With this week's incoming weather, I'd like to offer some advice on how best to prepare and protect your home from its effects. These are simple but important tasks to perform to prevent inconveniences and potential harm that extreme temperatures can bring to homes, including new ones.

1) Disconnect all exterior hoses from the faucets. Your exterior faucets (called hose bibs) are designed to withstand the elements of harsh weather. However, having a hose connected dramatically increases the potential for water within the hose to freeze and expand into the inner portions of the hose bib, potentially rupturing its supply pipe. Simply disconnecting the hose is the best way to prevent this.

2) Close that garage door. During nicer weather, it's not unusual for some to be in the habit of leaving the overhead door up for a bit into the evening. However, during extremely colder temperatures, doing so will increase the load on your home's energy performance, causing your HVAC system to have to work harder to keep your home comfortable. You also risk forgetting to close the door overnight, which exposes the plumbing to and from your hot water closet to potential freezing and rupturing.

3) Test that heat & fireplace. When going into Fall, it's always a good idea to test your heater(s) and fireplace before you actually need them. That way if something isn't working properly it can be addressed before it beomes an urgent need. Run your heater(s) for a few minutes to ensure they are emitting warm air, and don't be alarmed if you smell a hint of a burning smell. This is simply the result of burning off dust on the coils that haven't been hot for a while.

4) Replace those filters. When your heater can breath better, it heats better. If you haven't changed your air filters at the returns in the past 30 days, you definitely want to do that to help make way for maximum airflow and energy performance (which results in greater comfort.). Remember, don't buy the expensive ones. Get mid-level ones from Lowe's and change them often (every 30 days is the best practice).

5) Be aware of plumbing on exterior walls. If you have any bathroom sinks or shower/tub faucets that are on exterior walls, there are a couple of techniques you'll want to be aware of when temps are expected to dip into the teens or below. For any bathroom sinks on exterior walls, leave the cabinet doors open that are underneath the sink to provide better warm air to circulate. For both sinks and tubs/showers on exterior walls, it may also be necessary to turn on the faucets to a slow drip during extreme temperatures, as moving water helps prevent freezing.

6) Turn off your yard's irrigation system if you have one. This is easy to do, and involves two steps: 1) Turn your controller to off. Your controller is mounted on the inside wall of your garage. In most models, this is simply a dial that you turn to the "Off" position. Turning off prevents the controller from telling your solenoid valves to turn on/off unnecessarily. This is known as dry-firing since it's turning the valves on when water isn't present. 2) Turn off the water supply to the system by turning off a valve at your backflow preventer, which is usually inside your hot water tank closet. You have two valves similar to the blue levers shown below, and turning one of them perpendicular to the pipe will turn off the water supply to the system. (Reverse this process in the spring, or any time temperatures get back into the range of needing to water your landscape.)



Accomplishing these simple tasks will go a long way towards making wintery weather more bearable. Don't forget to start the coffee maker! | jC

Wow. Sigh. Oh, boy. All things I’m sure we’ve all said over the past week as our world has turned seemingly upside down.

I hope this post finds you and yours well amidst all of this. I want to update you on what effects I’m seeing in the construction world right now and how it’s impacting progress on your home.

To date, nearly all aspects of construction are still operating reasonably as-scheduled, with exception to those processes that are affected by the weather. I’ve only seen delays from a few product categories as of the time of this post related to the health crisis.

The Clickbuild.io system, which I use to manage my projects and keep you apprised of progress, is proving invaluable as many move to a remote working mode, as nearly all of my trades and suppliers work well with me in being responsive in communication and scheduling. I will continue to work diligently and responsibly to maintain the production schedule as best I can, though there are many moving parts comprised of a labor force who depends on work to sustain their own lives, but who also make independent decisions about their response to this.

I will continue to diligently monitor and navigate delays, as more are sure to reveal themselves over the coming few weeks that may affect your home’s completion schedule, and you can look forward to hearing from me on anything that may affect your projected completion time. In anticipation of that, I ask that you remain flexible should the schedule need to adjust, as there are simply many facets of this process and these conditions that are changing on a daily basis.

In the meantime, I ask that you continue to work on your end on matters related to your financing in preparation for closing. Please keep me apprised of anything on your end that may have any effect on moving towards closing.

In closing, I pray you and your family and friends remain healthy and optimistic, knowing that we will prevail through this unprecedented challenge.

Faithfully,
| jC

(Cross-posted to all clients via Clickbuild.io)

We're at the point when it's time to start thinking in greater detail about your new home!

Design Session 1 is upon us, which involves:
- Exterior finish selections (Primarily what brick we are using, and potentially some color selections)
- Electrical Wiring Diagram (What types of lights go where, along with any special electrical needs)
- Media & Security Diagram (TV, data, speaker wiring, etc.)
- Flooring Diagram (what types of flooring is going in, and where)
- A few other technical details.

Don’t sweat these decisions! I'm here to guide you through making fantastic choices.

Design sessions need to be scheduled during business hours, as often we need to walk a few doors down to look at materials from suppliers, or make phone calls to check on availability that other decisions depend on. DS1 can often be fully completed over a lunch hour meeting if that helps fit into your schedule better (it usually takes 1-2 hours, max).

What are some days and times in the next 3 weeks that you have available? Hit me with a comment below and let me know and we’ll book it.

I’m looking forward to our next time together!

| jC

Good news! The revised set of plans have been returned by the CAD Draftsman. I have personally cross-checked the new set of plans with our notes from the Plan Review Meeting Check-List, and all of our discussed modifications have been made to satisfaction.

This means that the plans are now considered "official", and final. These plans are now passed on for foundation engineering, lumber/structural engineering, and window ordering.

Lots of site progress to follow!

| jC

The application for permit, along with printed plans, have been submitted to the governing municipality for review. This usually takes between a few days to a week. Once approved, we are ready for construction on site! While the review is taking place, I am getting your project "in the queue" with my contractors and suppliers to ensure that everything is in order once the permit has been approved.

Stand by for some fun visual progress on site in the coming days!

-JC

Preston & Melissa, I'm thrilled at the opportunity to collaborate with you on your new home. Thanks for entrusting me to guide you through the experience and process! I've scanned and posted your Purchase Agreement in the files section, which can also be downloaded via this link. Note that after you left, I refreshed the "pretty" pricing page and the information updated to the proper price, and I've included that version in the scan.

I'll have the plans drafted up while I'm away on our family trip, and will aim to kick them over to you with the checklist for likely review over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

In the meantime, thanks again, and I'll look forward to our next meeting in a few weeks. | jC