Trees, diagrams, and Dads approval

Today we went by the house to pick out the tile, take videos/diagrams of HVAC, plumbing, and electrical, and show my parents the house.  This morning we walked around a bit measured, took videos and made diagrams.  We really got a chance to enjoy the house a bit for a non rushed longer period of time.  We're usually rushing to get home after work for the dog.  When we got there I noticed there we a dozen trees on an empty lot and they were huge trees.  So excited these are the trees that are going on the berm behind out house!  Can't wait to see how they are going to look!  (*UPDATE: those trees aren't for behind our house, boo!)  We also tried to pick out the tile, but our SR wasn't there and the fill in had no idea.  So we are going back tomorrow to talk to our SR.  Hopefully he was informed about the tile we need to pick out.

This afternoon we met my parents there and my Dad was able to check out the house.  He didn't seem to notice much of anything that was wrong, which is awesome.  A few things here and there he said I can't believe they do this, but it was nothing that would make our house fall down or anything.  So glad that they drove all the way here to give me a better piece of mind about our house.  They are awesome!

That's terrible placement for an exhaust vent!!

Today we found out what the 2 x 2 hole was above our front door.  It's for the half bath exhaust fan!   For one it's an eye sore and for two I don't want my front door smelling like poop!!  This is crazy and awful!  It's definitely going to stick out more like a sore thumb once the dark siding is put on!  I emailed my PM and said this better get moved or something.  The crazy part is some other Ryan Homes have this on the front of their house too, which I have never seen another house with a vent on the front of the house.  The other Ryan Homes vents are off to one side or the other, not on top of the front door.  But still I don't want it anywhere in the front of the house, it's just plain awful!!

***UPDATE:  They are moving it to go out the back of the house!

Changes - Our PM is Awesome!

This is a list of changes we requested and their result during the building process.  Just a good way to keep tract and document all the items we find to make sure they get changed.

- Vent location moved further away from front door entrance side

*UPDATE: moving it over to other side of door

- Vent location moved further away from back door

*UPDATE: can't do because cabinets would be too close

- Remove half bath exhaust vent in middle of front of the house (looks terrible!)

*UPDATE: moving it to the back of the house

- Center lights in master bedroom with shorter wall
*UPDATE:  moving lights and fan rough in centered to where we want them

- Put tile in a brick layout fashion for master bath

*UPDATE: will cost us $275 - decided that was expensive and said never mind

- Change the light over the sink to a flush mount from a recessed can to be able to put centered
*UPDATE: all changed

- Center fridge cabinet
*UPDATE: all set

- Move thermostat over a little from corner of dinning room
*UPDATE: all set

- Have hot water tank under stairs and not in the place we want to finish
*UPDATE: Not under stairs, but in line with the furance.  I guess that's better than nothing.

- Fix holes in rafters that were okay to be there, but most people ask them to be filled
*UPDATE: no problem

- Move address numbers on garage below garage light
*UPDATE:  all set

- Have outlet under small cabinet next to fridge
*UPDATE:  all set

- Make sure island has outlet in it
*UPDATE:  put in without us having to ask

- Make sure bowed walls get fixed
*UPDATE:  most were fixed without us asking and the one that was not got fixed a couple days after we told our PM about it

On a side note:  I have to say our PM is awesome!  It's been so great working with him.  He actually listens to our concerns and not only finds out if they can be done for us, but he explains to us why it can't be done.  He even realizes some of our ideas are a good idea and do make the house better and tells us this.  It's very nice to have someone listen to our concerns and not brush them off, but instead takes action for us to see to it that we will love our new house at the end of all this!:-)

Locked in our interest rate!

Today we decided to see what the NVR interest rates were since it's been at a yearly low for some time now.  To our surprise the rates were the same for 60 days and 90 days!  We decided we wanted to guarantee the low rates and to lock it now.  Here was our options we could pick from:

·         4.125% rate would cost you .5% point

·         4.25% rate would give you a .375% credit

·         4.375% rate would give you a .875% credit 

We decided to go with the 4.125% rate in order to save on our monthly mortgage amount.  We hope we made the right decision, but are very glad to have our rate locked for move than a month over the expected completion date.  I really hate gambling, but glad we got a lower rate than what we started at.  Hopefully the rate doesn't decrease more, but not much we can do anymore which is very unsettling.

In other news

My parents are coming up tomorrow to see the house all framed and check it out to see if there is any issues.  My dad was a contractor and has an eye for things that we would never see.  We are so happy that they are coming to see the house before it's closed up.  They were going to go to the pre-dry wall meeting with us, but after I told my dad it would be insulated he said there really isn't a use for him to look at anything since it will be covered up.  I really wanted him to see it framed and inspect the house to make me feel safe, so they said they'd come up tomorrow to do that and I couldn't be more thankful!

Tomorrow we're also going to measure all the HVAC, electrical, plumbing, cable, and internet out and record it to keep for our records to know where things are behind our walls and ceilings.

Also, my husbands parents are coming up on Sunday to see the house and lot and everything.  This is the first time they will be seeing what we picked out and it will be very exciting to show them everything!  It should be a good weekend!

On a side note, the electrician called us this morning to clarify the light pre-wire over the island.  He wanted to know if we wanted it on a separate switch.  We were hoping it would be, so were glad he called and clarified it with us. 

Problem encountered favors us!!

We got a call today from our PM, he said there's a problem with the shower surround and the window in the roman shower.  Because our floor plan is so new they haven't had a person buy a Sewickley with the roman shower, which for whatever reason does not include tile in it's upgrade fee.  Basically the window and surround wouldn't both fit and he gave us two options or any options we could think of.  The options were to remove the window in the shower or they would give us free tile for the shower to keep the window!  That was a no-brainer, since we were going to do the tile ourselves later and we wanted to keep the window for light.  So pretty much they are giving us free tile and we get to go pick that out tomorrow!!  It was awesome news to brighten up our day today!

*UPDATE:  Free tile was either white or cream 6 by 6 tiles, not really pretty.  Kind of annoying they didn't allow us to pick out better tile since we were going to tile it ourselves after we moved in with a nicer tile, but not much we can do.  At least it will be tiled and maybe we can redo it or add a border or make the floor tile we do really nice to off set this tile.  We did ask if they can be arranged like subway tile to make it look some what better, but that would have cost $275 extra.  We can redo the tile for a little over that, so we said no and are just going to live with the tile.

PM Updated 5/29/14

PM Update:

- Thursday 5/29/14: HVAC is being worked on

- Friday 5/30/14: Framers back to fix issues that PM found (PM found quite a bit, which is good)

- Friday 5/30/14:  Roof should be done, they didn't order enough shingles that's why they didn't finish (probably because of the non-standard 4ft extension with the garage created some confusion)

- Monday 6/2/14: Electrical will be done, but it has been started

- Tuesday 6/3/14: Insulation will be completed

- Thursday 6/5/14: Pre-dry wall meeting at 8 AM

- Thursday 6/5/14: Dry wall will be loaded into the house

- Friday 6/6/14: Dry wall will be started

Side notes:

- He said we should be done by July 17th or within 3-4 days of this date
- Closing will be within a few days of July 17th (YAY!)

Roof, Plumbing, & HVAC

Almost all the roof is complete, except for a part in the back of the garage.  The pluming looks like it is completed, the electrical is started, and the HVAC was started as of yesterday.  We've been going to our house everyday this week (except for tonight) to see all these little things happen, but not much to show.  We had to sneak in last time, they locked the front door.  The garage door was unlocked and egress window isn't in yet,  so we still were able to get in lol.  We did ask our PM to change a few of the vents because they were close to the doors and in one bedroom it was located were we wanted to place a bed.  He is off today, but he said he'll look into it Monday.  We also found siding on our lot, but it was tan -not the color we ordered!  The PM said he is going to look into it on Monday also.  Hopefully it's not for our house and ours just hasn't come yet.

Framing Complete - Video & Pictures

Funny story, while we were taking the outside pictures we noticed somebody on our lawn next to the port-a-potty.  It was a mom and son, with the dad in the car.  The son was peeing next to the port-a-potty.  We were shocked!  When we looked over the mom said sorry it was a emergency and the port-a-potty doesn't work.  How weird, first I didn't know port-a-potties broke and second it's just plain weird lol!  Anyway here are some better pictures of our house all framed and a video that I made showing the house walk through.

Dinette and Family Room 

Dinette and Family Room

Backyard and Berm

Dining Room 

Kitchen and Dinette

Study 

Master Bedroom, Bath. and Walk In Closet

Appliances

We were on a mission last weekend to get the rest of our appliances because of all the memorial day sales going on.  We got the dishwasher, stove, and microwave with Ryan Homes and all we needed was a refrigerator and washer and dryer.  We live in apartment right now, so we have no appliances or ever bought any appliances before.  

We went to sears and found great deals and we met our neighbors!  We gave the sears guy our future address to price out a washer and dryer and the couple behind us were like hey we're your neighbors we're moving in in two weeks.  They were there looking for appliances too.  They seemed really nice and reminded us of ourselves.  It was awesome to met our neighbors, they are actually right across the street from us!  We met them also in the refrigerator section and they were like see you at home depot too right lol.  Little did they know that was our next stop, we just wanted to get the best price and wanted to go there to compare the prices.  Too funny that that was our plan too!  We ended up going to home depot, didn't see them there though lol, and best buy.  The deals are sears were definitely the best so we went back and got them!

We got a Kenmore French door refrigerator 7032 for almost half off!  It's $1399 (originally $2599) until today if anyone is looking for a nice refrigerator!  We love the refrigerator and at that price we didn't hesitate at all.

We had some trouble finding a washer and dryer, there were so many options and so many of them it was very confusing.  We went back and forth between two similar items a samsung and a kenmore, we ended up going with the kenmore based on the price to sale ratio, reviews online, and energy used.  It was around $1200 for both, but originally it was $1900 for both.  The samsung only saved you around $100 while this one saved you $700 and it was pretty much the same machines, price, and type.  We got the Kenmore 68102 7.6 cu. ft. electric dryer and Kenmore 4.5 cu. ft. 28102 washer.

We ended up getting warranties and pipes and hoses to go with everything.  I was very surprised that the dryer plug didn't come with the machine, but oh well.  We finally got all our appliances!

 

All Done with Framing - Second Day of Framing!

We went to see our house on Friday after work.  When we got there the framing was done, the windows were in, and no one was there.  We are still in shock that it only took 2 days to frame our entire house, hope they did it well!  Anyway we actually got to walk inside and see everything, it was so awesome!  All the room sizes looked pretty good, except for the dinette (but we can definitely make that work seeing how our dinning room is pretty big)!  The 9ft ceilings are amazing and after being spoiled in all our apartments with 9ft ceilings we are glad to have them again.  They just make the rooms look so much bigger!  We are going to go back tomorrow and get better non-iPhone pictures and a movie, just another excuse to go see the house again.  On Friday we took some pictures, but that was only after we looked around in awe for about 15 min until we realized we should probably take some pictures too lol.

PM Update 5/23/14

PM Update Today:

- Today: Trusses going up and roof sheeted, window and doors going in

- Tuesday: Plumbing will be done

- Tuesday: Roof will be done

- Tuesday/Wednesday: PM will inspect the framing to check for gaps, etc.

- Wednesday/Thursday: HVAC will be installed

- Friday: Issues and gaps that PM finds will be fixed

- Friday: Electrical will be done

Side notes:

- Neighbors will be excavated on 29th

- Us and our neighbors will be all done within 40-50 days from each other

- Berm will be flattened and leveled off better once neighbors get excavated and when they figure out who is paying for it (not us lol)

- Once berm is done all lots will be grated together

- Basement is dry, water table is great on our side of the road

We Have a House - First Day of Framing!

We have been going by the neighborhood everyday after work to see the progress on the house that is being framed before ours can start.  We couldn't wait for that one to be done because it meant ours would be starting next!  They started their framing on Monday or Tuesday (we didn't go see on Monday) and yesterday they had a roof and were just finishing up and putting in windows.  This meant ours would be starting today.  Well when we got there after work we already had not a first, but a second floor done!!  It was almost all framed in one day!  Crazy we couldn't believe it and we were kind of upset we missed some of the process, but happy it's framed almost!  It looks like we should have a roof and windows tomorrow, probably as long as the weather stays dry.  YAY!  We were so excited!  We also got to see the framing being lifted into the house while we were there, which was pretty cool!  

On a side note, but still exciting we are going to pick out our granite slab on Saturday!  Also on another side note, we didn't realize the second floor was going to over hang the first floor in the back, but I guess it's okay just weird on why they would do that!

*UPDATE:  When we went to pick out our granite slab they basically said all of them are from the same lot and our similar and asked us if the top one was okay.  Wish we would have know that's all we were going to do because we would have saved ourselves a trip.  It might just be the place we went and the granite we picked, but it wasn't what I was thinking it would be like.

We Got Wood!!!!

Stopped by the "house" tonight after work and we saw that our wood was delivered.  Even though we won't start framing until late next week or the following week, it's still pretty exciting.  We are just concerned about our wood sitting outside uncovered for more than a week in the weather.  We probably should contact our PM with this concern.

PM Update 5/15/14

Our Weekly Update from Our PM:

-As of Today: Basement is poured and dried and they are prepping for framing

Burm: Town approved burm location/height, will even out every ones burm out once they dig our neighbors hole around May 30th

-Monday May 19: Framing starts on our neighbors (3-4 days if everything goes good)

-Friday May 23: Framing may start on ours and should have a roof by the following week

Note: He said we are a few days behind because of the rain, but hopefully we can make up some time with the framers.  He thinks 4th week of July we should be done, but I have a feeling it might be 1st week of August by the sounds of it.  He keeps asking us anything else or got any other questions and all we can think of is if should we have something, is there something wrong we are missing?  I think he's just trying to be a good PM though, at least I hope that's all it is and we are not missing something lol.

Electrical Box, Walk Way, and Port-A-Potty

Stopped by the "house" today to see the poured basement and garage, but they weren't poured yet.  Instead we found our electrical box attached and a stone walk way to our front door.  At least it's progress and hopefully we'll have our basement and garage poured soon.  Wood is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, we'll probably check it out on Thursday.  My husband is too funny he was so excited about their being a port-a-potty on our lot lol.  He thought it was funny and needed a picture of this.  We also waved to our SR as we drove be today, he was so nice and a big help glad he remembers us.

Also, our neighbors siding was going up.  It's some sort of light yellow/tan color.  Most of the houses are light colored in our neighborhood and in all Ryan Homes neighborhoods.  Is it just me or do other people think it looks sort of boring?  I'm so glad we were give a dark color siding upgrade from our SR for free.  I can't wait to see the dark gray we are going to have on our house!:-D