Month: April 2019

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

– Plato

WEEK ONE

After months of planning and waiting, it is amazing to see physical progress. We had some April showers this week which kept us from completing “best case” progress, but Joey, our PM, called at the end of the week to let us know we’re on schedule and in great shape.

This week, the foundation was dug, the forms were set and footers were poured. Next week, wall forms will be placed and walls will be poured. The wood is ordered and things are moving right along.

Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently.

– William A. Ward

From January to April, not much was happening. It was more a waiting game getting ready to start building. During that time we did contract to sell our existing home and luckily, we’ll have closing and give possession in late July so we’re very hopeful timing will work out for a smooth single move and transition.

After all that planning and waiting, on April 15, we had our pre-construction meeting. This meeting is scheduled the week before Ryan plans to dig. Our meeting was with our awesome Sales Rep Jenn and our Project Manager Joey. Jenn has been great at answering all of our many questions. This was our first meeting with Joey but we’re really excited to work with him too. You can tell he loves what he does.

The purpose of the meeting is to go through every option recorded on your contract and compare the plans to confirm everything is how you want it. After the review, you also get to walk the site with the house staked out exactly how it will sit on your lot.

If you search “Ryan Homes Pre-construction Meeting questions” online you’ll find pages and pages of things you may want to ask. We had already asked and had answers for many – thanks to Jenn, but I added a couple we asked that I had not seen before below.

Q: Does the entry from mud-room to foyer have a header? I want to install a barn door there and will need a header. A: Yes

Q: I want to install a laundry chute between the water closet and the laundry room. Can we confirm there are no obstructions where I want it? A: Yes, that spot will be open but take pictures at pre-drywall meeting for reference.

Q: We have an outside light at both back doors (morning room and master). Per plan they are each switched at each door. Could we make these a 3-way switch so they both go on and off together? A: Maybe- will confirm.

Q: Can we add a ledge, tile corner shelves and/or a listello to master shower if we provide the materials? A: Nope

We also got a happy surprise at this meeting. All homes in this phase of our development will have exterior stone installed down to grade. This will look really nice particularly since our lot is sloped to accommodate the walk out basement.

After all of the planning, we are so excited to see construction begin next week. It’s finally here!

Every choice you make has an end result.

– Zig Ziglar

January 13th was our deadline for all . We had already passed the deadline for options structural changes like the morning room, extended master and the elevation (10 days after contract). This deadline (30 days after contract) included things like kitchen layout, bath layout, trim options and fireplace. This was also the deadline to make any changes in our color and finish selections.

Our selections are outlined on the options page, but below are two that were particularly hard for us. We changed our minds several times on whether to upgrade from carpet to solid flooring in the great room. One of the hardest decisions was the fireplace. While we love a fireplace, the beautiful wall of windows in the great room is hard to give up. Final answer? Hard floor and a fireplace.

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.

– Claude Monet

Our color selection meeting was set for January 5th. In this meeting, we made selections for our external colors and interior finishes. The interior and exterior selections come in coordinated packages so everything will look good together in the end.

We were worried we might not be able to agree on colors and finishes, but having a limited number of packages was probably a benefit and helped us find the one we both loved for inside and out. We went with the Barrington III interior package and the Sierra PA Ledgestone and Terra Light siding package.

Note: More information on specific colors and finishes on the Options page.