The Edwards Build a House

More progress - the painters have been visiting this week. Unfortunately, our walk down to the house came just in time for a quick summer rain shower, so lighting was bad and everything was covered up downstairs in the bar area, where they've painting the panels black to match the bar cabinets.

My new assignments this week are lighting and faucets. Not an easy thing to do when you are supposed to be staying within an allocated budget. To compensate for that, I've been buying a light or two here and there from our own funds along the past few months, since I highly anticipated based on the sheer number of lights/fans needed for the house, that we would go over budget (just based on my general choice of asthetic). Because of that, I think we will be theoretically "under budget" on lighting!

Again, I will say that, we chose to go with a smaller "custom" builder, because we wanted more control and flexibility on design and finishes. The frustrating part of that is the sheer lack of guidance we receive in our instructions. I don't know if that is just Kai, or custom builders in general (because I assume most people would have the help of a designer?). But it can be quite aggravating to get an email that says, ok, you should probably start picking out faucets now if you haven't already, Um, ok. Timing, schedule, requirements/restrictions . . .?? Just wingin' it. : )
A majority of the new houses in this neighbourhood are being built by the semi-custom builder. It's probably a price-competitiveness thing - limited choices in finishes, but flexibility in design, allows for better pricing. And I'm coming to think that there is probably something to be said about how much easier it probably is.
But honestly, I cannot think of a better way to do this. I would be sure to be less happy if I had to choose something I wasn't all that into, knowing I'd replace it down the road. After 7 years of making over our last house to be closer to what we wanted, I am seriously not in the mood to step into something brand new that I'll make over again later on. Fixtures are one thing. It's relatively easy to change out a sink faucet. And even a light. I'm trying not to spend too much time fretting over those.

We have signed a short-term lease with this apartment - a 3-month one. I was hoping that since there was no other way to do month-to-month, that this would allow us the freedom to move into our new house at a more leisurely pace.
But who knows! We have no idea what our timeline to finish this house is on, and it's frustrating when people ask. It's one thing that Kai has been very poor about communicating about. At this rate, we don't even know if September seems reasonable. We just don't know what is really left, besides the obvious. Which is unfortunate, because interest rates are about a full 1% lower than they were when we initially signed, and we have the ability to refinance. We think he is shuffling between multiple houses, and I'm sure he works with the same set of folks. He also mentioned to us that subcontractors are harder to find these days due to the economy - they've gone out of business!

So, we are biding our time. Apartment living isn't the worst - it's even convenient sometimes (except when you go grocery shopping!). And the anticipation is building. . . .