Two Easy Steps to Laying Foundation: 1. Dig Hole 2. Fill Hole

Over the past couple of weeks we have been patiently watching the excavation of our garage progress.  As these photos document, the workers steadily, in a two steps forward, one step backwards manner, dug a seven foot deep hole.  On April 21st they stopped moving dirt from one corner of our property to another excavating.

Yesterday, after lunch Jordan waited patiently until I had returned to work and then snuck over to the property to get a sneak peek of the progress went to check out the progress.  Much to his pleasure, the forms for the foundation were being set up!  Then, in order to not "ruin" the surprise for me, he simply told me that he was excited about the progress being made on our lot and made me wait until after work to see the progress for myself.  After work, I ran home to grab my camera and then went straight to the property to see the progress for myself.

With so much progress being made, we could not resist the temptation to stop by during lunch  today to see what was going on.  It turns out that after excavating a hole, the next step is to fill the hole back up with sand.  I cannot wait to see what happens next.

P.S. The past 24 hours have been rough for our family.  Yesterday, Chance, our rat terrier, lost his battle with cancer.  He would have been 13 on May 1st.  Chance was a wonderful dog.   He was an amazing scavenger.  Without fail, he could find a biscuit or a hot dog on a walk through the neighborhood.  He was like our neighborhood clean-up committee.  He also knew when it was time to go get ice cream or go on a walk, and would make sure that no one forgot.  He always knew when I was sad, and would do everything he could to cheer me up. Finally, he could chase squirrels with the best of them.  So well in fact, that most of the squirrels in the park across the street have relocated.  Chance lived a good life, but he will be missed.

Then, Maggie, our 6-pounds of vigor, ate some rat poisoning yesterday.  She is currently at the vet and they are trying to control the bleeding.  My mom is in the process of finding out what kind of rat poisoning was used, so the vet can give her the correct antidote.  She's a feisty little thing.  She has no problem chasing deer off our of property or bossing the bigger dogs around.  Hopefully, she can beat a little rat poisoning too. If you could say a little prayer for her (and my mom), we would greatly appreciate it.

UPDATE:  After spending six days at the vet, Maggie got to go home!  I am told that she is still not herself, but is continuing to improve.  Thank you for all your prayers.

Backhoes Galore

After our meeting with Tony we could not stay away from the property too long.  After all, they were beginning to do physical work!  Once the hole is complete, they will pour concrete to frame up the hole. Here is a chronological look of the digging.

April 7, 2010

April 9, 2010

April 13, 2010

April 16, 2010

April 21, 2010

Time Lapse

The timing could not have been better.  The day I posted the street and aerial views of our property, I went to lunch with a friend who has connections, or a least access to a large database of photos.  As a surprise, she had printed off aerial photos of our neighborhood dating back to the 1950s. 

1952

1973

1981

1995

2005

As you can see, not much has changed over the last 60 years.  I can only imagine how much the view will change over the next 60 years.

Sometimes Technology Cannot Keep Up With Technology

I love Google maps.  It's fun to look at the massive houses along Lake Austin, or even shop for houses.     I can see where I am going before I even leave.  If you look closely, you can even find Norwegian scuba men chasing the Google van.

All these great images are captured as satellites roam above the earth.  Typically, the exterior of a building does not change dramatically over time, so the time lapse is not a big deal.  Other times, this great technology has a hard time keeping up with itself and real life.

Compare the satellite view and the street view of our neighborhood.  Notice anything missing?  That's right, a few of the houses were built between the time the street view photos were taken and the satellite view was captured.  All but one of those lots pictured have completed or almost completed homes on them.

Of course Microsoft tries hard not to fall behind the curve.  They have introduced a bird's eye view.  Which, I must admit is pretty cool.  However, take a look at Bing's bird's eye view for our neighborhood.  The red pin is our house.  This photo is several years old.

Building Permits

The permit process hopes to stop Cathedrals of Junk popping up all over the city.  As artistic as this pile of junk may be, I doubt it has increased the property value of the neighborhood.  Or worse, city inspectors may come in and require you to comply with building standards or tear it down.

For over a month, one of the things we have been told was that the builder is working on pulling the appropriate permits for our home. This got me thinking: What permits are needed?  How long does it take to get a permit? 

According to the City of Austin: A permit is required to erect, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, improve, remove, convert, move, or demolish any building or structure within the City’s zoning jurisdiction. Generally, cosmetic work to a house does not require a permit such as painting or carpeting. Replacing shingles on a roof for a house does not require a permit unless the decking is replaced. A 6-foot privacy fence does not require a permit. Swimming pools require a building permit. Separate permits are required for plumbing, mechanical (air conditioning and heating), and electrical work.

I am generally amazed by the shear amount of information available online.  Again, the City of Austin did not disappoint.  I did a search for our property online and magically, all the permit applications, active permits, and pending permits appear.

It turns out there are a lot of permits required to build a new home.  I am not even going to pretend to be an expert on permits, but it looks like there are permits for the overall project, water, waste water, electrical, plumbing, driveway and sidewalk, and several other permits. 

The costs of each permit ranges from $7.50 to $1,800 for the waste water permit.  The initial permit application for our home was submitted on March 2nd and approved March 14th.  After the initial permit was approved, subsequent permit applications were submitted.  Some of those permits are still pending.

The report also shows the date inspections are scheduled, the number of attempts to earn approval, and the contact information for the person in charge of the inspection.  I imagine that this could come in handy down the road.

Red Line Meeting

Our meeting with Tony yesterday was the "Red Line Meeting".  Or, the closest thing to a ground breaking ceremony we will have.  Apparently, large scissors are hard to find.  Instead of cutting ribbon, we went back to the model home and reviewed all our of selections.  

The lot is sloped, so we will have a dropped garage.  From the outside, our house will look like it has three stories above the garage.  In reality, the garage will just have sixteen foot ceilings and the windows above the garage will actually be in the garage itself.  Jordan is already plotting ways to use the additional space in our his already massive garage/workshop area.

He also showed us the plat layout with our house sitting on our lot.  The house will sit on the right side of the lot, so we will have plenty of yard on the left side of the house.

Then, he took us out to the lot where he showed up where the corners of our house will be.  The front two orange stakes represent the front corners of the house.  Then you can see the back left stake and the back right stake is under the large pile of dirt.  The back line is where the patio ends, so the back of the house is inside the rear stakes.  I have overlaid orange lines to help you visualize the house.

Then, I asked Tony the question all builders dread:  when will our house be completed.  They are still shooting for July, which is a relief considering all the delays we have already encountered.

Since there was no red ribbon, over-sized scissors, hard hats, nor film crews, we must settle with a photo of me in front of the "sold" sign.

Timeline:  Crews were on site removing the large dirt pile.  Once that is gone, someone will spray paint an orange line indicating where our house will sit.  The next step is to dig a hole.  The same crew that is working on the house behind me in the above picture (see the back hoe behind me) will move over to our place.

The Call We Have Been Waiting For

For weeks now we have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for a call from Tony (last name unknown), our builder.  As each deadline for him to call approached, we would carefully ensure that one of us was near our phones at all times.  The last deadline (Monday) had just passed.  Our sales agent has instructed me to text her today if I had not heard from Tony.  

This morning I was in the shower when I hear Jordan scream "crap" and come running into the bathroom.  My first thought -- someone stole his motorcycle.  I was wrong, it was something much worse.  He had MISSED a phone call from Tony, the elusive builder with no last name or phone number.  It turns out that Tony is not another Cher, Elvis, Madonna, or Lindsay (Lohan).  He does have a last name and even a phone number, which he left in his voicemail.

So, Jordan promptly called him back.  We have a meeting with him today at 2:00 p.m.

OH -- Jordan checked -- his motorcycle is still there.

Strung Along

I'm beginning to feel like I am being taken for a ride.  We signed a contact to build our house back in January.  At that time we were told that we would need to go to two design meetings to finalize our option selections.  On February 5th we attended our first of these meetings.  At this meeting the design representative could not tell us all the prices, so she submitted a price request.  Not wanting to make a decision prior to knowing the cost, we waiting until we had the prices in hand before our second (and final design meeting).  Initially, we were told that we would have the prices the next business day.  After many phone calls and emails, we scheduled our second meeting in hopes that that would encourage them to get the prices for us.  It worked, we finally had our price request two weeks after our initial design meeting and just in time for our final design meeting on February 22nd.  

During our final design meeting we were told that our packet would be submitted to corporate, the appropriate permits would be acquired and we could expect to break ground in about a month.  We were told that a man named Tony would be managing the construction and he would meet with us to do a final walk-through on the property.  While I acknowledge that February is a short month, the approximate deadline of March 22nd came and went.  During that month the only thing we heard from the builders came through our bank account.  Our check for the additional design elements had been deposited.  Anxious to get things started, I called the sales rep.  In an effort to not be an overly annoying client, I apologized for bothering her, but inquired about the status of our house.  Much to my surprise, on March 24th I learned that they would break ground by the end of the month.  We found this slightly difficult to believe, but were nonetheless excited by the news.

On March 31st, we patiently waited by the phone for Tony to call.  By 4:30 p.m. I was tired of waiting, so again, I begrudgingly called Linda, our sales rep.  Linda told me that Tony had our packet, but he was busy with the transition, since she had sold the last house in the community a few weeks back.  She told me that Tony had three houses, including ours, ready for the final meeting and she felt confident that we would hear from him by Monday.  She asked me to call her on Tuesday if we had not heard from her.  She also told me that she is moving into a Meritage home -- just like ours.  Of course, her's is an inventory home, so she will be moving many months before us.

I am beginning to feel like we are just being told what Linda thinks we want to hear and that if she can get us off her back for a week at a time - great.  What I really want to be told is the truth and for her to properly manage my expectations.

We do not have Tony's phone number, otherwise I would have called him a long time ago (probably the reason we do not have it).  So, what are my options?  Do we continue to wait for the next deadline to come and go?  Is there someone else I can call?