Blowin the Roof Off!

We have a roof ladies and gentleman! Yes, we do.. and I seriously could not be happier about it. I have a day off during the week due to illness, so I finally was able to see the house in the daylight and take some pictures.

The southwest view of the house. Can't wait for the covered front porch.

 Front of the house from the dirt road. Look at that roof! Metal would've been nice, but oh well. We actually decreased the pitch of the roof from 6/12 to 5/12 as part of a cost-saving measure, and I actually really like the look of it. Less emphasis on the roof versus the front gables.

The southwest view of the house from the driveway. I'm debating on where to put the address number of our house--front or side of the house that faces the street? Also, I opted to not get shaker siding in the gables of the side of the house due to the cost, and now I'm regretting it.

Windows arrived today!!

Look at that beautiful ThermaTru door. We plan to stain it a natural wood color..

We are currently in the process of drying the house out with industrial fans, because man that wood was wet. Our foolish hope was to have a roof by October (silly me) before the major rain started, but January is better than February! Man, we just didn't really anticipate all of the set-backs or additional money.. But, I'll cover all of the things I wish I would've known in a later post.

Anyways, I want to be able to post more positive things, especially now that our house has some cover from the elements. But, I'm also trying to be honest about the process. People have no idea what they're getting into sometimes when it comes to building a house. Really, it all comes down to time and money, right? Maybe if we didn't have a tight budget, or that we didn't have to rent a duplex and pay 2 mortgages, or the kids sharing a room, or so many things go wrong, and maybe we could say we have had a good experience so far..?

So, Lexar has paid more attention to my blog and social media than I would have thought. **Hey guys!** Honestly, I started all of this because I found blogs about people who built with Hiline Homes, Adair Homes, etc.. but not Lexar. I'm sorry if my experiences don't portray a positive experience so far, but it has been realistic... and it's not exclusive to Lexar.. just so we're all clear here. One of our future neighbors built with a different builder, and they failed an inspection so many times that their building permit was suspended. There were other issues with their property due to the company's non-payment of their subcontractors. One of Graham's co-workers built with a different builder, and they failed final inspection 3 times because they put in the wrong windows, didn't correct it, and tried to fool the inspector. All of these builders have the same clause that they can raise the base price of your house if you don't have the foundation in the ground within a certain time frame. Price changes can happen with builders and even a private general contractor. So yes, anybody with any builder can have a negative experience.

I've also seen positive experiences. There's an Instagram network of us building with Lexar, Adair, Hiline, etc here in the Pacific Northwest. I've seen houses go up way faster than mine, and I've also seen beautiful results of their houses' interior and exterior details.

We met again with the project managers of Lexar of Tacoma on Friday. I was a little nervous because they didn't say what it was about. One thing that we have complained about is the lack of communication, so it was nice to be able to talk it out in person. We found out about some of the behind-the-scenes details that they didn't share with us initially, and it helped us understand why it took so long for framing to get done. We also finally addressed how they are going to make up for lost time for the next steps. Usually with building a home, the managers give their subcontractors a window of time to complete their part. So, when there's a delay, it sets everything back. So, according to the project managers, our house will have more priority and subcontractors will be scheduled as soon as they're available. We are going to clarify with them what the approximate schedule will be. We still have a completion date of May.

Let's talk about expectations. These things can really help make us happy or unhappy--unmet expectations. I expected our framing to be done in 3-4 weeks, and we weren't told until 26 days after our lumber was dropped that our framing wouldn't be done until the end of January... which would make it 8 weeks. However, if they had shared with us initially that they had to split a crew and it would extend the date, we would've understood and not been so disappointed. Also, I know nothing about construction while Graham knows a little, so when we found out our shearwall inspection was cancelled, it was seriously upsetting because we thought the roof couldn't go on until it passed. We were unbelievably relieved when Graham visited the worksite and the framers were there putting up the roof and finishing the interior. Again, we didn't know what to expect, so we were angry.

Now, we have better expectations of what the rest of the build will be like. We talked out a communication plan for a weekly email to let us know what's going on. So hopefully now that we know what to expect, we'll be able to make it through the next few months without major disturbances. Next up: HVAC, rough in plumbing, electrician, siding.

Last little nugget.. One of the project managers said that building a house should be a fun thing, and he knows someone who's having a great time. I said, yeah, this is the most stressful thing I've ever done in my life.. and I've gone to grad school, moved to places where I didn't know anybody, delivered a master's thesis to 4 straight-up doctors, and been separated from my husband. But then Graham said, well there are also some people that enjoy pregnancy.. and that totally brought it home for me. Building a home really is like having a baby. There's the planning, the detailed plans and purchases, the excitement, taking photos along every step of the way, the feeling of anticipation and anxiety, the moments of fear when you feel like what the hell have I gotten myself into, the delivery and the first time you see your baby's face, and then there's the time when you're confronted with the bill! But, when that baby comes, or when the house is done, there should be that miraculous feeling of joy and amazement... which I'm totally looking forward to. And yes, I'm sure there are some crazy people that like building their own house just like those annoying women who look and feel good during pregnancy... but I'm not either of those.

Update: Curious about our progress? Click on this link to see all of our home building updates, or check out my Instagram account.