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Shawn's Forum Posts: 4
Journal Entries: 6
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Hoping for Slab tomorrow...

Posted to Warner-Dream by Shawn in Astatula, FL on 4/11/2007

Well we have everything done up to getting the slab. Hoping to pass inspection tomorrow and pour concrete at 9 am. I pray it works out the way my husband has planned. My daughter and I are going to Sea World tomorrow because she is on spring break and I promised I would take her. I am sad I am going to miss the pour, but hoping it will be all done when I get back. We are dreaming about the block being up by the end of next week but I won't believe it till I see it. Anyway, guess that is it for now. Will try to upload some pictures another day when I have more time.

Let the problems begin....

Posted to Warner-Dream by Shawn in Astatula, FL on 3/26/2007

Okay. Well in my last post I told you we had the footers dug and were ready for inspection.. Yeah right. Well we did and they were, but then on the day of inspection our homeowners' president showed up and told us that our house wasn't far enough off the round. Well as far as zoning was concerned it was, but not for them.

So we had to pull all the steel rebar out and rebury it and have it surveyed again and start all over. We now have our stem wall up and hopefully the dirt will be brought in tomorrow and filled. Then Wednesday if all goes well, but not holding my breath, the plumber can come in and start. I know it's a big job and that I have to just try to take things slow and remember this is going to take time. But Heaven knows I am an impatient person. Like Bianca on "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" I want it and I want it NOW. My best friend laughs at me, because she has owner-built before and she knows it is not going to happen that way. And slowly I am getting the picture but a girl's gotta dream.

Oh, and we also got our well today. That is two things in one day. I say that is progress. Okay, that's it for now. Hoping to have lots more to post very soon.

Have permit and broke ground...

Posted to Warner-Dream by Shawn in Astatula, FL on 3/9/2007

Well yesterday was the big day. We were able to pick up our permit and get our footers dug the same day. We have called for our inspection and hope to pass that so we can pour them today. This of course is my husband's theory. I guess having concrete at your disposal helps move this part along pretty fast. I am so excited to actually be doing something. But then I think am I really ready to start. Do I have the right people picked? Will they still need the work and are they ready to start? I guess I will soon find out. I will need to reread my Owner-Builder Book now that it has been a few months. Well off to my new job, The House.

Shawn

We have submitted for permit

Posted to Warner-Dream by Shawn in Astatula, FL on 2/5/2007

Well we finally submitted for our permit last Wednesday. We haven't heard back from them yet for what we have to fix but I am glad it is finally in there being reviewed. We have found a neighborhood where they are building our house with a few changes. I am glad in many ways, because it is almost done so I can see what they have done with the house and what I would like to change. I can also see how big the rooms are and where I would put what. It is great to have a visual to see all the elements of our future house. The upstairs is nothing like ours but that's okay.

Anyway just wanted to put in an update. Hopefully in the next couple weeks we will be breaking ground. Oh yeah, I put my twins in preschool today, so I will have time to run the job site and run all the errands I need to get done. Will post again after I get the permit.

Shawn

Yes, Dear, I got the plans....

Posted to Warner-Dream by Shawn in Astatula, FL on 1/15/2007

Well today was the day my hubby surprised me with an afternoon visit and in his hands were my precious stamped plans. Of course there will need to be a couple of changes. They put the wrong lintel schedule in and considering we own the precast plant that makes the lintels, you'd think they would have put in the right manufacturer. I think he was just trying to stick it to us one more time. But we can submit with what we have. Now I have to get in high gear and get the bank moving and get all of that in order so I can permit. But now that I have final plans I can get honest bids and know where we stand with this.

Lisa, we own a precast business... we will be doing block. And will be doing a stem wall for the foundation. I also have an older daughter who just turned eight in October so I know how you feel. She is the best big sister ever and could not imagine having the twins without her there to play with them and help when she can.

Well I am so happy I have plans. I went and bought The Owner-Builder Book this weekend and have been devouring it. Though just reading the part of what it takes to be an owner-builder kinda made me rethink it. Not sure I possess most of those qualities, but I will have to fake it I guess. Well until the next thing comes up, that's all for now.

Do you have the plans???

Posted to Warner-Dream by Shawn in Astatula, FL on 1/12/2007

Okay I will start this blog with the question I ask my husband every day. Do you have the plans? For at least three months now that is how our conversation at the end of the day begins. Or, did you talk to the architect? What did he say?

Okay now I will explain why I ask that question. We purchased our plans for our dream house in April of 2006. This was right after we fell in love with our future neighborhood. We jumped in with both feet no question about it, and boy do I wish we researched more first. Okay, we found our house online and loved it. There were pictures of the house that someone had built and it is beautiful. So we bought the plans after looking at different ones day and night for a few weeks. And we mostly looked for what we wanted in the house, not the possible downsides of buying what we wanted.

So we bought the plans, closed on our 5.25 acres and are ready to build, right? Wrong, I am so naive. Find out we need an architect to bring these to Florida code and other things - okay, easy enough. We are in the concrete business, so we ask a customer for a reference and he gives us one. Well my husband met him without me, and of course came back with a contract for me to sign and added 1,000 sq feet to the house by way of a huge game room and theater room. This I can live with because we have three girls and many years from now when they are teenagers I am the mom that wants them at my house where I can see what they are doing instead of someone else's.

Well it's now been nine months and after only making two changes to plans we bought online with the CAD file, we still have no plans. And every day my husband talks to the architect, he says he will have them tomorrow. If there wasn't so much time and money wrapped up in these plans, I would just tell him to go away and on Wednesday I was ready to do just that. Anyway today he says he of course will have them tomorrow and that he switched engineers because they were the ones holding it up. (For three months now he has told us they are at the engineer just waiting to pick them up).

So I sit and wait. I have actively started getting bids, which is hard without final plans, but doing my best. We have twin one-year-olds and I think I will have to put them in daycare for me to handle all the running once this project actually begins. I pray one day it will begin. Well that is where we are at now. I hope to be able to keep up with the progress on here. It was good therapy just typing it all out.

Posted by Lisa in Groveland, FL on 1/13/2007 Lisa's Forum Posts: 122 Journal Entries: 101 Interview Answers: 94 Average Forum Rating: 4.01 Lisa's Selected Image 1/13/2007

Shawn, I so feel for you, similar stuff is happening to us. With permitting not accepting our plans in their current form, I will journal later this weekend as my two-year-old is about to awake and then typing will be near impossible. I have put her into daycare for three days a week and there is no way I could get half of this done otherwise. That said, they grow up so fast. I take my hat off to you with twin one-year-olds. My seven-year-old is a great help when home. Both girls. Our site (5 acres) is not far from you, just the other side of the 27 on CR 565.  Three months to get your plans - who is this architect? What wall system are you using? You mentioned you were in the concrete business - if so, what exactly do you do? Sorry, I just realized I'm bombarding you with questions. I wish you the best of luck with absolutely everything. Take care, Lisa.