Our FAQ list
A few people have been asking similar questions, so I thought this might be a good time to post an FAQ list.

Q. When will the house be done?
A. Julie and Eastman say February or March (being conservative); tradespeople are teasing us by saying "maybe before the holidays or the end of the year".

Q. Who is your builder?
A. We decided to save some money and NOT hire a builder. Of course, everyone inherits the headaches that go along with that. Domingo dived right in as site contact, and all the subcontractors are contracted directly with Julie and Eastman. So, it's the "homeowner acting as general contractor" scenario.

Q. What's the square footage?
A. With the garage but not counting the full basement we are at 3365 sf. Fifteen square feet shy of the maximum allowable square footage of the lot.

Q. Exterior finish? Windows, brick, etc.?
A. Will be a brick and stucco facade. Marvin Casemaster - Aluminum Clad Wood Casement Windows; finish in Pebble Gray, Old Charleston Heritage brick by Sioux City Brick... you'll just have to see the pictures.

Q. Can we visit the jobsite?
A. SURE! Just call and let us know when.

Q. Would you recommend general contracting your own home to other people?
A. Maybe. Depends on the time you have to commit to your project, or if you know someone who can help you with the process. Can be a very arduous, exciting, crazy, nerve-wracking experience.

Q. Would you do this again?
A. I guess, never say "never", but let's get through this one first.

The lost week
The camera was misplaced for a week, and so, there's a little bit of a disconnect between the last blog and this one.

While I was away last week the concrete guys were able to frame and pour our infamous structural garage slab. Man, the amount of rebar in there is quite impressive! Pictures can only convey so much. I often wonder if it was overdesigned, and maybe, if I had paid more attention in Reinforced Concrete Design class (and if I actually did that for a living) then I might be able to figure it out. Of course, engineering rule-of-thumb is, take the answer you get from your design problem and multiply by a safety factor of 5 million... I jest. I can't remember anymore.

Otherwise, construction continued with the second floor deck and second floor walls. I don't remember if we took a picture for the record, but we had an extra joist left over and the carpenters were using it as a ladder into the basement. Yeah, really safe. Yikes! And they wear sneakers on the site. That makes me nervous sometimes.

So, our three-year old Project Assistant (see picture) is now referring to the house as her "new house" and not just "the big hole". It's pretty cute. We were able to point out the windows in her room, and she's quite excited about the idea of having a "princess" room.

We leave you with a picture of the front elevation with the roof sheathing completed as of Friday, 9/16.

We're Finally Building Walls!
One day, you've got the floor deck, and the next day you've got nine-foot walls! It's pretty cool, eh? For those who haven't seen the plans, we can all start imagining what this house is going to look like now. The four windows (right hand side) are looking from the dining room to the golf course. Eastman says if we were able-bodied we could set up a small table and chairs at the dining room and just look around. That might be fun, eh?

Anyhow, THIS is why I studied construction management... to be involved with building. I love the smell of lumber, watching the crew put all the pieces together like a puzzle... but somehow, there's still the day-to-day management of it that my father-in-law is handling brilliantly which if it were me... I'm not so sure it would be running as smooth.

Well, the project is smoother now than when we started. There was the surveyor who missed the building location, then the excavator...as Eastman said, the excavator knew how to dig, he just didn't have anywhere to put the dirt.

We'll take a small break tomorrow and start up again on Thursday. The second floor framing may be up by early next week. The biggest issue we have right now is pouring the structural slab for the garage. If we had just ordered the precast concrete slab for the garage when we started, it would've been delivered about now. Oh well, it was a crapshoot, I suppose.

Full Steam Ahead
Carpenters started this morning with a crew of eight. Looks like they'll be ready for the second floor deck by Thursday. Can't wait to see it this evening after work!

Update: first floor deck in place

Another Injury
Well, it wasn't jobsite related, unlike my father-in-law's minor injury last weekend which resulted in six stitches at his knee.

I simply tripped in our own driveway at home, and now... I have a broken foot. Six to eight weeks in a cast. I probably won't be able to walk inside the house to see the rough framing myself. What an inconvenience... argh!

No Problem...
Here are some pictures from the basement slab pour. We officially start carpentry on Monday. The open-web trusses are on site now, and the loose material (studs, plates, etc.) are being delivered today - now. Ralf and Tom our carpentry foremen seem to be unphased by the unconventional framing scheme of our house. Famous last words "No Problem..." Domingo has been drafting several connection details and double, triple checking dimensions. He met with Ralf last Wednesday, started pointing out some things, and from what I understand, all he had to say was "No problem..." Is this reassuring? I'm a little nervous, to say the least.

And, I know for a fact the carpenters haven't even looked at the drawings in relation to the lumber material list. Again, I don't find this terribly reassuring. In jest, they said, "We'll just see what they (lumber supplier) bring us, and we'll work with what we have," though, I don't know if they were really joking.

I was really hoping they were going to review the material list. The last thing I want to hear is, "Julie, we're short on the lumber material..." and then have them stop working. If anything, they should just truck themselves to the local Home Depot and buy what they're short.

Well, Monday should prove to be interesting. I wonder what sort of phone calls I'll be receiving. In the meantime, we're trying to figure out flooring finishes for finished floor height and plumbing fixtures (toilets, tubs, etc.). You'd be surprised how much all your selections affect the construction in the "rough" stage. More thoughts to come.

Things You Might Overhear at the Tiu Home
Domingo: We're not building a watch (Swiss watch...).
Eastman: I don't KNOW... I'm just asking.
Julie: No...no...no...
Abby: Stop yelling.
(I guess Mom has her two cents in, but it's usually when I'm at work.)

Everyone (including tradespeople): You can make it a wine cellar! (In reference to the open space underneath the front porch due to the mistake in excavation.)

The basement slab was poured yesterday, and Project Engineer Eastman was quite interested in the operations. Here is his log from yesterday.

"Basement poured and looks great! We put up a fence in front of the porch hole and sprayed the front of the garage too. Pops dropped the paint cap (flipped out of his hands when he was taking it off actually) and it fell into the basement. It was before they were doing final smooth out though, so it's all good. BTW, they used cieling tile dividers as control joints, and they put them under the slab so the slab is actually all smooth. No visible control joints."

Rain Delay
Ah... no basement slab pour today due to the rain. Perhaps tomorrow.

Almost Out of the Ground
The foundation walls were poured a week ago today, and from many onlookers we've received many compliments. Dampproofing is all set also, and the backfill inspection went without a hitch. Amazingly enough, the spot survey showed that the foundation was right on the money; within .01 feet of where it should be.

Husband and father-in-law are doing one heck of a superintending job. Will definitely be more difficult once school starts up again and we lose our "project engineer".

These are pictures of the foundation walls as it stands today. More pictures are on our online albums - by invite only.

An Impressive Operation
The foundation work has finally begun this week. Tomorrow they pour the foundation walls. Our concrete subcontractor has been great to deal with thus far, and we're looking forward to seeing the basement walls stand on their own. Had a bit of a logistics problem when the conveyor was having a difficult time getting under the power lines.

Floor trusses are in production and should be available in a few weeks. Underground plumbing and electrical service will start as soon as we get get the basement walls dampproofed and backfilled.

It's been tiring, but exciting for the field superintendent and project engineer (my father-in-law and husband, respectively). Wish I could be on site a little more often.

Will post pictures soon.