Has it already been over a month since my last post…? Hopefully, you will accept my apologies and my excuse(s) since there has been a great deal going on in the background.  I’ll bring you up-to-date…

We finally received our engineered drawings.  It was easy to see why it took so long to get them; the engineering package was 154 pages! There were at least one half dozen different signatures on them (engineers).

We signed a deal with Oasis Wall for a modular foundation.  My experience with them to date has been extraordinary!  Their customer service has been stellar. They are also quite excited about being part of this project.  I can’t wait to see their work.  www.oasiswall.com

We applied for a building permit on 4/15/08 and received the approval today (5/8/08). The past three years of planning and struggle, and we are finally ready to build.

Melissa and I toured the Penn Lyon and Murus factories the week of 4/21. Great people.  They are also pretty excited about this project.

On a site note, we stayed at the Selinsgrove Inn.  It is about 1 mile from the Penn Lyon factory.  What a wonderful place to stay.  If you have the opportunity, we both highly recommend.  www.selinsgroveinn.com  

We applied for Energy Star certification.  A week or two later, I received a phone call from one of the project managers at ICF International (ICFI).  ICFI manages the Energy Star program in the state of Massachusetts.  Our project appears to have turned some heads – we were invited to submit our project for a pilot program called the Zero Energy Challenge.  The goal is to receive the lowest HERS index (Home Energy Rating System). The deadline to submit projects was today at noon.  I spent a significant amount of my free time writing the documents needed to enter.  Only 4 projects will be chosen to participate.  Three of the four will win prize money.  The grand prize is $25,000.  I’ll let you know if we are selected to participate.  I’ll post the documents as well in case you are interested.

Our house received a preliminary HERS index of 40.  Not too bad, but I am going to try to push it lower without adding renewables (yet).  I’ve been told it “can’t be done.”  I guess we’ll see about that. ;-) http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bldrs_lenders_raters.nh_HERS

We’ve signed a contract with an excavation company.  They should begin digging soon now that we have a permit.  Hopefully, we will have some pictures soon.

I believe that is all for now. The next step is to have funds released from the bank so we can get everything rolling.

Ed