A Break in the Clouds

Today we got to meet with Julie and Joe - our new builder. We went over our plans, some changes we requested early on in the process, some original details they were still trying to work out, and did a walk through the house.

Joe seems like a really good guy. He's articulate, knowledgeable, and attentive. More importantly, he genuinely seems to care about the house being built well. Whether the developer lets him continue on that course remains to be seen. For the first time in 8 months I feel like somebody is involved in the building process that actually appreciates, and strives for, a job well done. Joe is also the first person with Agave to give us an honest estimate for completion of the house - sometime in late February or March of '07 - almost a year after we signed our contract (we were told it would take 6 months when we signed). As long as it's done right we don't care how long it takes, but we could really do without the false closing dates.

Due to time constraints, we didn't get to choose our new cabinets or master shower tile, but we hope to do that soon. We also have to make some decisions this weekend with regard to the addition of a window and the type of door we want leading into the master bedroom.

All in all it was a good meeting. I really hope Joe stays on board.

Dreaming of Floors

While we're waiting for something to happen with the house, I've been thinking about those items on the To Do list.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the floors throughout the Agave house will be polished concrete. The floors in some of the earlier homes look great - they have a lot of large aggregate in various colors. The floor sample we were shown looked similar. "It will look like a terrazzo floor" we were told. Our concrete floors don't come close to the sample we saw, nor close to the good looking floors in some of the earlier builds. In fact, there's very little aggregate. It's really just a dull gray cement floor with a smattering of small rocks here and there.

So, we've discussed some options with regard to the flooring. One is to have the concrete scored in large squares and then acid stained. That's great and all, but the whole acid-stained-concrete-thing has gotten old. You really don't have many options when it comes to color either. Plus, we have that in our current home.

Another option we've discussed is terrazzo tiles made of recycled glass and other materials. I like this option for a couple of reasons: (1) it's environmentally friendly, and (2) it looks good. I haven't done a cost comparison to see how it stacks up against other more traditional options, but frankly, I don't care. A good looking durable floor is an investment well made. Here are some samples of the tile. Personally, I like the blue. It's subtle but not boring.

Nothing

Nothing. That's pretty much what has happened on the house lately. We're supposed to have a walk through with the new builder on Friday. More after that...