Groundbreaking
 

Well guys the Paratus family retirement home build officially started today....We had the groundbreaking for the house. Our Pastor, the builder (an elder in his church), the project manager, our realtor, representatives from two of our neighbor families, a friend I have known since he was 4 (35 years now)my wife my ASD 35 YO son were all present.

We happened to bump into one of the neighbor couples on Saturday and invited them, and they let the other neighbor couple know and they contacted us and offered to cater the coffee and donuts (they own a coffee/lunch place 10 miles down the road. The coffee and donuts were great.

The Pastor shared from Deuteronomy 28 about blessings for obedience. A wonderful and inspirational time was enjoyed by all. One of the neighbors, a lady a bit older then my wife and I, told the Pastor and I as she was leaving that this was the best morning she had had in a long time.

Good deal

Sure is!

Congrats!

Well progress continues. They have largely completed clearing the nominal 1 acre that will be the house lot. The have to get their big chipper in to turn the stuff to chips. There were not enough trees to be worthy of lumber and pulp locally is two blocked. This area was cut over in the early 90s and left to natural regrowth so plenty of poplars, sweet gums and beeches and a miscellany of pines, holly, winged elm and scrub oaks. The current plan is for the chips to be used as a border on the 900' of driveway in from the gate. This house building stuff has killed my gun purchase budget.

What style of house are you building? We moved into our new place almost 2 years ago but it feels like I am still working on it.

Some what of a craftsman. We elected to design from the ground up due to some special needs. First floor master with a second first floor bedroom with attached bath. Ground floor will be set up as fully handicap/wheel chair accessible. My wife and I don't currently need it but we have friends that will appreciate the accessibility features. Plus our plan is to leave in a bag when our times come. Upstairs will be an apartment for my 35YO Autism Spectrum son and another guest room with attached bath. Set up as an "L" shape with my son's apartment over the garage. Built on a crawl space with a wheelchair lift in the garage.

Full basement or Slab on grade?

Crawl Space. Full basement was out our spending range. Lots of excavation since the house sight is essentially flat.

PICTURES? I (we) would love to see pictures of the home you're building as it comes along. Ohhh... the pain of building a new home! But... you will be happy when you cross the threshold and spend the first night there. Congratulations and good luck!

Padre-
My Pastor was there for the ground breaking. The builder and project manager are both strong Christians. We are planning a versing party once it gets weathered in. A versing party is where folks are invited to come bringing their or using our Bible to inscribe appropriate verses on the studs and framing prior to the sheet rock. Of course I will be burning hot dogs hamburgers and chicken. I'll have to refigure how to post photos on this site.
Well Clearing is complete, chipping is done...the clearing contractor elected to haul some of the logs since his 700 HP diesel chipper gave him problems. An initial 4-6" of VDOT 57 rock is down on the drive way but not adequately graded to traverse in the sedan we were in today. My wife had thyroid surgery on Tuesday so she was not up to much walking or sight seeing today.