframed... ADORABLE DOG!

What an adorable photo, greenwood! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! My husband went over to the house on Christmas Eve afternoon and was surprised to see the drywall crew had been there than morning and did quite a bit more hanging of drywall on the first floor. Haven't been over there today yet to see if they are back again today.

I have a few more photos for later, but hey, now the Electrician has been by!

There's been some progress. I'm not holding my breath for more as things seem to be happening in fits and starts but hey:

When I left my build, the electrician was installing my ceiling fan/light, so no pictures until January of that.

Other notes: the stairs down to the basement are completed, and now have hand rails. The septic is ported out of the house and into that holding tank depicted awhile back. I took lots of pictures but not showing any at the present time - of where all those septic lines go out, around and about.

The trash and recycling bins are in and are ready. I got the idea from my brother, who has a pull out for these things. Yes, the oven opens up there to the right, but there's no reason both areas need to be operative at the same time. That's the regular sink to the left - I will have a composting bin under the prep sink which is over in the prep area of the kitchen. (During the building process, I did have to keep kicking the GC to keep the SINK away from the open oven door - I did win.)

As for the master bathroom:

Artemis, each time you post it's better and better. It's really looking like a wonderful log house now.

Great lighting choices, Artemis!

we just closed on our lot 2 weeks ago, I am sure I will have a lot of questions and hopefully build updates soon!

taller forms for the foundation set up today.

very excited for everything that 2017 will bring!

Yeah!!! I've been posting pic the last few months that my son-in-law has been taking to keep us updated, but I haven't been able to see the house in person since the end of September until today. It's not completely under roof yet, but should be by the time we leave, and it is far enough to really get the feel for the flow and room sizes. Love it! And a wonderful sight line from the front door down a wide hall through the greatroom to the creek and trees.

it was too cold to get pics, but I'll get some over the weekend for a big January update.

Three weeks to move in day. Here is one of our custom cabinets. Follow the link for lots more info.

http://www.chicagonow.com/downsize-maybe/2016/12/whats-different-about-this-picture-changes-a-year-have-brought/

Ok, we dropped by the house with our fabulous interior designer today. Pic from the front door of our side of the duplex:

Will update next week with more exterior photos. They are still flying in the trusses and the crane messes up the exterior shots.

Quite a few things have been done since I posted earlier this month. Carpet has been installed on the second floor. Electricians have installed the light fixtures and ceiling fans throughout. Trim guys returned and installed towel bars, mirrors, and TP holders. I installed the A/V rack in the A/V closet in preparation for our equipment to be installed. Appliances (minus the beverage cooler) have been installed. Stone has been installed around our gas fireplace. Our stand alone tub in the master bath has finally been installed. The back splash in the kitchen has been installed and grout applied. The plumbers returned and installed faucets, toilets, and the garbage disposal. Here are a few updated pics...

Mofire, it's looking really beautiful. Love the backsplash tile and your choice of grout is perfect.

AAAAANNNDD foundation poured. all the patio footings are done. we are expecting a cold week next week so I think there might be a little stand still. Hopefully there will be something worth posting a couple weeks into January.

I am super excited that in a couple months it will actually be time to order hard surface materials. I've been stockpiling samples in my office since we decided to build last June. I'm about to order a few more pieces of back splash tile to decide from and some master shower tile :D :D

Third time seems to be the charm. Meaning our builder is on mason number 3.

#1 we were told went to Vegas and when he came back insisted he wouldn't do the job for less than 3x what he originally bid it for.

#2 was hired. Someone who had been used by the builder in the past, and had done good work. The mason starts and he's off loading cement block from his truck and it's barely enough to finish one side of the foundation. Then he cuts corners, including having new people laying the block, putting in rebar that is too short and making the joints too wide.

Our builder fired him on the spot. So then we had to wait for the guy our builder wanted even before #1, until he finished the job he was working on. We were put ahead of another job our builder was going to have #3 start on.

#3 had to resurvey the property, and found out some of the lines were skewed and one place #2 started to lay block was on the wrong side of the line.

But, this week as #3 promised us, he had fixed the mistakes, and yesterday had the cement truck there to pour where #2 screwed up and missed. And today pallet's of concrete block were delivered along with the sand. #3 told me that he would definitely be starting sometime on Monday to lay the stem wall.

Frankly, I never thought I'd be so excited to see cement block.

It's only now 2 months since we got permits. However let's not even talk about the 4 1/2 months it took to get permits, so we are now at least 4 months behind where we should be.

Cpartist, I'm glad to see you've had a little progress. I've been wondering how your concrete block was going. What a nightmare, but I'm glad you seem to have a good one, finally!

cp I'll see you and raise you and with only one element of our build - there have been hiccups (that's my euphemism for sh*t hitting the fan) at just about every turn.

Our flooring was delivered a couple of weeks ago , 4" white oak, select, 4' - 10' lengths. Only it wasn't. They got the 4" white oak part ok and it was probably select but there wasn't a board we could see in any bundle over 6' and a ton of shorties, 1', 2', 3' - some is to be expected and is needed for end runs and closets but not a large percentage. Our installer did the ordering and was there to receive it but didn't say anything until it was all off loaded and spread through the house. Once DH saw it he told him to take it back and that's when the song and dance started - No one has longer lengths, I called all the mills around here, it's going to be beautiful once it's down and finished blah blah blah. No, take it back, not what we ordered and we're not paying premium for long lengths and then taking this. More song and dance - but the crew has already left, I'll have to see when they can come back, they'll charge me a restocking fee, I'm just a small business owner blah blah blah. After they picked it up the installer asks ME to pay the restocking fee! I said no, I'd CONSIDER splitting it with him after we get the right flooring, installed and finished. Meantime, DH called his old flooring supplier in Chicago, they sent us pics of the bundles showing the lengths, we placed the order and it would get freighted to us in 3 - 4 days which sets us back for the kitchen install but should be ok. I ask installer if his schedule will be clear for install at that time and he says he'd rather not do it now. OK, jerk, good bye. Then I get an email from him with a copy of the bill for restocking fee saying he'd appreciate me paying any portion of it!!! Seriously? Then my portion is 0.0%

And that's only part of the story - it just keeps going and going....

Welcome to the world of building. Have I mentioned I'm never doing this again? The house is going to be fabulous but it is coming at such a huge cost to my DH - if I'd known then what I know now.....

Yes I'm starting to feel the same way DLM. I'm sorry to hear about your latest hiccup. Call me anytime to commiserate.

rmverb: What a beautiful kitchen! Looks like my "dream kitchen"...

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and that the New Year hastens progress while discarding 2016 road blocks, making your dreams come true.

Am excited for everyone and love seeing the progress of others. Happy New Year!