Start of Building - Week of June 1

The builder told us that it would take 1 to 2 weeks, after we signed the papers for the house, when they would be starting the foundation. It had been three weeks since we signed the papers for the house and nothing had been done, when we got a call from the builder saying that they had finally gotten the site engineered and the required permit. Since we were having a design build here that they had not originally made for it, the process took longer

Here is in sunny, warm Arizona, the homes do not require a deep foundation and they do not have basements in the area because of a high water table. The foundation is basically a large cement pad – 9 inches thick. Ours house does have what they call “Post-Tensioning” which requires some tightening of the rebar in the foundation after it is poured. We will be finding out more about this process.

Finally on Tuesday, we went to the lot and found that the three mounds of dirt had been leveled and a sprinkler was running on the leveled ground. We had received notice on that same day that our house in Oregon had sold and we had the proceeds in the bank to prove it. So, for us, the time with one house has ended and the new one started on the same day.

On Wednesday (June 2), the movers came with our household goods from Oregon. We had them delivered to the twin ten x 25 foot storage lockers that we had previously rented. They unloaded under Georgia’s watchful eye as Randy was only able to be there as they started to unload. Georgia had them load our truck with the rest of items that she wanted in the apartment, but was not able to include in the car when she drove down.

On Thursday, on another visit to the lot, the forms for the foundation were in place. We can now see the outline of what will be our house.

On Friday, Georgia was able to talk to the people in charge of the company apartments. We will be able to stay here at least until the end of August. Hopefully we will be able to stay until the house is completed sometime in the end of September.

On Saturday, we reorganized the storage lockers so that our furniture was not stacked upon each other and to cover them up.

We should be ready now until the house is completed -may it be soon and under the time limit. We have never built a house before and we can both see why.