We have officially broke ground!

Excavation and site preparation has begun. This includes securing temporary access to power and water; thank you to our neighbor Victor for both of these items. The small, concrete block building, just above the roof of the backhoe in the first picture, belongs to Victor and has metered electricity and a water line running to it. Victor allowed us to tap into his water line and run an extension cable from his meter box so we can provide the workers with water and electricity prior to permanent installation of these services.

The land is also being excavated to the appropriate elevation and to give more working space for the machinery as additional excavation will be needed in preparation for pouring the footers.

The backhoe cut an entrance to the road to assist in material delivery.

Not a whole lot to cover at this step; the pictures do about as good of a job as I do explaining. One of the next steps, pouring the footers, will be covered in much more detail, with information about materials and measurements. Also, in a future post, I hope to introduce you to the 5-man team that will be doing about 95% of the entire construction process!
Looking good! I saw it in person and the pictures do the view no justice. The view from the front of the house will be spectacular.
The view does look really great.