Last week in pictures

Matt (general contractor), Kari (countertop salesperson), and Ken (installer) talking about who was at fault for drilling faucet holes in the wrong places.

Our railing is done!

Granite installed

Do you see anything odd in this pic? We were surprised that they sold us this type of install, as if the extra inch of granite would have been much more difficult to install??
Retaining walls finally finished!

We told them not to bother with the two-tone trim on our curved window... so this was a way cool surprise. :)

Huh?

Just received a call from the general contractor and it went something like this:

"Hey Michelle, it's Matt. I'm at the house and have a question for you. Do you want your bathroom light centered over the mirror or over the faucet?"

"What? Isn't it ALL centered? The sink, faucet, mirror, and light?"

"Well, no. If we centered the mirror over the sink, we'd have to scootch it over so the mirror was touching the center drawer unit. I don't think that would look too good. So do you want the light center over the faucet or mirror? (Long pause...) Have you seen the bathroom since the mirrors were installed?"

"Matt - I was out there this morning. The left light looks fine. The right one is goofy - it needs to be moved to the right a tad bit. Just make both sides look the same."

"Umm. Yeah, whatever we do I'll make sure they're the same. So do you want it centered on the faucet or mirror?"

" (Sigh)... What is the left centered on?"

"I think it's centered on the faucet, I'm not sure. The right one isn't centered on anything. It's all screwy."

"Please make it look like the one on the left. Whatever that one is centered on, do the same thing on the right."

"Oh, OK! That's all I needed!"

HUH???????????????????? Wouldn't you think there is a standard way of centering a sink, faucet, mirror and overhead light? My guess is the sink wasn't put in the center of the counter top......

Moving Day is Set!

We are scheduled to move in!

New furniture will be delivered on Friday, August 29th.
PODS units will be delivered on Saturday, August 30th.
Moving men will work on Sunday, August 31st to unload our four different storage units.

Woo Hoo!!! I can't wait!!

Any one who wants to help with good old manual labor -- feel free to stop by!

What a week!

We've been so busy this week that we literally didn't have time to post!

Let's start with WEDNESDAY.... I received a call from Marling's, the cabinet and countertop contractor. There was an "accident" at site while installing our kitchen granite countertops. Luckily, no one was hurt and the granite wasn't broken. Casualities included our granite kitchen sink, some floor tiles, and a cabinet door. To keep progress moving, they asked if I could go pick up a new sink and bring it to site ASAP. Negativo... I was in Milwaukee. So the fabricator, who broke the sink, ran to Home Depot to get a replacement. (BTW, I love that store. Even though he was honest about breaking it, the store replaced it for free.) Of course, the rest will be fixed at no cost to us... whenever they can get a replacement cabinet door.

I went to the house to view the damage that night, and found two other mistakes with the granite. (1) The edges were squared, and I ordered rounded, aka bullnose. What are we to do??? If we rip it out and have it redone, the entire house will be delayed for another FOUR weeks! Turns out we weren't charged for the bullnose, so we'll keep it squared. Don't tell me you don't like it... because I don't either. (2) The first floor bath has one sink, and the lower level bath has two sinks. The faucets I selected were different... as I went cheaper on the basement bath. Well, the fabricator drilled the holes opposite... so the bathroom faucets are drilled in the first floor countertop, etc. THIS was easy for ME. I told them to upgrade the house to the nicer faucets at no cost to me rather than find a new piece of granite and start over again! I must confess that the plumber, the fabrictor, and Marlings all took time to call me and explain that the mistake was not THEIR fault! Frankly, I don't care WHO screwed up as long as it's fixed.

THURSDAY: They continued to install the granite countertops and plumbing fixtures. I stopped by to approve something (I don't remember what), and discovered yet another additional cost. The house contract included a screen porch, tongue and grove pine siding. However, the contractor doesn't plan on sealing it! That's like drywalling and then asking "did you want paint?". He wants to charge another $900 to oil, seal, and paint the outside. Cripes.

FRIDAY: Lee had to meet the sprinkler company and the landscaper at site. They have finished the fine grading, and Lee finally approved the plan. I'm so thankful for Lee, because I wouldn't have the patience to work on the landscaping the way he did. Lee and I made a list of at least twelve mistakes or issues for the contractor to address. We also found out that they turned on the air return (furnace and AC)... so all of the construction and drywall dust is being sucked into our ventilation system!! WE ARE NOT HAPPY.

SATURDAY: We stared at more tile samples trying to select a kitchen backsplash. We took about five different options to the house, and none wowed us. Sorry, but we hate to spend a lot of money on something we don't really like. So... we'll be without a backsplash for awhile.

SUNDAY: Dust O' Dust!!! We learned the carpet is scheduled to be installed tomorrow. There is SO MUCH drywall and construction dust, that we were worried they would throw the carpet on top of it. Lee and I worked for 2-3 hours, both with separate ShopVacs, cleaning up as much dust and debris as possible. We met with a window blinds company and received a good case of sticker shock with their quote. We then spent a few hours assembling the new screen porch furniture. At LONG LAST, we enjoyed our first beverage with our friend Tom on the screen porch! It was wonderful!!

Stone masonry is ALMOST done!

I was summoned to the house today to look at the stone on the great room fireplace. I absolutely LOVE the stone! Anyway, the mason needed to show me my options for how the stone edge can look when it met the drywall. The corner pieces come in only two sizes, which are about 6" different in length. So, a "staggered" install looked goofy. Oh, and you can't just order a box of corner pieces... they come a few in each box of stone. In order to get them all the same, I'd have to buy double the amount of stone. Yikes! (Another one of the many "oh wow" moments I've experienced. Who knew the level of detail involved in all of this? :)

Anyway, here's the fireplace from the great room... the stone is just on the bottom so far. Close-up of the stone....
Fireplace from the hearth room. A TV will eventually be mounted on the wall above the mantle. I'm so happy with the dark stain I picked out for the mantle!

While I was there, I took a pic of the front door. The stone masonry is almost done -- just finishing up the posts and the address stone. The front door still needs to be stained and the door frame painted, but you get the idea of what it will look like from the pic.

Our range hood was installed the kitchen too... thought I'd snap yet another pic.

Lots of things are being done on the interior finish work, but it all takes time. We're still on track for moving in by month end!

Slide Show

Not sure if this really works or not.... it should be a slide show

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11145392@N03/sets/72157606829701128/show/

Also by request

Floor plans.

Basement

Main Level

An update

Landscaping snafus abound. We've had the retaining walls redone twice already, and we're having one reshaped AGAIN. The lot has a very steep slope from one side of the house to the other. (not front to back, but side to side) It's difficult to visualize how best to build the retaining walls to allow for drainage, but also not use up all of the back yard. Very frustrating. And the builder and landscapers don't prepare an actual PLAN.. they just ask "What do you want?" I'm not a professional landscaper -- I don't know how to do this stuff! I just want as big of a yard as possible with water that drains away from the house. Period. Two of our exterior walls have fallen victim to the landscaper's bobcat. (In fairness this was landscaper #1, who has since been replaced with landscaper #2. :)

But on a positive note... lots of progress has been made:

Patio has been poured, colored, and stamped. We love it.

Sidewalk and driveway are done. :)

Tile is DONE! Yea!

Cabinets are installed.

Sauna is completed.

Trim work is almost done.

They say we'll be in by month end. Woo Hoo!

This one's for Cassie...

Our daughter, Cassie, pointed out how frustrating it is to view this blog. She merely wanted to see what the house looked like - from the outside. All she could easily find were photos of pieces and parts of the building. So, this one's for her!

Grading on my nerves

When building a house don’t do anything against your better judgment. Every time we have done this, usually for the sake of time, it has come back to bite us. We met with two landscapers. One listened, made good suggestions, but he was more expensive and really busy. The other did not listen, made rather stupid comments, kept saying the same things no matter what we told him, but he was cheaper and available. Being immediately available is at least a yellow flag. Our builder was really pushing to get retaining walls built so we could get the concrete moving. So, against our better judgment we went with the builder’s brother – the one that did not listen.

I met Dennis the landscaper - actually he really just smoothes out the yard and builds retaining walls, aka fine grading - at the house again early on Friday before leaving to go to Eau Claire. It took a lot longer than I thought it would and after explaining what I wanted, even being very direct with him, he still seemed to not listen well. It was to be a simple task. Bring the boulder wall out to about the edge of the garage and then taper the wall with a slight curve to the back corner of the house. We also talked about the weed barrier behind the boulders and I pointed to a few walls around the neighborhood as examples of what we wanted. I signed the paperwork and hurried off.

While I am in Eau Claire I get a call from Dennis telling me he put the wall 4 feet from the house and ran the wall past the first window. I told him to stop, to do no more work that I did not think that was right. When we got to the house on Sunday I popped my top. All Dennis Acker the hard-headed yard grader did was put the wall right where he wanted it to go not where I told him to put it. Plus he used limestone instead of boulders – turns out I signed paperwork stating limestone instead of boulders. This was my bad even though every example and all my conversations had boulders as the examples. But even had we wanted limestone, the crap Dennis brought to the house looked like he got it out of the city dump. It looked nothing like the other limestone used in the neighborhood.

Just to put the icing on the cake, Dennis put several scrapes and a couple of HOLES in the stucco. Nice!

BUILDER TO THE RESCUE

While we have a couple of issues with our builder, he is getting people to build us a nice house and he is a very honest person. When Michelle met with the NEW landscaper (Ziegler out of Deforest) on Monday, he again listened and understood. Michelle then asked Wayne (the builder) how much it is going to cost us to get the limestone out and the walls where we want them. I did sign the paperwork so he was within his right to say that I should enjoy the limestone I just bought. He said, “nothing, we’ll take care of this.” Alright Wayne! Time will tell, but I have no doubt that Ziegler will do a good job.

Let's Hear it for the Boys...

The Tile Guys, that is!!

Woo hoo!! They are making lots of progress. The master bathroom is DONE. The fireplace slate is DONE. The lower level bathroom is DONE. :)

And the main tile for our first level was delivered on Friday too!!