Things rarely go as planned and often not according to schedule. But that’s hard to accept when you’re fighting against the clock and the weather. We’ve regularly said that in the iron triangle of Time | Money | Quality we want quality first, cost second and time third. Yeah, easier said than done.

Back in August the permit got approved and we started chugging right along with our excavation and foundation contractor who were available essentially right away- woot! Then we had to buy all the lumber to frame the house. Y’all saw that Instagram post, right? Of the receipt taller than Jim (who is just under 6ft tall)? There was some run around with the framer that is a story for another day, but they eventually showed up to start the house… on October 1.

Um…. that’s a pretty big gap. But we were excited, mostly. I was nervous because Jim had to be at a conference from Sunday through Tuesday and I got to be the understudy GC. I tried people, but I wasn’t that great. We just never figured that the rare time when Jim is out of town for a conference would be exactly when they would want to start work. They worked for two days and got us a very nice… platform? Then, poof they were gone until the pre-built panels that they made in their factory arrived Friday, October 5th. But still no workers.

 

We were told they would be back to put up the house on Tuesday October 9th, but called the day before to say it would actually be Wednesday. Problem is, Wednesday was forecast to get like an inch of rain. You see, the Amish do not check weather.com before they make plans.

So Wednesday we show up and they are there, but it’s sprinkling and they were thinking of packing it in. I was pretty annoyed because there was so much that could have been done the week prior when the weather was gorgeous. But! They managed to get some of the first floor exterior walls panels up.

We went by after work on Wednesday and put the whole family to work sweeping and squeegeeing the first floor decking. I had researched that rain isn’t good for framing (obvs), but that it’s often repeated exposure to rain on a dirty surface that leads to mold growth. So we wanted to get as much rock, dirt, leaves, sawdust, and wood scraps as possible off the floor. The kids were troopers and we were sweaty. But I was proud of how we all worked together to make?/keep? our new house nice.

Thursday saw the rest of the first floor framed before 9 AM. Then they put maybe half the joists in for the second floor and almost all the interior first floor walls.

 

Friday was super cold and we even had snow! On October 12th! It’s insane. But we arrived with hot coffee and homemade muffins to cheer the crew who was already putting the second floor decking up. I think the snow drove them away early, but they still managed to put up all second floor walls! They seem to be saving building the stairs for last for some reason.

I am pretty decent at project management, but I do not understand this workflow. In theory they will be back on the 15th to put the trusses (the triangle parts of the roof structure for those not familiar with construction terms) and roof decking on. The windows are due to be delivered as well.

After they are done we’ll have a bunch of work to do before the mason can start laying bricks. Waterproofing, exterior insulation and roofing are all on us (no contractors for that bit). Once the mason is done, we likely won’t have any other contractors until spring when we need drywall, metal roofing and spray foam insulation.

If you’re looking for more up-to-the-minute updates, check out our Instagram (you don’t have to create an account or add the app to your phone, just use that link to see what we’ve got going on) because that is much easier as we’re getting even busier.