Day 20 - Supplies but no work

No work today but they did drop-off more cinder blocks.  My FM said that the masons were stuck on another job and they plan to finish Tuesday or Wednesday.  He also noted that Westlake has been unavailable for inspections because they are double booked.  

Day 19 - Rain rain go away

It's Sunday so no expected work but hoping it stops down pouring so it doesn't effect tomorrows house progress.

Day 18 - More Furniture Shopping

Today we hit up some more furniture stores with my mom.  We really liked some items from Wayside.

We fell in love with this sectional with recliners.

It's a deep brown with cream stitching and really looks classy but still rustic.

Another fixture we liked.

Quite possibly the best set of bunk beds we have found.  Jefferson and his cousins will get good use out of this.

Day 17 - Almost done with Basement Walls

Today was another productive day of work for the masons.  Our FM said they should finish the block on Monday, below grade waterproofing on Tuesday, inspections on Wednesday, and gravel/backfill on Thursday or Friday depending the excavators schedule.  According to that schedule and the 110 Wayne Homes guarantee we should be in by December 20th (by my own calculation), provided we don't run into too many hiccups in the road.  As said in a previous post our FM won't have a very accurate date until drywall starts.  Either way we are very happy with the progress.

 

I found this one interesting to see that larger cinder blocks were used for the top of the well by the front porch.  I'm sure there's some reasoning behind this but just wanted to point that out.

This one showed a similar concept with the back-wall of the garage having shorter bricks.

Day 16 - Early risers

Today our crew was up early as I caught them getting setup as I was leaving for work at 7:30am.  More to come after work.

(Special thanks added to the first post: http://westlakebuildwithwaynehomes.blogspot.com/2015/08/first-entry-background-and-pre-dig-date.html)

You can only see 2 but I think there were 4 guys.

 

Got home from work and a ton of work done.  I could actually count the 13 course basement.  A neighbor stopped by to comment on how large it looked and it made me pretty proud.

 

 

What a ham

Count those 13 courses.  You can see where they were from yesterday vs. today with the mortar



Jefferson loved the selfie idea



Jenn and I decided to take a walk through our new basement.  These guys are doing a great job.

Already playing hostess in our new dining room

Day 15 - Cinder Blocks

Today I came home from work to some rainy weather but that didn't stop the guys from starting the block and mortar of the basement.  I love being unexpectedly happy.

 

Day 14 - Blocks Delivered

Today we came to huge piles of cinder blocks.  We had some fun exploring.  Very exciting to start seeing it come together.  After reading others blogs about waiting for crews, we don't seem to be having that problem.

 

Coco decided she should be the first to christen the new house so I picked it up 

Day 13 - Footers Poured

Great day today as the footers were poured.  Our FM noted that we should we should be laying block by the end of the week.

I asked if he thought that this will effect our move-in date or if they could catch up.  This was the first time I've brought this up and wasn't sure how he would respond.  He responded with a typical project manager response (did I mention that I'm a Project Manger by trade in mostly IT?): "It's hard to estimate the closing date until waterproofed. Our guaranteed completion date is based upon completion of the foundation (after waterproofing). (110 days). As we get into drywall I can give you a better closing date."

I appreciate him continuing to set the expectations with us and adjusting them as necessary.  He's kind a quiet guy but knows how to get things done.

Day 9 - Not as expected

Masons got caught up with another job and couldn't come out today.  Footers moved to Monday 8/24.

Day 8 - Stuff figured out

As expected we had a mixup of the Topo's.  For some reason the latest certified Topo showed a 12 course basement although our contract clearly states a 13 course basement.  Our FM worked it out with the city and they passed our inspection.  We are scheduled to pour Friday 8/21.  Loos like they did some more prep work as well.

I just couldn't help myself

Standing in my new garage

Scary view

Day 7 - First Bad News

Today was the first day of bad news.  My Field Manager (Zach) called me this morning stating that the city came and shut us down as the whole seemed too deep.  They required that a licensed surveyor come out and certify before the footers were poured.  We think that it's a case of mismatched versions of our Topo diagram that was submitted to the city.  When I came home I headed over to Kinkos to make him 3 more copies of the latest approved Topo.

Check out the sump pump

Day 6 - More Stone & Footers?

More stone put in per the pictures in preparation for the footer scheduled to be poured tomorrow.

From the front

 

From the left looking Northeast

From the left looking Southeast

From the left looking directly East (new home of our porch then garage farther back)

Picture from front left corner of the house looking Northwest

That's going to be a big basement

Back-right corner looking Northwest

The wife found a couch she liked (I'm not a fan of leather)