Pre-Drywall Meeting

Hello!

We had our pre-drywall meeting today. Our PM tried to reschedule it to this Thursday since they haven't started insulation on our house yet, but our inspector said he actually would prefer to see the house without it and make sure nothing major would be behind any insulation. So that's what we did.

Frank was very nice to us, as usual. We walked the house and he explained to us what we were seeing. We had a few questions about the house, but we didn't know exactly what to look for. Having the inspector with us was very important as he did catch a couple of things we would have never thought of (a crack on the window frame, a disconnected HVAC duct, a couple of cables not nailed to the walls). Nothing too major, according to him, but glad he caught it. He will be sending us a report by tomorrow.

Now, the most important thing: the closing date.
According to Frank, they are having some issues with the electric company coming over, installing the meter, and starting service in the homes. Apparently, demand is way too high and they are having issues keeping up with it all. Frank hopes and is somewhat confident that they will have it all taken care of by first week of May. If that's the case, we should have our walk on 5/27 and close 5/31. We had talked to RH about closing in June, so I'll remind our SR of it and maybe we can schedule it for a couple of days later-- 6/2. That would work perfectly for us :)

We asked Frank for a few favors, but unfortunately he couldn't help us. They were:
- leave the granite lip out for backsplash
- install our fans
- install our cabinet knobs (we bought oil bronze ones). This he may be able to help after the house passes the QA inspection.

This is it! We are so excited and can't wait to move! :D

Pre-drywall Meeting Scheduled

Our pre-drywall meeting has been scheduled for this Tuesday, 4/4. So exciting!
We didn't know if we should have an independent inspector with us or not, but after asking a few people, we decided to go for it. We are not sure what to look for, so having that (experienced) extra set of eyes will definitely be helpful. Very worth it the fee. We will pay our inspector $300.

On a side note about our dormers issue, PM said they will be installing the dormers late April as he needs the framers to come around with a crane and we are past that framing stage. We are ok with it, as long as it is installed properly and before we move. Just a heads up for those following our blog in case they might wonder where the dormers are :)

Issue Resolution

This afternoon Chad and I received a call from Sam with a resolution on our dormers issue. Ryan Homes will honor what they represented to us and we will be getting our cute dormers. Woohoo!

I must say that we are very satisfied with how they handled the issue. Yes, it was stressful and yes, we were upset, but RH, well-represented by Sam, took ownership of the mistake and gave us a resolution on our issue in one business day. We weren't looking for anything more than what was promised to us and we got it. So leaving this one behind and moving on with enjoying the exciting process that is building a new home. Oh, and Frank stated that the shingles will be removed so the dormers are installed properly and that we shouldn't see a delay because of this.

We will, of course, be there later his week to see any progress in person :)

Construction Update - Roof / Plumbing and a Bump in the Road

Hi ya'll,

We received an email from our PM this Friday letting us know that framing was complete, shingles were installed, and plumbing rough-ins were done. As soon as we saw the picture, we raised the concern that our dormers had not been installed and asked if they come after shingles. And that's when shit hit the fan.

Frank said that no, dormers are installed before shingles, but that double checking our selections he could see that dormers were not an option in our home. Say what?! That is not what the SR sold us and definitely not what was on the contract we signed.

He said it was possible that the dormers are not offered in the community. Say what (2)?! If dormers are not available, then why would it be in the picture above? I do understand that he only follows the selections sheet given to him, so I thanked him for his insight and turned my attention to the Sales team.

Immediately I sent Sam and Shannon an email asking for clarification on the issue and received a response back a few minutes later stating that they were "just realizing that the home does not have the dormers on certain elevations" and that they "have passed this on to management." 

Since we stop by the house every weekend to see progress, we decide to wait for Sam to discuss this on person. She did say that she was not aware that the community wouldn't have dormers and did admit that she represented this information to us. She also said she will fight to get us what we want, but that there is a possibility that the developers will not allow the dormers and if so, there would be nothing they can do about it. And that's the second time shit hit the fan. 

We responded that we did not agree with this "solution." We said we would rather have the dormers, but if that was not possible, then Ryan Homes better think of ways to make it up to us. I might have used the word bullshit, but hey, who wouldn't? Not sure if she was a little surprised by this, but despite of what she says, we are the ones who need to watch for our best interests.

I even told her we didn't want to point fingers or be dicks to her, but now it is a big disappointment. We've been proudly showing the house around to family, friends, and even strangers, and we will end up not getting what we were promised. Every time we look at our home, we will be upset we are not seeing what we really liked. And some may think it's stupid, but when you were spending this kind of money and signing your life away, you do NOT want to have this type of stress.

The quick meeting ended with her saying she would get back to us once she heard from management. She mentioned something about extra closing help to make it up to it, but nothing was promised yet. We look forward to see how attentive Ryan Homes' customer service is after they made a sale. I will update with a resolution once we have one.

On a side note, we grabbed a couple of hard hats and walked in the house. Here are some pics:

Loving the bay window

Can't wait to see the deck

HVAC and hot water systems

HVAC again

Main floor, measurements for our island and kitchen cabinets / appliances

Master bathroom tub :)

Update!

Hello Y'all!

We heard from one of our SRs that the guys were working hard on our place on Saturday, so we stopped by today to see if there was any progress made since Wednesday (the day we visited to see how Tuesday's snow impacted construction). We got an email from the PM on Friday saying that the snow did delay them a little bit, but that the roof and HVAC will be installed next week. As of now, pre-drywall should be on the second week of April, but nothing has been scheduled yet.

We have exterior doors, windows, and I'm assuming they are done with framing. We snuck inside the house and took some pictures. Enjoy!

We got windows and a door :)

View from front door - stairs

View from front door - access to garage

Basement

Stairs from first to second floor

Morning room - pantry to the right. A nice deck will be outside those doors

Living room - <3 bay window

Second / main floor from morning room. Kitchen will be to the left, dining area to the right

Stairs from second to third level

Laundry room on the left; hall bathroom to the right

Master bedroom with master bathroom on the right

Back of the house

A Roof Over Our Heads

Chad and I were a little concerned about the snow storm that is coming our way. We are expected to get about one-foot of snow on Tuesday here in MD. I know we are not first people to ever build a house in bad weather, but it makes us nervous. First-time buyers, ok? Give us a break :P 

We sent a note to our SR this afternoon to ask if they guys had been working this weekend. Last time we stopped by was on Friday evening, and we saw they had added trusses to the house. She responded saying they were working really hard through some nasty wind to get the roof in place in anticipation for the snow. Woohoo. It makes us feel a liiiiittle better, even though we know there are cracks and holes all over the house still. 

Can't wait until the house is all wrapped so they can start working inside :)