Let’s talk about our pile of dirt. After we picked our lot, designed out house (inside and out), met with our builder, realized we were poor and cut stuff, we were finally ready to get the ball rolling. We gave our builder the down payment on June 6th.
On June 26 (longest 20 days of my life), we finally broke ground. I pulled up to the lot and saw a pile of trees that were cleared from the middle of the land.
You know who else was happy? This girl. She was slightly terrified of the bulldozer at first. I assured her that it wouldn’t move. Then she was all game.
Here’s the lot cleared from the back of the property – not the very back but just to where they stopped clearing the trees and cactus. It was so exciting to see progress!
I walked the lot with the builder the next day to talk about where the house should be placed. There is a house built to the right, but nothing to the left. However someone owns 2 lots to the left and has plans drawn but isn’t doing anything at the moment.
We decided to build 7 feet from the left property line (which is the closest the subdivision will let you build from your property line) and 41 feet from the right property line. We are more than 41 feet from our neighbors to the right. The builder knows that the people who own the lots to the left aren’t building close to our property line since they have 2 lots to build on. Plus we have a nice tree buffer there.
As you can see from our top picture, there’s a nice drop off at the front of our lot, so we are building 20 feet from the top of the lot. It will be a small front yard, but that’s fine most of our activity will be in the back yard since we don’t want our kids rolling off the front of the lot anyway. We were able to keep some trees and brush there too.
We went to Nashville with a clear lot wondering what would be done while we were gone. We came back to the cleared lot with 5 foot piles of dirt everywhere. They covered the entire space. They sat there for 4 days before…
The bulldozer flattened it out again. It’s been a grueling start. One that is testing my already limited patience. Things are starting to move, and I’m sure they will move quickly from now on. I think the hold up was the bank. Our builder is carrying the financing until the house is finished then we will close with our lender. A one time close on a custom build is a rare thing. Most lenders don’t do them anymore. This was the easiest route, so I guess we are ok with the slow start. It’s just hard since this is also the least interesting part of the process too. I just want to see some walls.
So there is our timeline and how our pile of dirt has transformed into a cleared pile of dirt with more dirt on top.
It’s yours and it’s beautiful!
It is!! And it’s still a little unbelievable!
I can’t wait to see the house as it progresses!
We can’t wait either! It still feels a little unrealistic at this point, so we are ready to see any signs of light at the end of the tunnel.
This is so cool! When you said your builder is carrying the financing and you’re only closing once does that mean you didn’t have to take out a construction loan?
The builder took out a construction loan, but our contract with him states that we’re responsible for the interest. We’re very lucky to have a builder that would do it for us.
Look at your dirt! It’s beautiful! 😉
Waiting is the hardest part of the whole building process. Well that and budget constraints but I think waiting outweighs those haha Do you guys have a timeline for when the build will be done? I remember driving by our lot everyday hoping to see a house but it was dirt, then more dirt, then dug up dirt for plumbing, then flattened dirt over the plumbing, then boards for the foundation, then the foundation, then waiting for the foundation to cure, and so on and so forth and then one day (or 4 months later) there was a house! 😀
Haha my sentiments exactly! He said 5 months from the time we broke ground which was technically June 26th, but I don’t know if the timeline will be moved back since it’s been almost a month and not much has been done. I am just hoping it’s before Christmas, so we can still have our annual party. Who knows. I’m trying to stay positive, but I’m also panicking. Surely I can blame some of this on pregnancy emotions.
This was the hardest part for us too, but then it all started and every week the progress was amazing! Can’t wait to see the finished house!
So you’re saying there’s an upside. Thank goodness because I don’t think I could handle it progressing like this until the end. It’s also the boring part, so that makes it extra hard.
This was the longest part for us. We were given a 5 month timeline as well. It was 2 months before we had the framing up and another month before we had walls. There are a lot of permits to get, as well as inspections to be done. I know you’re excited. It’s going to be beautiful!
Thanks so much! I hope that since it’s a small town getting the permits won’t be as big of a deal. I’m hanging onto anything at this point!
Well those are the prettiest little dirt piles I’ve seen in a long time.
Haha thanks! They are about as pretty as dirt can get in our eyes!
Holy Taj Mahal batman.
I lived with my in-laws for 6 months while ours was being built. I feel your pain on the waiting game.
So you’re saying it’s possible to continue this madness and still come out alive!!
Ooooooh look at that dirt. It’s YOURS! YEAH BUDDY! I’m so excited for you. It’s starting to come to life! That picture of Ramona is the cutest thing I’ve seen.
Thank you! Slowly but surely I guess!!