Dig Day Eve

We've been busy since our last post.  We sold our townhouse, rented a moving van, packed everything we own into storage, and moved in with our parents.  Since then we've been back and forth between both of our families.  Fun!  Fun!  Fun!!!

We closed on our land on August 7th.  Here are a few pictures.

 We were so excited when we closed on the land that we contemplated camping out and pitching a tent on the site of our future home, but then it dawned on us that the only running water, or "facilities" was the stream in the back, so we nixed that idea.  Instead, we spent an afternoon mowing and weed-wacking over an acre and using our shiny new chainsaw to chop down about a dozen trees.  After getting the chainsaw stuck in the trunk of one tree, almost downing an electric line, and getting covered in poison ivy, we decided that our day as lumberjacks was over and that we shouldn't quit our day jobs.

I had to include the sold sign.  We made it ourselves.  For sale by owner signs aren't quite as exciting as the fancy realtor ones, and we were just so excited, we had to do something.  It's simple, but I think it gets the point across.     

We've been busy at the lot clearing trees, putting in the construction driveway, removing the topsoil, and setting up the temporary electric.  We applied for all of our permits, and got everything done pretty quickly.  We were really pleased when Wayne Homes told us they were bumping up our dig date to August 29th!!!  We might be in our new home by the end of the year!  Here are some of the most recent pictures of our lot.  you can see where the house and driveway will be.

 Our temporary electric should be up and running within the week. 

 And here is a big ol' mound of topsoil.  (They had to put all that dirt somewhere.) 

Tomorrow morning we're headed to our lot bright and early because it's our DIG DAY!!!!!  I'll be sure to take some pictures and post them over the long Labor Day weekend. 

Pre Construction Meeting

Our pre-construction meeting was at the Portage, Ohio office on June 20, 2014.  Coincidentally, that was also our four year anniversary of our very first date!  Pretty cool!!!

We spent the entire day 10:00-4:30 (minus a 30 minute lunch break) going over every little detail of our home.  Turns out, our lot is perfect for a walk-out basement!  Whoop!  Whoop!!!  We confirmed all of our color choices and selections.  Some of the upgrades we felt worth the money were rough-ins for a future full bathroom with shower in the basement, upgraded cabinets and flooring, double hung windows, dimensional shingles, a stone fireplace with hearth, and extending our garage two feet in both directions.  Wayne homes was so open to all of our ideas for changes and they made a ton and didn't charge us a penny!  For example, we completely switched the location of our formal living room and put it off of the kitchen to make it a dining room instead.  We also moved our garage to the other side of the house so we could enter from our garage to our foyer, and now our laundry room has a lot more space.  We also completely redesigned our master bathroom.  We created his and hers walk-in closets and upgraded our tub to a HUGE tub/shower.  That did cost us more money for the tub, but everything else was included.  Wayne homes really does CUSTOM BUILD.  We also took all of our sub-contractor quotes with us to help get a more accurate estimate for our PMI's, that's the name Wayne Homes gives for the parts of the building process that are estimates and won't know for sure exactly what it'll cost until you get there. 

We also thought about how really the back of our house has this amazing view, but not the front of our house, so we got rid of the family elevation with the front porch and instead went with the designer sun room extension off the back with lots of windows!  Update- this is by far the BEST upgrade we made.  I can't imagine our house without the sunroom.  Best money spent!  We also added a ledger board for future wrap around deck.  Everything went really well, and best of all- WE HAVE A TENTATIVE DIG DATE!!!
Drum roll please...

September 1, 2014 = Dig Day!!!

Wayne homes told us that the only ones to delay that would be us, and so I'm determined to make sure we don't drop the ball!  If we move faster than expected, they'll bump us up- it's all on a first come-first served basis.  Maybe we can do an August dig if we're really on the ball.  Assuming we break ground September 1st, and Wayne homes guarantees 120 days until completion, that would take us to December 30th to move in!!!  We might be in by the end of the year!!! Update- we weren't in that quickly.  Wayne Homes did give us $500 for going over on the timeline.  We moved in February, 2015.

We have to do a few things between now and dig day:

1. Take our final numbers to our lender and apply for our loan.
2. Get temporary electric installed on the lot.
3. Have our construction driveway and access drive installed.
4. Apply for all of our permits.

I hope we've got this under control.  It's a little overwhelming, but Wayne homes really makes it very clear what we need to do.  So far there have been no surprises.

Today we took the girls (our dogs, Bella and Katie) out to see the lot for the first time.  They loved it!  They won't know what to do with over an acre of land with a small stream to boot!!!

Lot Inspection

So we've made some progress since my last post...

1. We put our townhouse on the market FSBO and accepted an offer!  Since then it's been inspected, and someone is coming to assess it in a few days.  We put a hold on a storage facility in Zelienople, and we're anticipating closing on the townhouse mid to late July.  Then it'll be living with the in-laws until our new house is completed.  Fortunately things are moving right along with Wayne, too.

2. We've done quite a bit of work since the last time I posted.  We've been busy getting quotes for an excavator, well digger, and surveyor.  I love that we can pick who we want!  Some people might find this to be a lot of work that they'd rather their builder do, but not me; I love shopping around, price comparing, and checking out sub-contractors' ratings and references before choosing who to go with.  We are thrilled with who we chose!

Well: Haefner Drilling (724) 935-2888 They do cable tool drilling which costs a little more upfront, but is the best quality well you can dig.  It is more likely to find water at lower depths, and it's easier to maintain down the road.  Added bonus- Chuck Haefner's dad came out to our lot with a divining rod to locate the best spot for our well.  So cool! Update- They did an AMAZING job and great customer service!  Updating this one year after we moved in and absolutely NO problems with our water whatsoever!

Survey: Survey Tech (724) 432-3007 They are the most fairly priced in the area by far!

 Excavator: Walsh & Knox (724) 538-4951 They are fairly priced and very experienced with this type of work.  Also, I work with the owner's wife, so I trust them completely! Update- Don't trust someone just because you work with their wife.  We ended up spending over $25,000 on excavator.

3. We also had Penn Power come out during our lot inspection so that everyone is on the same page as far as where the electricity line will run.  We have already applied for temporary and permanent electric, so hopefully things will move right along.  We don't want anything on our part to slow down the process.