The builder lays out the rough dimensions of the floor plan paying attention to restrictive covenant setbacks on both sides, front and highest point of house above the curb and gutter. I thought he would use surveying instruments and upper-level math to figure out the corners of the house from one of the corners of the lot. Silly me. He uses a couple of measurements from the sidewalk and side property line, some string and a few cans of orange spray paint.

I could have some serious fun with this thing. But the builder needs something the house will fit in without too much extra room, flat on the bottom without the top of the foundation being below street level.

We were pretty sure at this point the builder was hosing us out of about 500 square feet. The forms for the footings did not even seem like they were correct. The house is some 55 feet deep by 76 feet wide. Worth noting, the builder refers to the little gray and orange box in the upper right-hand corner of this picture as a "port-a-bob", how rude. I'm not going to say anything until he gives us the keys though. :-)

It's almost like "where do you put the cheese" and where does the mouse start? How do they know where to put those things? We were correct about the rocks per square foot. Some of the rocks that came out of the hole as they were digging are the size of a four wheeler.

Just add water and a few other ingredients and a foundation is in. This is looking from the back right corner of the house towards the front. This is the back wall of the 3rd car garage and the kitchen area.

This is the front-left of the house and one of the guest bedrooms on the left and the den to the right. They were getting ready to install the basement window wells. They drill holes in the foundation and bolt them on. They are probably 6 feet tall by 5 feet wide. After the window wells are installed, they spray a black water proofing sealer around the perimeter of the foundation.

New House

Our new house project actually started in March of 2010 when we decided we would sell the Townhouse and build a new home, nothing too big on about a 1/4 acre so we could have a little grass and flower gardens. We drove around, researched the Internet and found a lot in West Jordan that we liked. Finding a nice 1/4 acre lot around here for a reasonable price is more fun than one can imagine.

We had found a lot that was a bit odd-shaped but would work. We already had a builder in mind-Randy Fellows Construction as he had built a house for me before and is an excellent builder to work with.

Unfortunately, the finance markets were still a little dicy to our liking and were not comfortable with the financing and gave up the lot. We decided to wait a year and try again.

Some how or another we came across Lot 560. It's about .29 acres and mostly square with a slight slope front to back. It has a view, it's quiet, we can mountain bike, walk, snow shoe or whatever without having to drive somewhere to do it. This happened about June of 2010.

Looking to the North.

Looking to the South

Looking East

The process begins. We got with our real estate agent and made an offer on the lot. The seller rejected the bid, we counter offered, the seller rejected the bid, we counter offered and the seller accepted. Ya! we have money on a lot. Off to the mortgage company to see if we qualify. Oh, forgot to mention that we had been working on a house plan-1800 square foot rambler with a 3rd car garage and full unfinished basement. After a month or so of working on the house plan, financing, our sanity and many other things we were approved for the loan. It's now mid-August. The builder is doing his due diligence on the lot to make sure there aren't any weird things going on with it like rock ledges a foot under the top soil, liens, nuclear deposits and all that stuff. We only had 10 rocks per square foot, scrub oak everywhere, cactus, sagebrush, evidence of a small heard of deer. Nothing major. At the same time we're working with the builder on the house plans, the real estate agent listing the Townhouse, etc., etc.

Finally, the builder buys the lot and we take out the construction loan. Some of the new finance rules are such that Barb and I had to sign on the construction loan-the past 3 houses were done by the builder only. Oh well, what do you do. Finally we get the actual plans for the house and can start picking everything for the outside-doors, windows, brick, stucco, shingles and everything for the inside. Do you have any idea how many things go into building a house-cabinets, tile, carpet, harwood, hardware, plumbing fixtures, counter tops, appliances which is a good start. That just leaves paint, light fixtures, how the doors swing, windows, wall and ceiling textures. The Internet is great. Randy is very methodical in how he does things when building a house. He wants just about everything picked before he every digs the hole for the foundation.  

It's now late November and the hole for the house is finally dug.