Week 11 - Mortgage drama

Well, we have been back and forth with NVR to re-establish the amount we said we were going to put down after closing costs as a mistake happened on their end.  *Do note,* closing costs were a lot more than we had expected, so I definitely recommend having a conversation around what to expect.  Anyhow, the rep at NVR made a mistake in the final figure we were putting down in the most recent paperwork (it was much lower than we were putting down, of course making our monthly mortgage much higher, and there was $3,000 that just 'popped up' in additional line items), so we had to get that updated, which was just an annoyance, nothing serious...but another reminder to always read through every line before you sign!!!

The PM said he changed the locks on the house so nobody could get in, including us!  We have our final walk-through next week, and officially move in 9 days from the date of this post!  Surely the work will continue, and we are prepared to learn even more about our house!

Family selfie in front of our fireplace, which has the hearth completed!

Week 10 - Cabinets, Granite, & Appliances Installed!

Granite was supposed to be put in last week, so we were really excited to finally see it. It is soooooo dusty in there, and our PM said even once they have professionals clean the place, we will be dusting a lot, and the granite especially will collect dust.  It's just due to everything being so new.

Upgraded to gas stove & stainless steel appliances

Look at that mess! Excited for this undermount sink though!

Seeing the doors put in really made it feel like it was becoming our home.....

Week 9 - Exterior is just about done

When we drove up to our cul-de-sac, we saw our house and literally, our hearts skipped a beat.  Our initial thought was: "Whose house is that?!?!?" and then it hit us, that was *OUR* house!!!!!  We did a double take, and yup, that was not a reno to our neighbor's house or our eyes looking at the wrong lot, that was definitely our love nest! 

See earlier post for color selections

Having our stoop poured was exciting, because now when we go inside we don't have to walk up a wobbly and thin plank of wood.  Unfortunately, our driveway (as well as our neighbors'), will not be poured until the late Spring.  The interior of the garage had the cement poured, and that really helped us picture how we were going to utilize our 3rd-car garage for organization and storage!

Week 8 - Fireplace

It isn't because of the record-breaking cold we had here in Cleveland this past February: this fireplace ROCKS!!!!  Seriously, this was our priciest upgrade but sooooooooooooo worth it. This is one of our favorite features of the house and when we looked at already built homes (model and for sale), we really noticed the fireplaces, or lack thereof, so we knew we had to have it.  

As you can see, it is not entirely finished.  Note: the raised hearth was an additional cost as well.  Also, the granite and light fixtures were supposed to be installed by the end of this week, but got delayed.

Week 7 - Kitchen Cabinets & Exterior Stone

Look at that BEAUTIFUL wooden cabinetry!  Ryan Homes offers a really nice selection of kitchen cabinetry. However, the knobs are an extra cost, and we did not like what they offered.  We also didn't love the backsplash offered, so we are adding these items after we move in.  



When I first started looking over the cabinets (checking for dents or scratches of course), I noticed the cupboard doors were uneven and didn't line up correctly when shut. Thankfully, the PM was right there and assured me someone would come back and level it all out. Phew, my OCD almost went into overdrive. 

Exterior stone is complete!

Week 6 - Trim, Spindles, & Hardwood floors!

Post-stain spindles

Pre-stain spindles

All of the trim is done and WOW what 
a difference it makes!  

Hardwood floors are also in -- you can see
a sliver of them up along the trim in the 2nd pic, 
but the rest of the house has cardboard
covering the floors so they are protected.  We could not be happier with our color selection - all of the pondering was well worth it! 

The spindles -- oh, these just make me swoon.  These were an upgrade but we just had to have them. They really complete the look and feel we are going for throughout our home, and being artsy people, we felt this splurge was well worth it. 

We also went back and forth on the stain selection and even went back to Rite Rug to make changes.  Again, more than happy with our final selection!  The railings going upstairs and in the basement were also installed this week!

Week 5 - A leak?!?

Well, all the dry wall was up by the end of this week, and we were really able to see the house starting to come together!  But, we did have one scare when we were poking around one weekend...As you can see in this picture, it looks there is a water leak somewhere in our bathroom basement !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, as our PM explained to us, this is just the concrete 'sweating.'  The ground was so frozen when the concrete was put in, and then you have the wood which not too long ago, was outside collecting water when it would rain.  The elementary explanation for this 'water stain' = The concrete and wood are adjusting to their new temperatures.  

So, a dehumidifier and thermometer was placed in the room and this 'stain' went away in just a couple of days.  Note: this is perfectly normal for a new home and happens all of the time.  In addition, it speaks to how important it is to have a dehumidifier running not only in the basement, but in other parts of the home, for the entire first year!  This is due to the changes in temperature/seasons and the house settling.  If you are in the building process, I'm sure you've heard the term 'as the house settles' a lot.  Panic attack successfully avoided! 

Week 4 - Drywall walk-through

Week 4 - Drywall walk-through

Hard to believe, but we had our drywall walk-through!  This is a very important meeting, as it's your one and only chance to add a can light, light switch, cable line, phone line, fan pre-wire, etc., before the drywall goes up!  Our PM was so great in making sure every little thing was perfect.  Everything was done correctly -- we had our extra large master bath shower and linen closet instead of a soaking tub (best decision ever by the way), Jill & Jack sink, light switches right where we wanted them, and rubbed-bronze finishes in the bathrooms.

What I was most impressed with was their efforts in getting our pendant lighting as perfect as possible.  This was about $800 to add in to our kitchen, and because of the placement of the canned lighting, our PM wasn't sure if the pendant lights would align where we wanted them to be over the island.  Additionally, he wasn't sure if we'd want the 2 canned lights that we'd have had we not gotten the pendant lighting, as it might be too much light.

So, they mapped out the exact placement and size of island, then used a laser to align to the ceiling area for the electrician to make the outlets RIGHT where we wanted them! We decided not to add on the 2 canned lights as it seemed it'd be too much light when the lights are on!

A couple days later, we went back to see the dry-wall put up and it really is starting to look like a home!

A bedroom filled with drywall 

Master closet

Week 3

Week 3

We paid to have a gas line added so that when we buy a
gas grill someday, it will be easy to hook up and right where we want it.

A pic of our morning room.

Blueprints

Fireplace - the raised hearth was an additional cost

Week 2

We completed Week 2 of the build process and are thrilled with the progress and communication from our PM Sam.  First, Sam was able to get our sump pump drain to connect with the city drains which was awesome -- it all depended on the topography once they completed the excavation.  In addition, he was able to make the water drainage pipes be underground, so when we mow our lawn or play cornhole out there someday, we don't have to step over it or worse, trip over it! This is something you probably wouldn't think of, and we only knew of asking about because when we were looking at homes, we saw a home that had the pipe above ground in its backyard, and really didn't like how it disrupted the mobility of the yard.  PMs can't always make the pipe be underground, but if you specifically point this out and ask them to try very hard to make it work (it might take them extra time to work with the topography of the land and the grade), they will.  

This was the final product at the end of Week 2

Sam also called us and asked us if we wanted the 2 basement windows to be in the finished part of the basement, or the unfinished part.  When he called he said we had an hour to get back to him before he would be forced the make the decision for us, and I called him right back to talk through it. He pointed out that though it'd be nice to have that natural light coming into the finished part of the basement, if we were to put a deck up, that view would be blocked by the legs and framing of the deck, making it more of an eyesore.  In addition, say we didn't do a deck, we had selected our cable to be on the wall directly across from the where those windows would be, making for bad TV quality if the sun was shining in.  Since we definitely plan on putting up a deck, we decided to put the windows in the unfinished/storage area of the basement.

This picture was taken at the start of Week 2













These pictures were taken just 10 hours after the picture above

Our plumbers hard at work....

The framing

And then a couple days after the framing was done, we drove up to our HOUSE, not just our lot anymore!

Front view of our house...we LOVE all of the room we have on the sides of our house! More privacy, and more room for a garden, more trees, and someday, a place for Greg to play soccer with our little ones!

This is the side/back view of our home. As you can see, the morning room (or as some call it, sunroom) looks right into the woods!

Week 1

1-week into build (in pictures)

Just a couple of days after dig day, the basement concrete framing was put in............

2 days later the framing was removed and the concrete was set! This is my fiance Greg demonstrating the infamous LeBron James poster hung in downtown Cleveland (pic below) He is pretty excited about his 'man cave' and so am I!

Dig day!

Today was dig day!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was -20 degrees in Cleveland today, but that didn't change a thing for our dig date!  If you look closely at the picture, you can see how they dug out our basement!

My fiance and I met with our PM Sam on Friday for 3 hours for our Roadmap meeting.  We were so, so, SO impressed with our PM. He was so organized, passionate, knowledgeable, and SHARP as a tack.  He had plumbing items highlighted in pink, electric items in blue, and so on.  He is a great communicator and made us feel so comfortable with everything, while also reassuring us that the fun was just beginning and he wanted our experience to be top notch.  "Simply put, my job is to make you guys happy with this beautiful home you've designed."  Yes, he makes sure things are scheduled out, done correctly, etc., but he said he really is there to make sure our every need and want is taken care of along the way.  He would have given us even more time if we asked for us, it was like it didn't seem to matter that it was almost 8 o'clock on a Friday!  Additionally, he went through the details of how Ryan Homes comes back in 10-12 months post-build to address nail pops and all those little things that arise with a new house as it settles.  

It was amazing to see all of the blueprints and the details/notes that accompanied them.  Sometimes you might hear Ryan Homes being criticized for offering a cookie-cutter home (which most builders do have cookie-cutter homes, and that's why custom builders exist -- however there is a MUCH smaller market for custom-built homes because of the significant rise in their cost), as well as for putting up their homes so quickly.  Attend a Roadmap meeting with Ryan Homes and you will see how they do it so quickly.  They have EVERY last detail down to a science -- it truly reminded us of the efficiency of an assembly line.  Every structural detail, every possibility, and every concern has already been identified with each model and elevation.  They can put these homes up so quickly because they have established such an efficient process with having built so many of the 'x' style of home.  

We are also very happy to hear about how stringent Ryan Homes is about meeting their deadlines -- for every day that goes past our hard move-in date (which we won't know for another month), the PM 'pays the price' in that cost variance by taking a big pay cut.  It just doesn't happen with Ryan Homes -- the lumber, carpet, flooring, pipes, stone, cement, wires, drywall, insulation, etc., is all ordered and delivered down to a precise science.  

We definitely agree with our PM so far, the fun has just begun!