Okay, I am going to try and write something every week to document the building of our new house. This week I have no pictures, but we have gotten quite a few things done. On Monday, we met with our builder and his agent. We signed a ton of paperwork for the building contract, the plans, the standards, etc. On Tuesday, we met with the mortgage broker and signed a million more things. It was all to run some reports to show that we can qualify for a mortgage. We won't actually get a mortgage yet, that won't happen until the building is done. Our builder is going to front the money for the build, and he will get paid at the end when we get the mortgage and certificate of occupancy. I don't know if that is normally how it is done, but it works for us. We will put ~10% down up front and the builder will go from there.
On Wednesday, we met with the kitchen layout and cabinet designer. I was really afraid that we were going to have to design everything in the entire kitchen. And then we we got there, the designer said we would be doing kitchen and bath. I almost ran out the door screaming for all of the decisions I would have to make. He then told us that he would only be doing the cabinetry and the layout of the kitchen and bathrooms - we would be going elsewhere for countertops, fixtures, lighting and flooring. So one step at a time... that I can handle. We sat down with the designer for about two hours - explaining to him what we were looking for, what kind of options we want to see, and what our thoughts are for layout. We both really liked the designer so I think that helps a lot. We have another appointment next week to look at the layouts he has come up with.
On Thursday we received the survey of our land, with the house and septic placement. We are going to be situated about 100 feet back on the lot, in just about the middle of the lot. The house will be tipped about 10 degrees, allowing a bit of southern exposure on the back of the house (where the family room and kitchen are). We also went to look around Lowe's to get an idea of what kinds of appliances exist out there, and how much they cost. We weren't there for too long because Cam got tired of looking at kitchens. He did quite enjoy the bathroom section, including sitting in the bathtubs and opening up every single vanity door.
On Friday Tim went to get the bank check for the builder, which we will give him next Monday. His crew will be there and they are planning on starting to dig the foundation first thing, once we hand over the check. Yikes!!
Tim is excited, excited, excited. I am a bit more tentative, worried about spending all that money and worried about all the decisions that are upcoming. I got a little more excited when we were at the kitchen store, thinking about the possibilities for our kitchen... I think it will come in little bites for me, not all at once like it did for Tim. I also think it will be more exciting once the foundation starts and I can actually see where the house will be.
So that is it for Week 1. Please feel free to give us any house tips, especially on things you like and don't like about your kitchen or bathrooms. We are trying to gather every tip we can get so that we can make our house as great as possible.
2 comments:
Very exciting, but I know what you mean about making all sorts of decisions when building a new house. I remember not likeing that part of the construction but overall it is a very exciting time.
Have you talked with Ted Lochner? He's a Certified Kitchen Designer with Home Depot and would have a lot of expertise you could draw on.
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