Update Time!

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. Things have been going up quickly in the neighborhood. We are moved on to a new phase of this whole process. After the thirty day fixes, you dont really hear from the PM you built with. A new guy comes in to deal with issues. That has been fine for us. There are surveys that are given at various times. Be honest on them. RH pays attention to them. Anyhow, I'm just checking in with a few updates.

Things are going well on the home front for the most part. I never thought much about the noise before moving here. The trucks idling and riding through the neighborhood at 6-630am is a bit much for me. They even do it on weekends. The workers are bad about speeding through the neighborhood and about blocking the entrance and exit roads. It's extremely frustrating. The school bus has been having issues lately because she gets here, and there are trucks in the road doing various things. She will often have to wait several minutes or try to make a tight u-turn. Yesterday, there was a sewage truck blocking the road. Today, it was a truck delivering cinder blocks. The school bus comes at 6:45am. I'm serious when i say. .... work and noise start early! On the plus side, the dumpsters have been moved out of the street and onto the lot they are working on. That's nice. If only the workers would be as considerate, things would be nice. I'm constantly having cigarette butts and loud men yelling in the front of the house. Its pretty annoying, to say the least. 
Some good news is...we have not had any creepy crawlers since the hole was patched. I'm glad that is resolved.
Our utility bills while using the heating system have been lower than expected, which is a nice surprise.
We had a few minor issues, one with electrical and one with the thermostat blanking out at random times. RH sent out folks to check it out within a few days. One issue was resolved, the other we are keeping an eye on.
The house has been settling. There are random nail pops and cracks in the walls. It's nothing that is alarming but just expect it to happen. We will get it fixed after ten months.
The third floor option is a must have! It is awesome to have the extra space up there. My only gripe is that I wish there was a storage room up there.
The fireplace is a must have! It is really nice and warms the room well. Ours is gas and I'm so glad we got it. It was totally worth the upgrade! Just be sure the gas line is sealed. I do wish it had a fan option on it, but even without it, I like it. Besides, all homes need a mantle!
The metal rails on the steps are another thing you must have! They open up the space nicely. They are expensive, but what isn't?
The dishwasher offered in the standard package is garbage. It's loud. There is no timer on it. That thing runs for hours and you can hear it upstairs in the master bedroom. If you choose to upgrade any appliance, make it this one.
Also, there is a vent or something behind the microwave. That thing is loud! Every time the wind blows, it flaps. I keep thinking that there is something over there. This will take some getting used to. I wish I could tape it down.
One last thing.... If you have the option for gas, go with it! Gas stove, gas dryer, gas fireplace and gas grill line. I dont regret any of it! In my opinion, these things are worth upgrading!

Last, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade the kitchen! I have a few neighbors who didn't and they regret it. If you dont add the island AND peninsula, there is dead space in the kitchen. This is true also for the Ravenna model. Definitely upgrade the island! Besides, having the extra eating space, prep space and plugs is really nice for  entertaining and cooking. 

That's about it for now. If anyone has any specific questions about the Verona model or anything, just leave it in the comments. Happy holidays!

Creepy Crawlers...Rodents

Have you seen any mice or other unwelcome visitors in your home? We have. Several, in fact. It took me a long time to post about this because I was really upset and angry about this situation. We began seeing them the first weeks we were here. I was convinced there was a hole somewhere, but I was assured that my house was sealed. We hired pest control. We bought sticky traps. You name it, we tried it. The issue is. .... they kept coming. So after some screaming, yelling, sleepless nights and sanitizing my entire house over and over, we found the issue. There was an UNSEALED gas line under the fireplace. We kept seeing them around the fireplace, so this made sense. It was a good size hole. And it was open to the crawlspace. We sealed the hole. And guess what, no more rodents!

I'm frustrated because we hired pest control, spent a bunch of money on pest control products, and so on. I called Ryan Homes and their response was.... "We dont insure against pest." I understand that. But. ... this was no traditional pest issue. This was due to a hole. AFTER we found the hole, realized the insulation was falling under the house, and realized that the door to the crawl has been open for several months because it was broken  and accidently left open since our final walkthrough, some people from RH came to help fix it all. They sealed a hole or two they found under the crawl, temporarily fixed the door and put the insulation back up. I can appreciate that. I wish this had been done after I found the first mouse. I wish I had pushed harder to get them to come and look for holes before. They told me since i live in a construction zone, mice are common. I get that. I understand. But this was too common. We had about 7 in a short period of time.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to let you all know, if you have a fireplace, and field mice, double check the lines coming into your home, double check the crawl space doors and anywhere else that may be open to the outside. Other neighbors have had issues with mice too. I'll have to ask but I think the fireplace is where they found a hole too. The neighbors bought this stuff called Great Stuff with Pest Control. It works for the moment. Good luck. I hope you all dont have this issue but if you do, definitely look for the way they are getting in. Good luck! Hopefully this is the last of my major issues, and I can get on to the fun stuff.

Update: After speaking with the neighbors, it appears they had their hole in the same place. One of them also mentioned sealing the line behind the stove better too. Just check and double check these places so that you dont have to go through this  sort of situation.

Great Customer Service Experience with Ryan Homes

First off, to follow up on a previous post, my columns were addressed. One of the PMs, Matt, came out the next day after I posted to fix them.He tried to fix them and paint them, but the reality is, the guys who originally "fixed" them kind of made a mess of them, so they needed a little more work than Matt could do that day. But I appreciate how quick he came out to deal with it.

So, this morning I went online and sent a message to Ryan Homes about my columns and a roof leak that we noticed in the last storm. About 5 hours later, I got a telephone call from a guy named Drew. I am not sure of his position in the company, but he came out the same day to address my issues. He did a water test to determine the source of the leak on the porch. He made an appointment to get our columns looking good again. While here, he also advised us on some other issues we had, including the need to fertilize the grass, and fixed a couple of other problems we noticed around the house. He was seriously a jack-of-all trades. He had a very helpful attitude and was more than willing to help, which is more than i can say for some other folks. Now, there has to be a follow up to today's work, but that's fine. It should be taken care of pretty soon. I am quite impressed with Ryan Homes Customer Service though. Thanks guys!

The Reality Is...

The reality of new construction is...things will break. Things will not be perfect. And that's fine. That is perfectly okay. I expect it. What distinguishes one builder from the next is how they handle these things. I am happy overall with my home. Are there things that have needed repairs? Yes. Will there be more things? Yes! And that's okay...and as long as it is done the right way, I will continue to be happy with my home.

Landscaping woes... and more

UPDATE: See below

Our trees have been dead since we closed. Not just my trees, at least four of my neighbors have dead trees too. They look awful. Our PM told us he would replace them if they didn't make it. But now he is gone to a new community. This is very concerning. I challenge all Ryan home owners to BEWARE of landscaping. I'll post photos of the trees soon. The grass is ok. It could be better but it's ok. I'm thinking we will fertilize it soon. Nothing will save the trees. Three out of four are pretty much dead. I dont suggest closing on a house with questionable landscaping. I'm going Ryan Homes steps up and fixes this. I'll keep everyone posted.

The other major issue we are having is the columns on the porch are falling apart. There have been three or four attempts to fix them. The latest fix may have worked. They shot up the panels with a nail gun and glued the seams. They need to sand it down and repaint it. It's been about two weeks since they last worked on it. So far, no painter. 

UPDATE: Our PMs Adam and Matt were on it quickly. They replaced my trees and a neighbor's trees as well. The trees look good and healthy. The landscaper left two of the old trees because they *might* come back. He left an additional tree in a pot in case one of those trees dont make it. I can appreciate that they kept their end of the bargain on this. Unfortunately, the land here is pretty sandy. So when the old trees were pulled, one neighbor suggested putting peet moss or something in it, or some sort of quality soil around the new tree. The landscaper did not do that. I don't think he understood English that well, to be honest. But that may be part of the reason the old trees died. Maybe I will dig around them and put a better soil around it. Again, I am happy with what was done to rectify this issue. Thank you Adam and Matt for dealing with my trees. Although I know you aren't happy about it, I appreciate you doing it anyway.

Two Weeks In.... and No Storage

Update: Our PM came through and helped us open up the spaces in the FROG. He put four screws in to hold the door back up. That solves our issue for the moment. It's not pretty thogh. Definitely not the same as having nice doors with handles. I can't blame the PM, he didn't design the house. I hope this is something Ryan homes changes in future homes.

We have been in the house for just a few weeks. So far, everything is ok. There are several little things that have to be addressed but nothing crazy. The shower upstairs literally takes 7 minutes to get hot. I'm waiting on that to be fixed. I do have one major complaint.

STORAGE

This nice, large house needs storage. We have 4 storage spaces that are literally glued shut. One has a door that opens, where the AC is tucked away. I have no idea what is behind each door, I'm sure there is some space. I asked our PM about it about four days ago. He hasn't said anything about it. I asked for hinged doors with handles. Once I was told that they dont make doors that size. I was also told that the space isn't made to hold a load. We literally have no where to hide the Christmas tree, or out of season clothes. I just have several boxes in the middle of the floor. We have a finished attic, so that's not an option for storage. I'm annoyed that Ryan Homes doesn't make use of a few of these spaces as storage options. Im just going to have to figure it out. I'm hoping my PM will come through and help us out with this. I'll put the floor in, but I would like to know which space is the largest and if they can add a door. This is a big deal for me. I hope it gets worked out. Anyone else with our model have any input?

We closed! And Moved In! ...A week ago. ..

I'm sorry about the lack of an update. We closed about a week ago. It was easy enough. I'm glad that's over. We have been moving and dealing with the family ever since then. The house is great. There were issues, but minor ones. Some spots that were touched up were never painted. There were window screens missing. The mailbox wasn't bolted down. The sliding door didn't lock. And my trees look dead. Some things were fixed. Others will be fixed. The paint job in the house overall is less than impressive.  However, my awesome PM helped me install my dryer, even though he didn't have to. Cool points for that. So far i love the house. It's big. I need to organize everything. That's it for now. More updates soon. Take care!

Final Walkthrough

Today, we had our final walkthrough. It was as expected. It lasted about an hour. Both PMs were there. We went over paperwork, how things worked and so on. It was a lot to take in, but luckily a lot of it is in this nifty notebook we were given about how to maintain the house. Everything looked good. The paint and very thin. You could see roll lines all over, but it is fine otherwise. I am really impressed with how it turned out. It is really beautiful. I didn't get photos today, but I will get some soon. At this point, I am pleased with the house. Too bad I can't say the same for NVR Mortgage.

NVR ....

I have to admit, I am still frustrated with NVR mortgage. Our big issue with them came about because we had a list of things that had to be done by closing. We had been getting those things done, no problem. All of a sudden, we are told that there is a much quicker timeline on things that we had never been told. Speeding up things cost us money that we had not planned to spend. NVR threatened to delay our closing, which would have cost us a fee every 4-5 days to extend the rate lock. I felt very bullied by them. It was just wrong on so many levels because we never were told about these deadlines before. So after thinking about it, I called NVR and said we shouldn't be held responsible for their mistake by having to pay for a rate lock extension. After an exchange of words with the lender, a call to the sales rep and a few days past, they agreed to pay for the lock extension if we needed it. Luckily, we won't need it because we already took steps to speed up what they needed. All things are settled, but doing it hastily cost us money. And that. ...I blame NVR for. I'm disappointed. This could have been avoided. I'm just ready to go to closing and be done with them.

Mini Update

Hi all!  Here are some photos. My camera was dying so I apologize for the lack of focus.  Things are coming along though. The carpet and sod are the last big things to go in. I requested that the vinyl that was accidentally laid on the formal living room floor be taken out and not just covered up. The PM said that won't be a problem. I also met a few neighbors today that were really nice.   :-)

My PM ROCKS! ....For Today, LOL

When we signed our contract for the house, we were told that we would be getting river birch trees. I'm not a fan of them at all. Soooooooooo when time came for landscaping, I begged my PM not to put in those and to instead give me my favorite pretty tree. ... cherry blossoms! And he talked to the nursery and made it happen! I'm so happy! I'm sure it will wreak havoc on my allergies? But through my watery, stuffy face will be beautiful flowers on my trees. :-)

NVR Frustration

As the closing date gets closer, my frustration with NVR is growing. I understand that getting a mortgage is a process that is very tedious compared to previous times, but dang. We were given a list of things that had to be satified prior to closing date. They kept saying it needed to be done by closing. So as closing gets closer, the rep from NVR calls asking if we have done those things. NO, we don't, and it should not be an issue, because we have been told several times it had to be done BY closing. Not before. BY CLOSING. So we have tried to time things accordingly. Now, there is a tizzy of sorts going on where they say, actually, we need this done about ten days prior to closing. Why would they wait so long to give me that detail? It is aggravating. Then the underwriter calls me to tell me what the mortgage rep has already told me and to reaffirm what she said? Apparently, these people have lost their minds. I do not need them to reaffirm anything. I understand english quite well. I spoke to the sales rep. I am getting to the point where this is more aggravating than it needs to be. The takeaway...make NVR put definitive dates on anything they need satisfied up front, so that you are not hung out to dry. If everything is not satisfied by the closing date and your rate lock "Expires", you do not get to go with the current rate. Instead they charge you thousands of dollars to continue to extend the rate lock. This is not optional apparently. Again, something that should have been said up front. Thankfully, we should be good to go to closing in a few weeks, but I have to say I am disappointed in how I was uninformed and how NVR has been acting lately...like the world is coming to an end. I hope your experience is better than mine. It was a rocky start, a smooth middle, and now we are back to rockiness again. I am just ready for this to be over. We have been told that we can not cspend certain money from certain accounts until after closing, because the bank has decided only certain money can be counted toward the house. Its all just frustrating. Im over it. Three weeks to go.

Progress... And Not So Good Surprises

We dropped by the house today. Imagine my surprise when I find VINYL tile in my formal living room. I'm not joking. This big room was covered in vinyl. Who did this? What were they thinking? I told the second PM about the issue. The first one is on vacation this week. It's just so much wasted material. But it has to go! They said they thought it was weird too. Nobody thought to call and confirm that choice? LOL it's horrible. But....Other than that, the kitchen and bathroom flooring is done. It's covered, so I'm not sure how I feel about it. The ballasters outside are done. Holes are dug for the trees. The lot has been somewhat leveled. Just a few more weeks to closing. Looks like it should be ready on time.

Less Than 30 Days To Go!

We close in less than thirty days! I'm excited, but the house needs some work still. They flooring has to be done, yard work, granite, back steps, porch railing and all bathroom tile. As of today, the garage door is in(including the door jewelry aka hardware), the garage steps are in and the interior doors are in. We are getting there! I'm also really happy about the tree selection. Originally, they were planting weeping willows. Then they switched to river birch because the weeping willows were getting tangled in people's pipelines. Today, they dug out tree holes. I asked what trees are going in and they told me a fancy name for cherry blossoms! I think it's Kwanzan cherry. Those trees are so pretty! Im excited. Also I was worried about a grading issue concerning the patio, but the pm fixed that. He is so on top of it. So far, so good. I'm pleased. I hope it lasts! I'm posting some photos of the back of the house, the garage, and the attic room that some blogger friends had requested. Take care!

Driveway, Cabinets, Paint and More!

This week has brought a lot of changes to the house. We have our metal porch roof installed, kitchen cabinets are in, bathroom cabinets are in, the porch is almost done, drywall is complete and the paint is done. Also the patio and driveway have been poured. Ooooh and the ballasters. They were expensive but now that I see them in, I think they look awesome! It's all fun and exciting. I noticed a crooked wall, squeaking floors upstairs, and an issue with the patio. I texted my PM to let him know. I expect that he will correct the issues but we will see. That's it for now. Take care!

Moving Along

This week, the drywall was sanded, paint was done, concrete was poured. We also got a concrete patio poured on the back of the house. I'm a little concerned about the porch and the massive brick columns. I think it may take away from the porch experience a bit, but We had to get this elevation because the house across the street had the only other option. I hope when all is said and done, I love it. We will see. The cabinets are in the garage abd ready to be installed. We should be closing in one month. I'm beyond excited!

Drywall and Third Floor Finished Attic

When trying to choose a floor plan, I could not find a photo of the third floor finished attic anywhere. I got this option on our house so I wanted to share it with you, in case you were wondering. In addition, I am including photos of other parts of the house in the drywall stage. I hope this helps someone. :-)

Quick update

I stopped by the house again today to chat with the PM. He did a quick walk thru  of the house to show us what was going on. The entire house had drywall up. It actually looked like a house! He noticed that an outlet he had put in the master bedroom was covered up by drywall! Why would they do that? He immediately called in the head guy to get it taken care of. Other than that, it looked fine.
My next issue up for discussion is the driveway concrete. I begged him to extend the driveway to make it the width of the entire garage. He said no. I really hope he does it anyway. Some of the neighbors have driveways that narrow at the bottom. I want mine to be extended a couple of feet in width so that we can step out of the car onto pavement instead of into the grass. I will keep pushing him. I hope he gives in. :-)

Siding and Drywall

I stopped by the house to check out the progress. Insulation was complete. The siding was going up and there were guys working on drywall too! It looks like they just started today. They move quick! It was exciting. Everything looks good. I can't complain. Looks like the rain may be slowing them down. Come on sunny days!

Pre-drywall Meeting

Today was our pre drywall meeting. It was pretty uneventful. The entire meeting lasted about an hour. Our PM walked us through the house, pointed out so if the essentials like gas lines, light switch placement, plumbing, cable rough ins. We checked to make sure everything was where it needed to be. He also clarified a lot of questions we had. It looks like insulation is next and siding. He was nice and accommodated our request for sound insulation, which we really, really appreciated.He tries his best to help us out if he can. We appreciate that. He also verified that the space in the FROG will NOT have doors like we thought. They will have drywall screwed in where there could be a door. It's a big bummer because this house really lacks closet space overall. It seemed to be skipped over by the designers. We also dropped by the sales model to talk to the sales rep. As much as he drives me nuts, he is always up for a chat. We have a love -hate relationship.  :-) He verified the colors we had chosen for the siding. The photo below shows the entire color palette for the exterior. I'm liking it. He also showed us which lots in the neighborhood have sold. I should have neighbors on all sides by the end of the summer. That's it for now. Take care everyone!

Attic

We decided to finish the attic space. I like it. It has a taller ceiling than I expected. I wish there was an option for a half bath up there though.

Really? Annoyed.

The good news. My shingles are on! Electrical and plumbing is in! Next step, pre drywall meeting! Woohoo! The bad news...

Rant warning: On another note, I am a bit pissed. I got a call from our PM early this morning. Yesterday, I dropped by the house and asked the electrical guy some questions....not any favors at all, just how hard would it be to add ceiling fans in the places where we only have light rough ins after closing. He said pretty hard but...he could do it on the side for $100 each, if i buy the bracket. Mind you...all he is doing is taking one bracket down and adding another. Literally ten minutes of work max. So we ignore his proposal because the price is ridiculous, and head home after thanking him for the work on our house. I guess he was afraid we would tell the PM he offered that side service to us, so he called the PM and said we were trying to get him to do extra stuff! WHAT! I am livid. I want to go over there and set him straight but I wont. So now my PM thinks I am trying to hustle his guys? Most of them, including this electrician, barely speak English! Im paying a ton of money for this house, and yes, I check on the progress often but I do not bother the trades! Our PM seemed kind of ticked and was kind of like....you guys are putting me in a bind. Then when I explained what really happened, he was like...oooooooo ok. I will deal with it. Im annoyed though, to say the least. I've tried to deal with everyone nicely and i have taken the shortcomings of some of them in stride. For example. .... We were never shown color options until the day we had to choose a color for siding. We never chose our paint, it was chosen for us. We never were told where the light fixtures that are included go, we just had to assume. We were never shown other lighting packages.  We never have ever seen the layout for electrical. We were never told a lot of things so we couldn't make the best informed decisions. I dont think it was intentional. But it is what it is. I could blast Ryan Homes but you take the good with the bad. We just deal with it. We will see how it goes from here. Our PM has been nice and has tried to help us when be can,  so I get why he would be mad if we went behind his back. Thats not what happened. At all. And now this is jeopardizing any thing that we may have wanted to request. Ughhhhhh. Ok. Rant over. I need to relax. Take care guys!

Quick Update

Things are moving along well still. I check on the progress of the house about twice each week. When we go, we just look around... see what is happening.  I don't hear from my PM hardly at all. I feel like I have to go see the house to find out what's going on. Otherwise, I have no clue. He called me once to say we break ground in two days. Was it like this for all of you too? Maybe he figures because we come out to check on things, we don't need to be updated? This week, it looks like the doors and windows have been put in. I think the roof will go up soon. Meanwhile, I did call my PM myself today to ask some questions. He said drywall would happen soon and I could get an inspector in next week. That's it for now. Take care!

Coming Along

Quick update. The porch roof was added. One staircase was installed inside. Also the morning room was framed. :-)

Framing

I dropped by the house a couple of times this week. In five days, we went from foundation to completely framed. It's amazing how fast it went. The stairs are not inside yet, but the walls were already framed. I also dropped by the sales office to speak to the PM. I had a few questions about electrical outlet placement, which he answered. I wish I had known the info I was given when I still had time to make changes. Then my loan officer called today. She was nice and updated me on rates. I appreciated the update. Finally, we spent some time chatting with the neighbors. They were all so nice! We have great neighbors now, so I hope we have that in our new home too. I'm going to miss my neighbors. Luckily, we aren't moving far, so we can continue to see them often.