We started out having some wood attached to the foundation and very quickly it is clear that we have walls!

Joists, trusses, and wood have been delivered.

Looks like the backfill has been backfilled and the place has been stoned.

Above is the front yard looking from inside the garage. A lot of the dirt that was dug out of the hole was able to be used for backfilling purposes. This is good because it means that less dirt will have to be halled away. This is good.

Above is a picture looking into our garage. From previous pictures you can see that the lot was also "stoned." The stones are built up pretty high for where the driveway will be eventually.

Above is a picture looking toward the back yard. Above this corner of the basement will be the dinette.

This picture is looking toward the front yard after the backfill. Above this part of the basement will be the dining room. Hopefully we won't have snow in our dining room!

Above is the front yard looking from the sidewalk in front of the lot. It shows how much the grading plan for the subdivision really builds up the lots from where they start out before the build starts. In other pictures you can see the foundation walls and the supports for the front porch on the front of the house. Now that they have done the backfill, you can barely see that this is the front of the house. It makes sense that the basement would be underground, but the point is that it's just a heck of a lot of dirt that was built up there.

The foundation was waterproofed, insulated and stoned this morning.

Above is the insulation around the front of the house and the front porch supports.

Above is the insulation on the back of the foundation (north side of the house). You can see two of the exposure windows.

This is a picture looking inside the western most exposure window on the north side of the house. As you can see there is a beam that has to be about 3 feet from the exposure window. You shouldn't be able to see much of it when all is said and done, though (unless you're looking for it).

This is the insulation gradually going up the western wall from the exposures in the back to the front of the house where the den/playroom will be.

This is looking inside the basement from the exposure window on the west side of the house. What you see is the two footings on the far side of the house.

Inspections were called in for tomorrow (this is routine and happens often at different stages). Backfill is scheduled for Thursday. The trusses and floor joists and possibly the first lumber load should be dropped on Friday, and the rough carpenter should start work on Monday.

At some point in the last week while braving the cold, beams were installed.

The forms were taken down today and the walls are up and look like walls.

This week the building inspector should come back and if everything is still the way it's supposed to be (we're sure it will be), then the lumber will be ordered and wood should arrive next week.

Forms were put up yesterday and concrete was squirted into them today. WE HAVE WALLS!

The progress continues. This week we should see the forms for walls and pour some concrete!

Monday we saw that there were metal stakes or hoops stuck into the ground near the outside of the hole in the area covered by hay (below and above).

It seems that there is also some water back in the drain tile hole, so we'll ask about that.

We've made contact with the developer and "Gary" says he's going to contact our builder to get more information about what happened. We're not hopeful that this will result in any help with the added cost of the extra work, but it wasn't an outright rejection of our line of thought on the situation.

More progress. More hay. More hole (actually same hole with less snow covering it because it melted).