Final Post?

We have been in our new home for over a month.  Still not "finished", but I doubt we will ever be.  I finished the deck a week ago.  It was absolutely necessary to get us off the dirt.

We recently added a concrete pad and more driveway gravel (desperately needed). 

We really need to work on landscaping next.  I hate having all the mud being dragged in by myself and the dogs.  The house survived our first family get together.

If I get time, I'll post some final photos of each room.  I hope this blog helps someone in their journey to build their "Dream home on a budget".  We ended up coming in a couple thousand over our budget.  We scaled a lot of our dreams back to reality when the numbers started coming in.  And we still have a ways to go before we are completely finished.  But, in the end, it was a wonderful journey.  I enjoyed the ride and now I'm amazed that we were able to do it at all.  It's amazing what determination and will power can do.  

Time for my family and I to enjoy our new home.  Live long, and Prosper.

Dave

Finishing touches

The final push for completion is upon us.  We are finishing all of the things that are required in order to receive our occupancy permit.  We need the stairs and railings for the front porch, the railing from the basement to the first landing, and we need to block off the door to the deck, until we can get the deck built.  The builder still needs to finish up some small plumbing installs and now that the countertop is in, we can install and hook up the dishwasher, stove and refrigerator.

The tile is done and my knees are thankful.  That is one job that I wish I had paid someone to do.  Jen has almost finished her paint touch ups.  She also installed the master closet shelving (amazing shopper, she is).  She needs to buy and install the rest of the closet shelves, install the knobs and handles on the kitchen cabinets, final cleaning and some other miscellaneous things.  

We are planning on moving over the next two weeks.  We will move alot of stuff this weekend, but will probably wait until next week to call for our occupancy permit.  I'm hoping our final day in Shannon will be March 12th or 13th.  

We will be celebrating our new home sometime in the spring.  Everyone who helped and/or supported us will be invited.  Hopefully, Shannon will be sold and we can look toward the basement completion and landscaping.  

Dave

Last Mile

We are getting so much closer to completion.  In the last couple weeks, we've had the stair railings stained and painted (Thanks Joelle and wifey), stair railings installed (Thanks Tom DeSantis), the kitchen cabinets installed (Thanks Dad), all the floor tile installed (Thanks Paul), rest of the hardwood flooring down (GO ME), master shower mudset completed (Thanks Bill Hertel), most of the doors painted (GO Jennie), and all the appliances brought over and set into place (Thanks Paul, Dad, Rob and Mark).  The contractor has almost all the finish trim installed, all the lighting installed and expects to finish his work next week (aside from some outdoor things that can't be done till spring).  We've ordered the countertops (awesome Lowes deal on some granite), and they should be installed within 3 weeks.  We'll be getting the carpeting down on the 22nd and finishing it on the 26th.  If all goes well, we might be able to get our certificate of occupancy around the first week of March.  I was hoping to move on the last week in February, but it doesn't look good.  

Shannon has a second, first date on Monday (or maybe it's a first, second date).  We'll see how that goes.  If we get an acceptable offer, I will feel much more at ease financially.  

Dave

Thanks

I would like to thank everyone that has helped us paint and lay flooring last week.  Robbie, Paul & Joelle, Dave & Tina, Steph and Chuck, and all the kids.  We couldn't have made it this far without everyones help.  Even those that weren't able to be there last week, have helped before or in many other ways.  I know that Jen and I have great families and friends.

As a more complete update, Shannon is officially on the market.  She's had a significant facelift and does not show her 63 years of age at all.  She will make someone very happy and hopefully, very soon.  Jen has been working every evening there getting all of the trim finished and cleaning / organizing the basement.  Not to mention packing, cleaning and such.  I think we're both going to the spa when this is all over with.

Kane is in the home stretch.  At this point, the excitement builds and the money dwindles.  All the grand plans begin to be scaled back, when you realize how much money is really left.  Here is just a small list of the items that were eliminated or scaled back, simply due to our determination to stay in budget:  Geothermal Heat, Concrete walls, Full cavity foam insulation, finished basement walls, garage heat, hot tub, central vac, concrete patio off basement, landscape retaining walls, additional stone veneer.  This list probably isn't complete but just goes to show the amount of compromising you have to do, in order to stay in budget.  We probably could have afforded most of the above items.  But, in the long run, we want to be able to enjoy our lives after we move in.  I refuse to be "house poor".

So far, we are still a bit over our budget.  Some things happened that are outside of our control, and some other things were "no compromise" issues.  For example, we decided to keep one inch of the spray foam in the walls.  This took us over our insulation budget.  However, the long term benefits of comfort and heating bills were too much to give up.  Also, the siding came in over our allowance.  Our estimate was a bit low.  Roofing also was a bit underestimated and cost more.  On the flipside, Jen has been able to save money on fixtures and such so we are doing better than if I were in charge of the money.  :-)  Then again, if I were in charge of the money, I'd be living in a cardboard box.

Here are some more photos for you.  I again thank everyone that has helped us get to where we are.  Talk to you soon.

Dave

Painting and Flooring

I'm too tired to post, but I wanted to upload photos of our progress.  I'll update again soon to explain our progress.

Dave