We are working on the piers that hold up the porch. These are columns that are cement block below ground and brick above ground with a concrete core. We have had rain and snow all week. This has not helped us at all. There is a thin crust of frozen ground at the surface, underneath that 4″ – 6″ of mud. All that mud means that bringing in equipment to back fill around the piers will be a problem, so I think I will be spending some time with a shovel. But at least it will be fairly easy to shovel from a pile right beside the trench into that same trench.
So good news however the gas and electric utilities will be installed withing the next month and for some reason the price on both has went down. The first thing in this whole project that has cost less that I planed.