The Contract

We celebrated our anniversary yesterday by signing the contract with the builder.  I had been nervous about it for some reason although it was really just a formality.  It’s very exciting to have it done, but we need to get through the next month of the loan process next.  The appraisal is our biggest concern – how much the land appraises for and the finished house.  Our construction costs are higher than normal because of the ICF and other things we are doing, so sometimes the house will not appraise for what it is going to cost to build.  I don’t know what we’ll do if that happens.

The contract has a start date of June 1st, but we can start as soon as the bank is ready to close, which will hopefully be before then.  I emailed the contract to the bank this morning so they should have everything they need from us now.  I asked the builder about the permit process and he said it usually only takes a week or 2.  He had originally told us it would take 8-10 months to build the house (my guess had been 9 months or more).  I was worried that would be extended once he saw the final plans, but he’s now saying it should take 8 or less.  That would have us finishing in January sometime.  He said a lot of it depends on us and how quickly we can make decisions.  He will be giving us a schedule of what decisions need to be made by what date.  A lot of the items he mentioned, I already have selected.  I plan to be able to give him all the exterior selections – brick, stone, siding, roofing, windows – before we even close on the loan.