House Update - There's (Half) A House!

I guess it's high time for an update on our house, especially since things have finally moved forward. A lot!

If you remember, the foundations were supposed to be laid July 29, just before our vacation. Later this week I learned that we were delayed for a week, because the building company had to finish another house before starting on ours. Since we were still having issues with the power line, I did not mind this last delay too much, especially because this would give me until after our vacation to deal with the matter.

After returning from our trip, we stopped by the site and indeed found the foundations being laid! We were really excited. It also looked (to me, who has absolutely no clue of building or construction sites) as if we finally had power on the property!

The foundations are done!

A fee days later, while being out to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday, I received a call from the building site manager, letting me know that according to their last information, there was no power on the property yet, and that we would have discuss options on how to continue. Our options were simply waiting for another months or so, hoping that power would be set up by then, but in that case, the building company would have to remove all their equipment from the site again and it would cost us more time, of course. The second option would be to at least finish the main walls with the help of a generator, which would cost us between €400 and €500 and hope that power would be set up by the time the house was done. The last option would have been putting down temporary power lines to the next power station, which would have cost us about €2.400 for the rental of all the equipment. After a quick discussion, hubby and I opted for number two. About an hour later, the manager called back, informing me that renting a generator would not cost €400 to €500. But closer to €1.000 or more. In this case, we decided to stop the building until power was available. The manager offered to try and get the cost down by discussing a cost sharing plan with the building company and his own company, but didn’t have much hope. But luckily, the building company did not want to move all their equipment yet again and decided to take over a chunk of the cost. Lucky us!

The building manager told us to send us the bill and to inspect the building site one last time before ordering the generator. For whatever reason, we have neither received the bill for the rental cost of the generator nor a call back from the manager. Instead, surprise!! the company must have built the first walls that Wednesday, and by Friday, the ground floor was done, waiting for the ceiling to be delivered early this week. Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to take pictures yet, but after our outing with the neighbors on Friday, we all stopped by on the way home and we took them on a “tour” through the downstairs. I can see it coming together, and it is SO exciting!

In the course of this week, the second floor was built, and we expect to have the roof beams put in place next week, and then it's time for the roof tiles!

Our house! With clear view to the sky from the second floor  ;-)

Not so exciting was the meeting with the electrician last Friday, where we had to discuss all the wiring for the house. I somehow assumed they would put in the wires for lamps and power outlets according to a certain standard model. Nope, we had to discuss every single outlet, plus some additional options such as wiring for a photovoltaic system to put down on the roof later and a satellite dish. Another €1.300 later, we’re all set in this department. The next step will be picking out all the bathroom sinks, toilets, and the bathtub and shower, which we are get out of the way next Tuesday. Appointments, appointments, appointments! But we are really happy that things are moving forward at this point after months and months of just waiting.  At this point we estimate to move in sometime between late November / early December and February. Wish us luck!

This weekend, I get to dip in the area of technical drawing and draw the kitchen set-up for the electrician to be able to put in the electrical hook-ups in correctly. Hope it's not going to be a disaster  ;-)