Say what you mean; Mean what you say...

It's an age old adage, but holds a lot of merit when it comes to communication, or should I say, efficient communication. 

We got an email this afternoon from Dave Box (Superior Walls of NC) in response to me questioning why we haven't heard anything on the wall delivery schedule yet.  After all, when we met two weeks ago, I was under the impression that the walls would be delivered and set up by this Friday.  I asked several times even.  Each time he told us it would be about 10 days (and I even gave him the weekends, knowing they wouldn't be working).  So 10 days is Friday, May 4th .... So why am I now reading (only after prying) that the walls are not even scheduled to be delivered until May 16th?!?  Ummm, either say what you mean (... walls will be installed a month from now....) or mean what you say, and get those walls in on time.  After all it's just good business advice...

Waiting on the walls

Last Friday, Jeffrey and myself, along with Bracy Perry, and both Gates County Building inspectors met on the lot to meet with Dave Box.  Dave is the salesman for Superior Walls of NC, and was coming out to check on our building site as well as to answer any questions we may have pertaining to anything to do with his walls.  I think because this concept is so new and unfamiliar in Gates County, we will run into a lot of questions along the way, but hopefully everybody is on the same page now!  As far as the building site, everything looks like it's a go, and now we're just waiting on the walls to be made and trucked in sometime next week.  Meanwhile, here are a couple of shots taken this past weekend as we finished up with the crushed stone perimeter.

Josie doesn't need any toys to keep her content; Only rocks.

And her imagination!   I've dumped more rocks and sand out of her pockets, socks and shoes than you could possibly imagine!

Our well is now in and operational (when provided electricity).  Just waiting on the inspector to clear it for drinking now!  Final inspection on the well won't be until after the house is completed and it's hooked up into the system.

Pulling the final crushed stone into place around the perimeter.

Babysittin's a hard job too!  Especially when you're dealing with a two year old who won't nap and just wants to play "bubbles"  the whole time :)

Many thanks to Chris and Kerstin for all their Love and hard work they've contributed.  Chris sat in that tractor seat all day Saturday while moving some dirt into place, getting ready for the back fill process.

Mount Turner has grown!  We now have the height right, just need to keep back filling this pile until we're ready to start putting it up against the basement walls.

All the crushed stone is in, the rain has helped to pack it, the french drain appears to be working just fine and now we're just waiting on the walls.

Jeffrey's New Toy

Since last fall, after we planted the rye and fescue, we knew that this spring and summer would be a bear to keep all the grass in the yard mowed.  After attempting a few times with mom's trusty craftsman mower, we finally broke down and ordered this.

It's a Swisher pull behind mower, meant to be pulled behind a tractor or ATV, and it's awesome. With a 66" cutting deck, and LOTS of power it has really cut down on the amount of time it takes us to mow the yard now. If we can ever get the turning radius down pat and the speed right (5mph) on the 4-wheeler, it's supposed to be able to finish mow 5 acres an hour!

My only concern now is wondering when this becomes work and not play? LOL!

Digging the Foundation

Last Friday I posted that we were finally able to close on the construction loan to start the house, and we didn't waste any time in doing so!  Actually, we had already laid off the foundation before we ever closed, but we didn't waste any time getting those shovels put to work!  That same day we started the first leg of the foundation and learned two things.  The ground was hard, and the ground was HARD.  The tractor we borrowed from our neighbor next door didn't even want to break the ground, so Jeffrey ended up starting the discharge drain while I chipped away slowing with my spade on the foundation.

 

The second day, we knew a little more what to expect and tried the tractor again for the foundation.  It was a slow process, but eventually we finally got it dug out.  When we had to take a few inches more here or there we used the garden tiller to break it up first, then we just shoveled it out.  It took about a week, off and on digging to get the trenches dug and the 4" of topsoil removed for the crushed gravel to go in.  It was hard and hot work, but I'm so happy that part is over with!

At the same time we were finishing up the digging, we went ahead and had someone from inspections out to look at the site and make sure we had everything like it was supposed to be.  Because of the scarcity of this type of building process in the county, people are confused and curious about the process, and we want the inspectors "o.k." every step of the way.  So far so good.

Yesterday was a big day.  The guys from American Well and Pump came on site to start digging the well and we had about 69 tons of #78 stone delivered for the footings to be placed on.  We started the first hour trying to shovel and wheelbarrow it in place, but thankfully another neighbor down the road let us borrow his tractor with a bucket and we were quickly able to make four truck loads of stone all but disappear!  Our next step is to finish leveling and compacting the stone, and then we'll be waiting on walls!

Tomorrow morning we are meeting on site again and will get to meet Dave Box, from Superior Walls of NC, and finally put a face with a name.  Hopefully we'll be able to sign the contract and get those basement walls ordered!  Inspections is coming out as well to ask any questions that may arise, and Bracy Perry (plumber) is also supposed to be there in case he has any questions.  It should prove for an interesting and hopefully productive meeting!

Friday the 13th - Closing Day

Although many have questioned us about closing today, we have no issues and are not superstitious!  If anything it will be a date to remember and be celebrated!  Jeffrey and I did finalize all the paperwork this morning, and received the first draw from the loan, so we are well on our way to building this dream house now. 

We spent the afternoon digging the trenches for the french drain and the pond overflow.  After we dug those, and checked the levels with the transit, we moved on to the foundation digging again.  Tomorrow we will spend a good majority of the day trying to finish digging it out.  We're still not sure how we're going to remove the 4" of topsoil, but I'm sure we'll figure something out!  At least the tractor proved to be a bit more helpful today!

We also did a little "house shopping" tonight.  We stopped by Lowes while we were in Franklin getting groceries and picked up the solid corrugated pipes and the landscaping fabric for the french drain.  The flex-drain that I had ordered off of Amazon.com was also delivered this afternoon, so that's one less thing we have to worry about now.

Progress

So here it is, April 12th 2012, and we have yet to close on our construction loan.  Tentatively, we are scheduled to meet with our closing attorny in the morning and finally finallize this thing!  We've recently been dealing with Bill Pollard, Jr. from Farmer's Bank, and he has worked hard with his loan department to get this ball rolling for us.  However, in the last few weeks, it has been awful trying to get a final date to close.  We were hearing from the paralegal that she was waiting on the bank, the bank was saying they're waiting on paperwork from the attorney, so it was a he said she said situation.  Fortunately, Jeffrey went into Gatesville yesterday afternoon and somehow came out with a date.  On top of that, they got Jennifer from Farmers Bank on the phone at the same time to find out exactly what else was needed to complete this transaction.  I'm trying real hard not to get overly excited about closing tomorrow, but it's really hard not too... After all it is Friday the 13th.... AND tomorrow will be 120 days since we first turned in the paperwork for this loan.

On an even more positive note - Jeff was able to come out yesterday morning and lay off the house!  The boys got the lines pulled tight and we put the paint on the ground yesterday afternoon.  Hopefully this afternoon we will start the digging!

So three cheers for progress, lol.