9-15 March 2026 Electrical almost done

 The Electrical installers made great progress. Most of the lights and ceiling fans are installed as are most of the outlets. They did not get power out to the shop and did not get the ceiling fans and lights in the living room installed. They found they had a short in one of the outdoor power lines and ended up cutting a bunch of holes in the wall to find the short. Sure enough, a drywall screw had punctured a wire so they had to replace the wire from the box up to the attic. They moved the outlets in the pantry and bathrooms to where we requested. They are supposed to come out next week to finish the electrical install. The tilers were out to install the backsplash in the kitchen and utility room. It came out great. The HVAC system completed their install but failed to add the vent in the attic I have been asking for over the last two months. They will have to come back out to add. The propane tank was installed where we had marked. They went down about 2.5 feet before hitting solid rock. They had to chip through rock for the next 3 feet. But with the smaller tank, it was a much smaller hole so they wrapped up in a day. On Friday the concrete crew was out to begin laying out the driveway. David met up with them to make sure they knew where we wanted the driveway set. The drywall guys were supposed to be out to fix the drywall over the weekend, but never showed up. Same with the driveway guys. David worked on the Ethernet wires we had run early on. He was able to get two of the four we had run to the shop working fully, but the other two have problems, probably where he spliced them in the conduit between the house and the shop. Next is to install the outside cameras. This week they plan to complete the electrical and the plumber is supposed to be in to complete the plumbing. They are also supposed to deliver and install the appliances. It is finally coming together! On Sunday we met up with Wade and Mona at the house and then went to lunch in Granbury.  There was a Founder’s Day Festival in the Square and lots of people were milling about the vendors. The wind was really picking up so we decided to retreat and explore another day. Always good to see Mona and Wade.

Digging for the Propane Tank

250 Gallon Propane Tank before being buried

Forms go in for the driveway

We have lights

Holes cut to find the short

Finally moved the plugs up

Backsplash in the utility room

More holes

New light in the hall

Lights and Backsplash added to kitchen

2-8 March 2026 Progress

 Not much was accomplished Monday or Tuesday on the house. The power company connected the power lines to the exterior house box along with the meter. The house is ready to have power turned on. The painters could not do any outside work since rain was moving into the area for the first time in weeks. We found that they had delivered the barnwood that will go above the fireplace and stove vent had been delivered as well as the wood that will be used to make the beams in the living room and study. The trim carpenters are scheduled to come in Friday to install those. When we were at the house Wednesday, a crew showed up to run the fiber optic lines to the house. They needed water, but the electricians had disconnected power for the well pump from the power tree at the street and connected it to the house wiring. Called Skyler to see if I could turn on the house power and apply power to the water pump. After a lot of back and forth, I figured out that they had not wired the water pump into the circuit breaker panel yet (The bright pink wire hanging out at both ends was the giveaway). So, the fiber crew went to plan B (used long snake cables) and were able to pull the fiber optic from the network box up the street all the way to the house. We discussed the propane tank situation with Kelby. He suggested downsizing to a 250 gallon tank which would mean lower cost and a smaller hole to jack through the rock. The rock charge would balance out the smaller tank costs. Which would allow us to keep the tank in the original planned location. On Friday we stopped at the office and paid the 7^thinstallment for the house. We then went to the house to meet Skyler at 11 am to lay out the propane tank position. He did not show up. We marked out where we thought it should go so it would be 10 feet from the house and shop, clear of the septic system and electrical conduits. The trim carpenters were back out on Friday to install the decorative beams in the study and office. They also installed the Barnwood over the fireplace and vent hood. But on the fireplace, they did not scribe the bottom board to the mantle beam leaving a big crack and they installed it over the pinewood they had mistakenly put there several weeks back making our mantle shallower.  

23 February – 1 March 2026 Things are progressing SLOWLY

 We met with the builder and our relator on Monday morning at the house. About an hour before the meeting, our relator, Laurie, sent the owner an email basically saying she expected better out of them or else. Shortly after we got to the house, Kelby, our first build coordinator stated the island counter top was unacceptable to them and the subcontractor would replace it. They explained it was probably the creation of the rough edge that led to the corners being broken off if they had not been supported properly. We agreed to go with a machined edge this next time around. We provided them a written list with 37 items that needed to be address and walked through the house and shop to show them the issues. Kelby ordered Skyler to get the painters back to finish the painting work (front and back porch ceilings, hallway ceilings and study doors, and the shop doors immediately. They said the pace of work was going to pick up and we would be finished in three to four weeks. Leslie, Laurie and Skyler made plans to meet at the rock shop to select a new slab of granite for the island. David had to use the truck for the next three days to drive into work, so Laurie picked up Leslie and took her to the rock shop to pick out a new slab. Skyler was a no show. They looked over what was available, had them move some slabs around so they could inspect other and settled on the last slab from the same cut as our current one. They installed it Thursday and it looks great! They also installed the backsplash in the pantry. The company that was contracted by the electrical coop came out Thursday with a small back hoe and tried to dig a path even though David had told them they would need to cut rock. They came back Friday with a Rock saw and cut the trench and installed the conduit for both the power cable and the fiber optic line. The Painters showed up Thursday and got to work. The electricians showed up long enough to raise the plugs in the kitchen and utility room to where we had marked them to be. But in the pantry, they raised them just enough to clear the backsplash. The outside lights by the garage were installed and they put in one outlet in the utility room to provide worked power. Friday, we went to Canton Texas with our friends Mona and Wade for the First Monday Flea Market. It's held once a month on the Thursday-Sunday before the first Monday of each month. At over 468 acres, it’s the largest flea market in the US. We had a fun time strolling about 1/3 of the market over 5 hours. We picked up some yard art and Leslie found a dress that reminded her of one she had bought, and worn out, in Venice. We also picked up information from some vendors for possible future buys once we are in the house. We all had a great time! As we were driving over, Skyler informed us the painters had painted a sample of the shop door color for us to approve with no prior coordination. On Saturday we went out to the house and approved the color they had picked out. But once again, there was no one working. The painters had finished clear coating the wood ceilings on the front and back porch, hallway and study doors on Friday and were off on another job. We went to Lowes and picked out the front and back door handles, interior door handles, cabinet and drawer pulls, towel racks, etc. Took picture of what we wanted and put them into a word file which we sent on to Kelby. 

9-15 February 2026 We have counters!

 Not much got done the first three days of the week on the house. Then suddenly on Thursday we arrived at the Ranch and found they had installed the counters in the kitchen, master and Guest baths, pantry and utility room. They did not install the powder room counter. The counter colors work great with the cabinet and wall colors. The leathered island counter looks wonderful. Leslie was very happy with her choices. We did see that they had cut backsplashes for the counters in the pantry but had not caulked them into place yet because the electrical outlets are too low and will need to be raised. They had also been out to install the electrical boxes next to the garage (we had been stuck waiting on the brick guys to come out and fix the brick so they could do the install), installed some breakers in the circuit panel, and temporarily wired the well pump to the house wiring (It has had a long extension cord running over to the electrical tree). They are ready we think to finally bring power from the street into the house. Thursday evening we met our friend Rick for dinner. He is in town for a few days to catch up on shop shopping. Friday afternoon we spent out at the house. We found they had been in that morning and installed the counter in the powder room. David assembled and installed a analog TV antenna in the attic to pick up local stations. Leslie worked some more on touch ups to the used furniture we purchased. Our relator, Laurie, came by to see the counters and noticed that one corner of the kitchen island looked like it had been broken off and glued back into place. We had not noticed that. She was going to call the builder herself and chastise them about their quality until they replaced it. She was also going to press them for a closing date. 

Saturday morning, we woke to find that Cupid had visited and left Valentine cards all over the place!  David worked on our federal taxes and then we made a wonderful cheese souffle with roasted brussels sprouts for our Valentines Dinner.  We figure the Ranch is our Valentines gift to ourselves. 

1-8 February 2026 Painters finished (Mostly)

 The painters finished their primary painting work and cleaned up. They still need to stain the pine ceilings on the front and back porches and also the entry ceiling and study doors. I reminded them they also have to paint the doors on the shop. Skyler started to claim it was not in scope of our contract but was corrected by Kelby. But Kelby wants to wait until the driveway is installed since they will need to use a lift truck to get to the top of the doors. The paint job looks great. They will have to come back and do some touch-up after the other trades are finished. On Wednesday, we went to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo ($20 for parking and $30 for entry) and walked the stalls, vendors and watched the kids leading these huge steers around, washing them, and primping them before judging. The brick masons came and fixed the brick alongside the garage to allow the meter box to be installed and took another shot at fixing the cable pass through in that corner and again got it wrong. Over the weekend, David built another, smaller, rolling shelf unit that will work in the garage and Leslie cleaned up and touched up the Leather Loveseat we had gotten the previous week. Our real-estate agent, Laurie, stopped by to see how the final paint colors had come out and to see how we are doing on our projects. This next week they are supposed to install the electrical meter box and counters in the kitchen, bathrooms, utility room and pantry. That should set things up for the electricians to come back and install the fixtures and get the power company to run the cable from the street to the meter. It will also allow the tile guys to come back and install the backsplash in the kitchen and utility room. We're hoping things are going to accelerate from here. 

 Monday and Tuesday it was too cold for the painters to work. We received almost 2 inches of snow, ice and sleet since Friday. David got out Tuesday to refill the propane. By Wednesday afternoon, the roads were melted off. We went out to the house late in the day. The paint crew was still not bac but they had gotten a lot of the trim painted on Friday.  When we went out Thursday, the paint crew was hard at work. They had started putting the final coats on the cabinets. We received a CR from the builder claiming it would cost almost $2,000 to change the color of the island and utility room cabinets. Leslie decided that she liked the color of the utility cabinets after they had dried thoroughly and we saw them in the daylight. We discussed the color of the island with the paint crew foreman. We showed him the paint chip of the color Leslie wanted and even offered him the pint of the paint (if only they had taken them up front!). On Friday we went back out to the house and looked at the sample the foreman had obtained and sprayed on part of the cabinet.  It was finally the correct color. Meantime, Skyler was being a pest and did not realize we were coordinating directly with the crew. We also approved the exterior paint color (third try). Meantime they continued on the rest of the house and got all the trim and cabinets painted and prepped for painting the walls and ceilings. On Sunday, we went and picked up a beautiful leather love seat that Leslie found online. When we dropped it off at the shop, we went in and saw the repainted island. It was perfect! They will finish painting this week with painting the walls and ceiling (primer and two coats of final color). 

Before the final paint.

Finally, the right color!