With apologies to Lao-tzu, it was a auspicious day on Dash Landing.

Freeport “unposted” its roads on Monday.  And while we would have liked to imagine a line of sub-contractors revving their engines at the border to get this thing done, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Instead, we had a big meeting at the site this morning.  Architect, contractor, excavator, well-driller, geothermal — you name it.  And during the next ninety minutes, we covered almost every imaginable aspect of the first few weeks of the project :

• Location and design of the curtain drain.  (A huge drain running all across the entire back of the house and garage)
• The height of the foundation.  This nail is proving to be even more important than we thought…
• Location of the transformer pads.  (Yes, we’re still hoping to get electricity.)
• Location of the two wells — one drinking, one geothermal
• Where the excavated fill will go and what happens while it’s “parked” in the field.  (Over-seeded with rye…)
• Septic field placement

But in hindsight a lot of the meeting was about sequencing.  The well driller needs to get his rig up on the site early in the project, but he can’t do it until more road is created.  At the same time, if the finished wells are too close to the house excavation, the odds of them getting bumped by machinery are high.  That means more road.  The wells also need to be separated from both the septic field and each other.  Still more road.  So today involved a lot of “first this happens, then that can happen and here’s where that needs to go…”

And “yes,” our contractor is John Rousseau.  We put this project out to four truly great firms — all in the Freeport area and all of which would have done a fantastic job.  But as we talked to John’s references, it was pretty clear that he was the right person for our new house.  John has built three of Steve’s co-workers homes and to a person they described John as “talented,” “fussy”  and “particular.”  Which makes him perfect for us.

Barring a monsoon, dirt flies on Monday.