New House Build

[Turkey Creek]

If there is any benefit to a HOT February its that we finally broke ground on the new house last week! Dang what a long drawn-out process to get started. We were originally hoping to break ground last September, but the bank we were dealing with turned into a complete ($^*% show. They knew well in advance of us wanting to start building in September, finally in November they presented a construction loan approval to us. Their terms were nowhere close to what they had mentioned prior to starting the process with them. We finally started reaching out again in late Janruary to 3 other local banks all of them presented us offers for our construction loan with very competitive terms in less than a week. We are serving as our own General Contractor (I have a good deal of building experience and both of my brothers do as well). I am going to be as hands on as time permits with the majority of the build.

We have a lot of rock in our soil below the topsoil layer. Luckily we do have a nice layer of topsoil on our building site. I spent many hours over the last few days sorting rock out of the piles with a skid steer as the excavator dug. Lets just say there will be no shortage of landscape rock! Anywhere from basketball size to the size of compact car hood. Concrete contractor comes tomorrow morning to discuss pouring the basement if the weather we are currently having returns after the cold snap coming after tomorrow.




View from what will be the back deck.




Hard to get a size comparison of the current rock pile that was excavated. I would say it would be a solid 4 -5 dump truck loads. Plenty more still buried in the dirt. Mainly tried to dig out the large, obvious ones for now.

 

[Catscratch]

Awesome and congrats! I'm going to enjoy this thread!
I'm laughing about the rock though. We got plenty from our dig also.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Congrats! I’ve got the bug to build another personal house. Kansas really is beautiful

 

[T-Max]

So awesome!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Catscratch]

The back deck view is soooo important! We were 100% committed to our view and it almost made building impossible. I'm guessing you'll have a plot or two back there....
Did you design your floorplan? The wife and I had a ton of fun designing what we wanted, then amending it due to cost restraints.
We had to jump through major hoops to get our construction loan. Both our credit scores were about 800 but the bank was still very specific about land surveys, comparables, and stuff like that.

 

[Turkey Creek]

The back deck view is soooo important! We were 100% committed to our view and it almost made building impossible. I'm guessing you'll have a plot or two back there....
Did you design your floorplan? The wife and I had a ton of fun designing what we wanted, then amending it due to cost restraints.
We had to jump through major hoops to get our construction loan. Both our credit scores were about 800 but the bank was still very specific about land surveys, comparables, and stuff like that.

Yes there are a couple of plots down there. You can't see the elevated blind but its down the hill as well. We did design the floor plan. I will post up the plan. We only went with the 1st bank because they specialize in Ag property and they are the ones that hold the mortgage for the land and the current house. We went with them when we bought the place because they also said they did construction loans so we figured that would smooth out the process. Not the case.

 

[Buckly]

I was the general contractor for my house 30 years ago. Saved a lot of money and as important got things done how I wanted, not what some contractor thinks is right. Headaches occur fighting with subs on timelines As your only giving them work on one job not hundreds but, it all worked out. I’d be interested to know if you hired an architect Or engineer. On mine I found a plan and just ordered blueprints and tweaked to my liking. as I was in charge LOL. I did have to hire an engineer to put his stamp on though. As you progress you might just inspire me to build another!

 

[Turkey Creek]

I was the general contractor for my house 30 years ago. Saved a lot of money and as important got things done how I wanted, not what some contractor thinks is right. Headaches occur fighting with subs on timelines As your only giving them work on one job not hundreds but, it all worked out. I’d be interested to know if you hired an architect Or engineer. On mine I found a plan and just ordered blueprints and tweaked to my liking. as I was in charge LOL. I did have to hire an engineer to put his stamp on though. As you progress you might just inspire me to build another!

That was a story in itself..... LOL. We used an on-line program to come up with our overall design, took that to a "designer" who was recommended to us. We thought she was going to work up the official plans from that at a reasonable cost and have them printed into working plans. She was more interested in computer modeling with furniture in rooms, showing you what could be! Good grief not what we needed. After putting my foot down and saying I was not paying her for anymore of her time she printed out the plans. The more I Iooked at her final product the more glaring problems I could see. We ended up taking those plans to our lumber supplier who has a great understanding of the building process, agreed with my concerns and pointed out some other things she had messed up. He re-worked them for cheap so that they were accurate and engineered correctly.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Floor Plans and Elevation Views (outdoor view)
I have my office above the garage, didnt attach that floor plan portion.

 

[Turkey Creek]

While I had the rented skid steer here I decided to take down a few trees to get the wood for building the new dining room table and the big island top in the basement. Sorry the only picture I saved was one I sent through Snapchat originally. Might have a little left over for a couple of other wood working projects. I wish we had more trees that could be turned into logs on the property. Pretty slim picking, after looking at things more I would guess it was logged 50-60 years ago and after that the re-growth has left us with a high stand density that was never managed and that hasn't allowed for very good tree growth. Took the logs to a guy just 10 minutes from my house today. He has a portable mill and we are going to cut them up in the next couple of weeks so that they can start drying. The biggest log was about 16" diameter Red Oak. It was all my 55 hp Kubota could handle today loading that sucker with the forks.

 

[Catscratch]

While I had the rented skid steer here I decided to take down a few trees to get the wood for building the new dining room table and the big island top in the basement. Sorry the only picture I saved was one I sent through Snapchat originally. Might have a little left over for a couple of other wood working projects. I wish we had more trees that could be turned into logs on the property. Pretty slim picking, after looking at things more I would guess it was logged 50-60 years ago and after that the re-growth has left us with a high stand density that was never managed and that hasn't allowed for very good tree growth. Took the logs to a guy just 10 minutes from my house today. He has a portable mill and we are going to cut them up in the next couple of weeks so that they can start drying. The biggest log was about 16" diameter Red Oak. It was all my 55 hp Kubota could handle today loading that sucker with the forks.

View attachment 62802

So cool! I made a bar in the basement with wood from the place. Very rewarding, you'll love it!

 

[Buckly]

I already see an issue. The master bedroom and master bath are mis labeled. Should be master wing! Wow. Room to roam. I think the master bath is bigger than my master bedroom. LOL. Very nice place.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Progress! Footings are in and if the weather holds walls should be poured possibly yet this week.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Progress! Footings are in and if the weather holds walls should be poured possibly yet this week.

View attachment 62940

Im always interested in builds in different regions, so does your basement not daylight anywhere?

 

[Buckly]

What are the footings that stick out to nowhere for?

 

[Turkey Creek]

Im always interested in builds in different regions, so does your basement not daylight anywhere?

It has 3 egress windows, 4' tall by 5' wide. Those should allow for plenty of daylight in the downstairs. We were going to have a walk out basement, but essentially, we would have ended up with a " tunnel" out for some distance for the house or had to build the back deck way up off the ground as well as leaving a lot more of the foundation showing on the back side of the house.

 

[Turkey Creek]

What are the footings that stick out to nowhere for?

They call them pilasters, supposed to give the long stretches of concrete walls more strength from forces perpendicular to the line of the wall. Pretty common practice around here anymore from what I have seen. Both the guy who finalized the building plan of the home and the concrete company recommend them for straight wall runs over 20' If you have a corner in the foundation they aren't needed. I am not sure it is absolutely necessary but in the grand cost of the build it seems like a reasonable addition. They will pour short walls on them tied with rebar into the main wall. Those will be a 1' below grade so they wont be visible when the house is finished.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

It has 3 egress windows, 4' tall by 5' wide. Those should allow for plenty of daylight in the downstairs. We were going to have a walk out basement, but essentially, we would have ended up with a " tunnel" out for some distance for the house or had to build the back deck way up off the ground as well as leaving a lot more of the foundation showing on the back side of the house.

Yeah totally get it. We have much more topo so all of ours have no problem getting daylighted.

 

[Foggy47]

Floor Plans and Elevation Views (outdoor view)
I have my office above the garage, didnt attach that floor plan portion.

View attachment 62800

View attachment 62799View attachment 62801

When I built a home in the 90's.....we first looked at multiple "parade of homes" houses......until we found a plan we really liked. I tried to buy the house plan from that builder....but he would not sell me the plan. He did however let my draw the home myself. So I did this over the course of a day and had all dimensions down on paper along with the floor plan and lots of pictures.

I took what I wanted to our local lumber yard whom employs a fantastic draftsman. He was able to draw the plan via cad and get materials lists etc. We did tweak a few things.....and made a few major revisions too....like a bonus room over the garage. I was the general contractor on this home.....and at the end of the day we got one seriously nice home built.

Likely the best floor plan we ever owned. We did move away from this house.....but it brought our investment back too. I was proud of my work on that home. Also had a fantastic carpentry crew and the best subs.....which makes a huge difference.

 

[Turkey Creek]

They poured our basement walls today. The concrete pumper truck was a sight to see! I have seen some going down the road, but I dont recall ever watching one in action. It was like watching a giant Praying Mantis unfold! LOL The boss said it is the largest one in Topeka, KS. I would guess that thing could probably reach out 150' if not more. It was fast paced once they started pouring. Took them about 3 hours to pour the walls and a couple of piers today. 3 concrete trucks were basically backed up to the bin at one time on the pumper. Only one was dumping into the pumper bin at a time, but they wasted no time getting the next one dumping and the empty truck replaced with another. I am not sure how many trucks in total. I watched for about an 1 hr, but had too many other irons in the fire to stay and watch the rest. The boss man said they will strip the forms tomorrow and spray on the damp proofing on the exterior side.