Had our pre-construction meeting this week and was told they were going to break ground either that day or the next. They were waiting for the permit and was expecting it that day. I found it funny that at the end of the meeting the PM basically said, in much nicer words, don't be dumb when you come visit the house during construction. Kind of chuckled inside. But that could just be my own humor making me laugh. Well, we went back to the house the next day and there it was. A big hole in the ground. It felt so good to see a dirt patch turn into a big hole. Put a huge smile on our faces that the house has now begun. Took some pictures but I figure I'll save you guys the trouble of looking at a big hole in the ground. I think only we'd be excited to see a hole in the ground. :-)
So, I asked a couple of things during the meeting:
- Question: Can I widen the driveway?
- Answeer: No. But only b/c of distance I had between my yard to the next. But he would widen it as much as he could
- Question: Can I run a conduit from the attic to the basement?
- Answer: Yes, but will need to be done by me.
- Question: Can I run speaker wires?
- Answer: Yes, just not high voltage wires.
- Question: Can I move one air vent a little bit over to make room for a bench to be install later in the morning room?
- Answer: Yes
- Question: Can I install insulation on the exterior driveway wall?
- Answer: Yes, but may have to be done in the evening the night before the dry wall comes up.
He basically said we can talk more about this stuff after the framing goes up. Our PM was a good guy and really seemed like he wanted to give us what we wanted as much as he could. It definitely felt good. Still need to ask if they can put a drain on the floor in the washer room. We were told we'd get a firmer delivery date probably in a couple of weeks to a month. I hope rates are still low. It looks like it'll be 3 months to build and deliver. Is that normal? That is pretty fast. I hope they're not just rushing and then missing stuff. Oh, they said they'd be installing a low voltage ventilation fan that runs all the time in the upstairs bathroom. Has anyone had any experience with these? We drove around and also noticed that our house is going up before some of the other lots that's had sold signs on before ours. Thought that was kind of weird.
Congratulations, you have a HOLE! Great questions and btw, all of us get excited to see a hole in the ground. I drove pass one lot yesterday and thought to myself, wow, they have a hole. It's good stuff. Only new home builders can appreciate this kind of stuff.
ReplyDeleteYeah...I never thought I'd be so happy to see a hole and the dirt hill sitting next to it.
DeleteI want to see the hole! As for the vent, we were told it ran once a day for fifteen minutes. It's on a timer. As for your house being done before others, they may have a contingency where they can't start construction before they sell their current house or something like that. Three months is the normal time for Ryan Homes. Some houses get done before that.
ReplyDeleteThe vent is a whole house vent. It is a requirement for Energy Star 3.0. When a few other conditions aren't met, then the whole house fan has to be there. It is on a timer, which you can modify so it doesnt run at 3am and wake you up.
ReplyDeleteConditions aren't met? Should I be concerned if something isn't being met?
DeleteWe broke ground on March 1 and had our final walkthrough on May 23. Our home has about 4200 finished square feet. Three months seems to be pretty much the norm. Glad your PM was willing to help you out with some of your requests. All of us who have built or are building understand the excitement over a hole in the ground :)
ReplyDeleteWe are about to break ground for our Shakespear. I was wondering, has anyone ran their own speaker wiring? Was this allowed by your PM? Would like to save a little on cost if we can instead of going through Guardian. Thanks? Also, any suggestions for pre-construction meeting would be appreciate it. We have our meeting in a week and already making a list of questions.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the house. Our PM did let us wire our own house for speakers. You will need to ask him at the pre-construction meeting. You may want to insulate the exterior wall of the garage and will probably want to ask the PM if you can do that yourself as well. Make sure to walk through the house as they are building it to make sure things are being put up as expected. I caught a couple of things that got fixed quickly.
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