Even though they actually began framing the new house yesterday, today is officially "Day 1" on the construction company's calendar. As of this morning, they had the joists and most of the floor down for the covering over the "sub-basement". In the photo below, you can see that where there used to be a hole in the ground, there is now something of a floor on top of the foundation.

You can also see from this photo that I need to clean the lens on my cell phone's built-in camera.

The next task on the list for today is to begin framing the garage walls. I assume that that's what those many piles of wood are all about.

Although Paulette and I particularly enjoy living in our current house in our current neighborhood, it has become obvious that we have outgrown the house and that the neighborhood is not terribly kid-friendly. We decided to look for a place where we could fence in the yard for Alex, where our house wasn’t attached to our neighbor’s, where there are more neighborhood kids near Alex's age, and where we had more rooms in the house to allow Paulette and I to each have an office in the home (which we haven't had ever since Alex arrived) and be able to accommodate various future needs.

There were a number of homes in nearby neighborhoods that met many of our criteria, but they were also outrageously priced and most needed the kind of repairs that we just didn’t have the energy or the money to contemplate making. We decided that, for the money, it would make more sense to buy new construction (like we did with our current house) and make sure we get everything that we want right from the beginning.

We ended up choosing a neighborhood where there is an elementary school being built roughly two blocks away, where there are a plethora of parks and trails scattered throughout (most of the parks having all different kinds of jungle gyms and swings and the like; very kid friendly), and where there was a good solid sense of family-friendliness.

The builder that designed the community is a “production builder”: something between a speculative builder who builds the house and then tries to sell it, and a custom builder who builds the house exactly the way you want it. What these folks do is sell you a lot, let you pick a floor plan that will fit on that lot, and then let you customize that floor plan with a few set, specific variations (like choosing a loft versus a closed-in room, for example, or having a fireplace installed in the family room, etc.). You can’t customize the floor plan the way you can with a custom builder: no moving around where a doorway goes, or widening the stairwell, or anything like that. You can’t add a fireplace just anywhere; only where they have it specifically listed as an option. That kind of thing.

Once you’ve picked your floor plan with you choice of variations, you can then go to town customizing options like cabinets, bathroom fixtures, moldings, door styles and door wrap styles, exterior colors, light fixtures, carpeting, etc., etc., etc. They even have a showroom where you can go to see most of the available options. In many ways, it’s like buying a car: they get you with the options.

But then, it’s those options that truly give a house its character. Unlike our current house, which we bought from a developer after it was already being built, we had a chance to truly customize our new home. So we splurged on cherry cabinets in the kitchen, skipped getting an air-conditioner, and so on. Picking the options was not stress-free: we were constantly confronted with the battle between economy and “doing it right the first time.” Nonetheless, Paulette and I benefited from being able to work harmoniously in making our choices, and we’re both happy with the choices we made.

Alas, this builder is selling houses faster than they can build them. So we made our choices for the options (a multi-week process), and then we waited. And waited. And waited. And, of course, tried to sell our current house in the meantime.

But now, our current house is sold and our new house is being built. The calendar calls for a 54-day building schedule, not including weekends, holidays, and “non-scheduled non-work days” (meaning weather delays).

Today is day 1.