Update on parade home

We are coming down the home stretch on the finish of our parade home. The painting contractors will be applying some specialty wall glazes and finishes this next week. It will be time for several contractors to come in and finish up there last part. We built the cabinet frame on the outdoor patio/living area that will have the built in grill, refrigerator and sink in it. The tile contractor has tile the floor on the outdoor living area as this room is really going to be special for someone to enjoy.  We have had a sudden rash of heavy rain here in central Oklahoma in the middle of August which is very abnormal for those of you that are not from this part of the country. It typically is hot and dry. So the rain has been a welcome site, however it has halted our progress on the exterior sodding of the yard as well as installation of the landscape. The landscape designer that we use has a plan all drafted up and ready to implement it as soon as the weather drys and around here that should be back pretty soon.  So the next couple weeks will be hectic but fun. We believe we have secured a deal with a furniture and home furnishing store to stage the house with furnishings and we are looking forward to that. The actual start date of the parade of homes is September 13th so we have lots to do before that date but we look forward to meeting any of you that have been reading the progression schedule and want to come out to have a look.

Parade home update

Well I thought I would let you know what is going on at the parade of home that we are building in the beautiful Stone Mill addition in Yukon Oklahoma. But before I do that I have to talk about our cruise to Alaska last week aboard the Golden Princess Cruise Line. Those of you that have been before know what I mean when I say WOW. That is the most beautiful area I have ever seen. We left Seattle and headed out for Juneau as our first stop as we took the Inside Passage tour. If you have never been on a cruise, in my estimation it is one of the best vacations dollar for dollar you can take. All the details are taken care of for you. You just show up and start eating. They have food 24/7 so you do have to do some exercise if you can or you will pack it on.  I guess this is part of vacation though huh.  Temperatures about 50 for the high and probably in the 30’s sailing on the water, and for those of us that live in a hot climate that was a nice relief. So we will definitely go back and explore some more of Alaska, so if any of you have been to some good places up there let me know. Okay back at the house. the painting crew has started and he will be applying some nice furniture look finishes and some glazed wall treatments.  I met with the landscape contractor and we went over the design and he will begin to implement that this week. The underground sprinkler crew will be in this week to install the irrigation system, so we are moving towards a completion outside here in a couple of weeks.  My wife and I will be selecting the light fixtures with our lighting consultant as we begin to pull all the interior details that have been ordered together to complete this project. We are going to talk to our furniture source and see about staging the house with furniture.  So stop on by and see us or send us a comment as we would like to be your builder on your next house.

Parade home update

The drywall contractor has completed all the taping and beading and has finished the hand textured walls and ceilings. The cabinets are all built and will be ready to install soon. The floor tile was ordered a couple of weeks ago and is scheduled to be delivered the first part of the week and the tile contractor will arrive soon.  The patio screen contractor came in on Friday and installed the remote screens. These are what in my opinion makes an outdoor patio a usable space. How many times have you tried to be out on your patio to eat or relax, and the flys, or mosquito’s try to take over. I have these screens on my patio and believe me they are one of the best investments to make on a home if you really like to spend time outdoors.  I will have photos of these as soon as we get the screens powered up. The last 2 weekends my wife and I have been looking at the types of appliances that we will install for the outdoor kitchen area that we are doing in the parade home. If you have not ever looked at  these outdoor items you are in for a sticker shock. This stuff is expensive to say the least.  We will try to keep within our set budget on this but it will be tough as I did not budget what these outdoor experts are quoting us.  Even building a house for a show home much like when we build a custom home sometimes their are areas that you just feel you will upgrade on and this may be an area that we do, however we feel like it will make an area that any future homeowner will be proud of.  The dryvit contractor will be coming into to do his work as we have a front formal dining room wall that we will install this on to add a different element and texture to give visual interest. We are beginning to get excited about showing the house as it is starting to really come together.  We hope to see you out soon.

Parade home update

Well just a quick update on the progress of the home we are building for the 2008 Central Oklahoma Parade of Homes in the beautiful Stone Mill subdivision in Yukon, Ok. The brick contractors finished up all masonry work on the exterior this week. The beautiful custom built entry door out of White Oak and distressed has been installed and I must say it does make a statement. You will see what I mean when I get some photos uploaded. Our in house carpentry crew built some wood beams to go up in a step up ceiling in the living room that matches the front door. They have a real nice rustic feel about them.  The drywall crew came in this last week and installed all the sheetrock. The tape and bead contractor is now in there and will be texturing the walls with a hand troweled texture on all walls and ceilings. I have got all shop drawings made for the cabinets and built ins and my brother and myself went over and made all field measurements so we could start the construction of the cabinets.  The kitchen cabinets we have chose to build those all the way up to the 10′ ceiling height doing a set of glass doors along the top with some nice architectural carvings placed in some highlighted areas. We will be doing flush inset cabinet doors with a beaded edge giving us a real nice look.  The tile contractor will be in at the job site in about a week to start laying the floor tile. Stay tuned for more updated information.

Parade home update

Well this past week we finished all the electrical wiring, heat air duct work, all structured wiring is in place. We received all of our next round of inspections and I must say a lot of builders dread this stage of construction because of what the inspectors can do to you as far as holding up progress, but I must say our city inspectors here are some of the finest guys I have worked with and they are always willing to work with you on timing.  The rock layers got in this week and laid the dry stack stone on the front entry and it sure has a nice look to it.  We are heading in the direction of an Old World look and the style of stone fits right into this.  The brick masons started laying the brick also this week and will wrap it up by mid week.  The insulators came in and insulated the walls using the BIB system. This really does make for an efficient home.  My wife, also our in house decorator has selected all the tile as well as the countertops and I am anxious to see all these materials come together.  I have begun to really concentrate on the interior cabinet and trim designs as I have completed several drawings to start this process.  As we have stated earlier and also in our “about us” area of our website we have our own in house trim and cabinet crew and we are a well polished team as many of our happy clients will testify to that.  Woodwork is our speciality and we certainly get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction out of taking raw wood and turning it into something beautiful for our customers.  The drywall crew is set to arrive this week and to me and I am sure many of you this is when a house takes on a definite shape and look inside. It is at this time you can really tell your room sizes and the space that you will have.  Progress is going well so come on out and see us.

Update on parade home

Well this was a pretty productive week with all things considered. We had aprox 2 1/2-3″ of rain the 1st part of the week. We were able to get the shingles installed over last weekend and beat the rain. I like seeing that roof go on because it sure helps to get the structure in the dry.  The house is really beginning to take shape.  The electrical contractor and myself met out at the site and as always he makes some suggestions and I listen some I go with others I don’t.  Our sub contractors have been with us for several years so it is always a good idea to listen to what they have to say.  Most of the windows were installed this last week all except a couple on the front of the house as we are using wood windows with the burgundy exterior frames as this is going to look mighty good with the brick and stone that is selected.  The heat/air contractor got all the duct work all laid out and sized the equipment.  There are several factors that go into making sure the equipment is sized correctly.  The size of the house, the ceiling heights, the direction the house faces, what type of windows being used, in other words if you are building a house or having one built do not let your builder/heat air contractor tell you well that is the size of unit I always put in to that size of house because this may not always be correct.  The brick will be delivered this week and we will start to get brick and rock designs figured out.  The plumbing contractor will be in this week to install all tubs, exterior faucets, and all gas stub outs.  So this should shape up to be a very busy and productive week.  I will be going over the structured wiring plans with the alarm company as this will be installed soon. This is the best time right here if you think you might ever want some stereo/audio wiring done in your house. It doesn’t get any easier and certainly does not get any cheaper than right now.  I have begun to make some cabinet drawings and to begin to get a feel for the interior styling that will take place.  Drop by and have a look if you are in the area. As I have stated before it is in the beautiful Stone Mill Addition in Yukon, Okla. Look forward to seeing you out.  

Spring time

Well I think spring has finally sprung here in the central part of Oklahoma that is.  The grass is beginning to green up the trees and landscaping are coming out of hibernation and things are starting to look real good. I really like when all the Bradford pear trees bloom out as this is one of my favorites.  I am seeing people out in their yards and bed areas working them over.  This is a great time of year.  Well a little bit of update on the show home we are constructing in the beautiful Stone Mill subdivision in Yukon Oklahoma, on Thursday of last week the framing crew showed up and started laying out where the walls will go.  This sounds probably trivial but it is at this stage right here where you house gets squared up so that they are level and in correct relation with each other.  If a framer lays out the walls out of square it makes the sheetrock stage hard to do, it will make tile floors grout lines not be parallel with the walls in other words nothing good will take place.  I find as a contractor this is a great time to spend at the job site because some times walls have to be shifted a little bit to make a plumbing line work properly or maybe make cabinets and trim fit into corners like they should.  After walls are chalked out on the slab the framers go to work putting down the 2 x 4 sill plate and we like to use  liquid nail under all the sill plates for a good bond to the slab.  By the end of the day of Friday about 2/3’s of the walls were framed up with window and door openings in them.  This next week I will be meeting with my cast stone contractor and we will be discussing cast stone mantles, hood surrounds and some details possibly for the exterior fascade.  The framers will continue on with the walls and on up from there.  Brick will be ordered this week and the windows are on order. We will continue to press on from here.

Cordless or Power tools

When deciding to buy a tool for use around the house the question might come up, do I need a corded tool or a cordless tool for the job.  In my home building profession and my trim carpenter background I can tell you there is not a clear cut choice on this matter.  Depending on the type of tool be it a cordless screwdriver, skill saw, hammer drill I will end up using both types.  Power tools in general are a good design and as with any thing else you buy there is cheap and there is expensive but you will usually get what you pay for.  Cordless power tools have not been around as long as corded tools but they have made great strides in improving the power and the battery run life.  Most cordless tools range from a 12 volt to a 24 volt. Cordless tools try to keep the battery small to keep the weight down on the tool.  Electric tools have certainly revolutionized the way of life.  They are a simple designed tool that can run up to speeds of 14,000 RPM’s and have an incredible amount of torque to them.  The down side to corded tools is you may be way off from a power supply where the work is to be done, and you also have to take in consideration if you are working in a damp area you have to make sure the tool and cord is properly grounded to prevent electrical shock.  So did we answer which type of tool is needed around the house or the job site the answer would be no because I think you will find that it depends on the task you need to do and how often you will be using the tool as to which choice you will make.

OUtdoor living/kitchen areas

Outdoor kitchen and living areas.  Ah does that not make you think of nice warm temperatures and being outside.  After what some I know have had a long cold winter.  Outdoor areas are a great addition to your house, or if you are going to build a house you should give it some serious consideration.  Just pick up any home magazine and you will see they are becoming increasingly popular rooms.  It definitely brings about a great and exciting cook out experience as well as just plain fun.  You might think that this is just a seasonal area and maybe not worth the cost, but depending on where you live you may can enjoy it several months out of the year.  In the last 2-3 years in some of our custom houses we are seeing more of a request for these areas.  We have put built in fireplaces, as well as hook ups for flat screen TVs and stereo hook ups.  We also have a contractor that installs motorized screens that roll up on a canister and disappear into the ceiling making a completely controlled room. Now you want to talk about a room that you can control the fly, mosquito’s, and the wind and really enjoy that is one you can.  The enormous growth in these rooms have created many different products in which to choose from.  You can go as simple as a free standing barbque grill to an elaborate built in model with a stainless steel exhaust hood above.  When designing an area such as this it is very important that you take the weather conditions in your area into account for the materials that you use for your room.  There are such advantages to an outdoor area, spending quality time with friends and family being right up at the top of the list.  One last thing to consider, you may find that you have friends you weren’t aware of when they find out what a wonderful space you have created but what the heck life is to short not to enjoy there company so good luck with your project and happy grilling.

Kitchen design

Ever notice when you go to a party or a dinner at friends or family’s house or if they come to yours everybody seems to congregate around the kitchen area.  Besides the obvious that is where you can sometimes catch a sample and enjoy the good smell of food, I believe that people just tend to like to socialize there.  People just want to be in the middle of the action and that is where it starts.  People that don’t normally cook a bit at their home a lot of times likes to roll up their sleeves and lend a helping hand.  A great kitchen design goes a long way in how all of these people can enter-twine with each other and things get done.  When we are designing house plans to build for clients the number one request is they want a open kitchen lay out and if possible to have a big center island to work and prepare things at.  Our company not only designs the plans but also we have our own in house carpenters that build all the cabinets in our new homes.  Solid surface counter-tops are a must in virtually every home we build.  Roll out drawers once considered only for a luxury kitchen are certainly finding there way into just about all price ranges of kitchens built today.  Stainless steel appliances are  very highly requested and a very nice look.  Most of the upper end kitchens in our houses that we build will have a nice custom stain on maple cabinetry with a glaze finish to give it a very nice furniture look.  So next time you are invited to a get together, and everyone is in that kitchen hopefully the people that brought all of the design together was thinking of you, I know we do.