We have a foundation!

Drove over to the lot yesterday morning to see if the guys had finished setting the forms. There was tons of activity going on over there. The forms looked like they were all set, and maybe the concrete would be poured later. The workers were also digging a trench around the perimeter of the development for utility cables. The local electric company was also there with huge spools of cable ready to be laid. We really couldn't get a close look because of everything that was going on.

Fast forward about seven hours. Carolyn, my wife, and her mother decide to go back so they can give me an update while I was at work. They timed it perfectly, because a concrete truck was pulling up to finish pouring our foundation. I really hated missing it, but she took some video with her phone.

Went over this morning and the forms were already off. Again a lot of activity going on, so we really couldn't get too close. We did see that another hole had been dug, so that makes eight homes under construction, at one stage or another. It's really getting busy over there!

I'll update this later with some pictures.

Foundation forms.

Thursday we saw the footings were poured, and had a feeling that the forms would be removed on Friday. The wife and I wanted to see what else might be happening, so we rode over after work. When we got there we saw a guy down in the hole doing something. Not wanting to be in the way we just drove by, and decided to come back later. We also stopped into the model to say high to the sales rep. We chatted for a while about how many homesites were left and how things were going. This development is selling out quick. Once we left we took a quick spin past the lot and saw what looked like the guys getting ready to set the foundation forms.

A few hours pass, me and the misses decide to hit the diner for dinner and then ride by one more time. By this time we figured the workers would be gone, so we could get a closer look. Of course they were, but they did make some progress. As we pull up we can see some of the forms are set in place, so of course we're super excited. They didn't get all of them in, but then again we weren't really expecting any of this until Monday. Can't wait to see what they have done Monday afternoon. It's kind of crazy that I find myself actually looking forward to Mondays, I guess this building process will do that. Here are a couple of pics of the progress.

In this one you can see our neighbor Frank's house across the street getting siding installed. Those guys were working until about 8pm.

This one is from the top of a pile of fill dirt that's been in the back corner of our lot, so it's compacted and easy to climb. I really like this vantage point, and hope they keep the pile there long enough to get a couple of pics of the poured foundation.

Quick update.

Took a ride over after work yesterday, and saw the concrete pumping truck sitting in our lot. Took a couple of pics, and just watched for a bit. Later in the evening we got an update from our PM Bill telling us that the footings were poured and the forms for the foundation will likely be going in on Monday.

Gettin Diggy With It!

We finally have broken ground on our new Florence. This seems like it's been the longest two weeks ever. Of course we've been going over everyday and seeing nothing, but Tuesday we had a partial hole. Came back yesterday in the afternoon after leaving work, and saw much larger piles of dirt. There was a pickup sitting in front of our future driveway so we parked around the corner, and got out to take a closer look. Walking towards the hole we saw a guy down inside with a set of plans marking stuff out on the ground. Not wanting to be in the way we decided to leave and come back later in the evening. When we came back, around 6pm, we were able to get a good look at what was going on. To our surprise all the wood forms for the footings were in place. It was great to finally see the layout of our home, and man it looks small. I know this is just an optical illusion because we felt the same way when we saw the footings for our neighbors Rome across the street from us.

Now that we've finally got this underway i'm sure there's going to be something new everyday. It seems that the average time from footings to framing has been around two weeks, but there are still little things that have to be done during that time period, like waterproofing the basement, and pouring the basement and garage slabs. I'll update as we go.

Here's a pic of the hole and forms for the footings.

One more.

Pre-construction complete.

Had our pre-con meeting yesterday. On the way over my wife and I are talking, but had the radio on too, just a lower volume. We were stopped at a light just before turning on to the main road leading to the development, when I heard the intro to a very appropriate song. I started to turn the volume up so my wife would notice, and she kinda flipped out. The song was Our House, By Madness! It was so cool to just listen to this as we pulled into the development.                                                                                    We then went into the model home, met our PM Bill, and started going through our selections and timeline. Bill seemed like a great guy, and answered all of our questions. He told us our permit from the township is ready and just needs to be picked up, after this work can begin. It looks like the hole for our foundation will be dug late next week, and our completion date is sometime around late October early November. We were hoping for earlier than this, but at least it won't be the middle of winter.
Took a look at the site map of the development, and they're running out of lots quickly, so glad we got in early.

I'm planing on taking a picture of our house from the same spot as often as I can, and then maybe do a time-lapse movie of the whole thing. Here's the first pic.

That's all for now. Thank all you other bloggers out there for the info you've provided in your blogs.

Pre-constuction meeting scheduled!

We got the call we've been waiting for this morning! Working the night shift this week, so I was home this morning when my wife's phone starts ringing. She looked at the number, but didn't recognize it, she answered it anyway. Surprise! It was our SR calling to schedule the pre-construction meeting. I could tell it had to be her almost immediately after my wife started talking. Carolyn, (wife), was so exited. She was jumping around like a kid on Christmas morning. Our meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday at 3pm, so i'll post again after that.

Quick update on the rest of the neighborhood. Two more foundations have been dug, with the footings going in probably today. Our neighbor across the street has a couple of huge piles of lumber, so the framing on his house will likely start soon. Other than that not much else is going on.