Our View From Above: Building a Milan: Pre-Construction Meeting

Despite the blizzard on the weekend we were able to have our pre-construction meeting today. I feel kind of silly about the whole thing, I've read so many blogs and read the manual they gave us at signing so I knew about the pre-construction meeting and wondered when it would be, especially after our SR had told us at signing that they would break ground the end of January. So when we inquired about the meeting our SR said it usually happens about two weeks before they start and he would check to see when we were scheduled to start and we could pick a day that worked for us. Seemed very laid back, and casual and almost like we were the ones who were asking for the meeting, not like it was one of their meetings they always do (if that makes any sense?) Anyway, then we get there today and find out that they aren't going to start the week of February 8th like they told us last week but we're now scheduled to start February 15th. No big deal to us. Apparently they are going out of "turn" and doing the house to our right first, then coming back and doing ours even though we both have loan approval and we technically signed two days before they did. Maybe their delivery day is sooner than ours? The SR didn't really know why they were doing it that way just saw it on his schedule this week when he came in.
Anyway, the meeting was very informative, took a little under an hour. We didn't walk the lot at all. Its covered in 2 feet of snow (not sure if they normally walk the lot or not out here?) The meeting was very laid back, both the SR and PM told us things about our house, we asked a couple of questions as they went through as they came into our heads. We didn't prepare a list of questions to ask, from reading all the blogs I pretty much knew all the answers they'd give me and we really don't need them to do anything extra special. The one thing I did ask them to do if possible is to move the (ugly) access panel from my boys bedroom to the laundry room or the walk in closet that is right there next to the boy's bedroom. The PM thought it may not have enough room in the laundry but could possibly fit it in the closet, he needs to check with his inspector (I think he said) but he was going to try to make that happen for us. Anyway, if they can do that we will appreciate it, if not its not too big of a deal.
My husband was most excited to find out that our garage door opener comes with a key pad panel thing to access the garage. I never would have thought to ask about that. He also asked if our upgraded shower came with a bench/seat or not. We had seen it in the model in Maryland but didn't know if it was included in ours. The PM and SR didn't know, and the SR thought maybe it wasn't even an option here in PA but the PM had him look up the plans on the computer and sure enough it IS included in our plans.
We had also hoped that they would clear some of this gross brush stuff at the end of our property, it goes down a little hill at the end and we knew they wouldn't sod down the hill but would love if they cleared it a bit so that the kids weren't climbing in it. We didn't even ask them about it, the SR told us that our neighbor to the left of us who is already under roof at this point (we saw it was just the basement when we went and had our picnic after we got loan approval), apparently he also wanted them to clear that stuff out and asked and they are doing it for him, so they are also going to be doing it for us! Sweet! Thanks neighbor!
Speaking of neighbors, our SR said he "couldn't say too much" but he gave the impression that he really likes our neighbors on either side and flat out said that he'd want to live where we are living, with the neighbors on either side of us. So that is nice, it probably means they have children, which will be great for us. We are excited to hopefully meet them during the construction process rather than all the way in May when we move in. Both the PM and SR then went on a little bit about how nice the people were and really how nice of a neighborhood in general it is. We already had gotten that impression while doing our research on the area but its nice to hear from people who are around it a lot more than we are.
Anyway, it was a quick meeting, they went through all the paper work with all the specifications and everything was right, no mistakes there. Our SR is really on top of everything and it was obvious that the SR and the PM are very good friends and get along great. They work together well and it shows, we do not foresee any issues with working with either of these guys... hopefully they will continue to be our SR and PM throughout the entire process.
We are very excited to get started in a few weeks and excited to watch our house be built. Really can't wait to see it all come together, and we walked away from our meeting today even more excited than before and really feeling like we are going to have such a cute house that we will LOVE!

Here are some photos just for fun...

This is of the model where we are building. It is the Venice model, and what I really loved was noticing that its the same color hardwood floors that we chose (wish our planks were going to be this size but they'll be slightly thinner... either way they're sure to be gorgeous! I've been worried about it b/c the photo I took in the design center came out weird with the lighting and the floors didn't look dark enough. But if they are this dark then I will be so happy with them).