I suppose if we are going to build a custom home we might as well hook it up to electricity.
June 18, 2011 - Saturday
Walked through the upper floor and decided where to place electrical outlets and switches. Placed 6" Halo can lights in the family room, gym, master bedroom/bath/closet, and utility rooms.
June 19, 2011 - Sunday
Nailed up the electrical boxes upstairs and began pulling wire.
Also cleaned some windows while the lift is still here. They should be picking it up any day.
June 20, 2011 - Monday
Nailed up the electrical boxes downstairs. Mostly finished pulling wire upstairs. Installed more 6" can lights upstairs in the loft area and 4" can lights in the kitchen.
June 21, 2011 - Tuesday
Put in the exterior electrical boxes.
Did some additional strapping and bracing on the framing.
June 22, 2011 - Wednesday
Installed the electrical panel in the utility room. Began pulling wire downstairs.
June 23, 2011 - Thursday
Continued pulling wire downstairs. Also completed framing on the linen closet and pantry. These 4' x 4' rooms are stacked so that, if needed, an elevator can be installed in the future.
June 24, 2011 - Friday
Continued pulling wire.
June 25, 2011 - Saturday
Mostly completed 220/110V wire. Wired for three ceiling fans and all smoke detectors. Began hooking up wire to the panel.
June 27, 2011 - Monday
Placed a beam in the Master Bedroom. Wasn't planning on doing this, but it does look good.
Connected wires in the outlet/switch boxes. Began low voltage wiring (i.e., cable, door bell, phone) We are pulling two cable wires to each location, along with a phone line.
June 28, 2011 - Tuesday
Completed pulling low voltage wire. Also ran speaker wire in the home gym.
Did some misc electrical wiring to prepare for electrical inspection tomorrow.
June 29, 2011 - Wednesday
Very thorough electrical inspection today. Inspector traced every wire and looked at just about every staple. Did pretty well on the inspection, but we need to make a few changes. Spent the afternoon on some of the changes the inspector asked for.
June 30, 2011 - Thursday
Finished making the changes the inspector asked for. Ready for reinspection tomorrow.
July 1, 2011 - Friday
Passed inspection!
Sunrise Over Garden Valley
The deer watch an early morning sunrise above Garden Valley
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Plumbing
Time to start roughing in the rest of the plumbing. All the plumbing under the first floor (crawlspace) is complete, so everything on the first floor and above is on the agenda. Will take a few days with some misc items mixed in.
June 15, 2011 - Wednesday
Began rough plumbing first and second floors today. Lots to think about. Don't want to have to make adjustments later. Have to think about where HVAC is going, electricity, medicine cabinets, etc. Everything needs water supply, drain lines and vents. All of this has to work together.
Put a second coat of stain on the front columns and attached the strong-tie brackets to the trusses so the roof doesn't blow away. I'm told the roof is an important part of the house.
Stopped by Home Depot and bought a couple of bath tubs. Don't tell anyone this, but also stopped by Lowe's and bought a bath tub there. They had a tub we wanted that Home Depot doesn't offer. Kendra now gets to look at a jacuzzi tub in our bathroom that can't be used for another four months.
June 16, 2011 - Thursday
Continued plumbing and installed bathroom vents so the HVAC guys from Comfort Flow can attach the ducting on Friday. Did some framing for attic access and some framing to prep for the HVAC.
Stopped by Douglas County to get the electrical permit.
June 17, 2011 - Friday
Continued plumbing. Put all the connections on the bath tubs so they can be installed.
Received steel plate brackets for all the columns and beams. Kevin Saylor's cousin, , made these in one day. They look great. Can't wait to see them installed.
Cleaned windows since the boom lift is getting picked up next week. Need to make sure all the unreachable work is done while we still have the lift.
Saturday - June 18, 2011
Started putting in PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) water supply lines. Even have a hot/cold supply for outside. It will be nice to have warm water on cold days.
Sunday - June 19, 2011
Finished putting in the PEX water supply lines. Installed all three of the bath tubs.
Tuesday - June 28, 2011
Made the shower pan out of 40mil pvc liner. Filled up shower pan and all three tubs with water for tomorrow's plumbing inspection.
Wednesday - June 29, 2011
Had a couple small leaks. One on the Jacuzzi Tub and one on the clean-out fitting at the kitchen sink. Inspector arrived before we could get the leaks repaired. Will have to put off the inspection until Friday.
TO BE CONTINUED....
June 15, 2011 - Wednesday
Began rough plumbing first and second floors today. Lots to think about. Don't want to have to make adjustments later. Have to think about where HVAC is going, electricity, medicine cabinets, etc. Everything needs water supply, drain lines and vents. All of this has to work together.
Put a second coat of stain on the front columns and attached the strong-tie brackets to the trusses so the roof doesn't blow away. I'm told the roof is an important part of the house.
Stopped by Home Depot and bought a couple of bath tubs. Don't tell anyone this, but also stopped by Lowe's and bought a bath tub there. They had a tub we wanted that Home Depot doesn't offer. Kendra now gets to look at a jacuzzi tub in our bathroom that can't be used for another four months.
June 16, 2011 - Thursday
Continued plumbing and installed bathroom vents so the HVAC guys from Comfort Flow can attach the ducting on Friday. Did some framing for attic access and some framing to prep for the HVAC.
Stopped by Douglas County to get the electrical permit.
June 17, 2011 - Friday
Continued plumbing. Put all the connections on the bath tubs so they can be installed.
Received steel plate brackets for all the columns and beams. Kevin Saylor's cousin, , made these in one day. They look great. Can't wait to see them installed.
Cleaned windows since the boom lift is getting picked up next week. Need to make sure all the unreachable work is done while we still have the lift.
Saturday - June 18, 2011
Started putting in PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) water supply lines. Even have a hot/cold supply for outside. It will be nice to have warm water on cold days.
Sunday - June 19, 2011
Finished putting in the PEX water supply lines. Installed all three of the bath tubs.
Tuesday - June 28, 2011
Made the shower pan out of 40mil pvc liner. Filled up shower pan and all three tubs with water for tomorrow's plumbing inspection.
Wednesday - June 29, 2011
Had a couple small leaks. One on the Jacuzzi Tub and one on the clean-out fitting at the kitchen sink. Inspector arrived before we could get the leaks repaired. Will have to put off the inspection until Friday.
TO BE CONTINUED....
Exterior Phase complete
As you can see, we are done with the exterior. We still have to put up the front porches, back patio, and the concrete approach, but other than that we are done working outside.
Things are still going well. Couldn't be going better, as far as I'm concerned. Everything is turning out great, our stress levels are still low, and we are well within our budget.
Now we shift our focus to the interior. Next up will be electrical, plumbing, HVAC, insulation and so on. I'll do my best to get good pictures, but it's hard to get a wide enough camera view inside most of the rooms. Although there will be a lot of progress, you probably won't be able to see much of it in the pictures.
Thank you for showing an interest in our project and in our website. Two months into construction, we've had over 1,300 page views, including 39 from 9 other countries, we have had companies thank us for the referral business this website has provided, and we currently have 16 households that are either followers of our blog or have requested email notifications each time we post an update. We will continue to work on regular updates and hope to keep you interested in what we are doing.
Please review our list of recommended companies and give them a chance to earn your business.
Things are still going well. Couldn't be going better, as far as I'm concerned. Everything is turning out great, our stress levels are still low, and we are well within our budget.
Now we shift our focus to the interior. Next up will be electrical, plumbing, HVAC, insulation and so on. I'll do my best to get good pictures, but it's hard to get a wide enough camera view inside most of the rooms. Although there will be a lot of progress, you probably won't be able to see much of it in the pictures.
Thank you for showing an interest in our project and in our website. Two months into construction, we've had over 1,300 page views, including 39 from 9 other countries, we have had companies thank us for the referral business this website has provided, and we currently have 16 households that are either followers of our blog or have requested email notifications each time we post an update. We will continue to work on regular updates and hope to keep you interested in what we are doing.
Please review our list of recommended companies and give them a chance to earn your business.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Windows/Siding
A week of big changes...with siding going up and most of the windows installed, a lot of progress has been made. The siding is very technical. Jeff had to keep the siding in mind when doing the framing. Nail patterns have to be just right so we pass inspection and don't have nails showing when the cedar is put into place. It's all labor intensive but soooo worth it when it's complete.
Devin joined us again this week. His help has been priceless. He is one of the hardest working people I've ever met. Kendra and I think the world of him, and love having him around.
Monday - May 16, 2011
Started the morning staining the rough sawn mahogany plywood boards using Sherwin Williams exterior semi-transparent cider mill stain. A very monotonous, but necessary job. It's much easier to stain these before they are hung into place, but it takes hours, and each board needs two coats.
Received our window delivery. It was very exciting to see the truck pull up and even more gratifying to see 38 windows and 2 sliding glass doors being pulled from the truck (the other four will be delivered next week - they were a custom size with angles so we couldn't give them the measurements until after the roofing was done, so we knew the exact size). For the garage we bought Empire Pacific Windows. Since then they were bought out by Cascade Window. The reason we went with them is because they offer a painted vinyl window (I'm just thankful Cascade Window kept that as an option). They are the only ones I know that are offering this - and they have a good warranty on them. I didn't want to spend the time and money on a stained house and have white vinyl windows ruining the look. Yes, the painted windows cost extra, but they are worth every penny! We ordered the windows through Carlson Hardware and Cascade Window sent a rep to the house to get the dimensions and other specifications. Great customer service!
Toward the end of the day Green Guard Waterproof House Wrap was put on the lower level of the house.
Let me take a minute to say something about Sherwin Williams...Jeff has been using them for years, but I had never bought anything from them until we built the garage. Just like the garage, we are doing a board and batten siding on the house. As previously mentioned, the boards are mahogany and the bats are cedar. We have to use two different colors of stain because of the two different species of wood. We picked out the cider mill color for the boards and had to come up with a custom color for the cedar bats. The first custom color we took home was awful. When it dried it turned out very gray. It looked horrible. Unfortunately, we had bought fifteen gallons of this atrocious color, which is not cheap. Knowing we couldn't use it, I took it back fully expecting to pay for another fifteen gallons of a better matched color. To my surprise Sherwin Williams traded us straight across for the color we ended up using. They simply said "we want our product to look good and our customers need to be satisfied". Saved us money and they gained a loyal customer.
So, back to present time, we just bought over one hundred gallons of stain from them and will be buying more in the next couple weeks. We will also be buying the interior paint from them when the time comes.
Tuesday - May 17, 2011
Stained more siding, put on more house wrap, and intalled some flashing & strapping. Started putting in the windows.
Wednesday - May 18, 2011
Finished staining the boards, installed more flashing, and began putting up siding. The siding will take several days to put up because, with all the windows and corners, almost every piece has to be cut.
Thursday - May 19, 2011
Completed putting up all the house wrap. Installed all the windows but the four they are delivering next week. Put up a little more flashing and finished all the required strapping. Continued putting up siding.
Monday - May 30, 2011
Monday - June 6, 2011
Applied caulking around windows and began putting on window trim and cedar bats.
Tuesday - June 7, 2011
Continued caulking around windows, putting on window trim, and cedar bats.
The cascade window rep came out today to fix some minor problems and see if he could modify our kitched screen so that it can open.
Washington Federal came out for our montly inspection. We must be doing well, they keep giving us money.
Wednesday - June 8, 2011
Finished caulking windows and putting up window trim. Started putting up soffits. Much more time consuming than I ever imagined, but there are a lot of careful measurements and cuts. Looks great though!
Thursday - June 9, 2011
Removed all the temporary bracing. Did some touchups on the exterior stain. Started staining the columns.
Friday - June 10, 2011
Bunnell's Overhead Doors is coming out to install the gutters. Figured we would have them come out while we still had the lift, they will come back out to do the rest of the gutters when we get the porches/patio done.
Monday - June 13, 2011
Continued putting up cedar bats.
Tuesday - June 14, 2011
Finished putting up cedar bats. Mostly done with siding. The rest will be done when we complete the porches/patio. Exterior turned out great. Next up, Plumbing!
Devin joined us again this week. His help has been priceless. He is one of the hardest working people I've ever met. Kendra and I think the world of him, and love having him around.
Monday - May 16, 2011
Started the morning staining the rough sawn mahogany plywood boards using Sherwin Williams exterior semi-transparent cider mill stain. A very monotonous, but necessary job. It's much easier to stain these before they are hung into place, but it takes hours, and each board needs two coats.
Received our window delivery. It was very exciting to see the truck pull up and even more gratifying to see 38 windows and 2 sliding glass doors being pulled from the truck (the other four will be delivered next week - they were a custom size with angles so we couldn't give them the measurements until after the roofing was done, so we knew the exact size). For the garage we bought Empire Pacific Windows. Since then they were bought out by Cascade Window. The reason we went with them is because they offer a painted vinyl window (I'm just thankful Cascade Window kept that as an option). They are the only ones I know that are offering this - and they have a good warranty on them. I didn't want to spend the time and money on a stained house and have white vinyl windows ruining the look. Yes, the painted windows cost extra, but they are worth every penny! We ordered the windows through Carlson Hardware and Cascade Window sent a rep to the house to get the dimensions and other specifications. Great customer service!
Toward the end of the day Green Guard Waterproof House Wrap was put on the lower level of the house.
Let me take a minute to say something about Sherwin Williams...Jeff has been using them for years, but I had never bought anything from them until we built the garage. Just like the garage, we are doing a board and batten siding on the house. As previously mentioned, the boards are mahogany and the bats are cedar. We have to use two different colors of stain because of the two different species of wood. We picked out the cider mill color for the boards and had to come up with a custom color for the cedar bats. The first custom color we took home was awful. When it dried it turned out very gray. It looked horrible. Unfortunately, we had bought fifteen gallons of this atrocious color, which is not cheap. Knowing we couldn't use it, I took it back fully expecting to pay for another fifteen gallons of a better matched color. To my surprise Sherwin Williams traded us straight across for the color we ended up using. They simply said "we want our product to look good and our customers need to be satisfied". Saved us money and they gained a loyal customer.
So, back to present time, we just bought over one hundred gallons of stain from them and will be buying more in the next couple weeks. We will also be buying the interior paint from them when the time comes.
Tuesday - May 17, 2011
Stained more siding, put on more house wrap, and intalled some flashing & strapping. Started putting in the windows.
Wednesday - May 18, 2011
Finished staining the boards, installed more flashing, and began putting up siding. The siding will take several days to put up because, with all the windows and corners, almost every piece has to be cut.
Thursday - May 19, 2011
Completed putting up all the house wrap. Installed all the windows but the four they are delivering next week. Put up a little more flashing and finished all the required strapping. Continued putting up siding.
That's right, Jeff is working on Memorial Day. What a workaholic. I guess after a week of bear hunting, he couldn't wait to get back to work. Devin won't be joining us. He found a job at Oregon State University (The University of Oregon must not have been hiring, so he had to settle for second best). Although we will miss his hard work, we are very happy for him and wish him well in his new job. They are lucky to have him.
Finished hanging the siding and flashing on the lower floor. Stained batten siding - not the funnest part of the job, but necessary. We are using various sizes of cedar. As mentioned previously, we are using a custom stain from Sherwin Williams for the first coat. We will use Cider Mill, the same color we used on the boards, for the second coat.
Tuesday - May 31, 2011
Started hanging the siding/flashing on the upper floor. Applied more stain on the batten siding.
Wednesday - June 1, 2011
Same as yesterday. Hung siding/flashing on the upper floor and applied more stain on the batten siding.
Thursday - June 2, 2011
Finished hanging the board siding/flashing. Stained more cedar bats.
The Roseburg Roofing & Supply Company installed the weatherproof flooring on the deck outside the master bedroom. We used material normally used on a flat roof since the deck is exposed to the weather an sits above the lower floor. Later, we will install a floating deck over the weatherproof material
Brenda brought down the last four windows. The window dimensions were slightly off, so Jeff had to do some custom fabricating on the rough openings. It took a little time, but the windows are in and it turned out great. I think most builders would have thrown a fit, but Jeff just fixed the problem and moved on. This is one of the biggest reasons he's so great to work with...he deals with problems really well. His low stress level keeps the homeowners stress level low as well.
Friday - June 3, 2011
Finished staining all the cedar bats. Started putting up Facia.
For the next several days we will probably be roofing in the morning and putting up siding in the afternoon, so I will be working on two posts at the same time, Siding & Roofing, so make sure to check on both of those posts for updates.
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| View of the house coming up the driveway |
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| View of the house from the front |
Applied caulking around windows and began putting on window trim and cedar bats.
Tuesday - June 7, 2011
Continued caulking around windows, putting on window trim, and cedar bats.
The cascade window rep came out today to fix some minor problems and see if he could modify our kitched screen so that it can open.
Washington Federal came out for our montly inspection. We must be doing well, they keep giving us money.
Wednesday - June 8, 2011
Finished caulking windows and putting up window trim. Started putting up soffits. Much more time consuming than I ever imagined, but there are a lot of careful measurements and cuts. Looks great though!
Thursday - June 9, 2011
Removed all the temporary bracing. Did some touchups on the exterior stain. Started staining the columns.
Friday - June 10, 2011
Bunnell's Overhead Doors is coming out to install the gutters. Figured we would have them come out while we still had the lift, they will come back out to do the rest of the gutters when we get the porches/patio done.
Monday - June 13, 2011
Continued putting up cedar bats.
Tuesday - June 14, 2011
Finished putting up cedar bats. Mostly done with siding. The rest will be done when we complete the porches/patio. Exterior turned out great. Next up, Plumbing!
Roofing
Thursday - May 5, 2011
Received truss delivery from Willamette Truss. The driver not only set the trusses, but also the large great room beams, and lifted the roof sheeting to the upper level. Can't even begin to describe what a tremendous help that was. After the driver left the trusses were set up and nailed into place.
Friday - May 6, 2011
Continued blocking and venting for trusses. Also started framing and blocking for great room and loft roofing using 2 x 12's.
Drove up to Eugene/Brownsville to look at cabinets and flooring. Stopped by lumber liquidators to pick out some wood floors. I was impressed by their selection and pricing. Hopefully we can stay within our allotted budget. It adds up fast. More on flooring later. Also met Brian (Jeff's cabinet guy) and looked at the cabinets he just finished. AMAZING! He's taking them 1200 miles into Canada. He does some really good work. More on cabinets later.
Monday - May 9, 2011
Continued working on bracing and blocking for trusses. Began to put on roof sheeting on places that blocking has been completed. Also continued to work on 2 x 12 roofing over great room.
Tuesday - May 10, 2011
Continued roof sheeting, bracing, blocking and venting. We have an added feature on the gable ends of our roof overhangs, so roof framing is taking some extra time and material than normal (see garage pictures to see what I'm talking about).
Received delivery from Carlson Hardware. Had a 40ft boom truck delivered from Sunbelt Rentals in Albany 1 -800-667-9328. They had better customer service and better pricing than any of the Roseburg rental companies that had a similar product. The boom truck will make things much easier -won't have to move scaffolding several times a day.
We were joined this week by Devin, who also helped build our garage. He is a friend of Jeff's (and now, ours) that was recently layed off from his job. He's a smart, reliable, honest, hard working guy, so I know he'll land on his feet. In the meantime, it's great of him to lend us a hand. We love having Jeff and Devin (and the rest of the Hetterle's on the weekends) around.
Wednesday - May 11, 2011
Stood up and attched the four 8" rough sawn front columns today. They look so good! Really added a lot to the front of the house.
Continued work on roof overhangs, 2 x 12 roofing, and sheeting.
Thursday - May 12, 2011
Completed all roof framing and sheeting. Put up all 2 x 6 facia (2 x 12 in front of the great room). The facia will later be covered by cedar). Put on roofing felt (a better material than tar paper) making the roof waterproof. For the most part, the inside of the house is now out of the weather.
Did some clean-up.
Thursday - June 2, 2011
Let's see if I can confuse everyone. I will be working on two posts at the same time...A post labled siding and a post labled roofing. With the help of the boom lift it's best to do the lower section of the roofing and the higher parts of the siding at the same time. Much safer and we get the most out of the equipment in the shortest period of time.
Roofing Supply and Delivery delivered and placed the roofing shingles, and other supplies, on the roof.
Friday - June 3, 2011
Started nailing on the black 3-dimensional roofing shingles as far as we could reach from the boom lift. Much safer to do it this way. Also did some work on the 45 degree angle roof we have above the great room. We needed to find a way to divert the water into the gutter, so Jeff came up with a system that did that.
Saturday - June 4, 2011
Continued roofing and step flashing. Finished installing cedar facia.
Sunday - June 5, 2011
Finished roofing and step flashing. Installed all roof vents.
Monday - June 6, 2011
Attached all the roof edge shingles. This is a feature most homes do not have but I love the way it looks.
Received truss delivery from Willamette Truss. The driver not only set the trusses, but also the large great room beams, and lifted the roof sheeting to the upper level. Can't even begin to describe what a tremendous help that was. After the driver left the trusses were set up and nailed into place.
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| Beam Placement |
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| Jeff placing the beams |
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| Truss Placement |
Friday - May 6, 2011
Continued blocking and venting for trusses. Also started framing and blocking for great room and loft roofing using 2 x 12's.
Drove up to Eugene/Brownsville to look at cabinets and flooring. Stopped by lumber liquidators to pick out some wood floors. I was impressed by their selection and pricing. Hopefully we can stay within our allotted budget. It adds up fast. More on flooring later. Also met Brian (Jeff's cabinet guy) and looked at the cabinets he just finished. AMAZING! He's taking them 1200 miles into Canada. He does some really good work. More on cabinets later.
Monday - May 9, 2011
Continued working on bracing and blocking for trusses. Began to put on roof sheeting on places that blocking has been completed. Also continued to work on 2 x 12 roofing over great room.
Tuesday - May 10, 2011
Continued roof sheeting, bracing, blocking and venting. We have an added feature on the gable ends of our roof overhangs, so roof framing is taking some extra time and material than normal (see garage pictures to see what I'm talking about).
Received delivery from Carlson Hardware. Had a 40ft boom truck delivered from Sunbelt Rentals in Albany 1 -800-667-9328. They had better customer service and better pricing than any of the Roseburg rental companies that had a similar product. The boom truck will make things much easier -won't have to move scaffolding several times a day.
We were joined this week by Devin, who also helped build our garage. He is a friend of Jeff's (and now, ours) that was recently layed off from his job. He's a smart, reliable, honest, hard working guy, so I know he'll land on his feet. In the meantime, it's great of him to lend us a hand. We love having Jeff and Devin (and the rest of the Hetterle's on the weekends) around.
Wednesday - May 11, 2011
Stood up and attched the four 8" rough sawn front columns today. They look so good! Really added a lot to the front of the house.
Continued work on roof overhangs, 2 x 12 roofing, and sheeting.
Thursday - May 12, 2011
Completed all roof framing and sheeting. Put up all 2 x 6 facia (2 x 12 in front of the great room). The facia will later be covered by cedar). Put on roofing felt (a better material than tar paper) making the roof waterproof. For the most part, the inside of the house is now out of the weather.
Did some clean-up.
Thursday - June 2, 2011
Let's see if I can confuse everyone. I will be working on two posts at the same time...A post labled siding and a post labled roofing. With the help of the boom lift it's best to do the lower section of the roofing and the higher parts of the siding at the same time. Much safer and we get the most out of the equipment in the shortest period of time.
Roofing Supply and Delivery delivered and placed the roofing shingles, and other supplies, on the roof.
Friday - June 3, 2011
Started nailing on the black 3-dimensional roofing shingles as far as we could reach from the boom lift. Much safer to do it this way. Also did some work on the 45 degree angle roof we have above the great room. We needed to find a way to divert the water into the gutter, so Jeff came up with a system that did that.
Saturday - June 4, 2011
Continued roofing and step flashing. Finished installing cedar facia.
Sunday - June 5, 2011
Finished roofing and step flashing. Installed all roof vents.
Monday - June 6, 2011
Attached all the roof edge shingles. This is a feature most homes do not have but I love the way it looks.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Windows
Our first dilemma since starting the build...
Kendra has a good friend, Nikki, that sells windows and doors at Mountain View Window and Door in Medford. She's really nice and is very good at her job. She's professional, knowledgable and very friendly. Of course, we bought our windows and doors from her when we built the garage.
The problem is...the manager is, let's say, not exactly customer service oriented. We've had to deal with her three times over the last year, and she has been rude every time! We recommended them to a friend and, because of the manager, they decided to use a different company as well.
We agonized over this decision for weeks. Other than trying to build a house with small children, this is really the first thing that has caused us any stress.
In the end we decided to go with Jeff's guy. With 42 windows and 22 doors to order I just couldn't take the chance that we would have to deal with the manager again. Any delay or problem could set us back several weeks. If we knew there was a way to only deal with Nikki the decision would have been easy. I think the owners need to reconsider who is managing their store.
If there is a managerial change we will let everyone know and begin to recommend them again. Sorry Nikki, I hope she treats you better than she treated us.
Kendra has a good friend, Nikki, that sells windows and doors at Mountain View Window and Door in Medford. She's really nice and is very good at her job. She's professional, knowledgable and very friendly. Of course, we bought our windows and doors from her when we built the garage.
The problem is...the manager is, let's say, not exactly customer service oriented. We've had to deal with her three times over the last year, and she has been rude every time! We recommended them to a friend and, because of the manager, they decided to use a different company as well.
We agonized over this decision for weeks. Other than trying to build a house with small children, this is really the first thing that has caused us any stress.
In the end we decided to go with Jeff's guy. With 42 windows and 22 doors to order I just couldn't take the chance that we would have to deal with the manager again. Any delay or problem could set us back several weeks. If we knew there was a way to only deal with Nikki the decision would have been easy. I think the owners need to reconsider who is managing their store.
If there is a managerial change we will let everyone know and begin to recommend them again. Sorry Nikki, I hope she treats you better than she treated us.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Framing
Let the framing begin. This is were it feels like a lot of progress is made in a short amount of time. I don't think I need to say anything about Hetterle Construction during this phase. The progress will speak for itself. You will see things happening as fast as a crew of six and the quality is better!
Monday - April 18, 2011
Framed the lower floor exterior walls today. Gives a good feel for the size of the house.
Tuesday - April 19, 2011
Framed the lower floor interior walls today. Now we can see the size of the rooms and the layout of the floorplan. It's a lot better than looking at it on paper.
Wednesday - April 20, 2011
Finished all the lower floor shear walls today. The amount of nails put into these walls will definitely keep things stable.
Carlson Hardware dropped off another supply delivery.
Placed all the beams that are located between the first and second floor.
Thursday - April 21, 2011
Placed the second floor rim boards and floor joists.
Monday - April 25, 2011
Had a fairly strong wind/rain storm last night. Everything is a little wet, but still standing. Kevin came up to help out today so a lot of progress was made.
We now have stairs! Much better and safer than using a ladder. They also put down the entire subfloor on the upper level.
Tuesday - April 26, 2011
Another supply delivery from Carlson Hardware. I'm not sure if Jeff is trying to keep up with them or they are trying to keep up with him. They keep bringing it and he keeps using it. A lot of material has went into this house already and we are only a month into it.
Most of the exterior upper walls went up.
Rained off and on all day. The downpour at 5:00 brought the progress to an end.
Wednesday - April 27, 2011
A lot of progress today. Probably the biggest noticeable difference for one day's work so far.
Finished the exterior upper walls. We left out the upper wall in the loft (office) so that we can have material craned onto the upper floor next week.
Put up the interior upper walls.
You can now walk the entire house and see what the finished floorplan will be. We are pleased with the way it turned out. It's a relief to see that all the rooms are exactly what we were hoping for. It's hard to get a feel for the size of a room when you are looking at it on paper. It was a great feeling to walk through the entire house and see exactly what it will look like.
Thursday - April 28, 2011
Half day today. Jeff went up north to take care of some things. I tell you, that guy is constantly going. I don't know how he does it.
Put up wall shearing on the upper floor. Things went fast with Brenda's help.
Friday - April 29, 2011
The Hetterle's were at it bright and early this morning after driving back down last night.
Second delivery from Carlson Hardware this week. We are putting some miles on their delivery truck.
Put up the exterior wall in the front entry, placed most upper floor beams & posts, and began the exterior wall in the great room. I can't believe the height of these walls. What were we thinking? I think we are around 27' from floor to peak (over 30' from ground to rooftop). Any volunteers for changing out light bulbs?
Saturday - April 30, 2011
Continued framing great room walls. The great room has 19 windows so it will take a few days to frame and a lot of material. I think Jeff had a headache by the end of the day with all the numbers and math he had to figure out. The front of the house will look amazing!
Were hoping for trusses on Monday but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Probably won't receive them until Wednesday. Work will have to shift to something else for Monday and Tuesday. Plenty to do.
After the workday was over we barbecued some tri-tip with beans and potato salad. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yum! Sat around a fire and relaxed.
Sunday - May 1, 2011
Finished framing the great room walls. We love the way it looks. The room is huge, the ceiling is high, and the windows are going to allow a great view. Very impressive.
Put in some drain pipe around the foundation.
Monday - May 2, 2011
Put up some posts and beams, continued to do some misc framing/blocking. Did some clean up.
Tuesday - May 3, 2011
Backfilled around the foundation. Bruce (Rocky Road) brought up some drain rock and Kevin (Saylor excavating) helped Jeff move around the piles of dirt. The yard look huge.
Wednesday - May 4, 2011
Finished connecting the house and garage. When everything is complete, it will be nice to get to the cars without having to deal with rain/snow.
Put on the strapping (metal bands that prevent movement) on the exterior lower floor. Put vapor barrier around the lower level of the house.
Began staining siding (boards) using cider mill stain from Sherwin-Williams. More on Sherwin-Williams later.
Washington Federal came down to do our first monthly inspection.
Thursday - May 5, 2011
Continued to stain siding (boards). Kept at it until the stain was gone. We bought everything Sherwin-Williams had in stock.
Waterproofed the garage/house connection. Definitely don't want any water in the garage.
Framed the wall between the master bedroom and bath.
June 29, 2011 - Wednesday
Attached the steel plates to the beams and columns in the great room. They look great.
Passed our framing inspection.
Monday - April 18, 2011
Framed the lower floor exterior walls today. Gives a good feel for the size of the house.
Tuesday - April 19, 2011
Framed the lower floor interior walls today. Now we can see the size of the rooms and the layout of the floorplan. It's a lot better than looking at it on paper.
Wednesday - April 20, 2011
Finished all the lower floor shear walls today. The amount of nails put into these walls will definitely keep things stable.
Carlson Hardware dropped off another supply delivery.
Placed all the beams that are located between the first and second floor.
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| Lower Floor Framing |
Thursday - April 21, 2011
Placed the second floor rim boards and floor joists.
Monday - April 25, 2011
Had a fairly strong wind/rain storm last night. Everything is a little wet, but still standing. Kevin came up to help out today so a lot of progress was made.
We now have stairs! Much better and safer than using a ladder. They also put down the entire subfloor on the upper level.
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| Stairs |
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| Stairs |
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| Subfloor Upper Floor |
Tuesday - April 26, 2011
Another supply delivery from Carlson Hardware. I'm not sure if Jeff is trying to keep up with them or they are trying to keep up with him. They keep bringing it and he keeps using it. A lot of material has went into this house already and we are only a month into it.
Most of the exterior upper walls went up.
Rained off and on all day. The downpour at 5:00 brought the progress to an end.
Wednesday - April 27, 2011
A lot of progress today. Probably the biggest noticeable difference for one day's work so far.
Finished the exterior upper walls. We left out the upper wall in the loft (office) so that we can have material craned onto the upper floor next week.
Put up the interior upper walls.
You can now walk the entire house and see what the finished floorplan will be. We are pleased with the way it turned out. It's a relief to see that all the rooms are exactly what we were hoping for. It's hard to get a feel for the size of a room when you are looking at it on paper. It was a great feeling to walk through the entire house and see exactly what it will look like.
Thursday - April 28, 2011
Half day today. Jeff went up north to take care of some things. I tell you, that guy is constantly going. I don't know how he does it.
Put up wall shearing on the upper floor. Things went fast with Brenda's help.
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| Upper Floor Framing (looking up from the driveway) |
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| Upper Floor Framing (looking from the North - view side) |
Friday - April 29, 2011
The Hetterle's were at it bright and early this morning after driving back down last night.
Second delivery from Carlson Hardware this week. We are putting some miles on their delivery truck.
Put up the exterior wall in the front entry, placed most upper floor beams & posts, and began the exterior wall in the great room. I can't believe the height of these walls. What were we thinking? I think we are around 27' from floor to peak (over 30' from ground to rooftop). Any volunteers for changing out light bulbs?
Saturday - April 30, 2011
Continued framing great room walls. The great room has 19 windows so it will take a few days to frame and a lot of material. I think Jeff had a headache by the end of the day with all the numbers and math he had to figure out. The front of the house will look amazing!
Were hoping for trusses on Monday but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Probably won't receive them until Wednesday. Work will have to shift to something else for Monday and Tuesday. Plenty to do.
After the workday was over we barbecued some tri-tip with beans and potato salad. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yum! Sat around a fire and relaxed.
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| Had to include this picture, too funny. They're hilarious. |
Sunday - May 1, 2011
Finished framing the great room walls. We love the way it looks. The room is huge, the ceiling is high, and the windows are going to allow a great view. Very impressive.
Put in some drain pipe around the foundation.
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| Great Room |
Monday - May 2, 2011
Put up some posts and beams, continued to do some misc framing/blocking. Did some clean up.
Tuesday - May 3, 2011
Backfilled around the foundation. Bruce (Rocky Road) brought up some drain rock and Kevin (Saylor excavating) helped Jeff move around the piles of dirt. The yard look huge.
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| Kevin |
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| Bruce |
Wednesday - May 4, 2011
Finished connecting the house and garage. When everything is complete, it will be nice to get to the cars without having to deal with rain/snow.
Put on the strapping (metal bands that prevent movement) on the exterior lower floor. Put vapor barrier around the lower level of the house.
Began staining siding (boards) using cider mill stain from Sherwin-Williams. More on Sherwin-Williams later.
Washington Federal came down to do our first monthly inspection.
Thursday - May 5, 2011
Continued to stain siding (boards). Kept at it until the stain was gone. We bought everything Sherwin-Williams had in stock.
Waterproofed the garage/house connection. Definitely don't want any water in the garage.
Framed the wall between the master bedroom and bath.
June 29, 2011 - Wednesday
Attached the steel plates to the beams and columns in the great room. They look great.
Passed our framing inspection.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Subfloor (First Floor)
We have a floor! It's nice to have something to walk on besides mud.
Saturday - April 16, 2011
Saturday - April 16, 2011
Spent the day putting down subfloor. The entire Hetterle Family worked so hard.
Sunday - April 17, 2011
Completed the subfloor today.
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| Subfloor Complete |
Underfloor HVAC/Plumbing
Thursday - April 14, 2011
Spent the day putting in underfloor water supply and sewer lines.
Friday - April 15, 2011
Three guys from Comfort Flow Heating Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, out of Eugene, came down for the day and installed all the underfloor heating and air ducts. Jeff worked on some structural bracing. Rained all day, must have received 2-3 inches of pretty steady rain.
Douglas County came out and did the structural and plumbing inspection.
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| Underfloor Ductwork and Plumbing |
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| Underfloor Ductwork and Plumbing |
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| Underfloor Ductwork and Plumbing |
Monday, April 11, 2011
Foundation
It's amazing how fast things are happening. Yet again, my hat's off to Hetterle Construction. They are doing a great job! They are working hard, everything looks great, and they regularly ask our opinion regarding how we want things to look rather than assuming.
We've been told that building a house is one of the most stressful things you can do. So far, I think it's about as stress free as it possibly could be. Plus we get the added bonus of having the Hetterle family around. Anyone that has met them knows they are great people.
Monday - April 4, 2011
Received supply deliver from Carlson Hardware out of Brownsville. Jeff has great things to say about them. Very reliable, great customer service, and quality material.
Began work on footing forms.
Tuesday - April 5, 2011
Continued to work on footing forms. Even though you can see all the footings on the plans it's hard to understand the number and size until you see the forms completed. Plus, Jeff made the footing a little larger than on the plans. He tends to do a little more than what the plans call for. I love that! A lot of wide footings equals a sturdy house. This will be a very stout house.
Wednesday - April 6, 2011
Added rebar to the footings in the rain. Definitely not ideal weather conditions but still got a lot done.
Had our first inspection with Douglas County. They inspected the footings and verified all setbacks were adhered to. We passed!
Thursday - April 7, 2011
Umpqua Sand and Gravel Concrete Services brought up four trucks of concrete. A separate pump truck placed the concrete. Took about two hours.
Started to assemble the stem wall forms. Felt like a lot was accomplished for one day.
Friday - April 8, 2011
Completed the stem wall forms and added the rebar. Started removing the footing forms.
Had our second inspection for the stem walls. Passed again!
Umpqua Sand and Gravel Concrete Services sent up two more trucks for the Stem walls. The pump truck helped make quick works of things.
Saturday - April 9, 2011
Removed the remaining footing forms and the stem wall forms. I think we're done working with concrete for a while.
Tuesday - April 12, 2011
Received our cattleguard today. That means we don't have to get out of our car and close the gate. We had the cattleguard made by Jason Saylor (Kevin's brother). It turned out great! Definitely a good option if anyone needs a cattleguard.
Kevin also dug a trench for the electrical lines to the property line (so we can put in an electric gate on the property line at some point in the future)
Wednesday - April 13, 2011
Finished up the foundation today. Built the interior stem walls, attached the rim boards, and put on the floor joists.
Kevin came up and gave us a hand today. Things are still a little wet, so it's hard to get much excavation done in the area. It was great to have his help. One of those days that feels like a lot of progress was made.
We've been told that building a house is one of the most stressful things you can do. So far, I think it's about as stress free as it possibly could be. Plus we get the added bonus of having the Hetterle family around. Anyone that has met them knows they are great people.
Monday - April 4, 2011
Received supply deliver from Carlson Hardware out of Brownsville. Jeff has great things to say about them. Very reliable, great customer service, and quality material.
Began work on footing forms.
Tuesday - April 5, 2011
Continued to work on footing forms. Even though you can see all the footings on the plans it's hard to understand the number and size until you see the forms completed. Plus, Jeff made the footing a little larger than on the plans. He tends to do a little more than what the plans call for. I love that! A lot of wide footings equals a sturdy house. This will be a very stout house.
Wednesday - April 6, 2011
Added rebar to the footings in the rain. Definitely not ideal weather conditions but still got a lot done.
Had our first inspection with Douglas County. They inspected the footings and verified all setbacks were adhered to. We passed!
Thursday - April 7, 2011
Umpqua Sand and Gravel Concrete Services brought up four trucks of concrete. A separate pump truck placed the concrete. Took about two hours.
Started to assemble the stem wall forms. Felt like a lot was accomplished for one day.
Friday - April 8, 2011
Completed the stem wall forms and added the rebar. Started removing the footing forms.
Had our second inspection for the stem walls. Passed again!
Umpqua Sand and Gravel Concrete Services sent up two more trucks for the Stem walls. The pump truck helped make quick works of things.
Saturday - April 9, 2011
Removed the remaining footing forms and the stem wall forms. I think we're done working with concrete for a while.
Tuesday - April 12, 2011
Received our cattleguard today. That means we don't have to get out of our car and close the gate. We had the cattleguard made by Jason Saylor (Kevin's brother). It turned out great! Definitely a good option if anyone needs a cattleguard.
Kevin also dug a trench for the electrical lines to the property line (so we can put in an electric gate on the property line at some point in the future)
Wednesday - April 13, 2011
Finished up the foundation today. Built the interior stem walls, attached the rim boards, and put on the floor joists.
Kevin came up and gave us a hand today. Things are still a little wet, so it's hard to get much excavation done in the area. It was great to have his help. One of those days that feels like a lot of progress was made.
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| Footing Forms |
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| Footings and Stem Walls Complete |
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| Footings and Stem Walls Complete |
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| Floor Joists complete |
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| Jeff hard at work |
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Excavation
Began excavation Monday, March 28, 2011. Kevin (Kevin Saylor Excavation) dug out the footprint of the house and put in some drain lines. Made quick work of things and it looks great!
Bruce (Rocky Road) brought up several loads of rock for the excavated footprint and to widen part of the driveway for building material deliveries and extra parking.
Jeff (Hetterle Constuction) spent a lot of his time finding places for the dirt. He also made more room for parking and material delivery. He compacted and leveled four loads of gravel in the footprint. Looks great! It's going to be a nice firm foundation.
Worked in the rain Tuesday, but things are going smoothly. Jeff had some jobs to finish up north, will be back at it on Monday.
Bruce (Rocky Road) brought up several loads of rock for the excavated footprint and to widen part of the driveway for building material deliveries and extra parking.
Jeff (Hetterle Constuction) spent a lot of his time finding places for the dirt. He also made more room for parking and material delivery. He compacted and leveled four loads of gravel in the footprint. Looks great! It's going to be a nice firm foundation.
Worked in the rain Tuesday, but things are going smoothly. Jeff had some jobs to finish up north, will be back at it on Monday.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Construction begins this month
Plan review is complete. Permits have been issued. Loan has funded. Construction to begin sometime this month.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Insurance Recommendation
Thank you for all your insurance provider recommendations. We called and compared the insurance companies that were recommended to us. The companies I called were State Farm, Progressive (they offer a veterans discount), USAA (also offer a veterans discount), Ankeny Insurance, and Allstate.
We ended up using insurance broker Bill Ankeny (Ankeny Insurance) at 541-957-7720. Very nice guy. He is located in Roseburg but can provide Home/Auto/Health/Life/RV/ATV/etc insurance for anyone in Oregon. The premiums he offered were substantially lower and provided better coverage at the same time!
We encourage you to call him to see what he has to offer. He owns this company, so they survive on referral business. Please let him know we recommended you.
***If, by chance, you are a Farmer's Insurance customer and end up changing insurance companies, please inform them that you cancelled because of recommendations from allendreamhome.blogspot.com.***
We ended up using insurance broker Bill Ankeny (Ankeny Insurance) at 541-957-7720. Very nice guy. He is located in Roseburg but can provide Home/Auto/Health/Life/RV/ATV/etc insurance for anyone in Oregon. The premiums he offered were substantially lower and provided better coverage at the same time!
We encourage you to call him to see what he has to offer. He owns this company, so they survive on referral business. Please let him know we recommended you.
***If, by chance, you are a Farmer's Insurance customer and end up changing insurance companies, please inform them that you cancelled because of recommendations from allendreamhome.blogspot.com.***
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Slight Insurance Snag
Give us your Homeowner Insurance Provider recommendation...
It appears Farmer's Insurance is trying to take advantage of us. Farmer's knows we are unable to close our loan until we have homeowner's insurance. We are currently in the process of being annexed into the Douglas County Fire District (the fire district was great to work with, by the way). This process can take a couple of months to complete. We received a letter from the Douglas County Fire Marshall stating they have approved our application and that they would respond to all emergency calls while our application is processed.
Farmer's has decided to insure our property as if it has no fire/emergency coverage. This translates to a $2000 premium per year. RIDICULOUS, even if we didn't have fire/emergency coverage!!! They state they will reclassify the property at a later date and issue a refund, but have not provided a premium estimate to date. I guess this is the thanks we get for being loyal customers for 20 years. Let me be clear, the staff at Farmer's is great. We do not have a problem with our insurance agent, we have a problem with the company.
We are obviously shopping around for a new insurance provider for two houses, two cars, and seasonal coverage for the 5th wheel. Any recommendations would be appreciated. When we find a better provider, we will certainly spread the word.
It appears Farmer's Insurance is trying to take advantage of us. Farmer's knows we are unable to close our loan until we have homeowner's insurance. We are currently in the process of being annexed into the Douglas County Fire District (the fire district was great to work with, by the way). This process can take a couple of months to complete. We received a letter from the Douglas County Fire Marshall stating they have approved our application and that they would respond to all emergency calls while our application is processed.
Farmer's has decided to insure our property as if it has no fire/emergency coverage. This translates to a $2000 premium per year. RIDICULOUS, even if we didn't have fire/emergency coverage!!! They state they will reclassify the property at a later date and issue a refund, but have not provided a premium estimate to date. I guess this is the thanks we get for being loyal customers for 20 years. Let me be clear, the staff at Farmer's is great. We do not have a problem with our insurance agent, we have a problem with the company.
We are obviously shopping around for a new insurance provider for two houses, two cars, and seasonal coverage for the 5th wheel. Any recommendations would be appreciated. When we find a better provider, we will certainly spread the word.
Plan Review, Permits
Plans have been reviewed by Douglas County and permits have been issued. Douglas County is soooooo much easier to work with than Jackson County. Still on schedule to start building March 2011.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Loan Approved, Building Soon
Approved!!! We have received final approval for our construction loan through Washington Federal. We are scheduled to break ground March 2011. We hope you return to share our journey…
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Saturday, February 5, 2011
Business Recommendations
Remember, word of mouth is the most powerful tool for consumers and businesses. As you can see, we have had a couple hundred pageviews, even before we've begun construction. We anticipate several thousand views by the time construction is complete.
As part of our home construction process you will notice we give our honest opinions about companies we have had the fortune, or misfortune, doing business with. These reviews will be throughout the website, but our most strongly recommended companies will always appear on the front page under the label "recommended companies". We strongly encourage you to give your business to those companies that have gone out of their way to give us a great product and/or customer service. At the same time we also encourage you to steer clear of those businesses that have not given us their best. I can promise you, these reviews will be honest. Not all reviews will be positive. We feel stongly, that in order to maintain trust, we must also include negative reviews. (If you are a business receiving a negative review, we hope you take the opportunity to reassess your business practices and are able to earn our business at some point in the future)
When visiting one of our recommended businesses, please mention that we referred you. We even encourage you to give them our Blog Address so they can follow our progress. These businesses like to know when their company is getting free positive advertising. It also reminds them of the importance of great customer service and how wide and fast word can travel.
As I'm sure you've already noticed, we've already recommended companies like: Hetterle Construction, Washington Federal, Kevin Saylor Excavation, Bunnell's Overhead Door, and Rocky Road (rock, sand delivery). We are very proud to recommend these companies to you. Please give them a call when you are in need of their product/services.
We would like to mention two more companies, and with this, our first negative review.
Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse - (This review is for the Roseburg location only) Horrible customer service!!! Tried to give them our business during garage construction. You can walk through Lowe's for 10 mintues and not have a single employee acknowledge your existence. In fact, employees do everything they can to avoid you. It took me several minutes to chase down an employee. When I finally got their attention I was told it wasn't their department. I will do anything to avoid this store.
Home Depot - (This review is for the Roseburg location only) How can these two business be so oppisite. These people have it figured out. Great customer service!!! You can't walk through this store without at least three employees acknowledging you within five minutes. I encourage you to try it. Love this store! Look forward to giving them my business during construction. I do wish they had a more user friendly volume discount program, but that's the corporate office's shortfall, not the Roseburg Store's.
As part of our home construction process you will notice we give our honest opinions about companies we have had the fortune, or misfortune, doing business with. These reviews will be throughout the website, but our most strongly recommended companies will always appear on the front page under the label "recommended companies". We strongly encourage you to give your business to those companies that have gone out of their way to give us a great product and/or customer service. At the same time we also encourage you to steer clear of those businesses that have not given us their best. I can promise you, these reviews will be honest. Not all reviews will be positive. We feel stongly, that in order to maintain trust, we must also include negative reviews. (If you are a business receiving a negative review, we hope you take the opportunity to reassess your business practices and are able to earn our business at some point in the future)
When visiting one of our recommended businesses, please mention that we referred you. We even encourage you to give them our Blog Address so they can follow our progress. These businesses like to know when their company is getting free positive advertising. It also reminds them of the importance of great customer service and how wide and fast word can travel.
As I'm sure you've already noticed, we've already recommended companies like: Hetterle Construction, Washington Federal, Kevin Saylor Excavation, Bunnell's Overhead Door, and Rocky Road (rock, sand delivery). We are very proud to recommend these companies to you. Please give them a call when you are in need of their product/services.
We would like to mention two more companies, and with this, our first negative review.
Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse - (This review is for the Roseburg location only) Horrible customer service!!! Tried to give them our business during garage construction. You can walk through Lowe's for 10 mintues and not have a single employee acknowledge your existence. In fact, employees do everything they can to avoid you. It took me several minutes to chase down an employee. When I finally got their attention I was told it wasn't their department. I will do anything to avoid this store.
Home Depot - (This review is for the Roseburg location only) How can these two business be so oppisite. These people have it figured out. Great customer service!!! You can't walk through this store without at least three employees acknowledging you within five minutes. I encourage you to try it. Love this store! Look forward to giving them my business during construction. I do wish they had a more user friendly volume discount program, but that's the corporate office's shortfall, not the Roseburg Store's.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Financing
As most of you know, because of the housing market, it is much more difficult to get a home loan, as it should be. It is even more difficult to obtain a construction loan. You would think that with a credit score of over 800, a good debt to income ratio and, by the time construction is complete, at least 40% equity that finding a bank willing to give us a construciton loan would have been easy. We could only find two banks willing to make construction loans with decent terms. Umpqua bank had great terms, but they only offered Adjustable Rate Mortgages.
Washington Federal is the only bank we could find that is currently offering a 30 year fixed, one-time-close construction loan. The way interest rates have shot up the last couple months, we are very happy we chose Washington Federal. The terms were excellent and they’ve been very easy to work with. It's nice to know there is a bank out there still willing to make good common sense loans. We encourage you to give them the opportunity to earn your business.
January 2011 we recieved a pre-approval, with minor preconditions, for our construction loan through Washington Federal. We should be notified of final approval the 2nd week in February. Since this is the last piece of the puzzle we will certainly publish a post once we receive notification.
Of course, we will be using the same builder that built our garage, Hetterle Construction. If there is one piece of advice I would give, it is to find a good, honest, skilled builder. Jeff and Brenda Hetterle fit this description perfectly. It’s not possible for me to give a stronger recommendation than the one I would give them.
Washington Federal is the only bank we could find that is currently offering a 30 year fixed, one-time-close construction loan. The way interest rates have shot up the last couple months, we are very happy we chose Washington Federal. The terms were excellent and they’ve been very easy to work with. It's nice to know there is a bank out there still willing to make good common sense loans. We encourage you to give them the opportunity to earn your business.
January 2011 we recieved a pre-approval, with minor preconditions, for our construction loan through Washington Federal. We should be notified of final approval the 2nd week in February. Since this is the last piece of the puzzle we will certainly publish a post once we receive notification.
Of course, we will be using the same builder that built our garage, Hetterle Construction. If there is one piece of advice I would give, it is to find a good, honest, skilled builder. Jeff and Brenda Hetterle fit this description perfectly. It’s not possible for me to give a stronger recommendation than the one I would give them.
- Washington Federal (Alyssa or Jami) - 200 E 11th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401. Phone: (541) 686-2134
- Hetterle Construction - (541) 409-6601
Be sure to click on the "follow" button in order to receive notifications each time we post an update.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Getting up to speed...
First, let’s get you up to speed. A lot has happened, over many years, to get us to this point.
The thought of building our own home first came to us in 2004, soon after we became engaged to be married. We came up with initial drawings with just a pencil and paper. We used floor plans from former residences and original ideas we thought our future family might require. Over the years, these drawings have evolved with more and more detail as our current floor plan started to take shape. Once we thought we had our plans exactly the way we wanted them, we took them to a home designer and architect and had them professionally drawn up.
Our initial plan was to build in Eagle Point, on property we owned on East Antelope Rd. Unfortunately, the property was determined to be unbuildable seven days before we were supposed to start building, and we had to abandon our plans. This was devastating. We had already put so much into it, and we were so close to breaking ground. It took a long time to get over it, but once we did we knew it would work out for the best.
We continued to live in our Medford home and look for other properties in Southern Oregon. After the previous disappointment we decided we weren’t going to settle for just any piece of property. We wanted something that was unique and special to us. In the meantime, we were married and a year and a half later our daughter was born.
We discovered our unique property April 2009, but it was very expensive and, of course, we didn‘t have the financing to make an offer. The property had an amazing view. It had phone lines, Umpqua Basin Water supply with two 1500 gallon storage tanks, and standard septic already installed. We regularly watched the listing over the next year praying that it wouldn’t sell. In the meantime we saved every penny we could. After a year, we realized that if we were really determined to buy this particular piece of property we were going to have to make some serious sacrifices. March 23, 2009 we rented our house in Medford, moved into our 5th wheel, and made the highest priced offer we could comfortably afford.Thankfully the offer was accepted.
With the generosity of our neighbors, and friends, Don and Donna Marshall, we moved our 5th wheel across the street to their back lot where we lived for 9 months. During this time, we continued to save as much money as we could while making payments on our newly acquired land. With the help of Don Marshall (friend/neighbor) and Nathan Gordon (Scott’s brother) we rented some heavy equipment and flattened the building pad. Just before Christmas we moved the 5th wheel, with a newborn son, to Scott’s mom’s where we stayed until March 2010.
March 2010 Hetterle Construction began to build our garage, where we planned to live for the next year. Using the money we had saved, we built a 1850 sqft garage. The garage consists of a 28’ x 28’ two car garage, 18’ x 42’ RV bay w/ full hookups, and a 12’ x 24’ one car garage. The garage was completed by the end of April and we have lived here ever since.
The thought of building our own home first came to us in 2004, soon after we became engaged to be married. We came up with initial drawings with just a pencil and paper. We used floor plans from former residences and original ideas we thought our future family might require. Over the years, these drawings have evolved with more and more detail as our current floor plan started to take shape. Once we thought we had our plans exactly the way we wanted them, we took them to a home designer and architect and had them professionally drawn up.
Our initial plan was to build in Eagle Point, on property we owned on East Antelope Rd. Unfortunately, the property was determined to be unbuildable seven days before we were supposed to start building, and we had to abandon our plans. This was devastating. We had already put so much into it, and we were so close to breaking ground. It took a long time to get over it, but once we did we knew it would work out for the best.
We continued to live in our Medford home and look for other properties in Southern Oregon. After the previous disappointment we decided we weren’t going to settle for just any piece of property. We wanted something that was unique and special to us. In the meantime, we were married and a year and a half later our daughter was born.
We discovered our unique property April 2009, but it was very expensive and, of course, we didn‘t have the financing to make an offer. The property had an amazing view. It had phone lines, Umpqua Basin Water supply with two 1500 gallon storage tanks, and standard septic already installed. We regularly watched the listing over the next year praying that it wouldn’t sell. In the meantime we saved every penny we could. After a year, we realized that if we were really determined to buy this particular piece of property we were going to have to make some serious sacrifices. March 23, 2009 we rented our house in Medford, moved into our 5th wheel, and made the highest priced offer we could comfortably afford.Thankfully the offer was accepted.
With the generosity of our neighbors, and friends, Don and Donna Marshall, we moved our 5th wheel across the street to their back lot where we lived for 9 months. During this time, we continued to save as much money as we could while making payments on our newly acquired land. With the help of Don Marshall (friend/neighbor) and Nathan Gordon (Scott’s brother) we rented some heavy equipment and flattened the building pad. Just before Christmas we moved the 5th wheel, with a newborn son, to Scott’s mom’s where we stayed until March 2010.
March 2010 Hetterle Construction began to build our garage, where we planned to live for the next year. Using the money we had saved, we built a 1850 sqft garage. The garage consists of a 28’ x 28’ two car garage, 18’ x 42’ RV bay w/ full hookups, and a 12’ x 24’ one car garage. The garage was completed by the end of April and we have lived here ever since.
- Hetterle Construction - Quality Work, Honest, Reliable, Great Value. Nothing I could say would do justice to the kind of work Jeff does. Add Brenda to the mix and they make a great team. We strongly recommend them. Contact information: (541) 409-660
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| Garage Exterior Plans |
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| Garage Floorplan |
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| Don operating the Bull Dozer |
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| Nathan Operating the Excavator |
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| House Pad Complete |
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| Excavation for Footings (Kevin Saylor Excavation) |
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| Garage Framing |
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| Garage Complete |
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Views of Garden Valley
Please join us as we build our 3830 sqft, 4 bed, 3 ½ bath, dream home on our 3 ½ acre lot in the Melrose area of Roseburg, Oregon. Five hundred feet above the valley floor, we overlook the South Umpqua River as it flows through the vineyards of Garden Valley and unites with the North Umpqua River at River Forks Park. The Northeast view presents an amazing sunrise and a tranquil experience each morning we sit above the fog.
We invite you to join in our experience as we journey through each phase of the construction process. We will provide pictures, building details, and business reviews. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we will enjoy putting it together.
We invite you to join in our experience as we journey through each phase of the construction process. We will provide pictures, building details, and business reviews. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we will enjoy putting it together.
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