(The pictures are up! Last updated June 26, so don't expect too much.)
In 1998, Beth and I decided to start the process of building a new house. We had bought our current house in 1996 knowing that it wasn't perfect, but would give us a place to live (and build equity) until we were ready to build our dream house. After two years of living in a house, and several visits to the Parade of Homes, we decided that we were ready to start.
The first step was finding land. This took surprisingly long, even though we didn't have too many requirements. We wanted a fair amount of land (at least a couple of acres), so that we wouldn't be too close to our neighbors and would have room for a nice yard and a garden. We wanted it somewhere on the east side of Minneapolis/Saint Paul, or across the border in Wisconsin. Finally, we didn't want to pay too much.
We found several pieces of land in short order, but few of them looked right to us. When we finally did locate a good parcel, the developer started adding conditions and reluctantly disclosing known problems with the lot. Eventually we gave up on that piece (the advice of a real estate agent helped make up our minds), and started looking again.
After another couple of months, we found a piece of land in Saint Joseph Township which we liked. It was about 5 acres and was in a new development, with easy access to electricity, telephone, and natural gas. While it wasn't everything that we'd hoped for, we realized that we had to compromise (particularly on lot size) to live within easy commuting distance of the Twin Cities area while staying within our budget.
We've taken some pictures of our land, and will be adding more periodically until construction begins (when we'll start taking pictures of the house instead).
We knew from the start that we wanted to work with an architect on the house. A house is an expensive purchase, and we felt it was worth the extra time and cost to get exactly what we want (or as close as we can afford). In spring of 1999, we interviewed some local architects, and found a small firm, Elliot Architects, who seemed ready to work with us, willing to stay in our price range, and who had some time in their schedule. (As it turned out, some other jobs took longer than planned, so we still got started a little late, but we're still hoping to build this year.)
Over the past year or so, Beth and I had been periodically sitting down and making notes on what we wanted in a house. Much of this was based on our personal feelings and experiences; some of it was based on visits to houses on the Parade of Homes and on new homes that some of our friends had built recently. We condensed this down to about ten pages in outline form, prioritizing our needs and desires. We gave this to the architects, together with information on our land. (We also put them in touch with the developer to get other information they might need or want, such as more detailed maps of adjacent lots.)
July 6: After several delays, we finally met with our architects to see the first draft of our house plan. They'd done a good job of designing for our primary need (a large library), and the overall plan of the house looked good, but some areas which didn't work as well. We took two copies of the plan home to mark up.
July 9: I returned the plans, with our changes, and sat down with one of the architects to go over the ideas we'd had. They mentioned some other areas they had been thinking about redesigning, and suggested meeting in about a week.
July 22: We met and looked at the second draft. There had been a few major changes; most notably, the layout of the mudroom, which had been probably the weakest part of the design, had been redone, and the basement had been redesigned to give us more space. They'd also added a pantry, at our request, and made some changes to the master bath that we had suggested. They had also prepared some more exterior ("elevation") drawings. At this point we're starting to think about the exterior; we're looking for an Arts and Crafts feel, but that leaves open a lot of possibilities. They had planned to give us the drafts to look over this weekend, but after going through the plans with us, they decided to make some of our new changes first. We're planning to meet again on the 27th.
July 27: The third draft; more major changes. The house had been slowly growing, to around 3800 square feet (including the basement) most recently. That's larger than we needed, and heading out of our price range. To address those concerns, the house was reduced in size, and the finished basement may remain at least partially unfinished for now. The size reduction helped to refine some other parts of the house; the kitchen has been rearranged (with more work to go), and the library has become shorter and wider, giving us a larger open area for chairs or tables. We spent over an hour going through both the changes and other ideas; the architects will be working on those, as well as beginning drawings of the other exterior directions. Our architect loaned us an Andersen Windows catalog so that we could see some of their art glass; we're hoping to be able to afford at least one of those windows in our house, as we think it would really add to the feel.
August/September: We decided on several builders to talk to about bids, while the architect continued working on the design. He finalized it to the point where we could request bids, and we took that version of the design to have it approved by the architectural review committee of the development our land is in. They were happy with it, so we gave it to a couple of builders. (One of the builders we talked with doesn't do formal bids, but he gave us an estimate.)
October/November: Got our first bid back; the second is still delayed due to some complex truss structures. The house is looking about 15% more expensive than we had hoped, but we're planning to work with builder and architect to see whether we can reduce the costs. We'll need to compromise a little, either on the house design or on the price (most likely on both), but that's as we expected. We're hoping that the final bid comes soon so we can make a final decision on a builder.
December/January: We've selected a builder, LifeStyle Homes of Woodbury, Minnesota. They've been working with our architects on the cost of the house, as well as many details of the house design. Sadly, we chose to give up our rounded library (which was very expensive); it's been replaced with a slightly larger space, though, which will be nice. The kitchen is larger as well; the added cost will hopefully be balanced to some extent by changes in our exterior materials.
January 26: Picked up a revised drawing of the main floor, incorporating all of the changes made over the past month or so. The final drawings aren't quite done yet, but are very close.
January 27: Met with the company who will be doing our cabinets this morning. We got through without having to make too many decisions. Beth did an excellent job of tracking the details of what we wanted in the kitchen, and deciding how we should organize the desks which will be built into the library. We're going with a simple oak design for both, which should complement the rest of the house well.
January 28: Met with our builder again today. We made a few changes in our flooring choices which need to be reflected on the plans. Talked a little about where the process will go from here; we need to visit a design studio to pick out colors and materials for carpet, tile, etc., meet with an electrician to talk about lighting, and then pick out lights. There's a lot ahead.
February 5: Met with our builder on the lot to talk about house placement. We'll overlook our low, wet area on one side, and a hill to the back. He suggested some areas we may want to plant trees to help shield ourselves from the wind and from neighbors. He also suggested moving to a wooden deck, rather than a cement patio, behind the house; I think we'll do that.
February 9: We went to the design studio today, picking out tile, carpet, shingles, paint, vinyl flooring, countertops, doorknobs, and probably other things I don't remember right now. It was a bit tiring, but the design consultant we worked with was really very good and helped us find materials that looked good but were within our budget.
Afterwards, I went to the appliance store, picking out washer, dryer, oven, microwave, cooktop, dishwasher, and range hood. Their stock was a little limited (primarily two brands) but that was probably an advantage in some ways. I'm comfortable with everything, but the larger cooktop size (36 inch) will probably mean some changes are needed in the cabinets.
February 24: Met with the electrician today. She was very helpful, starting with a basic plan that she felt would work for us and would meet code. We made some suggestions for changes, including adding a separate 20-amp circuit for my office. She suggested a few more changes to our cabinet layout to allow electrical wiring in some places; we have a very open area downstairs, and it's been a problem finding places to put light switches.
March 1: Today we had what will hopefully be our last meeting with the builder and architect to go over changes in the plan. Most of these were relatively minor, such as correcting flooring notation based on our choices at the design studio; a few were related to details of which materials would be used, and we generally deferred to the builder's suggestions. In a week or two we should have a final plan to work from. I feel that we're making progress.
Another important step forward today is that the septic permit has been approved. Now we can go forward with the building permit. I'm not sure if the final plan is needed for that, or if we'll start the process with the current plan. Hopefully it will go quickly.
March 2: Met with the builder today to go through detailed specifications and options. After seeing the preliminary bid, we've decided to finish the basement up front. As of today, we have a firm bid, and our future decisions will be reflected via change orders.
We also went out to our site this evening to review the proposed location of the house and garage. The surveyors have been there and put stakes out. It's hard to visualize exactly how it will look, and everything seems smaller without walls. Still, we decided it looked OK and told our builder to go ahead.
March 27: The final (or close enough) plan is at the bank and we're now waiting for the loans to go through, which should take two or three weeks. Progress is being made, on the paperwork if not on the house....
April 6: Today was a day to remember, a very important day in the history of our new house. Today, we have the beginnings of a driveway, including a culvert through the ditch.
Why is this so important? Well, mostly it's the first real work that's been done on our lot. But it's also key to getting the building permit. Our township (Saint Joseph) requires that the driveway be built and inspected before the building permit is approved. So now we should be able to get the building permit and actually start work on the house soon. (The main cause of delay for the past few weeks has been load restrictions on the road, due to spring snowmelt.)
We met a couple more of our neighbors today, one when her dogs came running down to see what we were about at the lot, and one when he drove by with his toddler son on their tractor. Everybody whom we've met in our development has seemed quite friendly so far. I think it will be a nice place to live.
April 12: We picked out lights today, which means that we're now finished with all of the design work. (At least, I hope so!) We ran a little over budget, but not much compared to the rest of the house. I think it will be worth it; the lights will add a lot to the appearance of both the outside and inside of the house, I think. Afterwards, we drove over to our lot, and discovered a crew just finishing up excavation of the basement. Things are getting exciting!
June 26: A lot of stuff happened since the last update, which is both good (since it means our house is coming along) and bad (since I didn't record everything as it happened). A few highlights: The concrete block foundation was built; it was waterproofed; then backfilled. The foundation for the walkway and garage was done at the same time. The house was first framed, then covered with plywood; then the doors and windows were installed. The interior has had a lot of plumbing, heating and cooling, and electrical work done. The siding is going up, and they're now starting on insulation and drywall. (The pictures aren't quite up to date, though they're close. Until I have a digital camera, they'll always be a little behind.)
September 15: We closed on the house! There were a handful of unfinished items that we found during the walkthrough, but most of them were fixed over the course of the weekend. Remaining ones include a missing fan in the fireplace, the art glass in two of our windows installed sideways, and a missing ladder to the loft in the garage, none of which are too horrible.
September 16: Brought a few things over to the house, getting a head start on the movers. I decided to wash some of the bedding I'd brought over, and discovered that the washer was hooked up to water but not plugged in. After a few minutes spent trying to get the power cord out, I tracked down the installation directions, and discovered that the last few steps of the installation hadn't been done. Luckily I had some tools along and could get it taken care of. Not a big deal, but it would have been pretty annoying if we hadn't found it until we actually needed it!
September 18: We moved! Hurray! It really felt like we already knew much of the house, since we'd been planning it for so long. We hired movers, which was a really good idea, as otherwise we'd probably still (as I write this in January) be moving! (Actually, we do still have a few things left at the old house -- it hasn't been a high priority to get the last few items out, as we're having it fixed up before putting it on the market.)
December 30: Came back from a short vacation to Madison, Wisconsin and discovered that the hot water heater wasn't working. Our timing was just about perfect -- nobody was working over New Year's Weekend, of course. Heated hot water on the stove for a few days.
January 2, 2001: The plumber fixed the hot water heater (hurray!) and also looked at our humidifier for us -- we'd noticed it wasn't working around mid-November, but the builder hadn't gotten anyone out to look at it yet. He took care of part of the hookup, but couldn't find the cable to the outside temperature sensor. That night I spent a while looking and eventually found it.
January 10: Beth had called the warranty service company to ask about the humidifier and a couple of other issues (most notably, two fluorescent lights which didn't always come on). They sent an electrician over who fixed the humidifier (yay!) and looked at the lights. He thinks they've got a bad ballast, which we suspected, so we'll need to work with the lighting company.
Back to the rest of my personal stuff.