HowellJourney

The Construction Begins

Our property is starting to look like a construction site.  This past week, we had a pota potty delivered, my son-in-law, Mladen and I and built the "world best trash bin" out of 4 x 8 sheets of treated plywood and we had a temporary power pole installed by the electrical contractor. 

I called in for my first inspection by the building inspector for the power pole which is a requirement by the power company before they will connect to it.   Hopefully, CoServe Electric will run electrical service to the pole this coming week.

I met the owner of our concrete contractor at the site to discuss some last minute details and executed the contract at the site.   The owner of the company indicated they will install the form boards for the foundation on Monday or Tuesday of this coming week.  The foundation, with the required 15 foot piers, will represent 11 to 12% of my budget for the home.  Despite what they say about the housing market, concrete and steel are not cheap.

I have arranged for our surveyor from Denton,TX to survey the form boards so that I can deliver documentation detailing the location of the proposed structures to the city. 

Pad Finished

The foundation pad for the home would have been finished last Friday but rain delayed completion until Monday.  We had planned on 600 yards of select fill but as it turned out, the site required 920 yards or 46 semi truck load of soil plus 1 truck load of gravel for the entry way to the property.  I am positive that the neighbors are glad we are completed since the crawler dozier sounded like a tank on maneuvers.

The next step is to schedule the surveyors to mark where the home and detached garage should be built and to schedule an appointment with the concrete sub-contractor since we will need to modify the contract in place since we had to raise the pad in front higher than we had planned. 

Overall, Lone Star Excavating did a good job.   Luis and Carlo were very dilegent about their work to insure proper drainage.   

Ground Breaking Day

Well, the day finally came after two years of planning.

Construction financing is in place, building permits have been approved and contracts are being signed for the construction of our home. Virginia and I arrived early so we could pray and ask for guidance and protection as we built the home. We stood on where our future front porch will be and asked for God’s blessing.

The first subcontractor on site was Asplin Corporation dba Lone Star Excavation. The first good sign was when Bob Asplin and crew showed up twenty minutes early. We were scheduled to meet at 7:30 AM. Bob, Luis and Carlos showed up at 7:10 AM with a 24 wheeled truck carrying a Cat 953 crawler. Most trucks have 18 wheels but this one had 24 wheels due to the weight of the equipment they have to carry to job sites. This morning was spent stripping the top six inches of vegetation from the pad site for the home and detached garage. The top soil and vegetation were piled at the back of the property in order to build a berm on the west of the property. After watching Carlos operate the crawler for about two hours, I had to concur what Bob Asplin said about Carlos’ skills: “He can part your hair with this crawler”.  It was obvious Carlos knew what he was doing.

Tomorrow, we will watch 30 trucks bring 600 yards of select fill to build the pad site up from 1 to 3 feet.