To the Windows...To the Walls!!! (Part 1)

It's amazing how some cliches are actually true. After reading in blog upon blog, about how time flies by after a certain point (if you're lucky), I was a little skeptical. However, we took a quick trip to the site last weekend and much to our chagrin, we found this staring at us!:

We've got a roof

Roof and walls and insulation and a garage

To hip, or not to hip? That was the question...

Is it just me, or do the workers seem to like dumping on the site a little too much

This one is a personal favorite, because that was the original title of our blog :)

Can't wait to see what's in store for our next trip!

Not all wood is built the same

When we were walking around our house yesterday and marveling at that framing had actually begun, Ashley made note of some pieces of our lumber and framing joints, not looking as spiffy as others. While I took the stance that all pieces probably didn't need to be perfect, and that our PM was "likely" aware of such, we still decided to take some pictures and bring them to his attention, just in case. Especially since after all, Ryan Homes has been pushing him to complete all homes in our development by the end of the year!

Hole in plywood

 

Gap in seams

Another gap in seams

We also noted that while thought we had asked to have the optional windows we selected for the living room, to be moved down to the study (first floor bedroom), apparently we hadn't. Since we couldn't find any documentation stating that we had done so, we figured we'd ask our PM, when we inquired about the suspect wood.

I sent him a text the next day and his response is below:
Walter thanks for your pics and texts. These are things that are addressed when my framer comes for his punchout after I check the framing of your house. It is too late to make changes to your selections. I will however check to make sure everything you selected is included once they are done framing the roof. I'll reach out to you next week to discuss that and the upcoming schedule.

As you can see, straightforward answer to our inquiry! So no worries.

I'd also take this time to say that I am kicking myself for not getting every optional window possible!! According to our SR, Ryan Homes didn't offer bay windows in our region or on our model...i don't recall. However, I'm a big fan of natural light. Regardless, we definitely should have double checked that we did indeed, have the change order put in moving the windows from the living room to the first floor bedroom.

Framing: What Ryan Homes decided to do with our lumber?

After seeing that the foundation had been poured and knowing that framing would begin soon, we decided to trek up to the house site as a treat to ourselves yesterday. And lo and behold, we found something interesting. Framing had begun!!!!

Ryan Homes used our wood for this??

Ok, so it was apparently only me who was concerned that Ryan Homes would repurpose our wood for boat building purposes. So I was thrilled to see that they indeed, decided that using it for our home was a better idea!

Front of the house

Ashley talking to one of the framers

Back of the house

Morning Room

From the side of our house

Next post, I'll include some things we noticed and how our PM responded.

Garage and basement foundation

Life's been busy, but in a good way, so I haven't been able to post as much or frequently as I'd like. However, we carved out time and drove by last Saturday too see what progress, if any, had been made on our home, and much to our pleasant surprise, it looks as if the basement and garage concrete had been poured. Not only that, but it also appears that our lot is no longer the "dump" lot! So the developer has cleared a lot of the extraneous dirt and junk from our site.

Not this sort of "Foundation"

Here are some of the pictures we took of the progress. All things considered, it was very cool to see the foundation and a better feel for the outline of our future home!

Basement Egress

Sump pump will go over there somewhere

Garage foundation

Windows and lumber

I wonder does this tarp outline Ryan Homes line of disturbance

Pay not attention to the tiny football player

Once again, don't mind the dancing 5th grader

Foundation and stone

Long time no post. As almost any and everyone is familiar with, moving sucks! I always say that I'm going to hire movers, and yet, never do it. So it was that I spent about 2 workdays, and several nights, slowly packing and moving my life to either storage, the dump, or Mom's house. Good news is that the kids take it all as one adventure! And they are all for grand mommy time. But mentally, I'm literally counting the days until we can close and move in!

Last week was hectic with moving, and then a much needed 3 night vacation in Cancun. The two photos beneath should aptly sum that trip up!!!

So when we came back, of course the first thing we did was cruise by the house and see what's new, and there appears to be foundation walls, along with our lumber and windows and such! Excitement abounds.

I just sent a text to our PM asking for an update on our estimated home completion date and a "what's next". I also spoke with a co-worker who, among other things, mentioned I should inquire about radon testing. But also his home has a well and septic system, so he was able to ease some of my concerns regarding that stuff.

Here are some of the myriad of pictures I took. (Editors Note: Some of these pictures are over two separate trips over 2 weeks).

We Have A HOLE!!!

With kids being back and school, and other random life events happening (including packing and preparing to move from my current house), I've been too busy to post on our homes progress. But then one day...we had a hole!!!

Us

Our PM sent a text about a week ago, stating that our permit had finally arrived, and offered for us to come take a look at the site whenever we were available--as long as it fit within his 8-4 business hours. We've both taken off several days of work, and still need to save some leave...so his schedule was difficult to work with. However, we randomly went up there last week, and low and behold, there was a hole!!

Once he said that his ummm, "line guy"--I don't know...whomever surveys the land and marks it-- had done his job. I then set something up with our PM later in the week so that he could walk the site with me and point out stuff (property lines, well locations, line of disturbance (LOD), etc.,). There's not too much too see, other then our wonderful hole! But I'll list the take aways from our meeting below:

• Ryan Homes is pushing for him to finish all homes before the end of the year. Not just ours. He said therefore that a mid-Dec closing is possible--but not likely. Such a time table would require no delays or hiccups whatsoever--and how often does that occur in life?
• He showed me where our wells would be and septic tanks.
• He discussed his confidence that his first priority would be to build us a solid and sound house, rather then hastily throwing one up.
• Our PM mentioned that even if he had crews working on the weekends, it could only speed things up by 1 week, maybe 2.
• We spoke about the grading of our land (actually fairly flat for a good portion of the 3 acres).
• He spoke about the line of disturbance, in which he's required to work
• He spoke about what falls on the developer and what's outside his control. For instance, BGE, still needs to lay the power lines in our entire neighborhood, but with them being the big bad, monopoly, they will get there when they get there!

BGE. When it comes to scheduling

• He also mentioned that there's a fair amount of things he can do without power--but there is a stopping point where he couldn't do any further work without power. And that he's at that point right now on a home or two in our neighborhood
• Finally, he did give me a loose run down of what would occur over the next few weeks. From footers to concrete and waterproofing to framing, etc., But I was so excited over our hole, that I didn't take notes or anything. I just trusted that it'll occur when it occurs.

Without further ado, our hole pics!

Our lot and permit

Back view of the hole. From the back of the house looking towards the street

Profile view from the corner of our house to our neighbor

Our backyard. There's not as much room between us and the tree line and we'd hoped for

Hopefully, they'll clear that grass and weeds. But we'll have to be responsible for the trees

The hole is larger than the footprint of our house

Side view of the hole. 

Our well can be seen here

You can see the garage frame on the left side, near the front

The developer still needs to move this dirt

The mounds with grass growing are the ones the developer needs to move

Mounds with grass growing are ones the developer needs to move

The gravel there is our drive way. The black tarp is roughly the LOD

From our driveway looking towards our neighbor

Delays: Hurry Up and Wait

Fast Snails. aka. Hurry Up and Wait...

Still no definitive start date on when Ryan Homes will break ground on our home. See below for this week's text from PM

Hi Walter, we have your start scheduled for next week, but a lot needs to happen for us to start. I'm still waiting on your permit. The developer still needs to move his equipment and dirt piles which is delaying my stakeout. The road was on schedule to be paved today but I didn't see anyone back there yet today. No signs of BGE yet. I'll let you know about next week when I have more answers. 



It's interesting, the entire rush that NVR Mortgage places on you, to get this document and that document, and so forth--then Ryan Homes, on the other hand, is veryyyyy laid back in terms of when they can and will begin your home.

On another note, the kids and I are slated to move out of our rented town home before the end of the month. Next stop is my Mom's house, until our Avalon is done, sometime this year I hope. So now here comes the joy of packing, and moving, only to pack and move again, one day in the future.

Who remembers this movie? Classic Richard Pryor

In any event, at this stage, it's seeming less and less likely that we'll be in our home by the original estimated move-in date of 11/15. Which is fine, but again, moving in before the end of the year would be awesome! I'm just not optimistic. However, I'd be happy when they just simply break ground!

After having read so various blogger's issues with Ryan Homes, pre-construction, and post-construction--I was somewhat mentally prepared for "delays". So I'll keep hope alive and such, but it's getting tougher by the day!