Pre-Drywall Meeting

Today was our Pre-Drywall meeting!  It took approximately 1 hour and boy was it hot and stuff in there!  Equally - this will be a long post, sorry! LOL.

First stop - The Garage.  Due to the lot grading our garage had to be dropped below the house, which makes the inside bigger than it looks on the outside and adds additional steps.  I'm positive that this is going to mean an extra cost on my garage door installation but gives slightly more storage area up high for those pesky once a year holiday decorations.  All the switches and outlets seemed to be in their rightful places.  This is a good start.

We have all our drywall supplies ready to go!

Here's a good angle to show the extra space

Next stop - Mud Room.  Nothing too extensive here.  We have one set of our two washer and dryer hookups.  Everything seems on the up and up here.

Washer on the left?  Mine has always been on the right, hrm

Next stop - The Kitchen.  I was unhappy with the recessed lighting settings (set as per plan) but PM agreed to move a set slightly to make it flow a little better.  We're missing a Guardian cable jack in here.  I'll have to reach out to them for them to remedy.

The recessed is too crammed to the left I think

The missing jack should be to the left corner.  The shiny thing is the vent

This pantry is exciting and it has its own light

Next stop - Morning Room.  It's so windowy!  I love it!  Oops, we forgot the light. My PM is very helpful though!

No privacy here! LOL.

Next stop - Family Room.  We opted not to get a fireplace, although gorgeous, we really didn't need it and couldn't justify the price. :(  Everything looked to be in place, however Guardian sucks at picking locations for jacks.

I don't like any of the places that Guardian decided to put the jacks

Next stop - Hall Closet & Powder Room.  Not much to discuss here really.  All the power seems to be in order and the extra pieces are marked to be removed.

Black wire in the middle is the temperature control location

Next stop - Formal Living Room.  Again, I just hate the Guardian jack locations.  Everything seems to be in order in here.  The outlets are good and we have switches for just about everything.

Notice there's no insulation between rooms

Next stop - The basement.  I'm unhappy about a few things here.

1. First, the electrical panel is in the finished part of the basement in a space I indicated that I wanted to add a kitchenette in the near future.  I very clearly stated I wanted to do this during pre-construction and asked that we try to put it somewhere else, but apparently there were NO alternatives.  What an eyesore and a disappointment.  
2. Guardian, again puts the jacks in some stupid places. 
3. The closet will be adjusted a bit for more use of the unused space under the stairs.
4. The second washer and dryer hookup is in the space that I noted during the pre-construction meeting that I would be finishing.  I was hoping they could have put it closer to the sump pump like I asked, but apparently not.  Again, another disappointment.  It's now in the location I planned on putting a closet.  I feel like no one listened or cared enough to accommodate my requests.

Fans to blow the basement dry.

I wish I could use ALL that space under the stairs

Love the egress - HATE the well - and HATE the trash the contractors have thrown in it

We have my friend Brittany's (lot 56) water heater!  Oops.

I found out that the black trash bag is holding insulation around the venting system - neat

Next stop - The loft.  Nothing special here.  Everything seems to be in there as it should be.  Guardian can't hit center if it had a bullseye on it though :)

I just liked this view :)  Look at all the sheetrock!

Next stop - The bedrooms.  Everything seemed to be in place at first in these rooms.  No insulation between the rooms.  My kids loved walking "through walls" LOL!  I found a problem in the owners closet.  I asked during the pre-construction meeting that the attic access either be moved or moved over to allow for a closet in the future if the loft was converted to a bedroom.  That didn't happen.  PM has agreed to move it to another location.  We will have NO useable space up there - it's just for spray insulation.

I would have liked to keep it in a closet but apparently it can't be

The house seems so much smaller than the model

Next stop - Owner's bathroom.  Nothing special here.  My window failed since it's not tempered but I'm told it's going to be replaced to pass inspection.

It was an itsy bitty teeny weeney square window *humming pokadot bikini*

And finally - The Outside.  Oh the punches keep coming.  I asked that the hose bibs be on the right side of the house near the front and on the left side of near the back.  I got neither.  Apparently there is a design issue that prevents the hose from being on the right side of the house?  Uh.  Eyes rolling.  Another thing I can do nothing about.  Yet again, we must change the plans for our home.  Sigh.  I'm disgusted.

This hose height is ridiculous.  I chuckled when I walked over to "test" it.  Seriously?  Careful, don't bump your head.

This one isn't as bad and liveable I guess.

Here's a close up of the brick.  I can't wait to see it on the house.  I think it's growing on me, very slowly.  It looks different in different lights and it seems that the frosty stuff has come off. :(

None of the house I've seen with the sugar creek look the same from one to the next, so it's hard to judge what it will look like

On a positive note - they fixed the water rushing back into the house - yay!  Now if they could just fix the waterproofing.  It's torn all around the back of the house too!

No more huge puddle sitting on the torn waterproofing

Guardian Appointment

Well - we had our Guardian appointment.  This meeting was for selections concerning low voltage wiring: structured wiring, phone/cable outlets as well as our home security, networking and intercom systems.

I thoroughly enjoyed this meeting and I think our SR was fantastic.  Like everything else with this process, we went in prepared, knowing roughly what we needed and an idea of what we wanted.  We had previously used a copy of our floor plan from a brochure to mark out where and what we wanted in each room.

He started out with offering a few rough numbers in our wiring counts.  That was extremely helpful in deciding exactly how many jacks of what we needed.  The items offered were: cable, phone, network/data.  We, then, covered what "extras" were offered and we selected the additional Flat Panel Pre-Wire.  This will put the wiring/cabling inside the wall for our large family room TV.  Woot - no need to see those unsightly tangled wires anymore!!!

We talked about some other items that Guardian offered, but I think we made it clear we weren't open to those types of options.  The central vacuum seemed cool enough but we're not going to have carpeting on one entire floor and it seemed to be an extravagance that we didn't really need.  The Intercom System doesn't seem necessary.  I have quite a voice and can shout just as easily as pushing a button. :)  The Home Audio System seems neat but no where near being in our budget.

We then covered the Home Security System.  Initially, when we started this process 2 weeks ago, we weren't going to select any security system.  But, I dug in for researching one and learned a few things.  Installing a system isn't cheap.  Monitoring a system also isn't cheap.  There are other companies besides Guardian, but since they don't work directly with Ryan Homes there are no discounts.  My decision was to go in with the attitude if we could be offered some sort of incentive we would elect to have Guardian install and monitor the system.  Luckily for us, Bret, the SR was friendly and sensed we needed some urging.  Ok - maybe he didn't 'sense' it - maybe he saw/read my notes.  LOL!  Silly me, I was sitting right next to him with my little notepad open.  But, it turned out very well in the end with a little free monitoring.

Here's the thing.  After getting home and spending a night researching even more I came to realize that there are some grey areas for me.  I'm going to e-mail our SR for Guardian and see if we can have another consultation.  It could possibly be too late, as we've signed some paperwork.  Fingers crossed we can work it out.