Lets take a look at what we were going to get done this week…
- Tree Removal – Check
- Change Order (known) – Check
- Potential Change Order (unknown) – Check
- Site Plan Red Lines – Check
I guess I could end it there, but I might as well provide some details while I am at it.
On Sunday, my parents came down to see the lot and they had the joy of assisting us in the marking of 14 trees that were scoped to be removed by the builder. These specimens were slotted to come down due to their proximity to the house, the driveway, etc.
The crews showed up first thing on Monday morning, and started taking down marked trees – they projected that they would be done by Wednesday. We really wanted to get 2 dead trees in the middle of the front and back lawn taken out. After confirming with the builder, we learned that anything that was not included on our site plan could be taken out without penalty. Lucky for us both of the dead trees were missing from the plan, so we asked the crew to add them to the list. We went by on Monday after work, and got there just in time to see a large tree on the west side of the property come down.
After we saw the tree come down, we went to a local taco shop for some dinner and to wait out the crew. We wanted to check out progress, and see if there was anything we needed to ask them to address in the following days. Besides the fact we were a bit depressed to see so many large trees taken down, everything looked great. You know us, we had to document…
It ended up taking the crew an extra day to wrap everything up, but we went onsite on Thursday and all of the logs were cleared off, the mulch and wood chipper vanished, and what was left was a mostly cleared lot. They did us the favor of removing the ivy off the property, but I am sure that it will come back quickly, as ivy tends to do. We were so happy that we were able to save our huge oak tree in the back yard as well as a beautiful magnolia tree. There are others, but those are by far the family favorites in the back. The front lot is much improved with the removal of the dead tree in the front center of the property, and we still have a Mapel and two Crape Myrtle’s in the front that we were able to save.
One lesson learned, pulling a stump is not the same as grinding one. Of course we knew this, but didn’t stop to consider the impact. The tree guy ground our stumps, but the builder needed anything within the foundation pulled, to prevent issues with the foundation if the ground stump settled over time. So we have a bit more work to do there – but the builder is going to handle that one for us (for a fee of course). Because of that, I have to say that we were about 95% successful in our management of the project – Ill take it!
As for the change orders and red lines, we wrapped those up on Thursday with the builder. The main changes were: adding additional recessed lighting, removing the beams I was going to have installed in the living room and added shiplap to the living and dining rooms, moving a window to accommodate to cabinet style, and some minor accounting changes for permitting and asbestos.
Folsom Tasks For next week:
- Meet with Haven interior designer to choose remaining finishes: Interior/Exterior Doors and Paint colors, Brick Styles, Fire Place Surround, Etc.
- Have Tree Folks put the silt fence back up – they managed to knock it down with some of those big trees 🙂
- Check out refrigerator to make sure door will be able to fully swing open in current design location
Haven Tasks For next week:
- Grade Lot
- Start digging foundation
Time Line Updates:
Builder thinks they will have foundation pored and settled by November 8th. Framing of the house will be done before Christmas, but unlikely by Thanksgiving.