Plans first round

We got our first set of preliminary drawings from the designer:


Main Floor Plan.pdf -


Basement Plan


We have already sent them back with minor changes but I believe the exterior walls will be staying the same.

Warning: side effects include insomnia

Nothing like a little stress to keepa the midnight oil burning. I was lying in bed with some decent ideas running through my head. Like: I should ask the excavators if I could bury my hoselines, irrigation stubs, and window wells before they completely backfill the basement. That way I won't have to rent a trencher or dig it. Well with so much running through my head and so many details to recall I had to get up to write it down. It cost me a half hour of sleep but may have saved me hours of trenching if it works out.
On a side note, living with other people for free is not without its costs. This is the second time we are living with my in laws while building. I don't know if the extra 2 kids or me just being older and crankier but it is a lot tougher than I remember. Food preparation, food consumption, kitchen clean up, parenting the little ones, family meal time, bed time, etc ad neaseum. I seriously need more close friends who aren't related to anyone in the house that can offer support and hear me vent frustrations.
Don't get me wrong, my inlaws are great and generous but sharing space with anyone is tough. Most days I want to send my kids away but I stick with it. They may turn out well despite their father.

Water Supply

I have made some major progress. Unfortunately it's all on paper. I have known many who have built a new home. And by built I mean they purchased a new home being built by a builder and had some input into the finishes and certain options. The blessing and curse of building a home yourself, or at least designing and managing the project is that there are no decisions made, no set plans. So every bit of the home comes from you (or your better looking spouse, in my case). I have spent some time looking at how I wanted to run our water supply. On Diamond (our last project) we had two of the Manabloc manifold systems. We loved that they had pretty quick hot water to the fixtures (for the fixtures near the water heater) and there was never a drop in pressure when using multiple fixtures (no spurts or cold water while in the shower when someone used the sink or toilet. So I am disposing of the 120 gallon solar/electric water heater we had and opting for two 7.9 gallon per minute gas tankless water heaters (gas was not an option on Diamond). One will be on outside north wall and one will be in the garage on the south side of the house. These water heaters will feed two manifolds and will provide shorter runs and hopefully quicker water to the fixtures.

Audra flushed a good deal

How do you build a home for less? By finding one deal at a time. Craigslist is a great source for good deals. By knowing our prices we know how good those deals are. We have purchased several American Standard Champion Toilets in the past (we had at least 2 in our last house). Currently Home Depot has these complete toilets on sale for $199 each. Audra found 3 on Craigslist new in box and paid $400 for all 3. Like buy 2 get one free and pay no sales tax!

Overwhelmed

Moving out of our last owner builder project was much more work than I anticipated. However it's done and sold. I had been focused on getting moved out I hadn't really looked forward to the new build. On a whim I pulled out a box of owner builder books that I had purchased before building our last project and I am glad I did. I was thinking I had done it once and it should be easy to do again. Since it was about 5 years since we finished I forgot how much work went into selecting subs, scheduling, sourcing materials etc. We had no list of details by trade or by room yet the designer was working on our plans. This past week I have been spending about an hour or two per night working on house details and reviewing the plans with Audra. I have been focusing on the following:

• Prefab vs. poured window wells - leaning on prefab window wells for cost and appearance
• Plumbing: gas vs. electric water heaters, tank vs. tankless, whether or not to do a manifold system (really liked it in the last house), 
• Central vac - is it really worth it
• Whole house intercom - really tired of yelling

We also have been watching Craigslist and other sites, starting to acquire materials.

Our designer is working on our plans and I am still looking for a GC who will lend me a license for a loan.