M&I / GBMINI

Margaret dropped by Stanton Estates this afternoon, and found that some wooden forms have been added, to outline the future footings & foundation …

Alerted by Joe, we headed to Stanton Estates at lunchtime to see the first actual progress on our new home! It’s a very small step forward but it’s the beginning for sure. Dirt has been added to the lot to raise it for drainage, and the “footprint” of the home has been sculpted. In the final picture, Margaret is standing where the front door one day will be:

The next steps hopefully also beginning this week will be forms for the footings, and then plumbing (which is buried in the dirt, in / under the eventual concrete slab that will be the base of the home).

(and with David Bowie coincidentally playing in the background – though Starman instead!)

I noticed recently that the Google Street View of where our new home development is, had a “time travel” feature that shows views from the past – 2007, 2011 and 2015. I took a “now” picture of the same spot, and used this website to create an animated GIF sequence. It’s interesting to see the trees growing over the years (until they’re all chopped down, of course!)

Here’s each individual picture:

Stanton Estates 2007

Stanton Estates 2011

Stanton Estates 2015

Stanton Estates 2017

There’s still nothing but dirt for our future home, but there is now a “sold” sign! Jones Homes USA had delayed showing this, because our lot is far away from their current construction zone and they hadn’t wanted to encourage other buyers to this part of the development.

We chose this particular lot because it’s 15′ longer than some other lots, and we need that extra length to fit a pool/patio. The new home is mostly on one level and so has a big footprint, very long front to back; the development also requires that construction be set back a long way from the road and so once we’ve also added a pool/patio at the back, we’ve used up almost every foot of the long lot!