Pre-Construction Meeting

Pre-construction meeting is out of the way!

We met Frank, our Project Manager, today. He was very nice and attentive to our questions and concerns. He's been with Ryan Homes for 5 years managing different communities. He seems very knowledgeable and didn't skip a beat when it was time to answer my questions. We liked him, which is a great start :)
For everyone out there: make sure you know exactly which changes you've made, even if you got your Addendum. We had an extra outlet in the basement ceiling and the single kitchen bowl selected, but they weren't on the PM's paperwork. That is exactly the purpose of those meetings, of course, but don't assume RH will have everything in place.

Here are the answers to my questions:

1. When will you be onsite?
Monday - Friday, 6:30am to 3:30pm

2. Will you be away on vacation during this build?
No

3. What's your preferred contact method and how frequent will we get updates?
Email or text. At the beginning, probably every other week. As construction pick up, weekly

4. What is the rough schedule from ground breaking to delivery?
Breaking ground tomorrow. Should be finished by end of April / beginning of May (we had asked SR at contract signing to settle in June, if possible. She said she's aware and we should be ok with that)

5. Can remnants be saved from construction (tile/wood/carpet/siding/etc.) and placed in garage?
Yes. We will keep it in the unfinished portion of the basement. Note that if we have to do any fixes in the first couple months after you move in, that we will use that material first before ordering more.

6. Will the subflooring be glued/screwed or glued/nailed?
Glued / screwed

7. Will drywall be screwed or nailed?
Both

8. What kind of insulation do you use throughout home? Blown/sprayed/batting?
Blown in the attic, batting in the exterior walls

9. Is each bedroom on a separate circuit?
Master is on one circuit, 2nd and 3rd bedrooms should be on another

10. What type of feed lines are run for plumbing? PEX/PVC/copper?
PEX for water and PVC for drain

11. Does our ump pump come with backup battery?
No. We don't need it since we are on a slab

12. How many coats of asphalt will the driveway get? 
Potentially two

13. What's the location of power outlets (and make sure he knows of the basement ceiling one we paid for)?
We were shown an electrical map of the house

14. Will the laundry room have light and outlets?
Yes

15. Are there outlets in garage and exterior?
Outlets in the garage wall, as well as one in the ceiling. One outlet by the front door, one on the deck, and one under the deck

16. Where is the hose connection located?
One in the garage and another one in the back of the house

17. Will our lawn be seeded?
Sodded

18. What are the dimensions of the backyard for fencing? 
He gave us a plot map. Should be 26 x 20', approximately

19. When can we visit site?
Anytime, just give him a heads up so he can expect us

20. Which way does the ceiling beam in basement run?
Side to side

21. Can you center the island lights?

No (this one was a bummer. We have 6 recessed lights in the kitchen, but the 3 lights above the island is not centered)

Those were the main questions. Now we wait until we see progress. Can't wait to start getting pictures :)

Pre-Construction Meeting Prep Work

Hello, hello!


Finally, I have some updates regarding our home: we will have our pre-construction meeting tomorrow. Woohoo!
Chad and I aren't too sure what to ask the Project Manager, so I did some researching on Google. Also, I saw a post from Travis at Some Roads Lead to Rome which helped me tremendously. I'm sure more questions will come to mind once we're there, but this should be a great starting point. I'll update the post tomorrow with the PM's answers:

1. When will you be onsite?

2. Will you be away on vacation during this build?

3. What's your preferred contact method and how frequent will we get updates?

4. What is the rough schedule from ground breaking to delivery?

5. Can remnants be saved from construction (tile/wood/carpet/siding/etc.) and placed in garage?

6. Will the subflooring be glued/screwed or glued/nailed?

7. Will drywall be screwed or nailed?

8. What kind of insulation do you use throughout home? Blown/sprayed/batting?

9. Is each bedroom on a separate circuit?

10. What type of feed lines are run for plumbing? PEX/PVC/copper?

11. Does our ump pump come with backup battery?

12. How many coats of asphalt will the driveway get? 

13. What's the location of power outlets (and make sure he knows of the basement ceiling one we paid for)?

14. Will the laundry room have light and outlets?

15. Are there outlets in garage and exterior?

16. Where is the hose connection located?

17. Will our lawn be seeded?

18. What are the dimensions of the backyard for fencing? 

19. When can we visit site?

20. Which way does the ceiling beam in basement run?

21. Can you center the island lights?

Some Confirmed Dates

Yay, we have scheduled our pre-construction meeting: February 7th. They had slots available as early as next Monday (1/30), but Chad didn't want to take a day off work to do that. He usually works from home on Tuesdays, so 2/7 was the next Tuesday the PM had available to meet with us.


I wanted to kill him; Chad, not the PM. I need the PM to make sure my house is built.


According to our SR, ground should break second week of February. They had told us last week of January, so that's a little disappointing. I will blame Mother Nature on that one. It'll make me feel better.


Ai ai ai.

The Anticipation is Killing Me

I know we have just started this journey, but I can already tell this part of the process is the WORST. We have signed papers, selected our options, gotten an initial approval, and paid an amount of money that could have been used to buy a LOT of candy and now... nothing.


Ground has not been touched yet and we are still waiting for our pre-construction meeting to be scheduled. I guess it doesn't help that the weather in MD has not been optimal...wait. Why am I measuring my words in here? It's been crappy. Shitty. A pain in my anxious ass.


Anyway...


Once we see some progress with construction, I will start feeling better. This is something so big for us, and as I mentioned in the last post, I'm just so excited and borderline obsessed. And I don't want to lose the habit of posting here, hence the babbling. Also, the anticipation is literally killing me. Look at what I found on my head this week:

My very first gray hair.

Too many changes in 1 month. I can't deal with this.

HELP!

HELP! I NEED HELP!

I'm on the verge of dropping to the ground like a 3-year-old, throwing a massive tantrum because I can't get what I want. If this were a Marshmallow Test, a whole bag would be gone. No delayed gratification for this girl.

I want my house ready. RIGHT NOW.

Now that we got the initial approval for our loan, the next step is to sit with Sam and our Project Manager for our pre-construction meeting so they can start breaking ground (apparently, that can occur simultaneously, too). They haven't given us a date for that yet, although she said it'd be in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I've been obsessing about everything house: I've been reading other blogs, browsing Pinterest for ideas on decoration, walking aimlessly around Home Depot and Lowe's making lists of items we might need.... It's very entertaining, to tell you the truth.

Chad and I actually decided to start buying some things for the house now--we don't want to start this new journey with a credit card debt. Last week, for example, we were at Walmart and saw a grill that usually costs $230 on sale for $99. That was a no-brainer. I do have a big ass box sitting in my living room, but hey, sacrifices, right? This is it:

Can't wait to cook some juicy steaks on this baby!