So it’s been way too long since we last made a post, but a
lot has indeed been going on. While we still have not received an approval from
NVR—another topic another day, or maybe later in this post—we have secured a
loan with SunTrust so I will not harp… (Maybe I will at the end, let’s see how
this post goes.)
To the good news: Progress is being made. The house is
coming along quite well and I have to say I’m more than pleased with the
progress.
The Wood: On our journey back from a wedding, we came back
to see that our lumber had been delivered. This was a welcome sight. One of our
neighbors to be (NTB) informed us that the wood had been there since Friday. We
returned home on Sunday. In my head I was thinking, “Why waste a perfectly good
Saturday, framing could have started :-)?”
In reality I knew this would not have been the case. What I wasn’t prepared for
was the fact the wood would sit for the entire week, and weekend, and halfway
through the next week. I guess it’s hard to find good framers when there are
multiple houses being built in the same community, at the same time. Our PM did
explain that they do only work with a few trusted companies so at times the
framing could be delayed. But nonetheless, I drove over there almost every day
to see the same pile of wood still sitting. But I did see something a tad bit
more alarming…
Our floor outlets were not in the right place! I could tell
this from the car looking at the poured foundation. Finally I decided to walk
onto the foundation and sure enough, it was incorrect. It was off by four feet.
That’s not good. I called the PM. Wait, let me digress!
I called the Ryan office, which then would place a call to
the PM whom I didn’t hear from for three days… A tad bit disappointed in this
routing system as it is very inefficient. Finally after I went in and spoke
with the Sales Rep, I did hear from the PM the next day. He assured us that
this could be fixed during framing, primarily because I don’t think he believed
it was off, and once I saw it framed I would think it was okay. But no, the
outlets where they are would be sitting in the middle of the living room,
useless to our plans. So I reassured him that they still needed to be moved. We
will be showing him the correct location in our pre-drywall meeting tomorrow.
The Framing: I have to say I was utterly amazed at how fast
the framing happened. And after stalking my lot and wood for a week and a half,
I decided I would stalk a portion of the building process. Not because I think
they would do something wrong, and trust me, if you have not seen framers in
action before and you are overly concerned that they would do something wrong, DO NOT go watch them frame your house!!!! You
may have a heart attack!
The reason I went is because I was curious as I have never
seen a house framed before. It was amazing to say the least. What I didn’t
understand, even though they told us beforehand, is that most of the wood is
put together at the facility prior to shipping to the lot. The crane took
pre-put-together (I know it’s not a word, I just made it one), wood towards the
foundation, and the framers guided the structure into place, hammered a few
nails and it stood erect; I couldn’t believe it! In one day they had our entire
first floor done and started laying the floor for the second floor. It was a
treat to see. My job started getting in the way so I could not stay and watch
them frame the entire house. But if I could have, I would have.
The Windows: On Wednesday of last week, we had our meeting
with Guardian to walk through the house for the low voltage wiring. The details
may end up being a separate post. At the time of the walkthrough, the house was
completely standing and the majority of the roof had been added. My sister came
into town so we went back over to the house on Saturday evening show her the
house and to check on the progress. To our surprise, and happiness, the
shingles had been added to the roof, the house had been wrapped and the windows
were put in, too. This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Having the
windows in the house just gave this sense of a home that wasn’t completely
there when they were missing. It’s coming together nicely.
Words of Wisdom:
1.
Keep in mind that anything constructed is not
perfect, but at the same time, expect high quality. There were a few things
that we noticed that simply needed to be fixed. I’m happy to see that it was
taken care of prior to us needing to bring them up with the PM, but don’t
hesitate if it’s something that could cause issues after the house is built
(The floor outlets in the wrong place for example.)
2.
For your pre-drywall meeting, be sure to take
your camera and a tape measure. You should take pictures of every wall in your
house prior to the drywall going up. I have heard from people I trust that this
has saved them many times after their homes were built by knowing what’s behind
the walls and where.
3.
Be sure to clearly indicate where things go if
it’s not part of original floor plan. There has been one issue that was put in
place (floor outlets) and one adverted (eye ball lights in the bonus
room). Help the PM, because had we not
caught the former and had another conversation about the latter, we would not
have been happy with the decisions that were made. Communication is key!
4.
Continue to be flexible. I know this is hard to
say and harder to do. But building a house is a process. This is a job that a
ton of people are behind and for the most part, I’m sure they want to do a good
job. Stay level-headed because in the end, you are the one who will be living
in the home for the next <insert number> years :-).
