Trusses.

Most of the trusses are up!

Exploring.

My girls LOVE exploring the house (under close supervision of course!).

Second floor walls arrive!

We headed out the land yesterday to watch the upper walls go up. It was very fun to see until one of the works stepped off the edge of the second floor and fell! Luckily he only jammed his thumb a bit.

Wallsbeing lowered from the crane.

Front of house:

 Back of house:

Magic.

My husband and I have had a hard time with people taking us seriously during this building process. The first builder we met with (not the one we hired), treated us more like silly children rather than serious customers. When we met our loan lady, as nice as she was, I could see on her face she was surprised to see me. I am almost 28 but my husband and I both have baby faces. Baby faced or not, we have been dreaming of this for so long. Sounds cliche, how someone my age could be dreaming that long of doing this. My husband and I met at 16 and by 18, we had already made a dream board for our life together (this consisted of cutouts from magazines of babies, travel, snowboarding adventures and building a house and I have it to this day). So many tiny pieces have had to fall into place for us to be able to build a house. Luckily, my parents helped us out a bit financially to get out of our old house because of the drop in the market. Without them, we would not be here. However, even though we had someone to help, asking for the help was very scary. But I did because of this dream.

Today, we watched our exterior walls go up. Because of our system, this process took less than 2 hours. Our little girls were there, our three year old asking "can we move in now?" and "look at that big wall!" Later after the crew had left, we pulled up to our quiet spot and saw our third "baby" sitting there on the hill. We took the girls out of their seats and we walked in. The crew had used the afternoon to put up the interior framing so we could walk room by room. To say we were giddy is an understatement. It is one thing to dream. It is one thing to make plans and get financing and meet with builders. It is quite another to stand in the bones of your creation. This is the place we will raise our family. The place we will grow old together. Nothing ever in my life has felt more OURS than when I stepped through that doorway. As scary as it has been, and as stressful, I am so glad we kept this dream alive.  I am so excited for the next few months.

Decking

Walls go up today, these photos were from last night.

Panelization Construction

In the high-tech approach known as panelized construction, pre-engineered wall sections are produced for a new home in factory-controlled conditions, then shipped complete to the building site for final construction. A panelized home can be weather tight in just a few days.

Leading panelized home manufacturers offer tremendous flexibility in design, and can provide any amenities desired in a new home. Some panelized manufacturers work through networks of general contractors (professional home builders). Others deal directly with home buyers looking to build their own home.

Pre-building roof and floor trusses in a factory is the most common application of panelized construction in home building today. Recently, the National Association of Home Builders reported that complete home panelization is the fastest growing segment of residential new construction. Built with the aid of cutting-edge automation and in factory-perfect conditions, complete exterior and interior wall panels, trusses, decking, etc. are loaded onto panelized manufacturers’ trucks and delivered to the homesite. Materials are marked at the factory with a code to eliminate any confusion at the jobsite.

For some panelized manufacturers, their involvement in the construction of the home is finished when the materials are delivered, with all field work completed by the general contractor. Other panelized manufacturers provide a crane and "set crews" when the materials are delivered to work with the general contractor in getting the home framed in. There are even some panelized manufacturers who will supply all necessary labor to complete the home. - Design Basics. (I thought they said better than I could)

Benefits of using Buildings with Pre-manufactured Components

Time  Faster construction as walls, trusses and other pre-made components arrive just in time and with value-added features you require. Cuts time in the framing stage by 30% - 50%.

Labor Fewer hard-to-find skilled framers are needed to get the job done. With Armstrong components, delays for labor shortages are far less.

Quality & Consistency Your components are built on pre-designed assembly stations where accuracy is assured. Lumber is pre-inspected to meet standards of quality. Wall and truss components are constructed under cover, eliminating lumber warpage due to extended sun and rain exposure.

Money  Time saved gets you out of your construction loan to final turnover faster; a significant savings. Components are guaranteed built right – no tear down and rebuild of mistakes.

Less Waste On site construction requires builders to order up to 20% more lumber than needed. Using this system, waste is virtually eliminated and no materials are lost to exposure to weather.

Security Component construction eliminates pilferage of loose lumber and other loose materials.

Uncluttered Job Site A component package eliminates the need to have lot space cluttered with lumber stock-piles.

Flexibility You decide how much “value-added” you want. Order with as much or as little pre-installed siding, windows and other elements you need to optimize profitability.

This is the system we are using to build our house. At the end of construction, I will write a post with personal pros and cons.

Floors

Beach.

If you drive 5 minutes past our land, you get here:

We often go just to look out at the bay. It is so beautiful.

Concrete Walls

Why I think it will be worth it.

Wow.

Maybe I am not meant for this house building stress! At night after the munchkins are in bed, I start thinking about all of it and a little ball of nerves well up in my belly and I feel sick. Nothing even that bad has even happened!

But I noticed something else during this process. I am a person who is very influenced by my living space. The first house we bought was our baby. We re-did every room and it looked like a miniature Pottery Barn. We sold that house and moved into this dastardly rental.

The house is the exact opposite of every thing we love. Old, dark cabinets. Flimsy, fake dark wood doors. Stained, gross carpets. Gold hardware. Floral wall paper in the bathrooms from 1986.  I wake up in morning and look around at the totally uninspired and blah everything and feel totally uninspired and blah myself. We cannot even put holes in the walls to put up any art (tenants rules). It is like living in an ugly box. (Yes, I know we are lucky to have a house.)

The thought of living in a space that makes me feel in inspired again, helps that ball of nerves dissipate. Even if I did not build and we bought a small, little mobile home I would put all my extra money into making it cute! I cannot stand it, this fugly house. So bring on the stress! I want out of here.