Summer is long over.  And the site is finally READY!!!

I am pretty sure I would have never anticipated this project taking this long.  My latest joke is that the pyramids were built faster.  But hey – they had slave labor and the only slave labor around here is MINE.  We’re tackling a lot of things ourselves, and perhaps that’s the right thing, but perhaps not.  I do know that we will have a one of a kind project when complete, but that completion is likely being driven to a later date because of some of our decisions.  In the overall scheme of things, that’s not a big deal  –  I mean after all, this is our “forever house”  but I am still ready to “get going”.

The site looks outstanding – it seems so long ago that the northwest corner was down about 10 feet.  Standing in the corner that will be our bedroom / master bath area you do feel like you are in the trees – but still on ground level.

Never thought I would be this excited about dirt…

We had an issue with the cistern floating because we had not completed our backfill, so that was a repair issue.  But – we then decided to add some drainage into the cistern excavation.  Good thing, because that hole DOES.  NOT.  DRAIN.  We’ve installed a 4″ corrugated drain pipe, completed the 2″ first flush drain, installed most of a 12″ drain for the cistern bypass during really heavy rains, and still have a 6″ cistern overflow and a 15″  stormwater drain to install.

Believe me – it’s a lot more painful than it looks.

We’ve basically done this all by hand.  On a good note, I don’t need to go to the gym. (today…)