A Quick Weekend Update

Hi y'all! We are posting a super quick weekend update today! We plan on taking more pictures at the end of the upcoming week with the current progress but wanted to get these pictures from the past month posted before then. 

There has been a lot of activity on the lot during the past month! The siding has gone on, the roof and gutters have been added, the rough electric and plumbing have been completed, inspections have been passed, and the concrete for the main level garage and porches will be poured tomorrow. 

The siding color is called Harvard Slate. We had planned on going little bit darker but ended up picking this color! We are pretty happy with it!

Who knows...I may even get around to painting the front door this week on my day off! 

September Days are Here

When we set out to build this house, we began the process knowing that it was almost impossible. Our budget was already very tight, and we knew that we would go over budget....that is just part of the house building experience. 

Our last blog post was August 6th, and we told you we hoped to be done with framing that week. Now, it is September 25th and we are still not quite done with the framing (although we are SUPER close! <3) 

 We have held back posting anything because our lot became a ghost town for a few weeks while we worked with contractors, redesigned our budget, experienced every emotion possible thanks to this project, and then got ourselves back on track. 

Watching the house move along and actually start resembling a house is a lot of fun. We get so excited to turn onto our driveway and start driving down the hill, because we know that there will have been something new added to the lot. 

Most of our windows and doors have arrived and been installed.  We are loving the big windows and all of the natural light that this house is going to have. 

I (Sarah) am super excited about our front door. We got as close to my "dream door" as we could for our budget, and I am going to finish getting the door looking how I would like it. We went with a metal door, and I am going back and forth on what to actually paint it. I love the stained wood look, but I am also obsessed with the teal/light blue doors. 

So...it will be a surprise to us all when I finally decide what to do with it! 

The roof should be delivered and installed this week. We went with a black metal roof. So many folks  have asked us about the color choice. Doesn't black absorbs sunlight? Won't the house get really hot because of the roof? Those are extremely valid questions.  We did our research and came up with a lot of information about metal roofs, color, and heat absorption. Yes, it might potentially make it a little hotter, but how the house is built and what material is under the roof is what actually makes the biggest difference. 

Ask me that question again in a year, and I will let you know if we agree. :)

They worked extremely hard to get the porches completed last week. The white support beams, which I (Sarah) begged for, look stunning. The decking is done, and we are now waiting for the rest of the posts to arrive so that those can be installed. I have dreamed of a wrap around porch and cannot believe that my dream is going to come true!

And, we had to share this picture. Can you say gross and cool all at once?!?! David sent me this picture earlier in the week, and I about died. The wildlife out here is in full force, and I LOVE that. But the snakes can stay hidden. Good snakes, bad snakes, any snakes...please stay off our porch! :)

This is the most up to date photo of the house. I (Sarah) look at it and want to bust into tears. The porch is beautiful. I am in LOVE with our view. The french doors are gorgeous, and the upstair bedrooms already have such a great vibe to them. We will have a massive laundry room and craft room, our cars will be to be parked in a garage, our puppies will have plenty of room to run,play, and I could keep going on and on. 

This process is an emotional rollercoaster, but it is going to be worth it. We are so grateful that we are on this journey, even when it is bumpy and makes us question the entire process.  I mean...with this view...how can you be upset? 

Moving Right Along

The end of July/beginning of August has brought a lot of rain and extreme heat laced with humidity. 

The weather has slowed the framing stage down a lot, but we are back on track and moving along now. 

The goal is to be done with the framing stage by the end of this next week. Hopefully the weather holds for us. 

Update--We are posting a lot of our photos and house updates on our Instagram account. You can find us here. 

Concrete, Blocks, and Framing...Oh my!

We finally have some movement on the lot, and I couldn't wait to get some pictures up on the blog. 

By the end of June, the foundation had been poured and block had been laid for the basement. 

The concrete was poured for the basement floor during the first few days in July. We are trying to save money whenever possible(which I am quickly realizing is a DIFFICULT thing to do when you build a home) so The Hubs and I sealed the concrete floor on our own. 

 We are now in the framing stage and hope to have all three floors and main level garage completed within the next two weeks. 

^These 6ft windows makes me swoon! :)

We will check back in when they have completed the framing. 

House Plans

A few years ago, my father-in-law found a set of plans that he thought we might like. At first glance, we liked the plans and the more we looked over the plans, the more we fell in love with them.

It had the square footage we were looking for, we liked the open floor design for the kitchen/dining/living space on the main floor, and it had my wrap around porch. I have ALWAYS wanted a wrap around porch. You can check out other designs of similar Sugarberry Cottages here and here. 

We are hoping to go with a mixture of dark gray siding and shingle shake with a black metal roof. 

Main Floor 

Second Floor

We took these plans and all of our ideas then met with an architect who drew up some drafts for us. Here is a look at the exterior! 

The above image is what will be facing the lake. We have already made some more changes to the plans since this last mock up. Where you see the garage door, there will actually be windows now because we have decided to move the basement garage access(which will be David's area to work on his cars) to the back of the house. 

Cooper's Cottage will have 3 levels.

Basement (mostly unfinished to start)

*Sarah's office

*Safe room

*Family/Rec Room

*2- 1/2 baths

*David's garage/work area

Main Floor

*Kitchen

*Dining area

*Living area

*Master bedroom/bath/walk-in closet

*Laundry room

*Additional room(still deciding what it will be!)

*1/2 bath

*Small pantry/linen closet

Second Floor

*Full bath

*2 bedrooms

*Shared study area

Main Level Garage

*2 car garage

*bonus room above the garage

*mudroom that attaches garage to house

The footers were poured on 5/31 and they are laying down block this week. 

Slowly but surely this home project is moving! 

Lot Updates

The lay of the land and our house plans have caused a few bumps along our building journey so far, but after 57 loads of dirt, two weeks(due to rain storms), and lots of hours compacting dirt; we are finally starting to get a move on this build project. 

By the end of next week, we hope to have footers poured! :)

Picking a Builder

Picking a Builder 

Picking a builder is HARD.  This is someone who can control what you are trying to spend your life in.  This is someone who can either work with you and explain things or leave you in the dark because you have no idea what everything means.  This is someone who can answer their phone when they call or make you wonder why you are paying them.  On top of everything, everyone has a different price...a different amount they expect to make on the project.  

For our project, I called just about everyone I could think of-friends, phone book ads, and even people that were building houses in an area that we liked.  You get what about what you would expect. Some answer, some take days to respond, or some don't call you back at all.  Then, some of the ones that do get back to you are booked for months or even years. So here you are, ready to build a house, you've talked to the bank, and you have to pick a builder that fits your timeline, budget, and one that you feel comfortable with.

It's not easy.

So here are some things that eventually helped us decide who would help us build our dream house.

1) Prompt Communication

We don't know a lot about building. Our builders are already doing a great job with communication. They call us back within an hour (if they don't pick up the phone on the first call), and I usually get a daily phone call keeping us in the loop with what is going on. I takes a lot of wondering/worrying/stressing off your plate because.... let's be honest.....we really don't know everything that goes on to get a house built, and we appreciate being informed.

2) Attentive to Our Wants and Plans

This is crucial as so many builders looked at our plans and pictures we had and thought we wanted magazine quality houses.  I mean...we would LOVE a magazine quality, Joanna Gaines quality home, but that is not in the budget. Understanding the style we want, listening to our plans, dreams and goals, and "getting" our budget is super important to us.  Our builders are doing a great job with this right now. For example, our original plans didn't include a garage because we were going to have to add it in later for finance reasons. However, we were able to add in a garage later in the planning phase. Due to the lay of the land, adding a garage meant loosing the window over the kitchen sink. We were really bummed about that, because it meant no window in the kitchen now.  We had a designer making the plans, multiple people looking at the plans,  and  we stared at the plans for weeks trying to figure out how we were going to sneak in a window in our kitchen. Then, we showed the builders the plans, told them our dilemma and found us a solution within minutes. Thank you guys!! Sarah gets her window! 

3) "Real"

(meaning that they didn't talk down to us and really put the entire process in "average man" terms)

We are only months into our build, but I have already learned terms I never knew and will probably never use again after this process is over.  I am the type of person that if you start explaining something and I do not know, I am going to stop you and ask.  You will find builders that will explain what they mean and then find ones that don't.  It works the other way too like when you are trying to explain something, you aren't using official terminology, and your need to get your builder to figure out what you mean. I want to have a real conversation with someone and make sure everyone is on the same page. You have to find who you are comfortable talking with. 

4) Budget Conscious    

Sarah and I are pinching pennies to make this home build happen. We come from jobs with average pay. We are super fortunate that we were given the land to build on, because none of this would be possible without that beautiful blessing. We have a budget. It is small, and that is scary. We have to be REALLY careful with this entire process because we have very little buffer room when it comes to the budget. We cannot afford to not watch the money. The builders that we ended up picking understand this and know that if something comes in way more expensive then they have to find another way.  They take the time to call around, take bids, and explain to us who we are going with and why.  Some builders have a couple set of house plans that they want to use as they know what it will cost and the profit margin and I respect that but when talking about a custom home, it doesn't always have to be outrageously priced. 

If you are looking to build a home then these are our quick tips for picking a builder! Go with your gut, and do your research! :)