Oooooooo! A Trench!

And THEIR OFF! I guess we got the go ahead from the City of Pittsburgh because a trench has been dug where the footer will be poured, the properties have been staked off, and there is bright pink spray paint marking off various points on the asphalt. There is also a fresh blanket of seeded "carpet" on the hill behind the house. They do this to for aesthetic reasons but more so to keep the dirt in place. Mostly, there are just old foundations in the earth above us so we won't have any run off issues. The footer is supposed to be poured today (Good Friday - REALLY Good Friday) and plumbing will start to be put in next week.
We have been stalking Kurt and Fred (Outside and Inside Contractors) for a few days to finalize our spec sheet and to see if our survey has been completed. Both are important to us starting our construction loan process and most important to us qualifying for the $6500 tax credit that our government was so gracious to institute for us. We have to be under contract by 4/30/2010 and the paperwork takes some time for the bank to complete. Kurt called Jeff this morning and said he could stop over Monday morning to pick up the spec. sheet. This was great news to wake up to today. All we need is the survey and we can check one more item off the list of 5,000 things to do.