@nhb22 He did grout first but because grout could soak up water, I guess, anything with a straight line gets the c too. I hope I do not regret using a value tile from HomeDepot. We have a similar bathroom in the basement, not sure what look I want for that one but need to decide pretty quick. I've made sacrifices for my husband on a few things as well. I made it very clear that the master bath was non-negotiable 😂 He got his tile in the kids bathroom, I love it too, just not the style I wanted in the master bathroom. What will happen if your guy doesn't finish by the 30th, does he have someone to take over the job?

@Brandie May your bathroom is gorgeous. We used a real marble tile from Lowe’s on our shower walls and tub surround in our current home renovation and a marble one from Home Depot on our floor and it’s 3 years in now and still looks beautiful. I’ve considered trying to get the one again for our new build. Would be a fair bit cheaper than any marble the tile store seems to have.

@nhb22 I think the grouting will make a huge difference and then all the other finishes. It’s very sweet that you let your husband pick what he liked in there.

@Kat, Our builder told us last night that he did talk to the alternate framer, who does want to do the job. He's going to work up the numbers on a bid tomorrow and is approximately two weeks out. However, with the 4th of July in there and people maybe taking vacation, I am not counting on it being sooner than three weeks. Still, better than 7-8!

Like you, I was delighted and amazed to see lumber close below $800 yesterday. So funny, when it was on the way up last , I thought upper $700s was insane, but now it seems cheap!🤣

@Emily I definitely understand that building even in 6-8 months is incredibly fortunate! I'm glad the new framer is wanting to do the job! And I agree, hopefully the price of lumber going down a smidge will bring your quote down!

@Kat Our builder kind of does both I guess? We live in a small village, and this builder has done a majority of the subdivisions here in the last 20 years. They have a "standard" that each house comes with, and floorplans online to choose from, but they also allow you to make any changes. So we will have a floor plan that the builder has never built before, and we will also be picking our own lighting, tiles, flooring, appliances, doors, etc. They are building I think 9 homes right now, each at a different stage of development, so you are right that they can probably keep them busy enough to move along. He said the foundation/basement is usually where there is any delay. We will likely choose most of our finishes from either the builders suppliers, or like a Lowes/HD, both for convenience of being able to see product in person and also price. So these are kind of "builders grade" even though we get to custom pick the finish. Does that make sense?

@Brandie May that bathroom is gorgeous, and so bright! I love it. My husband has been pretty "whatever you want" for all of it, although he has mentioned that some of the things I like are ugly to him 🤷 haha

Brandie May - gorgeous bathroom! Your tile guy is a keeper!!! I wish we had had him!

Brandie May - That's interesting about the sanding chalk and straight lines. I am going to ask my guy if he used it in the corners along with grout. He says that our grout is waterproof, Plus he uses the waterproof backer board and some type of rubberized looking raspberry stuff rolled on the walls before the grout.

Good question about him retiring and not being finished. I think he can go out on his own to finish the job. He has worked for a company as the #2 guy for many years. I did ask him about the kitchen backsplash and he said that he would not come back for that, but that he brother could do it.

Kat and Brandie May - My daughter has the tile from Lowe's. It looks great! We just went with a tile and granite store because of the convenience. They do everything! Probably could have saved a ton had we gone out on-our-own.

I picked out the tile for the rest of the house, but he approved. And when the B&W tile for an upstairs bathroom was on back order, it was he that came up with the substitute. I will show all when bathrooms are completely finished. May be several months. LOL.

Great news Emily!

Rachel - Sounds like you have a good builder! I wish mine was a little faster. He said one year (which will be the end of July/early August from when we started digging.) We are thinking at least the end of September before we are finished. The contract says 12-18 months because of possible COVID complications. He is finishing up the landscape on one house, and has started two giant houses (10,000 and 15,000 sq.ft.) I think he wants to get us finished because our house is 30 minutes away from his other two. Lot's of traveling I-26 a few times a week. We are sick of it, also!

@Brandie May, Like others have said, your bath is gorgeous! I would be a little nervous about shiny tile on the floor with the possibility of wet feet, but as long as you are planning to use throw rugs, it should be okay. Very pretty.

@Sherryl, I love how your wood and tile floors interface with no thresholds. I talked to our builder a long time back about doing that, but I will have to remind him when we get closer to that point.

We are in the process of revisiting all our appliance selections. We made our choices last summer, and of course models have changed and some are no longer available. Plus, personnel has changed at the supplier our builder usually used, so now he is suggesting we go to a different place, which is fine with us, as we've used the second place twice on previous builds, and they have always been good and competitively priced, plus can get most brands. I've been looking at range hoods for a couple of hours online and am exhausted. Who knew how many options there were?!

@Rachel sounds like you will have lots of options. Nice your builder is so flexible. Our builder has preferred vendors, but will allow us to go anywhere we want if there is a need.

For cost savings on my marble for shower walls and bathroom floors some of it is coming from the Stonecenter online. I ordered samples and read reviews and seems most have a good experience with them. We used a lot of Lowes and HD for our renovations in our current home and they have been great too.

@Emily I know it's crazy how 800 seems an amazing number after that 1700 scare for a few days. I'm gald the other framer is wanting to work with you. Much better than 7-8 weeks.

Normally we stop by the house almost nightly to see progress…. we are on vacation for a week so it will ve very exciting to see the progress once we return home!!!

@Sherryl - I love your tile and your internal door behind it. Will you please share the door maker and style name? The sticking inside the panel is just what I want!

Karen - are you wanting to know what the white with blue hex tile is? We used the all white Daltile hex - see crop of the selection sheet, and bought some blue, one of their other colors. I picked out the tiles I wanted replaced with blue hex ones, so they just bought a little of it. I also used the same color but in square for the niche — see photo.

Here is also the selection sheet for the doors as well. You can see the name, but I don’t know the brand. They were not even upgrades (except for the solid ones)! I went to the builder’s supplier in Houston during the pandemic and saw they had these, which are not an upgrade(!), although our builder didn’t have it in their options, for some reason. Score!

@karen we are using the same door profile as @sherryl. Ours are made by Masonite and they are the Riverside 5 panel.

We have officially finished painting the exterior and hung the exterior lights! Hardwood is installed, hvac is running and we have started electrical top out and trim! We have a very busy schedule over the next month if we want to be done before school starts. Our hardwood guy said he is on vacation starting Aug 6th, so we have to stay on top of everyone to make sure he can come finish the floors before that.

We also stocked our pond for the first time! We went to the fish truck (I joked with DH that it is kind of like a taco truck but for rednecks, lol) you walk up and tell them how many fish you want. Then they put them in 13 gallon trash bags and hand them off just like the pet store! We got 50 catfish and 100 bluegill!

@jbethjoy Haha your fish truck story made me laugh. We also need to restock our lake. Our trim went fast in my opinion. Hopefully your team works quick too.

jbethjoy and Brandie May - One thing that we have enjoyed at our rental is the small lake. We are fascinated by the fish that come out to sun every day. I think most are carp. My grandson says that several are bluegill though I have only seen small ones. The carp are as big as a baby shark! We also have turtles, and some sort of other water creature like a Muskrat. And then there are all the Mallard ducks, geese, the white ducks, and all the off-spring. All your children are going to love the adventure of spotting, like my grandchildren do.

Jbethjoy - you make me so excited to stock our ponds!

This one is about 1/4 acre and I think it’s ready for fish. Right now we see ducks, snipes, a heron, we had a pair of geese show up and stay for a few weeks, loads of frogs (the pond is swarming with tadpoles)

@jbethjoy Looking great! You are on the last sprint of the marathon, that's awesome!

@Brandie May Beautiful bathroom. Looks VERY similar to what we are doing, a lot of white marble. Bright and elegant.

For us, subcontractors continue to be a challenge. The mason, who's very talented, is the flakiest of all. "I'll be there Monday" "Sorry, got busy...be there Friday"....then no shows or responses. So we're still waiting on him to finish the outside stone and bring the fireplace out of the roof. So frustrating.

Tile guy started on the upstairs kids bathroom, we went with a marble mosaic. My GC let it slip a while back that this particular tile guy was his 2nd best, and he was okay with him "doing the shower pans...but that's about it." In other words, he didn't' think his skill set wasn't up to par for this type of tile job. Fast forward to panic time, we need to get done, he brings him in. Well, sure enough, it was up to par. All mismatched grout lines, uneven tiles, etc. He blamed it on the tile mats they were on...but he tore it all down and cut each individual tile off of the netting and started over. It's slow. Meanwhile, we told the GC to get his #1 tile guy out there. Apparently they butt heads a lot, and he's more expensive...but we love him. He's killing it.

Upstairs girls bath:

And countertops...oh my. It's been a nightmare. We've made seven trips to the metroplex (2 hr drive, one way). We'll find one we love, it's too short (our island is 124 inches long...huge). Or we'll find another, and they only have 1 or 2 slabs (we need three). We'll find another, they are all on hold...or...it's too fragile...or...it's marble...etc. With the surge in building, the demand is still unbelievably high while supply is still constrained. The wholesalers are having a harder time getting product. It's been really exhausting. I also don't like the ambiguity of pricing. You go to one wholesale place, "We grade from levels 1 to 7, plus exotic and super exotic". Then you go somewhere else, and they go from 1-5. Pricing? It depends on your fabricator...you ask you fabricator, and they say it depends on your GC. Ugh. Anyway, on our 7th trip we finally found the one. Silver maucabus quartzite. This should be island, kitchen countertops and backsplash, and outdoor kitchen.

For the bathroom, guest, and powder room, a marble that knocked our socks off (calacatta michelangelo)

Painters started this week, caulking and caulking some more. Poor guys. Finally ready to see this brown paper sack transformed into a beautiful white.

@Brandie May that bathroom is lovely. I have no idea what I am going to do in the shower and guest bathtub.

Yesterday DH installed the first exterior light. This is the front door, it took him awhile to figure out how to do it. The hardware store guy suggested the white plastic thing behind the light, it came out pretty well I think. DH will be installing one to the left of the door as well and one by the other 2 man sized doors. There will be 3 larger ones for the garage doors.

I may need to climb that ladder and straighten it out though. 😁

@txlab I feel you on the counter tops! I fell in love with two slabs of dolomite marble, only to find out they were reserved. What I like about them is they are brushed/Leathered, so I won't have to worry as much about etching. The fabricator said they install them all the time in the kitchen and never have any issues or complaints. Of course they couldn't get any more in with the supply shortages. The fabricator talked to the people that had it on hold and they decided to go with a polished Granite instead! I'm so excited! It's beautiful, and being Dolomite and brushed I'm hoping that we won't have any issues.

@TXLab that is frustrating about the tile, but it will be beatuful. We are planning Calcatta Gold marble for the showers/floors in the bathrooms and I admit it worries me whether our GC's tiler will be up to the task and not disappoint. It's too expensive to have it done poorly. We did Carrara here for our master bath reno and I had to have the tiler rip out a few pieces along the way, and while he probably thought I was being critical, in the end it turned out beautiful and if those couple of crooked ones had remained they would have driven me crazy. I'm glad your tiler is now taking his time for you this time. I'd take slow over done poorly any time.

That Calacatta Michelangelo is really breath taking.

We are many many months away from needing counters but I found a Calcatta Vagli and an Imperial Danby local that I love and we just paid the deposits on last week and they are being taken to our fabricator. Hopefully he sees no issues with them and then puts them aside safely until they are needed.

@jbethjoy I'm happy for you that the dolomite worked out for you. That's awesome! Your exterior paint looks beautiful. Definitely keeping Pure White as a top choice.

Got the old upper cabinets refinished and hung. Took a week of stripping, deglossing, painting and polishing the old hardware! Funny they fit perfectly over the workbench my husband handmade with left-over building scraps.

(Kinda wish he wouldve made the lower cupboard doors the same stained wood color but the garage is outside of my jurisdiction!) At least I got to pick the color of the uppers out.

Lucky guy to have such a nice workshop! Looks great!

Just got an update from my appliance store, everything is in except for the vent hood extension and the refrigerator. Don't know why an extra piece of stainless steel should take so long as it was ordered at the start of February, (let me think, oh yeah... the pandemic) but we knew the Whirlpool fridge would be on back order. Still plenty of time for that to show up, and if it's late, well, there's the old harvest gold fridge in the pole barn..... 😉

@K H you did a wonderful job on those cabinets.

@Buzz Solo in northeast MI so glad most of your appliances are in. Hopefully the other pieces will show up soon.

I was surprised today when my husband text me after driving by the lot on his way to work that lumber (aka gold) is on site. But was even more surprised when I went for a walk and the framers were on site. We had two hours of heavy rain mid morning so I assumed they had left, but no, they waited it out and made some pretty good progress.

Sunset out our sunroom window.

@Kat, I am so envious! Happy for you, though. I can't wait until I can make a similar post!🙏

Kat - Isn't that so exciting to walk onto the floor in your house and see some walls!!! 😀

@Kat that will be a wonderful place to relax when you are finished building. Can you share your house elevation? It is always so much fun to see the homes take shape but sometimes I forget who is building what!

@TXLab cant wait to see your exterior painted. Your home is so pretty.

Polyurea coating is an effective method to waterproof the building or facility; it will help in reducing maintenance costs.

@Emily Thank you and I hope you are making a similar post very soon too.

@nhb22 it was very exciting. I can't wait for sheathing and a roof. At least then when it's slow going, as I know it will be, I can still walk around and visualize what will be. With just the foundation work it has still been kind of hard. It was nice to see the sunroom wouldn't be as small as it seemed with just the foundation

@K H Sure here they are. I don't know if there's a way to upload PDF's so here is a screenshot of them...

Here's also some 3D renderings we had made on Fiver. The front has changed a bit since they were done, because the porch and upper bedroom on left no longer recess as much and she didn't get the trim right on it, but it was just to give a general idea and for the price I won't complain...haha.

@Kat That is gorgeous! To me, it doesn't get anymore exciting than first day of framing. I can't wait to see it as it progresses. Great job on the design.

Kat - That's huge! Not at all what I was expecting after seeing some of your lot. I guess I did not realize that it was a corner lot. Going to be beautiful!

Hoping some of you guys can shed some light on couch materials as I’m sure many of us are furniture shopping. I need a sectional and in the past I've always bought something on the cheaper end as I have 3 young kids but I don’t want to do that again. I like cloth but I’m afraid my kids will ruin it. I’m leaning towards leather or even faux leather as I’ve heard it holds up better ove time. What is everyone else buying with small kids?

@Kat, Wow, your house is gorgeous -- and huge! I am hoping that since we're building such a small place, the various stages will go faster. However, it's still getting the subs and materials that will make ours take just as long as anyone else's, no matter the size!

@haylo33 We bought a sectional 16 years ago when we had 4 preschool/elementary aged children. We spent way more $ than DH wanted on the recommendation of our interior designer; I believe it was a chenille type fabric, scotchguarded. We had to get the sectional reupholstered after about 10 years due to stains. It's currently a microsuede fabric, and it's held up better to stains, but the arms have rubbed down and it could frankly stand to be reupholstered again. We probably won't bother, though, as it's going into the upstairs loft area of our new home and the only people who will ever really see it are the 4 (adults now and out of the house) who ruined it in the first place! All of that is to say that spending more $ on a sectional might not make it bulletproof to kids, but it'll get you the solid bones and guts that will hold up over time, and you'll just need to reupholster it.

We also have a 10-year old leather couch that sees less use, but has held up really well and still looks almost new--that one will be going on our main floor of the new house. I would NOT get faux leather. Any faux or bonded leather furniture I've purchased in the past has ultimately started to peel, whether it is used regularly or not. And once it starts to peel, it's over; nothing will stop it and it looks hideous.

I've also heard good things about crypton fabric as being very stain resistant--you might want to look into that as well.

@haylo33 I would not get faux leather, my 2 yo drove a car over ours and it started pealing. I've heard great things about Lovesac, most of their covers are washable and the frame had a lifetime warranty. Whatever you decide, you will want to order it soon because some manufacturers have 6 - 9 month waits right now.

@haylo33, You might want to check out Joybird (.com). They have a huge variety of fabrics, and they rate some as being kid- and pet-friendly (and proof!) You can order a swatch kit from them (I did). Some really nice choices and tons of sectional designs and sizes. They aren't inexpensive but they often have 30% of everything sales. I'm not sure if we'll order from them or not, since we live in North Carolina where so much furniture is made and will probably try to buy locally, but they get great reviews.

haylo33 - The last time we ordered sofas, my husband wanted to go darker because the grandchildren were starting to destroy our cream colored sofa. I was against it, but relented. Boy am I ever glad!!! We did not go cheap, but our sofas are not all that expensive, either. They are made by Smith Brothers out of NC. We have always purchased a tweed type of fabric as we think it holds up very well. We did have them stain treated, which I highly recommend! Stains either do not show, or wipe up fine. Grandson got sunscreen on a cushion just this last weekend. I got it right up. Get 8-way hand-tied. Very good springs!

Grandson practicing his diving skills. 😁

My daughter and SIL (it was his before marriage) had the faux leather couches and they deteriorated very fast...especially after the children. They replaced the faux leather with a thick cotton type of material that has held up, but after two years it looks terrible. Stains badly!

I love our sectional. The brand is England. I would say it is kind of a light coffee color, tweed material. I also have three kids and a husband that doesn't always wash up from working on the farm and it still looks like new after a year!

@haylo33 I will echo what everyone else has said.....that bonded leather is just awful. Our sectional is only a few years old, and it is peeling on every single cushion, and it has been a challenge to find a way to make it look decent. Next time I am definitely getting something that can be stain treated. @Emily I am going to bookmark that website as well, thank you!

@Rachel i also have a bonded leather couch that is peeling badly. My poor husband always has black chunks on his neck after sitting on it🤣. I don’t even think they sell the bonded anymore. We were considering the really fake stuff. I took the recommendation of @Emily and checked out Joybird and their stuff looks amazing. I’m now deciding between Joybird and a similar company, Burrow. Leaning towards Burrow as it is 100% made in America and can be cleaned with diluted bleach!

@haylo33 oh I didn't even know that! I love the sofa, and it's still in great shape otherwise, so I hate trashing it! But it definitely won't fit in with the vision I have for the new place.... Peeling or otherwise😂 I'll check out Burrow too, thanks!

@haylo33, Thanks for the recommendation of Burrow -- I had not heard of them, but after reading this review on CNN (Burrows Couch in a Box Review), I'm impressed. I'll definitely check out their site and give them strong consideration.

ETA: I like them -- what a neat concept! They have very few fabric choices compared to Joybird, which has MANY, but in some ways, that is a plus, since I quickly became overwhelmed looking through 40+ swatches I got from Joybird. Analysis paralysis, for sure! I've just now ordered a swatch kit for Burrow, and even though there are only five to choose from, since I wouldn't want leather or velvet, that might be enough.

:( We still are just a hole in the ground. Looking forward to posting something in July!

@Emily yes, they definitely have a smaller selection. Burrow was several hundred dollars cheaper and seem to be shipping faster. Thanks for the article! Makes me feel better about my purchase

We were so excited. We could see the finish line. A July 2nd settlement was looking possible until the builder learned that the surveyor never sent the final survey to the township for final approval of the subdivision of our property. Now we have no idea how long this will take so our finished house will sit empty. I just can’t believe after all of this, we’re waiting for something that was supposed to be handled weeks ago. My oldest daughter moves to another city next weekend so she won’t have the opportunity to move into her room. My patience is lost at this point. Writing another check for our temporary rental to extend the lease was like rubbing salt in the wound.

Tanya Shelly - I feel for you! So sorry that this is happening. There really is no excuse!

We approached our builder yesterday about finish date. We were thinking the middle of September. I wanted to make sure that we were in by the end of September because I have a Disney trip planned with my daughter and grandchildren (their first trip) the middle of October. The builder said that we could push for the end of September, but it would most likely be the end of October. DH thinks if we let him say October, that it will be November! 😫 That means more rent, insurance for two places, utilities for two places, etc. Thankfully, we are not paying storage fees. Though our storage in the rental is getting tight. Can't wait to turn over our lighting to the electrician, but that's not happening anytime soon.

We are still waiting on humidity levels to go down in the house before floors can be put down. The HVAC is running on 60 because the house is so tight, it was already cool, so was not cycling. That's good for future, but not when trying to get the H down.

Cabinets are supposed to be delivered in 2 weeks. We cannot take delivery if the floors are not down (install is for the 26th.) The trimmers are stilled delayed and will now have to do the coffered ceilings after the cabinets are placed. The tiler cannot finish because the trim is not in the bathrooms, nor are the doors (which can't happen until the floors are down. It's a cycle!!!

Driveways and porches were supposed to be poured two weeks ago. The back porch was pour yesterday (still needing finish work.) With the prediction of rain/thunderstorms today, and Monday being a holiday, they will not come back until next Tuesday to do the front porch. Driveways suppose to be next Wednesday.

The silver linings, that I can see in this whole thing, are that it shouldn't be hot as Hades when we move. I cannot imagine trying to move in this heat! I can probably go to Disney easier before we move in, but afraid I will miss out on house decisions and catching mistakes. DH will stay behind and keep me informed. Thank goodness for Facetime!!! There are worse problems in the world so I hate to sound down over a newly built house. We are so fortunate!

@haylo33, Did you already order from Burrow? If so, which sectional and color did you choose? I look forward to hearing how you like it, so please post here again when it arrives!

@nhb22, That really stinks, but I totally empathize. The woman we are renting from has let us extend our stay over and over. We really thought we would be in our new house this spring, then fall, then by the end of the year, and now it's looking like maybe March of next year?! Very frustrating, but what can you do? Like you say, there are many worse problems to have. We are so fortunate to be able to build a nice house.

@Tanya Shelly, I don't blame you for being frustrated. That kind of an error should not have happened. Seems like the Surveyor should pay your additional expenses having to extend your move-in date!

@Emily yes, I ordered. I got the Nomad 6-Seat Corner Sectional in charcoal. I hope it is big enough but the good news is that it appears like you can just order an extra seat and attach it later

@haylo33, Super! Very excited for you. How long did they say until it's delivered? I love that it is modular, and like you say, you can add another seat later because of the way they latch together. Once our house is a little further along, I am going to measure and decide between the regular Nomad sectional sofa and the king sectional, which has one more seat. I can't wait to get my swatches. The only color that is a hard "no" for me is Ivory, but all the others are possibilities. I have plenty of time to decide. Here's another nice review I found just now, in case you haven't seen it: Burrow Nomad Sofa Review.

@Emily great review, thanks. It will ship in 6-8 weeks. I can’t wait!

Here is the new thread for July!

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6143929/july-2021-building-a-home