I can’t believe it, but it’s already been four months since I announced that we are building our forever home. If you follow my Instagram stories, I’ve shared some bits and pieces of the building process throughout the last few months. It’s been a slow process in this beginning phase, mostly due to weather related delays. Thankfully, this was all to be expected and we’re still on our original timeline of building our forever home.
While we had reservations about breaking ground in January, it was sort of out of our hands at this point. Our reassurance comes from the fact that builders obviously use the correct materials for homes that are protected through different weather conditions. We also have a rock solid home/builder’s warranty that covers any of our “worst case scenario” fears about the foundation.
We broke ground in early January and the basement was dug a few weeks later. The cement was poured a few weeks after that due to on/off snow storms and precipitation. The basement windows are in, the grading of our lot is pretty much complete and temporary electrical and other utilities are set in place too. Next week, the framing of the house will begin.
Despite the weather delays, D and I have been keeping our weekends filled with vendor appointments and finalizing our exterior and interior selections. We spent many weeks going back and forth on exterior additions, as well as reviewing all of our final blueprints with our add-ons and custom pieces.
We set appointments with the tile, countertop, cabinets, security/electrical, and plumbing vendors. We are still working our way through all of our final selections, but we’re hoping to stay ahead of the timeline, so that we’re not waiting on any product delays/shipments on the back half of the year.
We’ve been pretty good so far about our selections. There have been one or two rounds with each vendor, but for the most part, I think we’re doing okay with our final selections.
- Exterior Selections (Doors, windows, shutters, trim, etc.)
- Granite/Quartz/Countertop Selections
- Flooring
- (Almost) done with cabinet selections
- (Almost) done with hardware/plumbing selections
We still need to meet with our lighting and electricity vendor to see their products. And we still need to finalize our California Closets designs for the bedrooms. But, I’m hoping that we’ll be able to keep our pace during the summer and fall when most of the interior finishes will be completed.
A few notes and tidbits for those of you building a forever home in the breaking ground & basement dig phase of the process
- Be meticulous about blueprint changes
- Stay on top of vendors, their quotes and your options
- Double and triple check quotes, your non-standard selections and your contract budget
- Communicate regularly with your builder, even in the ‘dull’ phases of building
- Try to stay ahead on selections so that you can build in time up front for any unforeseen issues like product delays, etc.
- Meet with vendors as much as you need to and communicate via e-mail or phone if you don’t have time for showroom appointments
- Keep a personal record of everything!
- I have an e-mail log of all communications re: home
- My own spreadsheet that tracks all of the different changes we’ve made since our original appointments with vendors and our builder
- Log with photos/dates of when different things are being done at the house
This seems like it’s all common sense. But, it’s little things like this that didn’t even cross my mind when we signed our contract to build. Don’t get me wrong, we fully prepared ourselves for the cumbersome details. And I’m typically meticulous to a fault, so this is right up my alley. But, there is a lot of things to keep track of, even when things are going smoothly.
Like I mentioned earlier, framing is up next and from what I hear, the exterior should move fast after that point. I’m not making any promises, but I’ll be back sooner with another update on the progress of our home.
Oh and I definitely have some posts lined up (in my brain) about the selections process and our picks so far. Be sure to check back and leave me any tips below if you’ve already been through this building a forever home process!
Building A Forever Home – Breaking Ground & Basement Dig
