Wednesday, October 28, 2015
We shot for the stars
So this will be a fairly short post but we promise to come back. This journey to create our family home has definitely been a long time coming. We shot for the stairs and didn't settle on a house but settlement on our HOME is complete. You would think since we watched our home be built that we would be use to it. Honestly, walking into our home after settlement was a different feeling. It was finally ours. We moved in the next day using a moving company (whew Thank God) and now we are unpacking. You never realize how much you have until you have to move. To be continued....
Friday, October 23, 2015
Pre-Settlement Walkthrough
Finally, the day has arrived! After months and months of waiting, we finally see the finished product and it looks great. We couldn't be more excited and more anxious to actually move in. The process was pretty straight forward as we walked through the house and "blue taped" anything we thought needed a touch up. In addition to that, the PM informed us about some particular features and how to maintain them moving forward. It was a wealth of information but good to know. The house was in great condition, we didn't see anything major that needed to be re-worked. The biggest issue was the exclusion of our electronic damper which they will install soon.
As previously mentioned, the builders accidentally installed the incorrect knobs so these will be changed to pulls soon. Also, new cabinet drawer faces should be in within the next 2 weeks.
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| Love the front porch and the brick walk way |
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| Kitchen looks awesome. Cant wait to use the double ovens |
Thursday, October 15, 2015
We Need A Fixer...Call Olivia Pope
The Good: We're getting close to the finish line. We now have a paved driveway, partially paved sidewalk, and they're installing the hardwood floors today. They also added the missing door to the office and started work on the front steps. They finally replaced the siding that was removed in order to fix the window, however, they still haven't replaced the shutters. We're one week away from our pre-settlement walk through so things should be finishing up any day now.
The Bad: We've had a few hiccups along this process and, even though everything will be fixed accordingly, our frustration level has been at an all time high. For starters, we specifically asked that knobs not be installed on the kitchen cabinets but, even though the PM told the workers not to, knobs still found their way onto the cabinets. We are able to salvage the cabinet doors by using the preexisting drilled holes but all the drawers will need to be ordered and replaced; which could take a few weeks. This pretty much ensures that it will not be completed by the time we move in.
We also had an issue with the shelving in the master shower stall. We selected to have two shelves but a week ago we realized they only installed one. We made this known and added blue tape to the spot where we wanted the extra shelf, but today they installed the shelf in the wrong spot (takes talent). They will fix the issue immediately but its still frustrating nonetheless.
The Ugly: At this point we contacted the Production Manager to see what they can do in terms of accommodation. Hopefully they can assist us with something extra in exchange for the added frustration and inconvenience.
Now the fun stuff, pictures...
The Bad: We've had a few hiccups along this process and, even though everything will be fixed accordingly, our frustration level has been at an all time high. For starters, we specifically asked that knobs not be installed on the kitchen cabinets but, even though the PM told the workers not to, knobs still found their way onto the cabinets. We are able to salvage the cabinet doors by using the preexisting drilled holes but all the drawers will need to be ordered and replaced; which could take a few weeks. This pretty much ensures that it will not be completed by the time we move in.
We also had an issue with the shelving in the master shower stall. We selected to have two shelves but a week ago we realized they only installed one. We made this known and added blue tape to the spot where we wanted the extra shelf, but today they installed the shelf in the wrong spot (takes talent). They will fix the issue immediately but its still frustrating nonetheless.
The Ugly: At this point we contacted the Production Manager to see what they can do in terms of accommodation. Hopefully they can assist us with something extra in exchange for the added frustration and inconvenience.
Now the fun stuff, pictures...
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| New Driveway and sidewalk |
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| Kitchen and Morning Room |
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| Pantry with double oven opening |
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| Hardwood floors |
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| Fireplace |
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| Second bathroom |
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| Dining Room |
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| New office french doors |
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Back To The Future
We received the "official" date for closing letter which was set for Oct. 19th. Whooohoooo. We immediately started the process of scheduling deliveries, selecting movers, installing cable, scheduling trash services and so on.
Quick note: we were happy to know that our trash services provider, American Disposal Services, will provide a 96G trash bin and 64G recycling bin; both on wheels. But the best part is that our HOA has included the service of having bulk items such as furniture hauled away as well without additional fee. Trying to plan for oldies to be disposed of can be a pain but this alleviates that issue.
Anyway, we officially began our countdown daily, accompanied by daily high fives, happy dances and mass shopping trips for lighting fixtures. Remember you will need to buy all of these asap because the office and bedroom don't come with any. The office will be used immediately, which was remembered at the last minute, so of course a light needed to be purchased. Check out these beauties. The fans have reversible blades so you can choose a really dark espresso color or a cherry color.
We were finally able to see the light at the tunnel and envision sleeping in our king size bed again.Unfortunately, shortly thereafter our happiness was stolen.
We received email notice from Ryan Homes Settlement that our settlement date has been pushed out to Oct. 26th. Insert rage here!!! It appears some of the delays we had early on (late lumber, permit issues, etc) have caught up to us and now more time is needed to complete the house. In addition, they are working out the kinks since we are the first to build the Milan in this neighborhood. Now we have to contact everybody and reschedule, this includes paying extra money for our storage units.While in the grand scheme of things its not a huge deal but at this point we are just ready to have our own space, Wished we have more communication on the status of our home, and it's just an inconvenience. However, they have assured us that this new move in date is set in stone and it will not change again. And trust us, hubby has kept his wife on the leash but if another delay happens, guess what, she gets freedom to tell people off.
On the plus side things should speed up in the next few days. Our kitchen counter tops have been installed, we now have light fixtures and smoke detectors, and they painted the entire house a light beige color which was a pleasant surprise; we expected the walls to be white.
New pictures coming soon.....
On a side note, lets talk about not being intrusive. So as a new home builder, I understand peoples curiosity about the build process of other peoples homes HOWEVER its a bit intrusive to constantly take tours of someone else's home. I mean technically, you are an uninvited guest especially when its on a regular basis. So just a thought/suggestion, don't invite yourself to checkout someone else's home, its rude and intrusive and really uncomfortable to find someone you don't know roaming around your home or freshly driving away.
Quick note: we were happy to know that our trash services provider, American Disposal Services, will provide a 96G trash bin and 64G recycling bin; both on wheels. But the best part is that our HOA has included the service of having bulk items such as furniture hauled away as well without additional fee. Trying to plan for oldies to be disposed of can be a pain but this alleviates that issue.
Anyway, we officially began our countdown daily, accompanied by daily high fives, happy dances and mass shopping trips for lighting fixtures. Remember you will need to buy all of these asap because the office and bedroom don't come with any. The office will be used immediately, which was remembered at the last minute, so of course a light needed to be purchased. Check out these beauties. The fans have reversible blades so you can choose a really dark espresso color or a cherry color.
Office
Allen+Roth: Earling 15in diameter
Allen+Roth: Earling 15in diameter
Morning Room
Style Selections Arctura 3-Light Brushed Nickel Chandelier (Lowe's)
Style Selections Arctura 3-Light Brushed Nickel Chandelier (Lowe's)
Living Room
Brand: Hunter
Model: 46' Antero (Lowe's)
Brand: Hunter
Model: 46' Antero (Lowe's)
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Bedroom
Brand: Emerson
Model" 52' Transitional Highgrove (Wayfair.com)
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Kitchen Cabinet Handles
(We prefer pulls rather than knobs)
The one being held - Brainerd 128mm Center-to-Center Satin Nickel Arched Cabinet Pull
(We prefer pulls rather than knobs)
The one being held - Brainerd 128mm Center-to-Center Satin Nickel Arched Cabinet Pull
We received email notice from Ryan Homes Settlement that our settlement date has been pushed out to Oct. 26th. Insert rage here!!! It appears some of the delays we had early on (late lumber, permit issues, etc) have caught up to us and now more time is needed to complete the house. In addition, they are working out the kinks since we are the first to build the Milan in this neighborhood. Now we have to contact everybody and reschedule, this includes paying extra money for our storage units.While in the grand scheme of things its not a huge deal but at this point we are just ready to have our own space, Wished we have more communication on the status of our home, and it's just an inconvenience. However, they have assured us that this new move in date is set in stone and it will not change again. And trust us, hubby has kept his wife on the leash but if another delay happens, guess what, she gets freedom to tell people off.
On the plus side things should speed up in the next few days. Our kitchen counter tops have been installed, we now have light fixtures and smoke detectors, and they painted the entire house a light beige color which was a pleasant surprise; we expected the walls to be white.
New pictures coming soon.....
On a side note, lets talk about not being intrusive. So as a new home builder, I understand peoples curiosity about the build process of other peoples homes HOWEVER its a bit intrusive to constantly take tours of someone else's home. I mean technically, you are an uninvited guest especially when its on a regular basis. So just a thought/suggestion, don't invite yourself to checkout someone else's home, its rude and intrusive and really uncomfortable to find someone you don't know roaming around your home or freshly driving away.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Progress, Progress, Progress
They were finally able to fix the windows and it must have been approved by the county because the drywall is now re-installed in both bedrooms. Now we're just waiting for them to redo the siding and put the shutters up.
The rest of the house is coming along nicely. All the sinks have been installed minus the facets, the kitchen cabinets have been installed, the stair rails have been installed and painted, plus a few other minor things. Its finally starting to look like a home.
As you can see below we now have a garage door and our front porch now has rails. The rails were welcomed and a pleasant surprise for us to see because we were told we wouldn't get them since our front porch wasn't 36 inches off the ground. I guess something changed, but you won't see us complaining about it. Now we wont be the only house on the block without them.
Before
After
The rest of the house is coming along nicely. All the sinks have been installed minus the facets, the kitchen cabinets have been installed, the stair rails have been installed and painted, plus a few other minor things. Its finally starting to look like a home.
As you can see below we now have a garage door and our front porch now has rails. The rails were welcomed and a pleasant surprise for us to see because we were told we wouldn't get them since our front porch wasn't 36 inches off the ground. I guess something changed, but you won't see us complaining about it. Now we wont be the only house on the block without them.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Our Window Is A Real Pane
The good.......We seem to be making some progress, as the entire house finally has insulation and drywall. However, all the material that used to be laying in the garage somehow disappeared. We're sure they just relocated everything in the short term but it seems odd for it all to vanish the way it did. The front porch finally has concrete and it's, surprisingly, bigger than I imagined it would be.
Now the bad.....As you can see in the picture below (old pic) we are missing shutters for one window on the top floor. That's because the spacing was off between the three windows on the right side of the house and they couldn't fit in the shutters. Apparently there is a design flaw with this particular elevation of the Milan model and, since we're the first to build, they caught it while building ours. They must now take down the drywall, re-do the framing upstairs, and widen out the windows which should make all windows even across the entire house. We were assured this work would not increase our timeline to close, which is now set for Oct. 19th.
Our advice to anyone who decides to build is to visit your house frequently and don't be afraid to call your PM if you have questions. We've learned that nobody will contact us when issues arise and we want to make sure things get done to our satisfaction.
Now the bad.....As you can see in the picture below (old pic) we are missing shutters for one window on the top floor. That's because the spacing was off between the three windows on the right side of the house and they couldn't fit in the shutters. Apparently there is a design flaw with this particular elevation of the Milan model and, since we're the first to build, they caught it while building ours. They must now take down the drywall, re-do the framing upstairs, and widen out the windows which should make all windows even across the entire house. We were assured this work would not increase our timeline to close, which is now set for Oct. 19th.
Our advice to anyone who decides to build is to visit your house frequently and don't be afraid to call your PM if you have questions. We've learned that nobody will contact us when issues arise and we want to make sure things get done to our satisfaction.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
She's a Brick....House
Its been about a week and a half since our last post and nothing has changed much. We are currently awaiting several inspections to occur before they can start hanging drywall. In the meantime, we now have most of our siding and the front porch is partially complete. Apparently, the brick we chose for the house is popular and is currently on back order, so that also delays things. There has been a window in the front of the house that was been missing for about a month, which means siding cant be added to that area until its installed.Notice our awesome shutters! There are other houses nearby that began the building process after us and it seems like they're catching us in terms of progress. However, our PM has assured us that we are still on track and will be complete on time. They also went through and fixed a few things that we pointed out during the pre-drywall walk through, mainly the leveling of the floor in a few locations. Also a good chunk of material (ie. doors, sinks, etc) is sitting in the garage and we can't wait for them to be installed. For now, all we can do is patiently wait....
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