Sunday, November 11, 2012

Clear Cut

After a long day of soccer games we packed up and headed west.  A crew was on the lot this week grooming the long driveway down to the home site so construction trucks could access the build.  The builder also requires that we clear the build site and all trees within 20' of the foundation.  We marked a lot of trees for removal last week but still left several oaks alone despite violating the 20' rule.  Hopefully we'll be able to keep them through the build process.  They also dug some exploratory holes for the septic design which is now underway.

The driveway really looked great.  I didn't get any pictures of it this time out, but we were happy to see they preserved the winding path we had created through the trees.  The crew also left the trees relatively dense for the first 150' to maintain privacy from the road.

The home site was definitely a shock!  It was a lot easier to imagine how the house will be placed and it looks like we are going to have great views of the river and hills from the rear of the house.  It was amazing how much more pronounced the slop of the property was when the trees were removed.  It is probably 6" drop per 10' at the site but it looks steeper now.



It didn't take long for the kids to conquer a giant pile of dirt that was delivered for future use.  Here are the Kings of the Mountain still in their soccer gear.


So far, the best part about starting this project has been the passion the kids have for being on the property.  Up to this point our occasional visits to the lot were met with little enthusiasm from the kids.  There were constant gripes about prickers, cactus, bugs, the sun, tall grass, etc..  Now that trees are being cut down, earth ripped open, and giant rocks exposed we can't drag them away.  They prowl the area in a pack collecting gnarled sticks and rocks creating games of exploration.  We love to watch them.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Yellow Machines

Some excitement this week.  After 10 years of stagnation we finally saw activity on the lot this past weekend.    As required by our builder's contract we need to clear the home site of trees and brush for the foundation, and we must widen the driveway to enable construction traffic to reach the build site.

Big Yellow Digger ready to get to work!
We dropped in on Friday to take a peek and found this large backhoe parked on the side of the property.  The kids were thrilled.  We took a quick walk around the lot to take it in one last time before the industrial violation occurred!
Home Site the day before lot clearing.
Here are the kids celebrating the moment, and another showing them doing the same many years ago.
A, G & A having fun on the future garage site.
A & G enjoying a day back in 2006.
We'll have some "After" photos up in a couple of days.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Pre-Construction Discussions

In 2002 we purchased property west of Austin, TX with the goal of one day building a retreat on the Pedernales River.

Ten years and 3 kids later we are about to begin that adventure.  We have created this blog to share our process with anyone interested in following along.  The path bringing us to this point has been convoluted - fun, frustrating, and certainly a huge learning experience.  Web sites (like the one we hope to build here) were tremendously helpful in giving us ideas, and warnings, we will carry into our project.

Here we go!

Sunday, July 29, 2012