A lot of clearing going on!

There is a lot of clearing going on this week.  Hopefully the lot will be cleared and cleaned up by the end of the week if the rain holds off.  Once the lot is cleared, digging for the basement can begin! 

This picture is looking towards where the house will be located.

This is a picture down our driveway looking towards the road.



Our Brick, Stone, Flagstone, and Shingles!

Here are our final selections for these items!
The brick is only going around the foundation and the stone will be around the front door. The flagstone will be the flooring for the front porch! Yay! We are making decisions :)

Selecting a Builder...

One of the things that was the most difficult to figure out when we started this process was "who in the heck do we get to build this house"?  We contacted multiple builders and were surprised when, in this awful home building economy, very few responded to inquiries!  One of the ones we contacted and sent our plans to NEVER responded!  Now, I know that the economy is not that great right now, so why are builders not even returning emails?  We couldn't figure it out...

While I was searching on the internet for local builders, I ran across Olde Heritage from Zebulon.  I really liked their website which contained so much information about how they build in an environmentally friendly way.  Brian and I had talked about incorporating some green building techniques into our next home, but hadn't really taken a look at a truly green builder.  Brian sent them an email and received a response that SAME DAY!  So, we found a builder that was responsive...this was new.

We met with Chad Ray and instantly I felt like "this is the guy that is going to build our house".  Chad is really a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy.  He not only builds green, he LIVES green.  Chad and his family also own and operate Ray Family Farms which humanely and sustainably raises beef, pork and chicken.  They also grow produce and raise horses.  He believes 100% in what he does and gives back to the community and the environment. 

Some of the green building features that will be in our home are:
Tankless Hot Water Heater (and possibly roughed in for solar - waiting to see if we have enough sun exposure to do this)
Certified Energy Star Compliant
High quality insulation package exceeds code by 20%
Atruim windows - these have the highest energy star rating on the market
Drought tolerant and low maintenance landscaping
Refridgerants are CFC free
Energy Star Appliances
Composite decking materials
PET carpet technology with 100% recycled content improves indoor air quality
All glues, solvents, stains, paints, etc are low or no-VOC.
Fresh air ventilation capable of a full air exchange every 24 hours.
All light bulbs are CFL's.
And many more....

So, we found our builder and we are so happy that we found Chad Ray of Olde Heritage Builders!  We couldn't be more excited about building a home that is not only better for our family, but better for the environment.

Clearing for the house!

They are clearing for the house, making progress!

And let the fun begin!

The clearing of the lot has begun!  They are supposed to be working on the driveway (over the ditch line) today and begin clearing trees for the footprint of the house this week, so exciting!

The Bank "Heads Up"

I decided to edit my initial blog about the issues we had with the bank in order to try and maintain a more positive blog, I'll now post about any issues in more of a "heads up" manner in case someone reading this blog is planning to do a build similar to ours.  So my "heads ups" for the bank item is to make sure you understand fully the time frame that the bank expects the process to take, some say 30 to 45 days, others say 60 days etc., if possible try to establish the closing date up front for a reasonable date in the future that fits your needs and allows the bank adequate time to go through the process.  It also might help to go with a bank if possible that's already got your builder on the approved list which could speed things up a little.  Just because they claim to have the fastest process, lowest rates, etc. doesn't always mean they do, so be sure to shop around.  We didn't run into any major hurtles with the bank other than we didn't have a clear understanding for how long the const-to-perm process takes.

The Plans...

Like Brian mentioned in the previous post, we struggled from the beginning trying to find a plan that we loved, even if it only needed a few changes.  We originally selected a ranch house plan that we were in love with.  It was perfect and only needed a few small changes.  However, when we contacted a builder for a price quote, we found that due to the size of the basement and the amount of roof, it was WAY out of our price range.  That was so disappointing, but we switched gears and started looking at two story plans again.  Between the two of us, we must have looked at hundreds of plans.  We even tried drawing our own floor plans based on what we knew we wanted, but we are not architects and so we struggled there too.

We finally found the builder we ultimately ended up selecting and he recommended an architect to us that was so helpful.  We worked with Heather Hall with H Squared Home Design to find the perfect plan for us after a few changes!  We started with a stock plan she had and made some minor modifications that kept us within the square footage we wanted to stay in. 

Here are the final plans!  Introducing "The Swayney"...

Basement (we'll finish this in the future - this is what it might look like when finished)

1st Floor

2nd Floor 

Brian also talked about the lot in the previous post.  We looked all over southern Wake County looking for land that might work for what we wanted, but nothing we found was appealing.  We really wanted a larger piece of land within Wake County that wasn't so far away from everything that we were going to have to drive a long time to get anywhere.  I had been over to Alexander Woods for some playdates with a friend in my Mommy group and really liked the neighborhood.  I suggested to Brian that we should drive through and see if there were any lots available.  We really liked the neighborhood and they had opened a new phase and there were many lots available, several of which could allow for a basement.  After a lot of thinking and working with our builder, we finally purchased Lot 47.  It is the largest lot in the neighborhood at 3.5 acres, so I think we'll have enough space! 

And just a couple weeks ago, the developer put this sign by our lot!  We can't wait to break gound!





The Beginning......

So we decided to build a house, how did that happen, at what point did we decide to to build a house!  We'll we've actually been pondering the thought for a while now, we've had a number of things going on the past couple of years with work that caused us to not even think about it seriously, from reorgs talk to merger to moving to Charlotte...but we decided last year that we would stay in Raleigh and that if we wanted to build another house then now's the time to do it and decided to just bite the bullet and go with it.
We're too picky for anything other than a custom built new house so we started down the journey of looking at plans, builders, land/lots, and all the things it would take to build a house.

Since we haven't been posting anything until now I'll attempt to do a little catch-up:

We struggled the most with finding plans, countless hours looking through online plans trying to find that perfect one....we found a builder first who introduced us to Heather Hall who sat down and looked at what we liked most in various plans, we had one that ended up being very similar to a plan she already had, so she started working from her plan and ultimately ended up being the one we designed and went with.  That process wrapped in a few sentences way over simplified what we actually went through getting it figured out.

The builder we found through some online searching.  After trying to get estimates on some previous ranch plans, it's surprising how many builders either don't return calls, don't follow-up with an actual estimate, or just act like they don't have time to even discuss anything with you, then we found Chad from Olde Heritage, Chad is what all builders should aspire to be in our opinion.

The property we found through one of Dawn's friends in the mommy's group.  We looked at a number of places, but Alexander Woods just had some great wooded lots and the most potential for a basement plan.  After walking down the lots with Chad we decided on the largest lot in the neighborhood, it's the largest because of the odd shape but allows for most potential, plus the developer gave us a great deal on it.

Selling current house....that's still ongoing...may post more about that later but for now this blogs mainly about the build of the Green, Green Home.

We finally went to contract with Chad Jan 2012 and the ball started rolling...at first it started a bit slow because the construction to permanent loan process isn't fast....about 30 to 60 days most will say.  We're still today exactly 1 month after contract waiting for final approval from the bank...kind of have the "looks good" but not the official close date yet....so more to come there.

With the contract Chad was able to get started on a number of things even without the loan being finalized....permits, surveys, plot plans, etc.  He now has it lined up to where we'll actually start clearing the land next week!  We met with Ms Betty last week and decided on stone, brick, colors and started talking about all the stuff we have to pick out, wow, lots of stuff to pick out!

So on to the green part, so yes we picked out a light green exterior color, but we're also trying to be as green as possible within a budget.  So it's really a Green House (color), Green for the environment, and hopefully Green in our wallet in the long run.