30 August – 21 September 2025 Guts of the House

 They have made big progress the last three weeks. The well has been completed. They struck good water at 340 feet and ran the well for 48 hours to purge out the drilling debris. The water flow looks good. We tasted the water and it is very hard, so we know a softener is going to be required (it’s already in the contract). The drill tailings were pumped over to the side of the property and from the looks of it, it’s basically rock chips and sand. We met with the Electrician and Plumber to define where switches, outlets, lights, facets, etc were going to go. They got the front and back doors installed and the fireplace. The next week the electricians, plumbers, and HVAC people started putting in the guts of the house. We had 10-15 people working in the house from multiple trades for the last two weeks. The rough plumbing is done, including the propane lines. The HVAC is installed. And the electricians are working hard to finish this coming week. We got out to the property and ran Ethernet cables for the future security cameras and home network. It was hot dusty work but much easier to do it now than to do it later. In the process of doing them we figured out the pulldown stairs for the attic access in the garage were not going to work because David had to get down on his hands and knees to crawl from the garage attic to the main house attic to pull wires. So, we had them move it into the master closet (of course they charged us $195 to do it!). When they installed the HVAC a few days later, it became clear that the best way to access the unit to change air filters will be to go in from the access David had them put in the hallway by the guest bedrooms rather than from the access in the master closet. Oh well. Working there while they were working, gave us a chance to keep our eye on the subcontractors and correct some mistakes before they became permanent. For example, David caught them routing the clothes dryer output up through the roof rather than out the side walls as we had specifically put in the plans. We took cold drinks out to them everyday since the temperatures have been in the mid to upper 90s. Of course, this is when David’s work stuff also got very busy as well. It has been an intense few weeks. With any kind of luck, the electricians will finish up by Wednesday as we have the inspection by our independent inspector scheduled for Thursday. Then it will be time for the insulation to be sprayed in. 

Back Door

24-30 August 2025 Huge Progress

 They made huge progress on the house and shop this week. They decked the roof, shingled, put in most of the windows, installed the heavy iron front door, finished most of the framing and got the shop fully built! It’s amazing how fast things have come together this week. We had a few issues we had to work through. A few framing and decking issues David noticed on his nightly walk throughs. We continued to take cold drinks out to the workers as a couple of the days were up around 100F with one day 102F. Those guys are tough! Then we would go out after they quit for the day and pick up trash and more nails. The day before they were supposed to start shingling the roof, David walked through with the framing crew supervisor and identified some deck areas that needed to be fixed, then asked when they, the framing crew, were going to do the chimney for the fireplace. He got blank looks. When he showed them the plans that had the chimney in it, they got hold of the builder and canceled the roofing crew due the next day and ordered more material so they could frame the chimney out for the brick cladding that will be on it. What would have happened if we had not noticed it? They started the shop on Monday and finished putting up the metal structure and exterior metal walls in 6 days. They were even out there working Labor Day. David spent time on “The Ranch” (Yes, we are calling it “The Ranch” now) cleaning out the inside of the house, weed eating the overgrown areas close to the street, and cleaning up more construction debris around the house. The builder kept saying the jobsite was clean but in just two minutes of walking around we picked up four dozen nails and other trash. The guys building the shop were much cleaner and really left things pretty clean when they were done. David managed to get into a Fire Ant nest while weed eating and got four good bites on his ankle. Fortunately, the Fire Ant bite immunity he built up from working in the yard in Benbrook is still good and he did not have an allergic reaction. As David was working, multiple people stopped by to get a tour and discuss neighborhood issues. The HOA put out an email to all property owners that they had to mow their lots. This is causing a lot of concern with the absentee land owners. David provided several folks the name and number of the guy we had mow ours before we started construction. Such is the life in the Texas countryside. While cleaning the inside of the house of dirt and saw dust, David identified some other framing issues (Missing half wall and shower niche in the guest bath, missing niche in the master shower, a beam in the living room out of straight, etc.) to work with the builder. Our real-estate agent even stopped in to check on progress and help pick up nails! On Labor Day we took a picnic dinner out to the house and sat on our new patio to enjoy the quiet and expansive view while the sunset. We will be doing that often once we move in! We will meet with the cabinet contractor this week to lay out the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Probably will meet with the electrician and plumber as well so they can get started with their rough ins. Then David can get in and do some wiring of his own. 

This is just two minutes of picking up!

Shingles going on Windows in

Sunset at the Ranch

Shop structure finished on day three

Roof Deck on.