29 July 2025 Emergency!

 Tuesday, David went to Lockheed to work. So, I was homebound for the day and trying to keep myself occupied and entertained.  Early in the afternoon, there was a faint knock on the door. Keira of course got very upset and began barking, normally she just huffs a bit, but because David was gone, she was pretty protective. I opened the door to find a woman in tears.  She was hot, sweaty, tired and feeling sick. She explained she had been walking from a hotel, got overheated and was afraid she was having a heat stroke.  Frankly, I was too. But David was gone and I was by myself so I asked her to sit outside in the shade, got her some ice water and called an ambulance.  The 911 operator told me not to let her drink that water and I needed to get her out of the heat. Perhaps cool her down with wet towels and put her in front of a fan. Eventually, the ambulance did arrive and the paramedics took good care of her and got her to the hospital.  That certainly kept me occupied for the afternoon!! I can only guess she saw the RV park and began knocking on doors until she found someone to help her. Thank goodness I was able to help her.

24 July 2025 Failed Inspection

 They told us on the 21^st that they would be ready for inspection by the 24^th. Nothing happened for the next several days, but we were reassured that they would be ready for inspection on the 24^th. David met the inspector at the property in the afternoon and nothing had been accomplished to address the issues we knew about. So needless to say, we failed inspection. In addition to not fixing the shop plumbing, they had not wrapped the pipes going through the concrete. The pipes have to be wrapped in bubble wrap to keep the concrete from gripping the pipes to tight. They need to be able to move slightly or stress cracks in the pipes can develop over time. They had not fixed the pad for the storm shelter. They had substituted single 3/8^th in rebar where there should have been 5/8^th. It's ok to double up the 3/8^th, which they did in a couple of places, but there were a couple of places where it was only a single. They had not installed a Nufer Ground in the shop. But the biggest issue was they had placed the 5/8 rebar that is supposed to be in the top of the beams on top of the 3/8 rebar that is in the field. That would place the 5/8ths rebar 2 inches above the top of the beams. Of course, our contractor tried to argue that is the way they always do it and it had been approved by the engineers. David looked it up in the International Residential Codes that we had written into our contract, and our inspector was right, our contractor wrong. So, this issue went on through the weekend. We finally reached an agreement on Monday that the concrete contractor would rework the rebar. The concrete contractor would cover the cost (material and labor) of reworking the shop, our builder would cover the labor to rework the rebar in the house and we would cover the additional material for the house. That took them a couple of days to resolve. The plumber wrapped the pipes and added the water for the shop bathroom. The electrician fixed the Nufer ground in the shop. We went out and inspected everything and took pictures we sent to the inspector. We got our green tag. They fixed the pad for the storm shelter the morning of the pour. 

Plumbing not wrapped

Plumbing not wrapped

Single 3/8th rebar where it should have been 5/8th our double 3/8th

5/8th laying on top the 3/8th field.

18 July 2025 Foundation Takes Shape

The concrete guys came back after the plumbers had laid in their under-foundation pipes. We had noticed the plumber had the not laid in the pipes for the rough ins for the shop toilet room. We got hold of Kelby and worked out where rough ins would need to go. The concrete guys cut the beams for the foundation (2 feet deep, 1 foot wide), laid down the vapor barrier and laid in the rebar to the beams and field. All that in one day! The concrete guys cut the ditch for the shop rough ins, but unfortunately put them where the covered patio is going to be instead of in the shop. The plumber came back out and dug them out himself, but made a mess of the rebar and beams the concrete guys had laid in. They did fill the pipes with water so we could check for any leaks. Fortunately, there were none. The concrete guys came back out to lay in the forms for the brick ledge. We noticed the reinforced pad for the storm shelter was too small, so they were going to have to fix that. We also noticed they had not laid in a water line for the bathroom in the shop. They had several things to fix before the foundation would be ready for the pre-pour inspection by the independent inspector we hired. 

16 July 2025 Under Slab Plumbing

 They dug the trenches and installed the plumbing runs that will go under the slabs for both the house and the shop. This includes the sewer lines and conduits for where they will push through pex pipes for the hot and cold water (blue and red conduits in the pictures) that needs to run under the slab (kitchen island and the RV hook up). We noticed an additional conduit to where the coffee/wine bar will be. When we asked about that, they said it was for a possible future ice maker. Apparently this subcontractor had had that come up before. Since we don’t plan on having an ice maker at the coffee bar, we will have them remove that. The less under the slab, the better. We also noticed they had not plumbed in for the bathroom in the shop so they will need to add that before they get ready to pour the slab. One thing for sure, there is a lot of rock under this foundation! But luckily, they are able to work through it fairly easily. 

Well connection

Guest bath

Main sewer run

Laundry Room and 1/2 bath

Shop and Driveway RV sewer connections

Master Bath and Primary Cleanout

Main connection to the well, surge tank, and water softener

8 July 2025 Concrete Forms

 They put in the foundation forms for the house and shop. We met them out at the property in the morning and laid out the corners of the house and shop per the Architects drawings. After looking things over, the builder suggested we move the house an additional 20 feet back from the road to help with drainage and assured us that would only add $1,000 to $1200 to the concrete flatwork price. We agreed and moved everything back 20 feet and that looks perfect. So, after moving the house forward 50ft in April, to save money on concrete, we have pushed it back 20 feet (100ft off the road now). We came back in the evening to find the concrete forms up and we also found deer tracks running through the house footprint! The animals have blessed the house already! They will be working on the beams and underground plumbing/electric over the next couple of weeks. We verified the foundation requirements for the Safe Room with the builder. We will have installed in the garage post construction. We also hired a third party inspector to perform phase inspections to keep us all honest. In addition, the Electrician came out and put in the “Tent Pole” and David arranged to have it connect up to the power grid so the contractors would have power on site. 

House Forms

Shop Forms

Deer tracks running through the house footprint.

30 June – 3 July 2025 Breaking Ground

 The “Dirt Guy” showed up with his tractor operator today. After talking over the grading plan, they got to work moving dirt and rock (lots of rock!) to flatten out the area for the house and shop. David went out each day to see how it was going and to talk about some adjustments with the tractor operator. They ended up moving more dirt than we expected and it took them four days when they said it would be two days. The final grade looks good but leaves some landscaping challenges in the future.  

26 June 2025 Mona’s Party

 We were invited to our friend, Mona’s, retirement party. Mona was Leslie’s assistant manager at Etta’s place and best friend. After Etta’s Place closed, Mona went to work for Southwest Elevator in 2020. Mona’s boyfriend, Wade, contacted Leslie inviting us to the retirement party her company was hosting for her.  Leslie was able to reach out to Ryan and Ashley who also worked at Etta’s Place.  We got there as they were delivering and setting up the pizza and spaghetti.  There were close to thirty people including Moa’s family, friends and co-workers.  She was wearing a tshirt that quipped, Retired 2025: Not My Problem Anymore.  Her fellow workers presented her with a plaque that said “Here’s to Hanging it up”. It was wrapped with a leather holster holding a bejeweled monogrammed phone.  It looked like Mona was enjoying herself as we left.  We were glad to see they appreciated her.