Plumbing and some more framing

Most of the plumbing has gone in. Also some additional framing for the bulkhead in the family room and insulating and framing the fireplace. 

Shingled

Well at least we are now shingled, exterior trim up and have the front porch poured. Hoping the trades get in and things kick in to high gear. 

Dining room lighting.

Well, I was on the fence about the upgrade since it's crazy expensive...

Then I just got a reward certificate, and had a 15% off code. 

So I did it.... 

Pottery Barn Clarissa Large Chandelier, you are mine. 

Jim, enjoy the 552 crystals you have to put on by hand. 

Have a good day everyone!!! 

I've told you all...

Jim and I decided to take a ride past the house yesterday. Not much getting done at our house. We have a missing window, no roof, and pretty much the same progress as last week. It was a fast week of progress now we are at a standstill when the houses that were started after ours just keep going. We also don't have any roof shingles delivered so I'm doubtful on anything else getting done this week. 

Now on to the BEST part. Our subdivision has a facebook page, and I have become friends with a few neighbors. Last night I get this picture, 

The caption is, "They are pouring a foundation like this, and I'm pretty sure the blue light is their cell phone so they can see." Yes, they actually poured the house across the street from us at 8pm. I read that the trucks were guided in with flashlights and they literally poured this foundation in the dark. No generators, lights, or bonfires. Cell phones and flashlights. If this was my home I would be livid. This is the kind of stuff Mike Holmes lives for. 

I will keep you all updated. If we don't have a roof or window by Friday I will rain down hell upon these PM's. Also, we have about a foot of standing stinky water in our basement that needs to be pumped out as well. 

To be continued... 

Can't beat a great paint sale

I'm a believer in buying good paint and we are good painters and actually don't mind it. Sherwin Williams has their 40% off sale that ends tomorrow Sept. 22nd. We bought 21 gallons untinted. You can buy untinted then get them tinted later for free. We saved about $600. 

Mortgage update

Got the latest GFE from NVR and to me the closing costs seemed excessive, especially the origination fee. I'm glad I've kept in touch with another Mortgage Broker (Wells Fargo). I sent the NVR GFE to him and he agreed it's outrageous and claims he can beat it by thousands. I'm just waiting to see that and I'll update. I can't stress enough, the people at NVR have been great to deal with and very prompt. But I don't care how much I like you, you aren't getting $1,000's extra from us. 

Update #1

Wells Fargo claimed they can do closing costs for $3000 less and have my rate be .2% less. I'm waiting on my GFE. I already contacted NVR about this. My LO was very prompt with getting back to me and she said they'll shoot to be competitive. 

It's a good Friday

Well most of the windows are in and the roof fully up and sheathed. Not to be a broken record, but we like what we are seeing progress wise. I also really like our roof line. I might be the oddball here, but I like simple, clean rooflines. My dad did roofing on the side and I've done one or 2 myself. I feel less valleys, no decorative dormers, etc. makes for less areas for there to be leaks and other issues. 

Progress keeps happening

So far we like the pace. We didn't think we'd be seeing this until tomorrow. So hopeful some windows might be going in. Probably not, but can always hope. Ha

Roof going on

I won't make any typical "raise the roof" jokes. Ha. Progress is now going a bit faster. I don't think our new PM could have made that fast of a difference, but we like what we see. 

End of the day first

In progress

2nd floor and new PM

Today was a pretty good day. Gorgeous weather out and the 2nd floor is up. We also got to meet our new PM along with our soon to be old PM in a meeting. While we liked our current PM, I think he might have been too much of a "nice guy" with the Trades. The new PM seems like an old school contractor who will put leather up the butts of any slacking workers. He seemed personable enough, but you can tell he's no nonsense and will get up in it. We like that. Hopefully tomorrow a roof. We also got some great close out deals at Restoration Hardware that brought some items into affordable range. 

Living room with fireplace

Kitchen

Morning room (love our view! It will be cut back, but will never have neighbors)

Living room

3 car garage

Really? PM transferring and ready for the second floor.

I did my daily drive by yesterday. It didn't seem like much was done but then I realized that the floor was laid upstairs! The wood for the second floor was delivered as well. 

We also found out that our PM is being transferred. It won't be an immediate transfer but he let us know he would be gone by the end of the month. He was actually pretty nice but from what I was told from others in the development he was a little too nice to the trades people who would come in. I have more than a few trades in my family and I do know you can't be too nice. You will get walked all over. This would also explain some of the issues with workmanship on some of the houses in the subdivision. It's just another bump in this road for him to be transferred. We are meeting his replacement on Tuesday so I will surely blog about that. 

I can really say with all honesty at this point I do wish we would have either bought a resale or chosen a custom builder. This process should be exciting for us as a family but I feel like the downs have far outweighed the ups. Currently I can say with an emphatic NO that I would not recommend Ryan. I have let all bosses, sales, and PM's know that we will not tolerate shoddy workmanship. I would say my confidence level in them is about 40%. We have a private inspector who will be going through that house with a fine tooth comb. Jim and I also know that we are proficient in home construction. 

Here's a pic I took yesterday. 

New wood delivered:

 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

First floor up!

First floor is all up and ready for the second. But of course rain is scheduled for tomorrow...our luck. Ha

Framing has begun

Framing has started. The joists for the first floor are done, and first layer of subfloor almost all down. Looks like all the walls and other supplies have been delivered. First floor walls should be going up tomorrow. Good to see this progress!

Hole for the basement stairs. 

Our subdivision is awesome!

Not much to post on reference our house, but great things to say about the neighbors. We have met many of them and went to a birthday party today. Everyone is great and was cool to hear that some have read our blog. Even talked to a nice couple that built with Ryan but in a different subdivision. Our daughter is quite energetic so we weren't able to talk to some people as much as we would have liked. But almost everyone had young children so it was very nice. At the end of the night our daughter was covered in chocolate, mud and soda...I think see had a good time. Lol. 

On a side note, earlier in the day we saw a house under construction and wouldn't you know it, saw several delivered windows were broken. Hard to tell in the picture but they're broken. Across a huge company, this kind of damage has to add up. 

Concrete is poured

Not too much to post. Over the past week the electrical, sewer and water have been run. Preparation for framing and our materials have been delivered. Have to love how all the windows and exterior doors are just left in a heap on the ground. And today the basement and garage floors were poured. Shockingly (sarcasm) we've had even more rain, so basement is already flooded. Pics kind of stink, was hard to get good angles. 

Our SR is dirty.

So... We had the meeting with the division manager. I thought we would be good from here on out since the house is underway. We thought that it would be the PM only and we were pretty much done with her.

Why did this b&$@h write my husband an email that from this point on he is the only one to contact her? That it has been a pleasure to work with HIM(oh you don't like me because I call you out on your lies and bullshit) and that any further communication should only come from him. 

I seriously lost it. 

I forwarded the email to the managers. I called them. I then wrote her a scathing email that this is OUR house and she better be damned well certain that I will call or email. Jim also wrote her a similarly nasty mail, to which she responded. I'm still waiting for my response... 

At this point I wouldn't recommend Ryan homes in Shorewood to anyone if Amber is the sales rep. She has made this whole process awful. I can not understand why they choose this person to be the face of their company, and more importantly, why she is allowed to continue this behavior. It's disgusting. I know the only reason she is doing this is because I have voiced my displeasure in being left out of the process. She knows that by sending that email she is throwing in a dig at me. 

Sadly, the other SR was transferred to the community that is selling 500-750k houses. Jim and I KNEW they were going to send him there because he is awesome. I wish him the best of luck.

To be continued...

Decoration ideas

Hope everyone is having a safe Labor Day. Since no work will be done today on the house, might as well go over some decorating ideas. I'm a pretty lucky guy because my wife does not like girly frilly decorations, she actually wanted the stag head below! We are doing our house in kind of a modern rustic feel. Not like a log cabin, but cleaner yet still warm and inviting. We think all the below will go with our handscraped floors. So I hope this all looks good and not goofy. 

Media center, coffee table, sofa table and sideboard will all be this style. 

Above the couch centered between the windows. Will do picture frames on each side. 

This will be on the fireplace mantel. The 2 clocks will be grouped together on one side and the gear on the other. In the center I'm going to make a long reclaimed wood "trough" to hold the candles. These are flameless and really cool.