Digging and Footers

Week 1 of building is complete :) After the hole was dug, the footers were installed.  (The footer is wider than the foundation wall and located below the frost line. The footer helps distribute the house's weight to prevent settling or movement.)

We had some pretty heavy rain after the concrete was poured for the footers. Once the forms were pulled up from the footers, Fischer then laid some of the drain tubing (not sure I'm using the right word). 

Looking at the house from the street

Back of the house and sunroom

Piping around the inside of footers (and it rained)

Another view of the footers (with forms off)

Breaking Ground!!

We signed our contract on February 28th, and finally today we broke ground! Tim, our Sales Counselor told us it would be about 6 weeks between contract and ground breaking so we were prepared.

We were able to get some good pictures during the process thanks to family and neighbors :) Then we stopped by after they were done for the day to see for ourselves.

We are very anxious and hopeful that they can use the dirt from the dig to level out the backyard. We talked to Dave (our superintendent) about it and he said it will work out.

Can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Getting started

Standing in the hole

Side view

Standing in the garage

New Start Date

Our FischerHomes.com homeowner login page now says our start date will be 4/23/2012. We are so anxious!

We have reviewed the blueprints online and our Sales Counselor, Tim, says we can stop by the model to pick up a physical copy. From what we have reviewed, all of our changes at sign off have been added correctly.

We have been keeping an eye on the rate but still have not locked. 

On another note, we are beginning to price and shop for several appliances. Let us know if you have any tips or ideas when shopping for these items

-Refrigerator
-Washer and Dryer
-Battery Backup for Sump Pump
-Home Theater Tuner
-TV

And I'm sure this list will grow quickly.

Hopefully my next post has a picture of a giant hole in the ground!

Loan Approved!

We received our letter saying that our loan was approved. Great news!
We have not yet locked in our rate. The rate is currently at 4.0, however with a 6 month lock it could go up to as much as 4.5 and we would cap there. After consulting a mortgage broker, we decided to wait to see if goes down a few points.