Footings Poured: Lots of Rebar!

After only a few weeks after breaking ground, we are making great progress on the house. The footings have been poured and as you can see, lots and lots or REBAR! With such a big foot print for the house, we'll need all the reinforcements we can get. The picture above shows the view from my six-car garage and is at approximately the main elevation. You can see the Portland Airport's control tower in the background across from the Columbia River. The view from my pool and terrace will be immaculate!
The view above shows my daylight basement where the basketball court/gym and playroom/theater room will be.
Another view looking down from my office on the main level.
Again, more rebar. You truly have to be standing here to see how much rebar there is.

Next up, stem walls for the foundation. I'm anticipating some pretty tall walls towards the front of the home where a lot of back fill will be going in to raise the front elevation. Things are coming together nicely and it's only a matter of weeks before fresh-cut lumbar!

Designing Your Dream Home

Ever considered designing your dream home? Maybe you've considered buying a piece of property but wanted to see what was possible on that vacant lot. Those were the exact things I considered when I found my award winning Street of Dreams architect and home designer, Richard White of The White House Collection (http://www.richardwhitehomedesigns.com/).

If you're considering buying a piece of land or have a lot and considering some stock plans, it's worth the dollar to have a custom home designed with the focus specifically on your needs.

Check out the design process here.

The White House Collection is a great site and shows the amazing designs that Rick has come up with. Browse his Custom Homes, Featured Designs and previous Street of Dreams designs on the site.

My plan is located under the Custom Homes tab labeled "Phan Residence".

Click here to see the 3D renderings of my house.

Thanks again Rick & Candi!

Panoramic Images of Excavation

It's been a few days since I've updated on the progress of my new house. As you can see above, the property is completely excavated and the foundation guys are ready to get started. Progress is moving fast and it's been fun watching the earth move and seeing how the home will sit on the property. It's truly amazing to see how grand this house will be just from the footprint. I knew we were building a big house but to truly see how big it is, you really have to stand on the property and look around.
I used Windows Live Photo Gallery to stitch the photos together and make the panoramic images. Click on the image to view the actual photo. If you zoom in with a photo viewer, you can pan left and right and feel like you're actually standing there.
Craig and Jim Barton of Barton Brothers Construction have been moving very efficiently and I've been very pleased. Foundation starts today and in the next few weeks, we should start smelling some fresh cut lumbar and framing coming up.

Also thanks to Tom and Shirley, my neighbors to the west, for posting a comment on my blog. Excited to be coming to the neighborhood and gracious for being welcomed by nice neighbors like yourselves. Also met my neighbors to the east, Ron and Terese, and thanks for giving me the inside scoop on the property's history as well as what to look for when excavating.

Project is moving along and I appreciate you following the progress on my site.

Jack & Jessica Phan

We Broke Ground! (kind of)

Well, we finally broke ground on Tuesday the 16th with my Parade of Homes award winning builder Barton Brothers Construction, his crew, and my Street of Dreams award winning architect Richard White of The White House Collection (and his lovely wife Candi) all present.
Trees are down and you can see the river view from the front of the property...Now if I can just get the trees down by the river...
Our truck is parked where our daylight playroom/theater would be
Jessica and I broke ground with a shovel...
Managed to get a small piece of dirt up... I'll leave the rest to the excavators.

Thanks to everyone for getting this project kicked off! Can't wait to start sharing more pics throughout the process...

Ready to Break Ground!

The trees are coming down today and we're ready to break ground on our dream home. Can't wait to start posting updates with pictures along the way. Here's what the current acre lot looks like after the old house was torn down. Once the trees go down, you'll be able to get a clear view of the Columbia River.