Progress has been slower than expected, but we are making progress.  Much of the electrical work has been completed, and we are hoping to get power to the house this week.  We are simply waiting on the electrical inspector to give the okay and the electric company to connect the lines.

Scales Well and Pump installed our well pumps, tanks, and variable speed controls.  Once we have power, we will have water.

We are still waiting for our ground source heat pumps to arrive from Hydro Delta.  Apparently the surge in fuel prices has increased interest in geothermal heating and cooling (shocking).  All the manufacturers are having difficulty keeping up with demand and have long lead times.  We are hoping the units will arrive this week so we can proceed with the HVAC installation.  Dave from Southeastern Heating and Cooling has been very apologetic. 

The Penn Lyon Homes service crew will be out on Tuesday 9/23/08 to address each of the issues reported earlier and not being handled locally.  The front main roof was redone earlier this week by a local crew (to be paid for by Penn Lyon Homes), and a few other small items will be addressed locally (i.e. ceiling, base moulding, etc.).  We have been assured by Avalon (GC) that all issues will be resolved.  Despite the frustratingly long delays, I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Chris Lavoie, from Pro Painting, has taken on the role of Mr. Do-All.  He has already demonstrated his ability to do finish carpentry by framing all of the 2nd floor windows.  We’ve decided to dress up the great room by using fancier casings and window mantles.  He has done an unbelievable job, and is exceeding expectations in all areas.  When we have proper lighting (obviously need power for this) I will provide some pictures of his work. 

Chris, with his reliable sidekick Sean, has already fixed most of the drywall cracks and seams opened up during the transport of the house.  They have already painted most of the 2nd floor walls, ceilings, and trim.  They will also be doing the complete drywall in the site-built areas of the house (garage ceiling, 5th bedroom and 3rd floor).  Mr. DoAll has also taken on the task of completing the front portico and building the back deck which was started this past week. 

We are waiting for the materials for the portico to arrive.  I’ve chosen to use Eon decking (http://www.eonoutdoor.com/) to add an upscale look to the front of the house without using a tropical hardwood (Ipe, Mahogany, Tigerwood, etc.).  The materials were special ordered from The Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com) and should arrive within two weeks.  For the rear deck, we are using simple pressure treated lumber.  Although there are many great decking products on the market, our budget is being stressed so pressure treated it is.

The house was visited by the Energy Star rater and the LEED rater last week.  Both of whom seemed impressed with the details of the house.  As Mr. Foam, I’ve sealed every nook and cranny. :-)  We are all anxious for the blower door test.  This should be one of the tightest houses on record.  We should also get some great infrared pictures.

If all goes well in the next two weeks we should see some incredible progress including: water, power, HVAC, front and back decking, interior carpentry, countertops, completion of service items, and maybe even spray foam insulation.

Speaking of spray foam insulation, we are going through the process of getting quotes for the work.  So far, the quotes are more than we budgeted for.  I have hope that some negotiations (and/or tweaks) will bring this more inline with our budget.  Unfortunately, we simply can’t skimp here.  The performance of the foam product, and its proper installation, will make or break this project.

We also plan on completing most of the exterior grading and planting the lawn before it is too late for this year.  I am currently looking at an enticing product called Eco-Lawn (http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=4&pg=1).  I do have a bit of “sticker shock,” but if the seed/grass does what they say it does, this will be a wonderful addition to our “Green” project (no pun intended).  Less water, less fertilizer, fewer chemicals, and less cutting.  Wow!  Plus, if this is true, it will give us additional LEED points for the same reasons.  I’ll be sure to let you know how this turns out.

For those of you considering building new homes, you must look into Energy Star (http://www.energystar.gov/).  In Massachusetts (not sure about other states), you receive some impressive incentives…  Not only will we get ~$1500 in incentive money, we also get all the compact fluorescent light bulbs we can use in the new house and $2 each to install them.  I never really looked at this, but compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs for every socket in an entire house can really add up.  We have already received $750 in light bulbs for some 100 sockets with more to come.  At $12 each for dimmable CFLs in the can lights, their cost can really add up - quickly.  If you think about it, after the Energy Star incentives, and free CFLs, LEED certification is almost free (almost).  As it looks right now, we are on target to rate LEED Silver without deviating from our plan.

At some point I am hoping to provide a complete budgetary breakdown for this project.  At this time I can only state that we are going to come in over our expected budget (because we are already over it).  I’m told this is a very common occurrence (to go over the expected budget when building a new house), but it is stressful none-the-less.  Over budget means that we get no additional money from the bank and it must come out of our pocket.  Ugh.

Well, that’s it for now.  Hopefully my next report will be full of good news.  Stay tuned.

Ed