Bye bye big city!

Wow! It's come a long way, Jared.
It was almost hard to imagine what the final results would look like. Absolutely gorgeous. 👍😎
The shop area alone is a dream come true. All the best to you, Sean, and Sean's Mrs..
 
Great progress! It's interesting to see the regional differences in construction. Brick houses are extremely rare around here. You'll see the occasional 60's ranch style with brick on the lower portion, but never on new builds. Pools are pretty rare here too. Even your complex roofline is something we don't see much up here, even in the higher-end communities. I like those tray ceilings. It's going to be beautiful when it's done.
Agreed. When my mom and step-dad lived in Baton Rouge, it was interesting to see the differences in the houses there, which is basically the same climate. They're still slab on grade houses but they had interesting floor plan differences, like a "keeping room" off of the kitchen and tall, even more complex rooflines. Also, nobody has a privacy fence around the back yard out there. No basements down here either. I would imagine pools would be a rarity up there. My guess is the water would be too cool to enjoy it, most of the year. That's going to be a problem with our pool. My sister-in-law was hoping to be able to heat it but it's just too much energy.

The house is way fancier than any of us need. Resale value has been a consideration on all of the choices on finishes. We've been cautioned against putting "tract house" finishes in a custom home. This is coming from a designer that is helping my sister-in-law with selecting the finishes and is also coming from the builder. We're blessed to have him. He's my sister-in-law's cousin. He's been building custom houses for 24 years. He's demanding and exacting and his contractors seem to be the best. I've been thoroughly impressed with the quality of all of the work. Even the framing was pretty. None of us have the intention of selling or moving in our lifetime. This is the forever home, hopefully. But when the time comes, we want my niece and nephew to benefit as much as possible when we're gone. Now we just have to figure out some way to pay for it. It's not quite that bad, but you know how it is. We're overbudget on nearly everything.
Wow! Have you forgotten anything? Cause I’m sure a few people on here are ready to be adopted and move in! Going to be a beautiful place.
Thank you! The whole place is a dream come true for all of us. I've wanted a shop since the early 90's. It's taken a lot of saving, financial discipline, planning and hard work.
Think the GBF guest house will be his last addition.
Who needs a guest house? I say we squat in the shop and swim in the pool, cook at the outdoor grill area.
No additions. Just a guest bedroom. Friends are welcome. No peeing in the pool!
That's not a house - it's a chateau! You could cover the shop roof with solar panels so your AC is free...
Chateau? Let's not get carried away. 🤣 It's actually pretty shady out there because we are surrounded by tall trees. I don't know how much we'd get out of solar panels. I'm also not a big fan of the extra roof penetrations.
Wow! It's come a long way, Jared.
It was almost hard to imagine what the final results would look like. Absolutely gorgeous. 👍😎
The shop area alone is a dream come true. All the best to you, Sean, and Sean's Mrs..
Many thanks, Jack. The whole thing is a dream come true. I've put a huge portion of my savings into the shop at this point, but it's something I've wanted since I was still a teenager. Who needs to retire?
 
We went out for another look yesterday morning. Interior framing in the shop is done. To say that I'm delighted would be an understatement. When the slab was poured, our builder had the concrete crew put anchor bolts in around the perimeter. The areas between the pole barn posts were framed with 2x6 on 16" centers and were bolted down to the slab. The "shed" was framed out with 2x4, with 2x8 ceiling joists and then 3/4" tongue and groove plywood on top of that. We'll put the HVAC equipment up there as well as the hot water heater. The walk door opening was re-framed, much better than the original construction. The outside perimeter of the barn was skinned in anticipation of installing the required 4' brick wainscot. The bottom 2' was wrapped with treated plywood. The top 2' with OSB. Then the bottom 4' was wrapped with Tyvek. The framing brought the building to another level.....
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We ended up going with 36"x80" fiberglass walk doors for entry into the shop and for the door between the shed and the shop. The metal, outward opening, commercial door was just too expensive and too complicated from an installation perspective. Those doors should be installed next week. I have a meeting Tuesday morning with our builder and the electrician to do the electrical walkthrough. I've prepared an electrical plan in anticipation. It's only the second I've ever done. I did one in high school, in drafting class (by hand, with pencil). I put a lot of thought into it and then ran it by my brother for feedback. I think we've thought of pretty much everything but tried not to go overboard either. I'm expecting the quote towards the end of next week. Once the plumbing, electrical and HVAC rough in are done, we'll do the spray foam. We'll go with 5-1/2" of open cell spray foam on the ceiling and then 3-1/2" on the walls. After spray foam, the walls in the shop and on both sides of the shed walls will be sheathed with 7/16" OSB, with the smooth side out. We'll caulk the seams and then paint the OSB. It will look pretty good. Between the framing and the sheathing, there won't be any trouble with hanging cabinets, shelves, etc. Once the mechanical rough-in is done, the brick wainscot can be installed. I'm getting pretty far ahead so I'll stop there. It's coming along though!

The cabinet maker is still working in the house. He's got all of the trim done. All of the doors are hung, and all of the casing is installed. They're getting pretty close to finished on the cabinets but have all of the drawer fronts and cabinet doors to go. I think they'll wrap that up this coming week and then interior paint, countertops and sinks are behind that. The workmanship from the cabinet maker is outstanding.....

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I guess that's it for now friends. Wish me luck with the quote for the electrical rough-in for the shop! I'm worried about what it's going to cost. I'll check back in with updates in a week or two. Thanks for the interest and comments.
 
I may be too late with a suggestion, but I'll throw it out there...

I worked in 3 different custom door shops. I actually set up and managed the 2nd and 3rd. If you're installing molded style interior doors, spend the extra money for the solid core version. It's actually just wood partical substrate, but they call it solid for marketing purposes. On a higher end home like yours, it really adds a quality feel, along with a bit of noise control. The overall price difference isn't that much. You can save a few bucks by using hollow core for closets and such, but go solid on the bedrooms and bathrooms.
If you're using solid wood doors, disregard the above.

Your choice from fiberglass entry doors on the shop was prudent.

Carry on, and thanks for the update.
 
I may be too late with a suggestion, but I'll throw it out there...

I worked in 3 different custom door shops. I actually set up and managed the 2nd and 3rd. If you're installing molded style interior doors, spend the extra money for the solid core version. It's actually just wood partical substrate, but they call it solid for marketing purposes. On a higher end home like yours, it really adds a quality feel, along with a bit of noise control. The overall price difference isn't that much. You can save a few bucks by using hollow core for closets and such, but go solid on the bedrooms and bathrooms.
If you're using solid wood doors, disregard the above.

Your choice from fiberglass entry doors on the shop was prudent.

Carry on, and thanks for the update.
Thanks for the suggestion. Most of the doors in the house are solid. Bathrooms and bedrooms for sound and privacy. Building a house is a million decisions. It's hard to get them all right. More like impossible, but we've put a lot of thought into this build. Keep the suggestions coming! They are appreciated.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Most of the doors in the house are solid. Bathrooms and bedrooms for sound and privacy. Building a house is a million decisions. It's hard to get them all right. More like impossible, but we've put a lot of thought into this build. Keep the suggestions coming! They are appreciated.
mud room with laundry equipment with door to outside? seating bench by a door so you can sit and swap from shoes to Crocs inside the house without tracking dirt all over (also has coat hooks and storage bins for gloves/hats/raincoats) ?stained concrete slab instead of carpet/flooring?
 

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