My New Digs

[Vegas69]

Originally Posted by MtotheIKEo

I'm jealous of the garage square footage, looks like it will be a nice place to work. I don't know what you have planned for the space behind the garage but I would think about putting a garage door out the back as well. I love opening my front and back doors on a summer day and getting all the natural light and a little breeze going through the garage.

We thought about making it garage space and the extra door, but it costs a mint to build a house these days and I'm done going back to the engineer and architect. Well, at least for major changes.

Originally Posted by Flash68

Been waiting for you to post this up!

So 1 kid is all you're doing I take it? Hope that surgery went well....

The game room doubles as the 4th bedroom I take it?

And the kid's room right by the front door while parents are in the back? (That'll go well as he gets older.... )

Let it rip!

Yep, 1 and done. We are both 40 so the old sand has about run out.

Yes, the game room has a closet for resale, my gun safe, and likely all the camera/alarm crap.

If he's like me, we'll have to shackle his to his bed. It doesn't matter.

Originally Posted by SSLance

Todd, your plan is very similar to ours....we are right at 3100 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, with lots of open areas facing back of house and no steps...all on 8/10s of an acre. We had the option of going 4 bedroom but 2 would have had to share a bath. This way each bedroom has their own bath which works better for out of town guests (no kids here).

I see you also put 1 bathtub in...we did that as well but considered none at all.

They trimmed ours Monday, inside and out is ready for paint now. We are picking out slabs for countertops today.

The area really dictated the 4 bathrooms. We are the little guy in the area and I want the utility and the guest quarters for resale. Plus my son is only 2 so we still need a bathtub in his room. I finally listened to the old mantra, buy or build the smallest house in the best area you can afford. I saw its effect on the appraisal. Bigger houses pulled up our value higher than I thought and I'm a very active agent in the area. I hope to walk into a little equity. I'm trying to avoid the gotta have it mentality. I'm purposely funding the contingency money out of my back pocket so I think about it more. Every time I make a decision to exceed budget or bring in something extra, it's going to hurt. Now that I'm so deep into the project, we have got much better at GOOD ENOUGH. Let's build the thing. There are so many chances to be stupid. For instance, once shade of cabinet color was going to cost 5k. It's more trendy. We decided that once it was in the house, we'd never know the difference so we went with the less expensive option. It's plenty nice and close enough.

[DFRESH]

Very cool Brother!! A dream realized! Would love to come see it when it's done and catch up with you and the family!

Doug

[Vegas69]

Originally Posted by DFRESH

Very cool Brother!! A dream realized! Would love to come see it when it's done and catch up with you and the family!

Doug

Thank you my friend! We'd be excited to have you and the family. I'll definitely give you a heads up when it's done. You know how these custom projects go. HA

I decided on a level slab with a pitch the last 4' to keep the rain out. Looking like concrete within 7-10 days and framing starting on the 29th.

[waynieZ]

Your going to have a sweet set up Todd. Very Nice.

[Stuart Adams]

Congrats Todd. Looks amazing.

[Lenie]

Great looking future Todd

[Flash68]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

I decided on a level slab with a pitch the last 4' to keep the rain out.

So what is the pitch on that last 4 feet?

[Vegas69]

Thanks fellas!

They poured my foundation today and stripped the garage footing forms. They pour my garage tomorrow. It will be flat until the last 3' of the daily driver side and last 5.5' of my shop. The shop side is deeper and the slope will line up. He told me the slope and I think it's 1/8" per foot. I'm just hoping to keep the rain out. You know, best of both worlds. I'm a pain in the ass! I was talking to the concrete super that works for my GC and told him I'm a bit of an anal bastard. He said, That's what I heard. I do it with grace so that makes it ok, right? I always tell my GC, I know what I want.

For instance, they had my water supply lines to my island laying in the dirt before the type 2 and sand. I said, let's sleeve those babies so I don't have to jack hammer up my kitchen in 15 years! Done It's a custom house and I'm putting my best foot forward. I love the details.

You should see a deeper area in my shop where the concrete will be 6" deep for my TWO POST lift. That's what real mechanics and MEN use. Ha Ha Ha Couldn't help myself.

[SSLance]

Looking good... There are several stages of this process that are more exciting than others, Slab poured, framing finished, and finish details after drywall are my favorites.

Doing a custom build is fun...adding details like you have done is cool. I remember adding PVC sleeves under the front sidewalk so my gutter downspouts wouldn't just lay on the sidewalk. Back in 1993 our house was the only one around to have such a thing, now they all do it back in the Midwest.

There are times when I'd really like to do that on our new one...like right now when I'm trying to figure out a way to get more power to the RV garage. It would be so simple to run a bigger line to the sub panel now but that is not in the cards with this builder. I'm trying to bribe the pool contractor to run more power than he needs for the pool equipment at the back of the shop but he says that will require re-permitting and I can't let that cause any delays either.

I'll probably end up cobbling it in after the fact down the road, conduit through the house garage and buried to a second panel in the shop. What a PITA but it is what it is...

[Vegas69]

I love a project and custom build, but it does come with a cost as you know. You CAN save money on a tract house if you don't go bananas on upgrades. Up here, the builders mark everything up tremendously. Some things are close to double the actual cost. They make a bunch of their profit in mark ups. I have my fingers on every number and cost, it comes down to will power. Do I really need it? HA