First things first, I’m sorry I’ve been MIA recently.  It was a SUPER busy at work last week and I had several photo sessions with new clients (that’s a very good thing!) so blogging just fell to the bottom of the list.  But, I’m back and I’ll try to make up for lost time with a post each day this week – although don’t hold me to that! 😉

We made our weekly visit to check on the construction progress at the new house on Sunday and didn’t see much visual change, but that doesn’t mean things didn’t happen.  The gas line was installed, as evidenced by the gas meter on the side of the garage.  That means there is progress still happening while we were sorting out the electrical issue – more on that in a minute.

We also know that R19 insulation was ‘blown’ into the attic, since Matt was there when the contractor arrived earlier this week.  Of course I don’t have any pictures of that, but I’m sure the home inspector will confirm it’s all there.  As you can see below the metal roof is still not complete, but it is closer than it was last week.

One major thing we noticed is that the debris on the lot has been cleaned up.  Remember how there was a huge pile of trash and scrap on this side of the house last week?  Well it was moved to the front and apparently burned based on the ashes seen on the right in the picture below.  It’s a good thing that Matt pulled out the usable pieces and set them aside in the woods when he was on site earlier this week!! Granted there are still items on the edges of the clearing that will need to be collected and a few items in the burn spot that weren’t completely destroyed that will have to be removed, but overall it’s looking a lot cleaner – which soothes my Type A personality!  Although it does make the dirt splatter from the recent rain more obvious… Luckily, I reminded myself that will be eliminated when we landscape next summer.

Most importantly, there were signs of progress on the electrical line being run.  The short story is that the seller of the lot did service the lot as he agreed to do, but not in the way that would have been most convenient or cost-effective for us.  So it boiled down to our options being 1.) Cut a 15′ wide stretch of trees from the front corner of the lot opposite the driveway to the house for the line to be run, at an additional cost of $3,000 if we cleared the trees ourselves or 2.) Pay an additional $3,500 to have the line run down the road and up the driveway to the house.  We chose to maintain the privacy and potential resale value by paying the extra $500 to go the extra distance.  Unfortunately, that meant we were over budget and needed to adjust the numbers with our lender.  Although I’m not happy with the increased cost, I am pretty proud that the only reason we are over budget is out of our control.  Every other selection and decision was made within budget at our original sales price and allowances balancing out.  Not many who build a home can say that!  Here you can make out the stakes that mark where the line will run up the driveway and to the side of the house.

Hopefully the actual line will go in this week and progress can resume inside with muding and taping, then finish work!  With all the recent delays, we’re now estimating we won’t close and move in until sometime in December.  Sigh.  I really want to spend Christmas in the new house, but ultimately my goal at this point is to be in the house by the end of the year.  Fingers crossed! 🙂