I’ve continued to chip away at my list, getting the drain stubs squared away, more acoustical stud tape installed, the first floor beam padded out with 1x4s so we can drywall over the brackets, and a handful of other odds and ends finished.

It looks like permit has progressed. I haven’t heard from anyone, but I looked it up on the city’s portal and can see several new entries, so that’s promising. We still don’t have a new roof, but we’ve been told “Monday at the latest” so maybe that will materialize.

Most significantly, the concrete crew showed up to dig the porch footings. This was the first time someone we paid has actually come and worked on our house since early last year, so it was pretty exciting. They came last Thursday, and then returned Monday and yesterday. All of the holes are dug, though there are some obstructions to contend with. Of course the holes happen to be where we used to have a concrete wall for the stairs out of the basement, and where the catch basin used to be, and the bottom of the stairs is where we’d run the pipe for our drainage project.

All of the concrete sawing, jackhammering, sledge hammering, and digging was a preview of what we’re in for if we’re here in the basement during construction. It’s not promising, but we’ll see how the roof goes. The kids were also mostly stuck inside, which they’re not used to. The back yard is now full of not only holes but big piles of dirt, and both are enticing playthings to kids.

The concrete company was one of the items we paid out of pocket rather than through the loan, since the quote we’d gotten from the builder was really high. I’m somehow not surprised that’s the actual work that’s been started.

I’m not sure when the concrete guys plan to come back and assemble rebar and do the pour, but I can almost guarantee it will be the same day the builder wants to do the roof. If either of them are upset about this, I intend to point out that they didn’t communicate a date to me in advance which makes it difficult to coordinate.