Week 1 - Day 2: The Gravel Trucks are Delayed

Yesterday the base was put in, and today was
all about dropping gravel and rolling it in. Right?
Well, they showed up at the job site this morning to find this:

That's right. Paving RIGHT IN FRONT of the driveway. The gravel trucks aren't allowed to come for the rest of the week! So, long story short, Ron and Ken had to find some other work to do till the road is done. And boy did they find it!

First they rollered what was there:

Then they yanked the final few trees along where the driveway needed to go...

Then they went to work up top! That upper part of the driveway was in dire need of fill to help it be a reasonable height:

So Ken put the excavator to work clearing off the topsoil
and taking some clay to fill in on the driveway:

Oh - and you see that apple tree in the background to the right of the excavator in the above picture? Use that as a reference and see how much has changed in a day and a half:

And...from the apple tree's perspective:

Finally, a shot up the mostly-done driveway.
We have been told that it's a 13% grade.

Week 1, Day 1b: The Clock Starts

Even though we officially broke ground on Saturday, today marks the day the clock really starts. Ron came over on Saturday to get a head start by himself, but today more of his crew showed up, and they brought an excavator with them. Lots of work on the driveway.

Pic 1: First, here's a shot standing on the edge of the road,

looking up the driveway. A 13 degree grade!

Pic 2: They're really cutting down deep to minimize the driveway grade.

Pic 3: Here's a shot up the driveway from the spot
where the bulldozer is in pic 1 above.

Pic 4: Looking down the driveway from up top...

And of course, this is the week that the county chose to repave our road!
(picture taken standing at the edge of our driveway)

Week 1, Day 1: Ground Breaking

We broke ground today!! Woo hoo! The Blackthorn Ridge project has finally started! Ron came over today and started popping out stumps, and moving dirt to create the driveway.

Gigi wanted to take pictures too with our little camera. It took me a few shots to realize she wanted to take pictures of the mud, not the bulldozer!

Popping out one of many, many stumps.

The beginnings of what will eventually be a VERY large stump pile.

Looking down our driveway, towards the road.

Schedule

So we have approval, what's next?

We are scheduled to break ground on Monday 10/12. From there, it will be about 3.5 months to complete the house.

1 week for Initial Site work, excavation, and driveway.
2 weeks for Water service, sewer lateral, electric and electric secondary, basement excavation, basement walls
1 month for Rough Framing, Beams& Sheathed roofing complete Most windows and exterior doors
1 month for Rough Plumbing & HVAC, Rough Electrical, Insulation, Drywall/Sheet Rock Installed, taped and walls primed. Exterior Siding.
3 weeks for Concrete Basement Floor, Interior Doors & Trim installed, Cabinets Installed. Painting and flooring.
3 weeks for Electrical fixtures, counter tops, carpeting, finish plumbing, final rough grade, gutters. Certificate of Occupancy complete.

MOVE IN!

Throw in a slow down for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I'm estimating we should be moving around Valentine's Day.

Slight delay

We've had a bit of a delay due to acquiring financing. All is well, and we're back on track!

This time we really WILL break ground in the next week or two!

Stay tuned! Things are about to get exciting!

Punch Out!

We started with completely wooded acreage all the way to the road. Tim and Jim just kept cutting and chopping until finally we had PUNCH OUT!

We can see the hole through the woods for the driveway!

The town came in to put the culvert pipe into place.

The start of our driveway! Woo hoo!

Our "view" as we come out of our driveway.

On your mark, Get set...

... I think "Go!" will happen next week.

We received our street address today! So giddy! Technically we could notify the post office, pop up a mail box, and start receiving mail at OUR residence! Er... almost residence.

Other notable highlights:

- We have electric and gas accounts

- The driveway is completely laid out all the way to the road

- The quote is expected to be complete today and is UNDER budget

- The surveyor arrives on Monday to lay out the house and garage

- The site work (pushing out stumps and grading) starts next week!

- The kitchen design is almost complete.

We have a lovely little sign at the road front touting the names of our Builders and the street number!