Freedom Ranch - The Big Build

2007-03-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yes it has finally happened!!! I am writing this post from Rancho Liberte - moved in yesterday and spent my first night here last night. It is so peaceful here. I have so much to post about - particularly the creative temporary window coverings the were just hung...check back for more on that later (including pictures). I am going to pour myself a glass of wine and go sit on the front deck and watch the sunset this evening.

My dear friend, Andrea came down from Loveland to spend this first weekend and help me get unpacked. She came bearing a lasagna which we enjoyed after an afternoon of lining shelves and unpacking kitchen boxes - she loves the range and oven. We each had our own floor last night - she had the basement and I had the main floor. For those of you who may be saying "great the guests get the dark and dingy basement I won't be visiting there anytime soon", the basement is very bright and cheery with many windows

More later...

Finishing

2006-11-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well the finishing work has begun - cabinets, paint, floor, etc...Builder is saying that we are on target for a December 7th certificate of occupancy!

Drywalled, Taped and Mudded

2006-10-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

Looking Fit and Trimmed

2006-10-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

The exterior trim work is almost complete! The accent color will be added soon - weather permitting. It is expected to snow this week!!!

Back on Track

2006-10-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of delays due to heavy rains causing some basement flooding...we are back on track. The good news is that no significant damage occured because only the framining had been completed. This week there has been a great bit of progress - drywalling and exterior painting being the most significant progress. The new adjusted timeline calls for a Certificate of Occupancy (that's a CO to those in the biz) by Thanksgiving.

Almost ready for Framing Inspection

2006-08-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

Moving Right Along...

2006-08-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

Progress is steady on the construction of Rancho Liberte. I was out of town for a couple of weeks and when I went out the property yesterday the roofers were roofing and plumber was plumbing! Siding is supposed to be added today.

I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of natural light we will have in the basement!

A little more each day...

2006-07-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

Who is that in the...

2006-07-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

...STUDY / SPARE BEDROOM?

...GARAGE?

Who is that in the Dining Nook?

2006-07-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

WOW, what a difference a week makes!!!

JULY 5, 2006

July 13, 2006

Who is that in the basement?

2006-06-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

The Building Has Begun!!!

2006-06-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

It has started and is actually beginning to look like something! Footer were poured this week and the forms have been made to pour concrete for the basement walls!

DINING NOOK / BACK OF HOUSE

FRONT OF HOUSE

Woo Hoo! They are saying we will be in by Halloween...I cannot wait!

Let the Building Begin!

2006-06-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

Yes this is the header from our very own building permit for Rancho Liberte! After spending several hours at the Regional Building Deparment yesterday and today we have managed to obtain an honest to goodness building permit.

LET THE BUILDING BEGIN!

Finished Bin

2006-06-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Well, our plans finally made it to the "Finished Bin" so we were able to pick them up and see what the "disapproval" was all about. There are a number of notes in red pen that make no sense to me whatsoever. I'll have Linda take a look at them tonight, but I am pretty certain they'll make no sense to her either. I've put a call in to our agent to see what the next steps are so look for an update in the near future!

We Have a Culvert...

2006-05-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

a Porta Potty

Culvert (with bunny!)

and WIND (that is Linda and her car which is actually parked on what will be the driveway)!!

DISAPPROVED

2006-05-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

I must admit I was mildly disappointed (yet not surprised) when I went to check the status of our plans for the building permit and there next to the "Construction" line item was the word DISAPPROVED.

Calls to the appropriate organizations will be made this week to see exactly what adjsutments will need to be made. I'll keep ya posted!

Do You Know What this means?

2006-05-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

You would be correct if you guessed that they have started the dig for Rancho Liberte! They started last week and on Saturday my mom, who was visiting for Mother's Day, and I went out to see the progress. There is a hole for the septic tank and the house.

Here is mom standing on the porch.

This is the hole for the septic tank.

Stay tuned for more updates!

May 22, 2006

2006-05-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

WOO HOO!!!! Been to the county office this morning - plans are submitted for permit review!
They given us a target date of 5/22/06. We can track the progress on-line - how cool is that?

Truss Plans

2006-04-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

In order to submit plans for a building permit you must have a couple of other plans and permits. Hopefully the driveway and errosions permits/paperwork has been processed by the county.......We've been waiting the truss plans to be completed so that we will have the complete package to submit with the county for a building permit. Apparently those plans are now available so we will be making arrangements to pick them up. You also have to have an HVAC (ventilation) report from the engineering firm who drafted the HVAC plans. Both the truss plans and HVAC report are in the possesion of the builders supervisor - rumor has it they will be dropped off at our real estate agents office for us.

Is it really the last Friday in April - Monday is May 1st? WOW. Time is flying - did anyone start the 90 day clock for getting a hole in the ground?

There's a hole in the bottom of the sea.....

2006-04-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

But not on the property! There is a backlog (or logjam) at the county building permit office. We've been told that permits are taking two to three weeks to obtain. Rather than dig a hole that will sit for a two to three weeks and potentially have to do some re-digging once the permits are approved, it has been decided that the hole in the ground will have to wait until the building permits are issued. April is typically a rainy month so we could end up with a big pond rather than the beginnings of a basement.

Yesterday Linda and I dropped off the Driveway/Access permit application and the Errosion permit (?). We are waiting for truss plans to complete the building permit application. I was expecting a call yesterday evening to make arrangements to pick those up, but no call.

I think the new pool will be.......will there be a hole in the ground before Linda leaves for the summer? Leave a comment to give your opinion!

We ARE Getting Closer

2006-04-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a banner Monday in the realm of "The Big Build"!

1. We've confirmed with the HOA that we can dig the hole in the ground.
2. We have the building permit paperwork to fill out tonight.
3. Construction loan is approved and we should sign papers this week.

WOO HOO!

We'll post progress reports and pictures as thing progress.

Ninety Days...Really??

2006-04-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

We had a conference call this evening (we is Linda and I) with our real estate agent and our builder. We needed to sort out some communication issues we've been having.

We have been very specific with the builder that there would be no digging until we have signed approvals from the HOA in our hot little hands. On Thursday (4/6) we received word that the HOA had rejected our plans for a few minor reasons:

1. The drawings indicated the exterior would be stucco - we had crossed that out and indicated that we would be using masonite siding. They didn't like the crossing off and wanted the drawings updated.
2. The lot is a corner lot and the drawings showed driveway access from both streets. We had crossed off the driveway access from one of the streets. They didn't like the crossing off and wanted the drawings updated. (Since then we have reconsidered and will have the dual driveway.)
3. We did not submit our exterior color choices.

Linda and I moved into action to make some decisions and collect information so we can get the requested information to the HOA.

Magically, on Friday (4/7) we get an e-mail saying we've gotten approval - HUH? The signed approvals were in the mail. None of the requested changes or information had been submitted - how did we get approval? We weren't sure what address the approval had been mailed to because the last time the HOA mailed something it went to 11995 XXX which is still just a lot. We've all had experiences with the Post Office....How do you think the mail carrier would have handled delivery here?

Tuesday morning (4/11) Linda had a phone call from the builder's supervisor, who was at the property with the excavator. They had measured to confirm placement and wanted to know if they could dig.........Whoa we still haven't seen any signed approvals and now we need to resubmit the site plan (which shows placement of the house on the lot) becasue the original site plan that was submitted had the incorrect measurements.

The building supervisor had mentioned to Linda that once they got started the house would be ready to move into in about 90 days. Really? We asked the builder about that tonight and he confirmed that 90 days was their goal. We'll start a countdown here on the blog once they break ground. I am trying to figure out how to start a "completion date" pool - maybe we can defray some costs....Maybe it should be a "ground breaking" pool. We are being told that we could still potentially breakground this week. Updated drawings will be submitted to the HOA tomorrow.

The next bureaucratic obstacle course will be getting the building permits. The permitting process should provide some entertaining posts.

Rancho Liberte - The First Picture

2006-04-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it that we will be breaking ground later this week or early next week! We should have a house in a few months. We'll keep you updated on the progress (or sometimes the lack of progress) here on the Rancho Liberte blog.