Ground has been Broken!

Well, it looks like today is the big day. Got a call today from my wife, who heard from a neighbor, that it appears that the crew has started to dig the hole for the new foundation. This is not exactly the true start of the work, since yesterday the builders started to remove our concrete patio behind the house (which apparently was more effort than they expected). I have not seen this yet, and will stop by the house tonight to get a look and take some photos.

Bye Bye Oil!

As part of the renovation, we are converting our heating, hot water, dryer, etc. over from oil to natural gas. So, the removal of the old oil tank (above ground, fortunately) is left up to us - the contractor does not include this in his work, and does not have a sub-contractor to recommend. We called our oil company, and were surprised to learn that they need 6 to eight WEEKS notice - so, they would not be able to remove the tank until sometime in July - meaning our builders would need to work around that. We got the name of another contractor who could remove the tank, called them, and they are available immediately.

Lessons Learned:
* Anything and everything in a renovation can take longer than you think. Plan way ahead. Would have been no harm in us scheduling the oil company a few months back, even when we did not know our exact timeframes.

* Try to get second and third opinions / estimates. We would have gone, by default, with out oil company. Turns out, the contractor we found is also about 50% cheaper.

Wow, Am i sore!

Well, I spent the majority of this 4-day Memorial Day weekend moving everything we own into either the storage trailer on our driveway, or to the new rental house. As of Monday night, the old house is 100% empty (with a few items left in the garage). Also, as of Saturday, we are officially living in the rental house. The boys love having a screened-in porch, especially at night - they sit out there watching a TV we set up or playing cards. (Makes me wish we had included that in the plans for the new house!)

The builder had not been to the house last week - though we hoped things would have been starting up. But, good news - this morning (Tuesday), the builder came by with a few guys and marked off where the new foundatioin is to be dug. They may be breaking ground today or tomorrow. I suppose this is a true milestone - let's hope it happens!