Finally some movement, and some bad news.

Getting worried about the time table, we called a meeting with the framer, who is now acting as general manager for the build early Monday morning.  When we drove up to the house site, I was greeted with a utility marking vehicle so it looks like DTE is moving on the power installation.  Last week I received an email stating that they obtained DEQ permission to bore across the designated conservation area that crossed our proposed driveway, at the additional cost of around 1k.  I wonder what's going to happen when I want to install a driveway...

The framer was there with a three man crew, moving some pea gravel into the basement and preparing the foam underlayment for the basement.  He explained that the pea gravel will be the first layer, placed and compacted.  Next will be the 3" polystyrene foam for insulation, then a visqueen tarp for radon and particle abatement.  Last will be the 4" concrete slab.  The stairs leading down will be the only load-bearing structure that will extend to the first and second floor and the footing will be a monolithic pour four that footing.  Each step will require inspection permitting but he's targeting Wednesday for inspection, Thursday for concrete pour, so when I visit the site this weekend, I'm expecting to see a concrete basement.

We also discussed some realistic time tables for completion.  In his experience, a house this size would take a year and a half for full completion, well outside of the 8-10 month build our builder initially quoted.  Best case scenario for completion is Thanksgiving.  Most likely it will be by the end of the year, which means a winter move and attempting to sell our current house in the worst time of the year.  This information really took the wind out of my sails, so we resolved to try to have all our decisions on point when the need arises so we can minimize delays.

 They've removed the garage door frame buck supports in anticipation of the garage floor prep.  A steel beam will be placed across this opening since it's too narrow for proper ICF load bearing.  This door also still needs to be raised one more ICF course to raise the garage floor as desired. Any gap between top of the door frame and the beam will be filled with a wooden beam.

 Here's the small door sans buck supports.

 You can see some of the pea gravel placed.  All of the form-a-drain that was damaged during the initial sand fill was replaced properly.  You can see that the recent rains caused the sump crock to float up a bit on the very right of the picture.  The area around the wheel barrel is where the stair footing will be.  It will support the load of the stairs all the way up.

 The future exercise room still needs gravel.  Here's the power bucket they use to deliver it.

 Full shot of the exercise room and all the pea gravel that is still needed.  The final slab height will be 3" above the current door sill.

 Future home theater area.  Foam panels need to be laid, but inspection is needed required before that can take place.  I guess they want to make sure the proper depth of base material is used.

Last look at the rough ins before they're covered in concrete.