A ground-up rebuild on a site where the previous home had been lost to a forest fire the year before. I started from bare earth — building the footings, laying up the ICF stem walls for a raised floor system, and leading the framing through completion.
The footing pour set the tone for the project. It was winter, calcium had been added to the mix to accelerate set time in the cold, and a concrete truck driver failed to chain up before backing down a steep, snow-covered driveway toward the waiting pump truck. He slid off the road, nearly rolling a fully loaded truck and blocking access to the pump for two hours while we dealt with getting him righted. By the time concrete was flowing again, the clock was running hard against the accelerated mix. I finished the last stretch of footings leveling and troweling simultaneously with a square shovel as the mud was already setting up. We completed the pour without losing a yard of concrete.
The footings came out surprisingly level, the ICF forms went together cleanly, and the framing proceeded without issue. A situation that could have cost the entire pour — and set the project back significantly — ended up being just another day on a winter job site.