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<font color="purple"> It's great to be in though, isn't it. </font color>

It is great to be in, even though my keyboard typing echoes from all this ceramic floor tile...

WooHoo, first night in the new house!!

It's still not completely done (some final touch-ups, couple of things to be fixed/installed, etc), but I'm now messaging from a freshly booted laptop inside...

<font color="purple"> Just to make me feel a little better what does the temperature climb to in the summer in Arizona? </font color>

Around here, about 115° at its highest....

I'm sure no one here wants to see tractor pictures /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif. This is what the builder rented today to do final filling and grading, plus he'll be using it tomorrow and the next...

<font color="purple"> I'd still like to see a pic of those finished eyebrow windows. </font color>

Here ya go. I am not "thrilled" with their appearance, but I suppose it will grow on me. ...

<font color="purple"> you haven't lived until you've run from the Jaccuzzi into the snow, made a snow angel, then back into the Jaccuzzi. </font color>

I'd have to run about 60 miles and 3,000...

<font color="purple"> Did it come in on or under budget </font color>

The price of the house was part of the contract with the builder, so that much is on budget, to the $. But there were...

We are very close to occupancy. Probably would have it by now except for a major "oops". The granite counter top installers dropped (dropped just an inch) a major section of counter, and fractured...

<font color="purple"> That's a nicely designed house from the outside. How's the inside for flow? How'd those windows turn out? </font color>

I'll try to get a floorplan captured so I can post. ...

Progress...the outside of the house is now done, save for some grading and cleanup. The stucco guys finally surfaced, and the 25 ton tile roof has been laid.

A view from the street.

A...

The driveway pad is cured at least enough for me to drive over it and park in the garage.

Stacked next to my Dodge is the 5 tons of ceramic/porcelin floor tile, thinset, and grout that were...

<font color="purple"> When are they going to start the roof tiling? </font color>

The final coat of stucco has to be done first, for reasons I do not fully comprehend. Something to do with how...

Lots of activity today. The concrete guys are preparing to pour pads for the AC units, and at each end of the 250 ft driveway (remainder to be gravel).

The insulation crew is back to finish up,...

Two of the main reasons I went with this builder, though he is a bit higher:

1. we did not have a full set of architectural plans, just a general idea with a few "must-haves", but we have seen his...

The painters are done inside, except for touchups, and almost all of the electrical fixtures have been installed. Here's a view of the great room looking from the kitchen. (The GR is 24 x 30).
...

Garage doors are hung....a place to park the new toys. The garage has full electrical service now, and the painters will finish up inside the house tomorrow, clearing the way for the remainder of...

The stucco crew finished their first coat today, which has to cure for a week before the final elastomeric color coat.

This poor guy had to not only mix the stuff, but wheelbarrow it to the site...

Finally, the stucco crew has surfaced, to finish up their part of the outside.

The painters are working inside; they did the garage last Friday, and start the remainder of the inside tomorrow.

<font color="purple"> We have 50 square feet of counter and an island that gives us another 28 square feet. </font color>

We also have an island. If you deduct the sink and cooktop from the...

<font color="purple"> Hank, you are a brave man picking out the counter top and cultured marble </font color>

Not so brave as you would imagine /forums/images/icons/smile.gif Alice is 100% into...

It's a frustrating lull period. The roof tiles have to stay "stacked" for a couple of weeks, for the house to settle, before the stucco can be applied, and then the roof is installed after the...

Don't know what "kind" of trusses, they look sort of ordinary to me, but they are specifically engineered to handle this weight (the roof structure overall). Not being a roof specialist, one truss...

Some new pictures:

The glass block window in the Jacuzzi room was installed yesterday and today...took one man two days to lay the blocks. They are West German made blocks, argon filled.
...

Tim,

As you noted before, the builder himself keeps a really clean site. He says he simply holds off final payment to his subs until they clean up, and he works with the same subs every time, so...

<font color="purple"> I had the celluose blown in only it was dry and they netted the walls </font color>

They did net the wall between the house and garage, since there was no sheathing there to...