Friday we went to pick out everything for our new house. What a challenge. Picking out bricks, tiles, carpet, cabinets, countertops, appliances, doors, windows, fireplace design, even doorknobs and grass. I never realized that building a new house would be so exhausting. That is over, though, and construction is slated to begin on May 12. We are told that construction will take 75 to 90 days from pouring the foundation to closing day. That sounds pretty fast. I guess the fact that this builder orders all the framing components pre-assembled speeds up construction time considerably. The builder's in-house architect told us the wall frames and roof trusses are delivered already assembled, and that they just set them up and attach them to each other. He told us that since we modified the windows in a couple of the rooms that we shouldn't panic when the walls are first set up because they will be the way they appear on the original plan, and will then be modified to fit our specifications. I suppose that this construction method is why this particular builder is about 20% less expensive than the other builders in town for comparable houses.

We've walked through a number of their homes during various phases of construction, and we've been quite pleased with the quality and appearance of the homes. I hope everything will go smoothly and quickly during the construction of our new home. Now, if we could just sell the house we're in now so we won't be faced with double payments. If you're interested in a nice 3 bedroom 2-1/2 bath condo in Odessa, Texas let us know.