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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Day 01: Started Digging

Got a call from the PM this morning.  Unlike the past two mornings, this one was good news (Weather was not our friend). 

Well the day is finally here.  Definitely a mental milestone... the first tangible event of the process.  Apparently we were worthy and the Deere Tractor succumbed to our pleas.

Some pictures below.  Never knew I would be so excited to see a hole in the ground.  We will probably stop by at the end of the day to see the finished product. If it doesn't rain we may have footers by tomorrow and a county inspection early next week.

Deere Tractor Hard at Work









Dining Room and Kitchen


Update.  Went back after work and they were almost done.


Big Mound of Dirt in Front Yard Now



Anybody need dirt?



Standing in Garage Looking into Foyer




Looking into Kitchen / Study on Opposite End and Family Room on Left




Last Corner to be dug and then garage and stoop




They left 6" in there just in case it rains tonight



16 comments:

  1. Wow, congratulations! Dirt hole is pretty exciting isn't it?

    Beautiful lot, beautiful neighborhood (and you are building probably my favorite Ryan floorplan).

    Can't wait to watch your progress.

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    1. Thank you so much. The Excavator was taking a break when I came by and had mentioned the 9' basement walls. He said he had been working for RH for over 10 years and had never dug a 9' basement before. That was a selling point for us because we really plan on using that space. The Highgrove leaves the stairwell open to the basement so it just looks like a third floor. It will take some time to build the space the way we want it, but in the end it will be a great living space.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you. Looks like you guys are moving right along too. Congrats.

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  3. Congratulations! That is a lovely pile of dirt. Hoping for nice weather for the next few days so your foundation can get started as well.

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    1. Thank you! We're hoping they can finish up the digging and footers by tomorrow for a footer inspection early next week. The county will automatically fail the inspection if there is any water in the hole. We have 100% chance of rain tonight between 2-6 am. I'm hoping it rains everywhere but my neighborhood. Mucking out the site will just cause delays. We just got to make it to framing and this will be less of an issue but at least we've started.

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  4. Congratulations to you all! Glad to see that they are finally digging. Can't wait to see how the open stairwell and the 9' ceilings turn out. It's going to be stunning. I'm looking at your blog and just amazed at the amount of prep and research you have put into this project. Great job.

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    1. Thanks John, we're pretty excited to see something happening on the lot. It's not much but it's progress. Thanks for the kind words on the blog. Aside from keeping me sand while waiting, the more I learned from other blogs the more I wanted to repay those that had gone before us. The issues with the Highgrove is that there is only one other Blog out there (which is very good). Not having a model to look at, very few photos and only one blog has made our process a little harder. My hope is that the next Highgrove builder can benefit from the two of us that have written about the process.

      Take care and I hope you and the family are getting all settled into your lovely home.

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  5. I can hear the "halleujah" chorus in my head! So happy for you guys its finally happening congrats!

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    1. You weren't imagining that chorus, it was us singing it and sounding the trumpets.

      You guys are still waiting on permits right?

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  6. Fingers crossed there's no rain for you!

    Jen
    http://buildingourabode.blogspot.com/

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  7. That's awesome. Love the 9' basement option. We looked at a Ryan model that had the 9' ceilings in the basement and it was just fantastic finished space. We would have liked to have done that but it was an extra several thousand that unfortunately wasn't in our budget.

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    1. We're really looking forward to it. The PM was telling us about how they would regularly do this in the Courtland's (before they made them Courtland Gates). He said you can put in a basketball court in the basement of the Highgrove (btwn ceiling heights and size). Not sure I'm going to do this but good to know that we have options during the winter months.

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  8. Replies
    1. Thanks you so much. You've got a beautiful lot too. The views in your pictures looked amazing. Must be nice to wake up to that every day.

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