Week 9 Progress

Yesterday we got to drive up and see the progress on our house.  Its been a long two weeks wondering what all had been going on there, we played a little guessing game before we went up trying to guess what they had done.  From reading other people's blogs I had an idea of what would come "next" after the drywall but to say we were surprised with all they had done would be an understatement.  I took at least a hundred photos (don't worry I will only share a few) and will try to document all we saw that they had done, though I am sure there are things that I wouldn't be able to pick out that they did.

The first surprise was pulling up to the house and seeing the garage door down (this was the first time we saw it down), the sidewalks in, the driveway in, the soil they put down before the sod laid, and the landscaping already in!!! (Oh and even the mailbox was in!)

The landscaping looks really good and I like it.  I sent pictures to my brother who is a landscape management major at BYU right now, He told me the tall plants by the steps are not going to look aesthetically pleasing long term as they will grow to 15 feet high and they are fast growing.  So we will plan on moving those to the backyard before they get too large to move easily.  For now, I like them. 

Tree in front yard is a Cherry Blossom tree, that will have pretty pink flowers in the spring. 

The column was installed. :)

I had my husband run up and check the door to see if it was unlocked or if we needed to head to the sales office and get the key.  Luckily we could get in.  The first thing we noticed walking into the house was the hardwood floors were installed.

The next big thing we noticed was the kitchen cabinets were in.  We all figured they would be installed by now but we did not expect the granite counter tops to be in!  It was really fun to see the cabinets, counter tops and hardwood floors come together a little bit (they were mostly covered up).

This is the first photo I took of the house on this visit, my husband insisted I take a photo of the sink w/ his hand in it to show just how huge this sink is.  Definitely love the big sink.

The electricity was on in the house.  Thermostats were installed.

The powder room toilet, floors and sink (almost installed).  I was worried about my vinyl flooring choice, was it going to look too cheap but it actually isn't bad, we can live with it.   I don't think we will regret not having extended the hardwood into the mudroom and powder, or tiling the bathroom.  At least not to start with. 

The railings were installed but not stained yet.

The bathrooms upstairs were almost done, tile work was done, cabinets, sinks, faucets, toilets.

Master Shower, just waiting for the glass enclosure now.

Soaking tub tiled, faucet in.

Master Sinks

Kids bathroom

Kids tub, and toilet

Kids bathroom ceiling:  it was a mess in this room, attic insulation everywhere.  Not sure whats going on here, though it looks like they were looking for something.

Other things we noticed in the house were the doors being installed throughout.  The attic access panel and light in one of the master closets.

The inside of the garage.

Another drywall scavenger hunt???  This was in the family room.

The fuse box was labeled.

The tankless hot water heater was installed.

A view of the basement with the insulation on the walls.

Other things done in the house that I didn't mention, the baseboards and shoe molding is in. They had light bulbs in all the lights (some had a pink glow to them, hope that can be fixed).  The light fixtures were installed where there are light fixtures like the master closets, and the dining room.  They had the plastic cap things over all the ceiling fan rough ins. All light switches and electric outlets in (obviously), and smoke detectors. 

Happy surprise with the kitchen cabinets was the soft close drawers.  We wanted those but didn't want to ask for anything special, lucky for us they turned out to be included.  :) 

So in other news we heard this week (only because we asked our SR and then NVR when they sent us an updated closing cost estimate sheet and the "prepaid interest" had only been calculated for 6 days now instead of 31) that our pre-settlement walk through and closing will be the week of May 23rd- closing on May 26th ("firm date" but if changes will let us know). I was getting really impatient because at the rate they were building the house I knew it would be finished earlier than our contracted date and I was worried they might have us close earlier rather than later.  Finding out that they're letting us close the end of May was a little bit of a weight off my shoulders.  Though I am still having a hard time figuring out what we're doing as far as extending our lease a couple weeks or trying to stay with family or friends so the kids can finish school... or just pulling the kids out and being done with school on May 31st. Hopefully we get it figured out for sure this week, its causing more stress than its worth. 

I wrote a separate post last week about this but never posted it-- I am still just trying to just "get over it" and move on.  Seeing the house again helped me to regain some of my excitement that I had lost over this house.  Anyway, and this is totally our fault for not knowing this ahead of time, and we should have been more prepared but I wanted to share this for anyone about to start this process of building with Ryan Homes so that you don't make the same mistake that we did.  I recommend getting a real estate agent, we really thought it would just be one more person we'd have to find and deal with and that we would probably have more luck at getting a better deal if we didn't have  realtor, who would take a 3% commission from Ryan Homes.  I have no idea, how much better or worse of a deal we could have gotten with a real estate agent, however there would have been some extra knowledge and wisdom given to us, especially in the area of the sales contract.  This week when we got the new updated closing cost estimate sheet I,  for the first time noticed just how much we were paying in transfer taxes (dumb I know, but to be fair to myself I have been living in a funk since my mom passed away in December).  It seemed quite high so I did some research.  In PA, where we are building there is a 1% transfer tax from the state and another 1% transfer tax from the county (I think).  Typically this cost is split 50/50 between the buyer and seller.  HOWEVER, and it actually says this in the sales agreement that we are responsible for paying ALL transfer taxes and then in parenthesis it actually says "even if typically paid for by the seller".  ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

Had we known that before we wouldn't have agreed to that.  No way.  It seems very unfair and super shady to throw that into the contract.  We just sold a home in SC last year and we the seller were in charge of the transfer taxes/"deed stamps" (wish we could have made our buyers pay for those, we had a realtor back then how come she didn't tell us to make our buyers pay for that?!?!), never would have imagined this would be part of our closing costs.  So see a real estate agent would have come in mighty handy in this instance.

It makes me sad because why don't they just pay their half?

I have tried to make it okay because of the incentive closing help, however it is supposed to be an incentive for using their lender instead of one of our choice.   If we go with another lender we lose it.

All of this was studied and discovered when they emailed an updated closing cost estimate because their title insurance went up a whooping $600 since we will be closing after May 1st!!  ...Lame.

Okay, I have to stop talking about the transfer taxes and title insurance hike, makes me mad every time.  Probably should have started the post with the annoying stuff and ended with the fun stuff but whatever.  

I don't know when we'll go to see the house again, I imagine they will be finished before we do.  I have tried to make a list of what else needs to be done, (I'm sure I won't think of it all):

carpets, interior painting, exterior painting, front door painted, glass shower enclosure, shower curtain rod, mirror in powder room, appliances, closet shelves installed, garbage disposal, kitchen faucet, drywall touch ups in ceiling and walls, railings stained, cleaning (obviously), garage door opener, numbers on front of the house, sod laid....there really isn't too much more to do.   Before we know it, it'll be time to close and move in. :) 

Week 7

We didn't plan on going up to see the house this weekend, but at the last minute decided to make the trip up yesterday afternoon.  We plan to go up again in a couple weeks but we knew there would be a lot of working going on in the house between now and then so this was a chance to see the house in this stage.

We were excited to see the deliveries in the garage, as well as the garage door installed (though it was wide open, so it was actually our daughter who noticed it as we were about to leave).

We also noticed they had put in our concrete walkway and step up to the front porch, as well as half of the sidewalk in front of our house and the other half was prepared with gravel and a frame. 

Our first family photo(s) on the front porch.

We got to meet our neighbors to the left who closed earlier this week, so that was exciting. 

We really loved seeing the walls up in the house.  We thought it would be warmer to walk through this time b/c it was a beautiful day and the house was insulated and the drywall was up but they had all the windows and doors were left wide open, we are assuming to let the drywall mud dry (???).  It was very windy out and our youngest was again too cold to hang out in the house with us for very long.  

 The doors are here!

Square column!  

View of the master bathroom from the walk in closet.

Another view of the shower and tub.  Love the window in here, it is basically the reason that sold me on upgrading the bathroom, of course we wanted the shower and the soaking tub so it was a win-win anyway, but the only way to have this window was to choose this particular bathroom upgrade. 

Here are two views of the upstairs hallway.  I love the open feeling this area has.  It'll be fun to see the actual railing in. 

The darkened room at the top of the stairs is the laundry room. 

We are halfway through week 7 at this point.

Day 42: Siding, Shutters and Drywall...

I will never stop being amazed at how much they get accomplished in such a short period of time.  We were just up there Thursday afternoon and four days later we received these photos with the siding and shutters on and I know they've been working on the drywall.  There's no way they're done dry walling yet (right??) but they have at least done the garage as far as I can see.  I"m sure I'd be equally amazed to see how much they've done in the house as well.  It truly takes a lot of effort on my part to not get in the car and drive up there while the kids are in school.  Which is so funny because after our meeting on Thursday my husband was asking when I thought we'd come back up and I said they were building so fast there is probably no need to come back up until they finish, right? ;)

Anyway, these photos help me to stay put and not waste my gas, and two hours of my day just to get a couple minute glance at the house.

Its so pretty and I love seeing it all come together. :)

Here is another photo with our neighbors on each side.  All three of us picked grey-ish colors, which had me slightly concerned but looking at the photo big on the computer makes it so I can see the different shades.  Also, they do seem like they all have their own look to them.  We are loving the amount of space between the houses too.  We are not used to that!

Pre-Drywall Meeting

Today was our pre drywall meeting.  It took  maybe almost an hour-- I didn't really pay attention to the time we started and finished.  We got to meet a 2nd PM, who actually called us last week to discuss light placement in the family room.  Both PMs walked us through the house and went over various things throughout the house.  We went through each room and they pointed out things and answered any questions we had.  One thing that was very evident throughout the meeting was that these guys are on top of everything.  Case in point:  Less than a week ago we found out there was no light included in the morning room.  Our purchase agreement does not have electrical plans for the morning room in it and we never saw blueprints of the house at our pre construction meeting.  So there really was no way for us to know this, but we probably should have thought to double check sooner in the process.  So for anyone out there who is at the beginning of the process don't be like us and just assume that the $17,000 morning room comes with a light, haha-- it may be different in different models or neighborhoods, but just make sure you ask ahead of time so you don't have to scramble at the last second when it may be too late.  Luckily for us our super late, last minute request to put in a ceiling fan rough in was quickly approved!!  I can't tell you how happy we are to not have to eat dinner in the dark until we can get an electrician out to cut a hole in our brand new house and put in a light!  Anyway, as soon as we walked into the house we immediately noticed they had placed the 4 recessed lights in the family room and they looked great and not only that... they even already had the ceiling fan rough in installed in the morning room.  So impressed and so happy.  

We were told that they will be stocking the drywall and will start to hang it tomorrow!  We did learn by going through the plans with the PMs that our basement did not come with the small window in the basement area under the morning room.  So there is that.  Also learned that having that small room wouldn't help it qualify as a "real" bedroom once its finished because it has to be a full sized window that someone can get out of in an emergency.  So other than the extra daylight it would have offered we aren't missing out on too much.  

Having been there on Saturday we saw all kinds of spray painted "notes" left around the house and we noticed that it all was fixed when we were there today.  Missing studs were replaced, the attic access was moved from bedroom 2 to the master closet just on the other side of it.  (I think its ugly and don't want it to be visible in the bedroom, so hiding it in the closet was perfect!), They had moved back the framing around the master tub that was sticking out too far.  They also had all the insulation put in on the exterior walls, and garage ceiling.  

One thing we learned was that our master bathroom will have a door on the water closet/toilet area.  The model we had been it had a door or had door hinges indicating a door (can't remember) so we assumed we'd have one too but then I read  blog that said the newer versions didn't have doors there.  I was kind of bummed because I liked the idea of not having to always see the toilet when walking through the bathroom, it would be nice to have a door on and to close it up.  Anyway, our PM said there would be a door there and then we noticed on the actual blue prints that sure enough it did include a door.  Sweet.  Its so nice to learn good things about the house that you didn't expect but love that its there! :)

One of those "good things" being square columns!  Okay, so my husband could tell you and would tell you that I've been slightly obsessed since we visited the house last Saturday and saw the neighbor's finished house with square columns.  Then noticed the house next to them with a square column... then noticed the house on the corner that is still in progress... that is also a Milan (elevation C) with a square column... see the trend?  So I pulled out my video of the street that I took on our first visit on October 29th and watched it in slow motion and zoomed in on everyone's columns.... all ROUND!  

The papers we signed in December with our sales agreement say that the column is revised for elevations B, C, and E and that the round columns are switched for square columns.  This made me SO excited but when my husband asked about it at our pre construction meeting the SR and PM told us "No, the're round".  So bummed.  Well, my crazy obsessive "research" (just all the stuff I listed above... plus showing the plans to all my construction brothers and father at a family party this weekend) had me 99% convinced that the revision on our plans was right and we will be getting a square column and not a round one.  So we asked again today at the meeting and they didn't have an answer for us, said it depends on elevation.  Hmmmm... well then we thought to check the plans when we went back in after the meeting was over to take some photos.  They have to go off the plans, which is what they told us, so we needed to see what the plans said.  YES!!!  8" SQUARE column!!  Okay, yes I know I just went on for the longest paragraph ever over a dumb column but I seriously HATE the round columns, they seem very 1990s to me and that is probably because that is when my parent's built their home and they have round columns.  Anyway, I was kind of sad that we didn't have it in our budget to add stone to the front of our house or to do the elevation E which I really wanted.  So if we can just have a square column I can love the look of the front of my house so much better.  Make sense?  Yes, I know I'm crazy.  Anyway, after looking at the plans I am really only 99.9% sure because who knows what column will show up and they'll install?  Fingers crossed!

Now some pictures of my favorite sightings during our meeting today.

This pile of siding was delivered on our front yard when we pulled up!  Such a great sight to see.  I can't wait to see the house w/ siding and shutters on!!  They were almost done with our next door neighbors siding while we were there today, hopefully ours is next!  :)

Love this back walls of windows!

And this "dining room" is such a nice size.  We will put the piano in here and hopefully turn the rest of the space into a library and computer area for our children to do their homework.  We don't want them to have computers/internet access in their bedrooms, so this is a perfect centralized location for that.

Our "flint" siding.  Its gray, but kind of a blue-ish gray.

Loved the cute little stairs they put in the garage.  

Easily our favorite room in the house, wouldn't have wanted this house without this room.

Do you see what I see?  ;)

Loving our future home and the pile of siding in front of it.  You can see some of the neighbor's siding going up back there too.

Love the wide staircase!