What a difference a day makes

No more piles of dirt and mud! Zach worked hard all day to tidy up and backfill around the foundation. The garage is ready for concrete and now we can park next to our existing house. Merchen and Reed brought some extra rock on super short notice (thank you, JB!) to help finish things up. Framing will begin later this week.

Little by little...

Zach was back last week to dig the trench for our power, to install the downspouts and to do some more excavation, including removal of a large stump. Today he will be here to backfill around the foundation. No more muddy mounds! 

Later this week, HiLine is scheduled to begin framing out the floors.

Our estimated completion date is September 16, but typical HiLine builds have been finishing much faster.

And we have concrete

The concrete trucks finally arrived and these guys stayed until the footings and stem walls were complete. Zach will be here Friday to dig some trenches and again on Monday to backfill. 

Progress!

So, Todd from HiLine came and staked out the house last Friday. A work crew showed up yesterday to put up the forms and was back this morning to finish up and wait on an inspector so they could start pouring foundation. So they waited, and waited and waited...finally got the OK to proceed! The crew ordered the cement truck. And waited. Still waiting...

Action!

Things are happening! Zach Daily of Daily and Sons Excavation (www.dailyandsons.com) did a great job carving out the house pad. By this time next week, we should have a poured foundation. Things are clicking right along. Keeping with the timeline, the house should be completed by the end of August, with many a decision and experience between now and then!

Lauren and Katie are in 'Lauren's Room'.

Permits are here!!

Meeting with Todd (w/ hiline) and Zach (excavator) next Tuesday (4/15) to stake out the house and cut the house pad. Foundation pour soon to follow. Yay!

So, where were we...?

We received our plans from HiLine about the 20th. I took them to Dept. Of State Building codes ready to apply for our permits! Uh...not so fast...We needed an approval from DEQ to apply for state building permits. We had a site evaluation scheduled for March 27th. And so we waited...some more. We had been assured by several HiLine sources that we did not need DEQ approval to proceed with building codes. Live and learn-a lot!

Fast forward to Monday, March 31st, we got the go ahead from DEQ. I drove back to the Department of State Build Codes and handed the plans, approvals, and money (it will be approx. $1500 total) to finally apply for our building permits. Megan at DSBC was cheerful, and knowledgable. Thanks to her, that part was nearly painless!

It was nice to feel like things were finally clicking along! And then a phone call from Geri (a perfectly lovely, helpful woman) at DEQ...our new septic system would have to be pressurized (+$3000) and we would have to get a service agreement with a maintenance company (+$334/yr).

I had a very informative conversation about septic systems and more with Joel at Econo Rooter in Coquille. Very nice guy!

With all our bumps and detours, we have met some great people who do their jobs well. So, there's that!

Megan with DSBC says we could have our permits as early as next week.

And so our journey continues!