This week, we were tasked with finishing up and signing the construction contract. We met with the builder on Wednesday to discuss their finalized draft of the contract and the pricing for the fixed-cost build. Our project manager is breaking out some options for us to choose from but it looks like some of the hassle of that breakout might introduce some fatigue on the part of the subcontractors because they have to give us even more estimates but will almost certainly present us with more expensive options which we are unlikely to select. Because of that we have shut down the lines of inquiry surrounding these pricing options and are concentrating on getting the final document together.

I have the contract being reviewed by a lawyer and he should be back to me soon and hopefully we get this wrapped up early next week. The first deposit will be 10% of the proposed final cost which is a big amount but will go towards buying windows and starting all of the long-lead-time items so they are ready when the builders get to them. Getting it signed quickly will also make sure we get a slot in the subcontractor’s calendar so that we can get them started quickly and push this thing as fast as we can. Ideally we get the building framed out and roof-ready by the time the snow flies. The builder thinks we can do it if we keep the current pace.

This week the excavators dug out the septic area and leech field, worked on the driveway entrance and slopes to the south and east. We had to truck in almost $7000 of dirt to finish the pad area because there was so much ledge in the driveway they didn’t move as much fill dirt for those areas as they expected to. Hopefully the end of the week has the house foundation area ready, the septic field dug, the trenches for electrical and water lines run and all of the earth graded out. If that happens, we are ready to start concrete work which should take a few weeks.