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....

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.

Love the front porch and the brick walk way

Kitchen looks awesome. Cant wait to use the double ovens

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.

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...

New Driveway and sidewalk

Kitchen and Morning Room

Pantry with double oven opening

Hardwood floors

Fireplace

Second bathroom

Dining Room

New office french doors

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.

Office
Allen+Roth: Earling 15in diameter

Morning Room
Style Selections Arctura 3-Light Brushed Nickel Chandelier (Lowe's)

Living Room
Brand: Hunter
Model: 46' Antero (Lowe's)

Bedroom 

Brand: Emerson

Model" 52' Transitional Highgrove (Wayfair.com)

Kitchen Cabinet Handles
(We prefer pulls rather than knobs)
The one being held - Brainerd 128mm Center-to-Center Satin Nickel Arched Cabinet Pull

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....

Pre-Drywall Walk Through

This morning we met with the PM and completed our first (official) walk through of the house. Luckily, we made a visit to the house yesterday and made notes of the things in which we wanted to discuss with the PM, so the process went smoothly. We didnt want to be rushed so we took our time walking the house. We didn't locate anything major and everything we brought up was already scheduled to be double checked and inspected during the various inspections that will be conducted within the next two weeks. We saw a few areas that needed to be sealed better and some uneven flooring but nothing major that needed urgent attention. Our PM also informed us that the initial delivery of our framing wood was late so they're trying to make that time up. However, our front porch should be done today and the drywall should be completed sometime next week.

Not much has changed to the outside of the house, just the roof. Most of the changes have occurred inside of the home; plumbing and electrical. We were pleasantly surprised to know that all windows in the home are tinted to prevent UV rays. It looks nice and it provides some added privacy.

Lastly, the PM has informed us that many potential buyers of the Milan model have (nastily) complained to him, and the sales reps, about not having the morning room option, especially after discovering the morning room in our home. It must have been true when we were told that we would have the only Milan in the neighborhood with the morning room option. I guess the early worm gets the morning room.

We've Been Framed!!

This post was created with pure excitement. We have been complete nutcases as we watch our home transform into somewhere we can actually live one day! So far we have the basement poured and framed, main level framed and some of the top level framed without a roof. Yesterday was an adventure, hubby was the catalyst in coercing us to walk into the garage and even down to the basement. Then we began to panic about all the things we need to buy such as living room furniture, a washer and dryer, and paint. However, one of the best parts was meeting our neighbor who lives directly behind us. He is super nice and I have a feeling we will get along just fine.

During my encounter with our neighbor, we discussed the HOA guidelines on fencing as we both seemed to be concerned. The HOA guidelines state you cannot have a privacy fence because it goes against the "open feel" of the community. Instead we were hoping a semi-private fence wouldn't be an issue but it seems we may be wrong. We looked into the documents again and it specifies that the pickets cannot be any closer than 2.5 inches with a max of 5 feet high. Our concern is that 2.5 inches really doesn't create much privacy at all AND we have an 75lb dog that we plan to let roam the backyard. Although our Rosie is super friendly, we don't want her to have the ability to freely interact with others. I fear a child's hand can easily pass through the space to touch or feed her, leaving her susceptible to receiving unhealthy or even harmful food; like chocolate. Hopefully, some other people from the neighborhood see this blog and are just as concerned and want to bring this up for change. I simply want the fencing with boards that are staggered behind each other.

Here are the pictures you have been waiting for.

Front of house (without a roof)

Looking through the garage

Back of house

Nobody Light A Match

The lumber has arrived and they are almost ready for framing, but first they need to pour the concrete for the basement and the garage. Things are moving fast but I think this is regular pace. If you look behind the stack of wood you can see our neighbor's house which just started a few weeks ago. Their siding is already complete!

A bit of information about the lumbar. We were a little bit concerned about the lumbar just sitting outside to experience all the elements. Basically we were worried about rain which equals mold or mildew. Our PM was kind enough to explain the mechanics and treatment of the wood. The lumbar packages are not protected (covered) from the rain while outside but they are engineered in a way that it is mold and mildew resistant. He even went on to explain that they perform 4 separate mold inspections throughout construction process to ensure it is not an issue. What a relief. We feel like we got a really good PM and a great builder. Nothing like feeling protected while your house is being built.

July 22, 2015

 

 Pouring concrete

My mind is like concrete: thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

Oh the joy to see progress. It has been such a long process already. After all, we purchased in February 2015 and ground breaking didn't occur until July. Drum roll here...... Ryan Homes has officially poured the concrete for our foundation!!! Now we can actually begin to visualize our house on the lot and the 35 foot backyard was a pleasant surprise. As a women, you can tell us something is 35 feet all day but that means nothing without a visual. While, if you tell a man (hubby specific) 35 feet, usually equates to trying to explain using football field lengths. Insert eye roll here. So there was a bit of walking through our neighbors un-fenced grass to get these pictures (oppsies) but I'm sure they would understand since they just went through this process.

July 14, 2015 - Prepping and preparing footings for foundation walls

July 15, 2015 - Basement foundation poured

Front of Milan. Garage will be on the left

Side

Back of the House. Everything within the black plastic fence is out lot. We have to figure out the weird pipe thingie to the left. We were told it wasn't in our lot. Also you see those blue lines of spray paint. We believe this is the level in which they will be pouring the ground back up too. Also, we have walkout basement, which of course we already knew. On the left side of the house is where the stairwell will be.

There's A Hole In Our Yard!

Finally, they break ground and begin building our home. We texted the PM to get an update because we were told they would break ground on July 6th, but they didn't. Coincidentally, the PM was at the site breaking ground at the time of the text and was nice enough to send pictures of his progress as well as provide us information of the next steps. He informed us that they should be prepping and pouring footings for the foundation walls today and pouring basement foundation walls next week. Then they'll install the underground plumbing, run and tie-in water/sewer, and the next step would be pouring the basement and garage slabs. Its all very exciting!!

We were able to talk with PS and convince them to throw in the wet bar rough-in without us providing any documentation because it was already promised to us by the manager. The manager confirmed the conversation he had with us and we signed the change order form which added the rough-in for FREE!

Pre-Construction Meeting

The pre-construction meeting finally happened and we couldn't have been more excited as we realized we're finally making progress. The Project Manager (PM) seemed above competent and assured us that him and his crew were the best at Potomac Shores. We sat down and discussed the our land and elevation and realized that we have a minimal amount of land on the side of the house (if 6 ft is considered minimal) but our backyard should make up for it (est. 35 ft.). We combed through all our options, one-by-one, to assure that we were on the same page, and everything seemed to be in order. We came prepared with a list of questions, some we came up with and some we gathered from other sources, for the PM to ensure we covered all the bases. We walked away feeling really good about that meeting knowing that we had a PM who seemed like he knew what he was doing and seemed to take pride in his work. He has even won several awards as the top PM for some areas that us normal people wouldn't be able to remember the name of.

Unfortunately, later that day, we realized something was wrong. We never discussed the wet bar rough-in, in the basement in which we were promised...free of charge. We informed PS of the discrepancy and they wanted to us to find the paperwork that stated this. However, a day after the meeting we left for a 5 day cruise so we couldn't do a proper search. Upon our return we began looking for the document and we're still working with PS to resolve this issue.

Here are some of the questions and answers we asked during the meeting:

Interior

Will there be an outlet at least one of the master closets? (The wife wanted a vanity area in her closet)

o   No

Is there an outlet on the kitchen island?

o   1

Installed shower rod or removable? Can we provide an installable shower rod?

o   This is important if you wanted an installed shower rod because you would need to drill through the ceramic tiles on the shower wall.

o   No….for now

Recessed light over shower?

o   There will be a recessed light over the shower, over the tub, in the closed in toilet area and a light fixture installed over the top of vanity.

Can we remove granite back splash lip (kitchen)?

o   They do not believe TAC provides one but will double check and let them know we do not want the lip. Back splash should be from counter to the bottom of the upper cabinets.

Can we have a board/piece-of-wood mounted behind the drywall above the fireplace for TV? This will help secure the TV mount so the TV isn’t held up by the wall studs only. We plan on having at least a 60 inch TV in the Family Room.

o   Yes, just let the PM know the exact size of the TV.

Is there crown or chair rail?

o   Yes, in the foyer, study and dining room.

Towel bars in all the bathrooms?

o   Yes body towels only and only one bar. (We will personally try to find a better solution for this)

Can we provide you the 2 fans and morning room light to install when the rough-ins are made?

o   Can be addressed at a later time.

Where is attic access?

o   In the ceiling of the 2^nd guest bedroom.

Dining room wainscoting?

o   Nope but chair railing will be there

Exterior

What outdoor lights are standard – any in the front of house, back of the house? Porch lights?

o   There will be standard lights in the front of the house and backdoor. Also there will be two motion censored lights in front of the garage.

Sealed garage floor?

o   The garage floor will be bare. Sealing the floor will be completed by the owners if they desire.

How many steps will we likely have leading up to our front door? Are we guaranteed to have the full front porch railing?

o   We should have about 2 steps up to our porch based on the relatively smooth elevation of our lot; 17 inches from the ground. The front porch railing is usually reserved for houses with more than a 32inch drop from the top of the porch to the ground.

Glass in the door?

o   No, it will be a solid steel door without a peephole. He did offer to put in the peephole if we purchased it.

The View

Can we just take a moment to breathe in the view of The Bluff at Potomac Shores. You really can't beat that! We imagine taking bike rides with our future children down to the bluff and having a family picnic here.

Oh and we also stopped by our lot while showing visiting family members the neighborhood and what do you know, they have added the frame work for our neighbors house in about week  but what really matters is that PS has sectioned our lot off from the others.

Lets Get Caught Up (Jun)

June 1 - With all the time on our hands we started to have second thoughts about our back splash selection for the kitchen. We made a second appointment with TAC to re-visit our selections. Once we reviewed our selections we instantly wanted to make a change, so it was a good thing we went. We opted for a different color tile and changed the diamond shape accents from glass to antique nickel; it looked a lot better. We kept all the other options and luckily the price didn't go up since the new selections were in the same price class.

Here is what we originally chose. The dark espresso cabinets, Santa Cecilia counter, with a light beige colored ceramic tile and a glass diamond accent moving across the back splash at an angle. The source of contention, was the overwhelming about of brown and contrasting colors.

But then we chose this kitchens back splash and accent. Much cleaner and less dark. Plus the ceramic tile has hues of blue and grey.

Here is the Antique Nickel accent we are using.

June 11 - We finally heard back from PS and they're ready to break ground! We set up our pre-construction meeting with the Project Manager (PM) for June 26th. Cant wait to see things in motion.

Finally, we're caught up.......