Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Race is On

A lot has happened since the last post. We moved out of the old house yesterday, and moved into a rental house. That meant moving the shop (which required one moving van), and the rest of the house (which required another). I'll post a picture soon. We closed on the house yesterday, and so we're busy unpacking now.

We'll close with M&I Bank on our construction loan on September 12. They've been doing a great job in helping to get the paperwork in order. We'll be working with Chicago Title for the construction draws. But before we can get final approval, we have to get firm bids on just about everything, including tile, flooring, granite, etc. A bit more than expected. So we'll be going out today to get that started.

Ideally, we'll break ground on September 29th. We've picked our excavator, who will also install silt fencing and scrape topsoil before then. We also have a foundation contractor, but I have to verify that they'll be ready to start the first week of October.

Unfortunately, all of this activity requires a building permit and a ground disturbance permit. We can't get either until the village engineer approves the grading plan. It's been two weeks, and I still don't have approval from him. Maybe Tuesday?