1st Build Thread

[AMSOILGUY]

Many other members have shared their beautiful home builds so I would like to share mine. I've never built a house before and have lined up all contractors and pulled the trigger. I have many good people to help along the way plus hiring professionals.

Back in 2007 my wife and I started planning to build a home. We were looking at land and putting together a blueprint. Those plans got sidetracked by a 2008 deployment to Iraq. While on that deployment I was sitting in a TV room watching the news and see a national disaster unfolding unbelievably in Iowa. Then to my amazement, I am watching a news broadcast from a boat filming a Napa Auto Parts store with water nearly over the roof and only the sign recognizable. I remember thinking that looks familiar and turned out to be 1 block from my house. The boat continues going and low and behold floats right by my house with water to the roof. Holy ****! I call home and ask my wife whats going on back there and she's like oh nothing much. I said are you sure I'm pretty sure I just saw our house on the TV with water to the roof. At that time she came clean and said yes we have massive flooding and I didn't want to bother you with it since you are dealing with lord knows what. A Red Cross message was sent and I found myself leaving Iraq and returning home to a different war zone. I went from being a Marc 19 gunner running patrols in Fallujah to home in 72 hours. That is the hardest thing I've ever dealt with in my life so far. Dealing with family life and the loss of everything that was home before leaving nearly cost my wife and me our lives. Thankfully someone at the VA stopped me from leaving that day. Initially, they didn't have any time that day and set me up an appointment to return the next. I was walking out and somebody that actually listened to what I was saying stopped me and made the time that day.

Its been nearly 10 years since that June and I remarkably am still married and have a wonderful family of 5. We put those house dreams behind us then and bought a house instead and called it home for the last 10 years. A new chapter is going to happen and seeing several beautiful homes built here on the site I figured I'd share ours. We bought land in November of 2017 and found an architect to help design our house.

Picture of flood house with all our stuff piled up on the curb.
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Site map of lot 1.02 Acres
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Blueprint
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Land layout/ pond is behind lot
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Me clearing tree on lot


Grading has began
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Excavation begins
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Footings being framed
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Footings Poured
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Waterline trench
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This is where we are at now.