Ronald M. Hawes, Inc. Weblog

Hi, hope you had a great weekend!

As you can tell, we’re getting close to the end.  The pressure is mounting, but again, all turns out well in the end.  As everyone on the show was shown saying, the last few weeks are always the most stressfull, you never think its all going to come together, but it always does in the end.  The only thing I would really like to clarify, again, is that it did not take us a year to build this house.  They must be counting from the day we signed the contract or the day they got the construction loan, or maybe when we tore the old house down….. We didn’t start actual construction on the house until the end August of that year, not May.  That’s not actually here nor there.  The house is beautiful and the Mackeys and all of their guests and patrons are enjoying it throughly!

Don’t miss the finally next week!

Hi All

Hope you all enjoyed episode 6 of dream house.  As you can tell, it’s getting down to the wire on the homes completion.  That is always the most stressfull time in the construction process, especially if the homeowner is taking on a lot of the work himself.  We did have some delays in getting some of the subs in to do some of the work due to the housing boom at the time, everyone was extremely busy.  There was not a lack of commitment or intensity for the completion Mackey’s home, it was just a very busy time around the area, everyone was stretched thin.  You will see in the upcoming episodes, everything is done in time and the occupancy permit is obtained in time for the closing.   Again, I would like to stress, that there are always delays in the construction process, but the time lines that they are stating aren’t completely right since there was such an extreme delay in getting the engineering and building permits (that was the majority of the delay) all built up in the beginning.  Yes, had those things been obtained earlier, we wouldn’ve been done sooner. That was out of our control.  Again, as my dad said in the show, if you’ve got 6 months or 2 years, the crunch always comes happens in the last few weeks.  Look forward to much more stress and drama as the show goes on.  Not to spoil the ending, but the house is done on time and it turns out beautiful!!!!

Until next week

Shawn

Well, I have to say this was the least favorite of the episodes so far.  It portrayed us as taking bottles of wine and then heading off for Christmas vacation and never coming back………..  Contrary to the way the show was edited, our crew was there on site, working, you even see them helping Steve hang the flat screens.  You also see their vans etc in the drive, just not the crew.  Also, Steve did do all the AV, TV and Phone wiring, but not the electrical wiring.  The inspection that was highlighted in the “drama” was for electrical wiring.  It had NOTHING to do with the wiring Steve did.  Licesned electricians from Trumps Electric did all of the electrical wiring in the house.  The electrical wiring by code has to be inspected for correct wiring and saftey at rough in and final switch & plug.  The low voltage variety that Steve installed does not have to be inspected at any point.  The going on and on about the house being over 4 months behind schedule is getting redundant and had nothing to do with the actual construction process.  As I stated in last weeks response, the aquiring of the engineering and permits was the major hold up in the process and that was before we could ever start working on the project.  The Mackeys aquired a 1 year construction loan in May of 2006.  The house (our part of it) was completed prior to the expiration of the construction loan in May of 2007, with all of our subs and our framing etc being inspected, approved and Occupancy Permit issued.  There was and still are things that are not quite compete now that the Mackeys have moved in.  Those were items they were going to do themselves and they are completeing them as they can.  Also, the $30,000.00 over budget “drama”, besides the overage on the septic which was unforseen, the other overages were items that the Mackeys chose to add or change from the original contract.  Not to spoil the outcome, but the Mackeys also contracted us to some of the work they had intended on doing themselves in order to get it done faster.  They had inteneded to and did do much of the final finish work and trim themselves.  And they have done a wonderful, beautiful job.  The home is a showplace! But please know that this was what they had originally reqeusted and we have come back in and done additional work for them as well as done punch out work as we would always do on any project that we do.  I assume that all of you watching realize that the producers “dramatize” everything they can to make the show more interesting.  We just want you to know that the construction of this home was typical of most of our homes except for the extended delay in the issuing of the building permts. There are always hold ups, delays and mini dramas in every construction process.  Add to that the stress of living in close quarters, the birth of a new baby, and working 2 full time jobs and trying to do as much work on the house and vineyard as they can, of course there is going to be exhaustion, stress and tension.  Please know that we are close friends with the Mackeys, they have a beautiful home and we go up and enjoy their wine and company often!

Well, we think we had a pretty good turn out for the Builders Showcase, Tour of Homes.  Saturday of course was a bit slow because of the rainy weather, but we had quite a few visitors at the homes on Sunday.  Dad was up at Notaviva and got to meet lots of people on both days.  Many wine tasters recognized him from the show and were full of questions.  It was neat for him to get outside response from the actual viewers.  Hopefully our attendees liked what they saw and were able to get some useful information from us.  If you were unable to attend, but would like to see any of the homes on the tour, please call or email us and we can set it up for you.

Have a great week

Shawn

Well Episode 4 was great, wasn’t it?  You got to see some of our crew, including Richard Darr, Darren Richman and Zack Hickman.  Also Vern Anderson and Tim Taulton.  The Electricians (Trumps Electric) and the Plumbers (Fred Farris Plumbing) were also hard at work.  Rick Elrod of (Painting by Rick) also had his crew out there doing the exterior painting as well as the roofers from Gueriera Roofing.  Steve was hard at work running the AV cables along with all of our crews.  There is one thing that I would like to clarify, that the narrator only touched on, the scheduling.  Yes, the construction was behind schedule, but they only really mentioned why once, very quickly.  When we started the process on this home, it was in the height of the building boom in Loudoun County.  There was an approximate 3 to 4 month delay in getting the engineered plans and the building permits.  At that point, the timberframers could not fit the erection of the frame into their schedule until late September of that year.  There was a whole lot of hurry up and wait in the beginning of this process.  Once we finally got the approved permits, we moved right in, got the foundation in, framed the subfloor and the basement paritions and waited for the timberframers to do their magic.  After that we moved right along on the house.  Now, there are always delays, weather, sub scheduling etc, but all in all this house moved right along once it was able to be started.  I can tell you from experience, that even during the smoothest running of the building of a home, you always think it’ll never be over and you’ll never get to move in.  I thought we’d never get our house done, then before you know it, you’re sitting on your couch watching TV and wondering what you were so stressed about.  Now, for sure, Steve & Shannon had tons of extra stress and pressure with the baby on the way, working full time jobs, working the Vineyard and doing some of work on the house themselves. Again, I know myself from experience it can be stressfull and tiring, but it’s all worth it, when you get to enjoy the end product.  I smile every day when I wake up and think about how grateful I am to live in my dream home.  I know the Mackeys are as well.  You also got to see that there are sometimes mistake made and we do our best to make our clients happy (as we did with the floor height on the concert stage in the tasting room).  That was clearly a miscomunication on our part and we took care of it in a timely manner.  Now, I don’t know that we ever found out who did the graffiti on the beam, that’s just not cool!!!

I hope you all loved the show and don’t forget to catch our next episode on Saturday November 1st at 7am on HGTV!

Till next week

Shawn

Here are directions and information on the tour of homes we will be having on the 25th and 26th.  All of the homes will be open from 12pm to 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday.  Notaviva, will also be open later than that on both days.   If you got last Fridays Leesburg Today, there was a map and directions in there as well.

Come See Us at the Fall Builders Showcase Tour of Homes!

The Log House is a 5000 sq ft home of 6×12 hand hewn logs. There is extensive landscaping, a pool and a spectacular display of our envirosafe products in the maze of decks looking over the Catoctin Creek and the Gazebo and Tiki Bar.  This home is definately something to see!  Built 27 years ago, this is the Hawes Family home and the main office for Ronald M. Hawes, Inc.  You can see the this home on the tour Saturday, October 25th and Sunday, October 26th from 12 to 4pm.  Address for directions is 42505 Lovettsville Road, Lovettsville Va, 20180  www.ronaldmhawesinc.com  From Leesburg, Take Rt 15 N 12 miles to L on Rt 672 (Lovettsville Rd)  Go 1/2 mile to 2nd drive on the left see our sign, follow the drive all the way back to the 3rd house.

Terabithia is a 4200 sq ft Conventionally Stick Built Home with a Heavy Timber 2nd Floor and Roof system.  The sandblasted timbers add warmth and charater to this bungalow style home.  Terabitha’s master bedroom located on the entire 2nd floor boasts 20ft cathederal ceilings of heavy timber beams and 2 cathederal style windows.  The house is painted in a series of Caribbean style colors to give the home the groovy beach feel of a vacation home in the lslands.  There is also extensive landscaping and hardscaping around the property finished and (in progress)  Terabithia is Shawn Hawes and her Husband’s Dream Home.  You can see the this home on the tour Saturday, October 25th and Sunday, October 26th from 12 to 4pm.  Address for directions is 13513 Mountain Road, Lovettsville Va, 20180  www.ronaldmhawesinc.com  From Leesburg, take Rt 7w to Rt 9w towards Hillsoboro, make R onto Rt 690 Mountain road, go approx 4miles to stop sign, bear left, go approx 1/2 mile to the 3rd drive on left see our sign.  Go up driveway bear right at arrow sign, house it at top of the hill.

Notaviva Vineyards Tasting Room is Steve & Shannon Mackey’s Timberframe Home and focal point for their vineyards and winery.  Notaviva is 2800 sq ft with beautiful pine beams throughout the 2 stories of the tasting room.  The first floor consists of the kitchen and beautiful round tasting bar.  The 2nd floor loft has a stage area and catwalks where they have live entertainment.  This home and its construction is featured in HGTV’s ”Dream House” in an 8 episode series currently airing on Saturday mornings at 7am on HGTV.  You can visit the vineyards and Tasting Room and all of its amenities on on the tour Saturday, October 25th and Sunday, October 26th from 12 to 4pm.  Address for directions is 13274 Sagle Road, Purcellville Va, 20132  www.ronaldmhawesinc.com and www.notavivavineyards.com  From Leesburg, take Rt 7w to Rt 9w towards Hillsoboro pass Hillsboro continue west towards WVA, make R onto Sagle Road, go approx 1 mile to Notaviva Vineyards on Right, you’ll see the house and signs from Sagle Road.

We hope to see you all there, it’s a great opportunity to see some of our work in person and disucss with us the creation of your own Dream Home, or other construction project that you may be looking to start.

Contact us for more info at hawesinc@aol.com

Hi, sorry it’s taken so long to put up our response to the 3rd episode.  I’ve been working from home all week prepping the brochures to go out in the mail.  I’ve also got a lot of cleaning to do to get ready for the tour of homes this weekend.  We hope to see you all there!

The 3rd episode was really neat because it focused on the erection of the timberframe structure by Lancaster County Timberframers.  They are truly on of the best framers we have ever worked with in our 30 years in business.  We look forward to working with them again in the future.  Their website is www.lancotf.com.  We also got a small glimpse of the septic installation.  We only regret that you didn’t get to meet Kenny and Brian Kilby of K&K Excavation (our septic subcontractors)  They are truly unique individuals!  A very funny, comical father and son team.  I do however understand that when editing down months of construction, into 8 episodes, you can’t include everything.  Just know that Kenny & Brian could make a comedy show of their own! 

We are looking forward to seeing the 4th episode this Saturday morning.  We hope you all watch too, and we hope to meet and visit with you at our tour of home this weekend where we will have Notaviva, The Log House and Terabithia open for tours from 12pm to 4pm on Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th of October. 

See you then!

Shawn 

Well, how’d you all like it?  I think it was pretty good.  You got to see Fred Farris, our plumber and Dad’s uncle.  He’s the best plumber around, his helper is our cousin Fred Lee, Jr.  You also got to see Dana Saur of Temp-A-Tron, Inc. our HVAC subs.  Oh and last but not least, Northstar Foundations!!!  I know that the wall blowing was a lot of drama, and beleive me, it was, but just know that when mishaps do occur, we stand behind our product and our stubs and they stand behind their work as well.  That is why they are our subs, lesser materials, products and subcontractors do not comply with our high standard of quailty and craftsmanship.  It was also very interesting to see them harvest the grapes and crush the first batch.  We were very grateful to recieve some of the first bottles of Notaviva’s wine. It was surely yummy and just gets better as they go!  Please feel free to post or email and ask any questions you may have and let us know what you think so far!  Check back next week for the updates on Episode #3. 

Hi all

Just a drop in to let you all know what’s been happening lately.  We’ve been bidding all kinds of new work, just hoping and praying to get some of it under contract.  We’ve been bidding some barns, riding arenas, a heavy timber bridge and a log house.  It would be wonderful if some of this would come through.  We’re progressing well on the Shihadeh house.  Just waiting on the fire suppression to get done so that we can close it in with drywall.  We’re begun work on the Denson’s garage/dog house and sun room.  It’s going to be fantasic when it’s done.  We’ve also been doing some renovation work on B2E’s offices in Leesburg. 

We are very grateful for all the work that we currently have and look forward to staying busy in the future. Keep checking back in.  Remember, whatever you might need done on, around or in your house, we can do it!  From restaining/painting the exterior, building decks, sunrooms, pergolas, gazebos, finishing your basement, remodling your kitchen and baths or any other place in your house.  Just let us know, we can do it!

Shawn