New construction schedule

(Brendan)

Sorry for the low post volume, unfortunately there hasn't been as much to update on lately. As you may have seen in one of my comments on a previous post, the finish date (or at least the move-in date) has been delayed from the original plan of early February due to the cold weather, window delivery delay, and also a delay in getting the house roof spray-foam insulation done so that the heat can be turned on. This probably isn't a surprise, and you can see by my latest pictures in previous posts that there's obviously no way we would be able to move in by early February. That said, our new "ready for move-in" date is March 16, and even that I would say is tentative based on some further delays in getting the roof insulation done (which has to do with an inspector who isn't as knowledgeable on this type of construction and is having to be walked through the process before he'll approve to move forward).

Here's the latest schedule I have (click either section to enlarge):

There are some things, like the driveway and exterior painting, that have to wait for warmer weather in May, but we'll be able to move in after the "final cleaning" date before those delayed items.

In the mean time, while we wait for the roof insulation to be completed, expect some other interesting posts on the fireplace that we selected (along with the installation design) and a traditional blessing that Molly and the kids did of our doorways on the feast of the Epiphany.

Draft home design and construction schedule

(Brendan)

I'm sure some have wondered about the schedule for this home, such as when will construction start? I wanted to provide some clarity on that, so that if you follow this blog you know what you're getting into :-) Molly and I have been in no hurry to start construction of the home for a number of reasons:

• The housing market is horrible right now, and we don't have any desire to put our house on the market in the next year;
• Since my brother has a full-time position, he is doing the home design in his "free-time" and that takes quite a bit longer, and we want to allow this time with no big schedule pressure;
• Our current home works for our family quite well, and we don't feel the need to rush to get out of there.

Given those reasons, and the fact that since we are a very busy family and would like the time to make as many decisions as we can without being rushed, construction on the home will start in the Spring of 2009. As you may know from viewing my profile (on the right-hand column), I am also completing my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, and my slated finish date is also the Spring of 2009. This may have to be adjusted, and I'm open to pushing it to the Spring of 2010, but at least you get the idea that there's quite a bit of busy-ness to go around. We also wouldn't be surprised, of course, to be expecting our fifth child sometime in 2009. The Lord won't give us anything we can't handle!

Anyway, so here is my draft schedule, which I'm sure is inaccurate in a few as-yet-unknown areas. But, this provides a good starting point for thinking and planning, and allows you to see what we will be blogging about over the course of this endeavor. You'll want to click the schedule below to enlarge it. Try as I might, Blogger will not make a larger picture so that you can just look at it in-line with the text (the graphic designer in me screams at this).

(Click to enlarge)

Any feedback, questions, suggestions are definitely welcome, especially if you have built a house before. If you want to say something like, "You aren't allowing enough time to sell your home," or "Setting up a construction loan will take longer than that," please go right ahead. I'd like to tap the knowledge of the savvy internet community!