Excavation week 2

So here are some more progress pics. Bill and his crew are doing an amazing job. I have to say that it feels so incredibly good to be working with folks that you trust. Bill calls me every morning and evening to give me an update on the day's activities and I have no question in my mind that they are working as hard and fast as they can. For that reason, I don't feel obligated to stop by every second of every day to check in. It also helps that all of our major subs have worked with Bill before so I know that they respect him and vice versa. My advice to other folks GCing their project: find a team of people who you truly trust. It makes all the difference in the world.

So the form-a-drain is in place and the first round of Amvic ICF blocks installed. We hope to pour the concrete early next week. We also ran our electrical connection under the road and hitched it up to a neighbor's pole (with their permission, of course) so we should have electricity on site shortly. The floor and roof trusses have been delivered and look great (I love a 12x12 roof pitch). And the town assigned us our new address: 275 Butternut Road. We like that it's a nice, round number. And they add up to my birthday, 9/5. Thanks to my mom, the math teacher, for making me obsessed with finding random patterns in numbers.

The panels will be delivered the week after next. Watch for some great progress photos then!




The dogs were interested in the large dirt pile so Ryan took them up to see the view. We think Lily and Gus liked their new home. Certainly lots of good smells...


A gratuitous shot of our site. I just love it in the evening. I can't wait to look out our master bedroom window at this every day.

Let the mayhem begin...

So yesterday was E-day. Excavation is officially underway. We had beautiful weather (which is a surprise after almost constant rain this summer) and Moe DuBois and his crew blazed through the first stages of the job. For anyone looking for an excavator in this area, Moe is your man. I don't know what was more exciting...the brand new hole in the ground that will become our house or the awesome toys Moe brought to the site. It was a little boy's (or an adult woman's who has been waiting to build her house for two years) dream. Dump trucks and bulldozers galore. I could have watched the action all day. Alas, work beckoned. But I did get some shots early in the morning as the gang was just starting our driveway and then again at the end of the day once the hole had been dug. Next up: placing the footings.

The trucks cometh...


Starting the foundation hole...



Our new driveway...


Putting in the daylight drain...


The hole and the step-down for the walk-out basement...


Can you believe this is really happening? I still have to pinch myself...

Our site

We finally found some time to photograph our building site. Our house would be built directly in the space in the forefront of this photo, facing the road (Butternut Road).


Here's a shot of Butternut Road. Our house would be to the left.


This would be our view to the north...you can barely make out Ryan's parents' house nestled among the trees in the back corner.

Just getting started...

So we've decided to take the plunge--Ryan and I are planning to build a house next summer in Williston, Vermont. After looking at existing homes in the area for over a year, we realized we couldn't find anything that fit our needs and our budget and that the only way we could really achieve the home we wanted was to build. Ryan's parents were generous enough to allow us to 'slice' off a corner of their lot for our house. We made it past the first hurdle--receiving initial approval from the Williston Development Review Board. Unlike some towns in Vermont that have no zoning regulations at all, Williston (perhaps the result of rampant growth and development in recent years) has unleashed on us unsuspecting want-to-be-builders an arsenal of rules and requirements. I have to say, though, that I would rather live in a community that has a growth plan and that is concerned about development. So, in some way, we are happy to participate in this process. [Note added 2/6/08: We recently learned that Williston takes into account energy efficiency when granting phasing to developments. So hats off to them for factoring that important element into their rating criteria.] The town has reviewed our initial subdivision plans favorably and we're cleared until the next hurdle, the phasing meeting in early 2009 (probably February). The hope is that we are approved for phasing at that meeting, meaning we could break ground July 1, 2008.

Things we must do between now and our next meeting:

• Work with an engineer to design our septic/waste water system
• Ensure that our building envelope does not encroach upon the wetlands bordering our land
• Designate space on our land for a 'primitive path' connecting the land behind the Hayes' to Butternut Road so that hikers, etc. can move across our land easily

They've also instructed us to paint our house in natural colors and to provide landscape screening ("to soften its views from Butternut Road"). However, we are not to plant any vegetation that "obscures or will eventuall observe" the views to the north. So some shrubs and trees...but not too many. Oy vey.

I suppose it's too early to be choosing shrubs anyway...we first need a house plan!