Earth work - step 1

The first step in construction is to remove 3 feet of soil. Then they bring in new soil a foot at a time and compact it. Evidently our soil is heavy clay and prone to shifting. So by compacting new soil it will help ensure our foundation doesn't shift and avoid cracking of the stucco. So...no photos yet, because they wouldn't be very interesting. :)

On the home front, Karin Lynn has sold most of our furniture on Craigslist. She is amazing! We expect to do a garage sale the weekend after the fourth to try to get rid of remaining stuff. We have movers set to come on Aug 4 and we should be ready well before then. we can't store many clothes in the Airstream so we have to make careful choices. Since we don't expect to move in until January, we need to span a couple seasons.

Hopefully we'll actually have some pictures to share soon!

Let the construction begin!!!

We closed on the construction loan yesterday. Monday the bank disperses the money which means Tuesday ground-breaking can officially start. We'll be lucky if we are in to our new house by Xmas but that's okay. We are just pleased that we've gotten to this point.

On the home front, we've sold our Champaign home to a very sweet young couple. The closing is set for August 5. I will drive out to NM with Karin Lynn on July 15 and get her all set up in the Airstream. We plan to rent storage space there so we can move our things when the house sale closes. Then I will fly back to Illinois, finish any remaining packing and cleaning, see to it the movers pick up our stuff and turn our keys over to their new owners. I plan to stay with friends until late August. Karin will fly back and we'll drive the remains of our stuff out to NM. Would be settled in by Labor Day.

So that is the plan! We hope to start posting weekly construction progress photos soon!

Contract signed.....finally!!!

It took a very long time, but we finally signed contracts and expect ground-breaking to start next week! This means that it will likely be Nov/Dec before the house is completed, but at least the clock is finally started. We are so very pleased with the design--inside and out! Can hardly wait! We hope to start posting weekly photos soon following the construction.

Update and outdoor kitchen

Hi all. Apologies for the lack of info. I've been traveling a lot and haven't had a chance to blog. But I'll try to catch you all up with where things stand. We have yet to sign a contract with our builder but are getting close. The house designs (which are a part of the contract) are nearly complete now. We hope to get the contract finalized in the next week or so and then signed by all of us. Once that's done, our contractor will break ground...hopefully by mid-May.

We did get all the rogue elm trees removed from the building site last week...and they are spreading mulch over the area that will become the production garden. This will help designate the area as one for the builders to stay off of...so they don't compact the soil with heavy equipment.

I am particularly excited about my outdoor kitchen. Our concrete counter guy is also going to do the outdoor kitchen, including a nice bench, etc. I decided on a built-in American Outdoor Grill with side burner. It will be so sweet to cook outside much of the year! Karin is afraid we will have wasted our money on the inside kitchen. :) Not a chance! Here is a picture of what the outdoor kitchen will look like.

Here are some pictures of the outside of the house. We like how the grounds have evolved. lots of private gardens to enjoy!

More soon, I hope!

We have a contractor!

Karin and I just returned from 5 days in ABQ. The bids from our contractor candidates were due on Friday, March 25. It turned out that we only had two bids, but that was fine because they were both good candidates. After clarifying a few issues with the candidates, we made our selection...Kayeman Custom Homes. Kaye Marshall is the contractor (a civil engineer with architectural training) and her husband Mike Cecchini runs the business side. They have built more homes certified through Build Green New Mexico (kind of like LEED, but only for NM) than anyone else and have the only Emerald (highest level) certified home. This is important to us for a couple of reasons. First, we are interested in the tax credits that come with BGNM certification (could total about $24K!!) But moreover we want our home (and our actions) to tread lightly in terms of both our carbon and water footprint. An Emerald certification will help us accomplish this. Also, we just really like Kaye. We are very much looking forward to working with her.

Unfortunately the bid was higher than hoped...about 20%. So we increased our budget 10% and reduced the spend 10% through a combination of cuts and "sweat equity". Kaye was very open to Karin Lynn (and perhaps Kristin too!) coming out to NM and helping with the build in areas like painting, assembling our IKEA cabinets and laying brick. So our plan is to move Karin Lynn out to stay in  our Airstream trailer set up at the Coronado Campground (NM) in July so she can build our "sweat equity" in the house until it is complete in October or November. My job will be to pack us up and move whenever our house sells (no offers yet). I'd say it is a pretty fair split. :)

Another exciting new member of our team is Bard Edrington, a permeaculture landscaper. He will be designing and installing our rainwater catchment system (including a 1300 gallon cistern!), gray water system and laying out the "dish" gardens which will be "flood irrigated" by rains and the acequia. We hope to use very little city water for our gardens which is very exciting to us.

So "Team KP3" which now includes Bard, our architect Leslie, contractor Kaye, and Kris, Karin and me...will be working feverishly over the next few weeks to finalize construction drawings, contracts and get permits pulled so problem tree (thirsty rogue elm trees) removal and ground-breaking can happen by end of April or early May! It is all very exciting!! :)

Bid packages are out!

The bid packages for the contractors were distributed last week! We expect them back on March 25, the same day Karin Lynn and I fly into ABQ. We will spend several days there to review the bids and hopefully select our contractor before we head home on March 30. Very exciting!

Unfortunately we have not yet heard back on our HVAC computer modeling review. Hopefully we will this week. This report should help us determine the most efficient config for our heating and cooling mechanics.

Oh...and one more bit of very exciting news! Our dear friends Al and Bettina expect to close on a .25 acre lot a long stone's throw from ours!! We are still incredulous that they are actually buying/building a place in ABQ and are absolutely thrilled that we'll have them as neighbors although it may be a couple of years before they break ground. 

Front wall and gate--first draft

Hi all: while this will likely change, I thought you might enjoy seeing the first draft of the front garden wall and gate. It will give us a semi-private sitting space in the front and room for nice gardens. We think we will want it to look a bit softer and more organic, but we like the initial concept! One more update....our architect sent off designs to some engineers who will test them with their computer modeling software to determine its energy efficiency and what H/VAC systems will be most cost-effective...so stay tuned!