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.