Pre-Construction Meeting Follow-up

Since I only did a relatively quick post after our pre-construction meeting, I want to go through some of the questions we asked our PM during the meeting along with his answers.

• What are the anticipated dates for the pre-drywall meeting and settlement?  There aren't any tentative dates yet, but it should be in 8-9 weeks and possibly longer depending on the weather.  We'll get an email from our PM 2 weeks before the pre-drywall to set up the meeting.  He anticipates that settlement will be about 6-7 weeks after the pre-drywall meeting.
• We want to bring our own home inspector to the pre-drywall meeting and the pre-settlement walk through.  How should we coordinate this?  Once we select a home inspector we should send their license and insurance information to our PM, so that the inspector can be approved by Ryan Homes to be allowed in the house while it is still under construction.  Our PM needs this information at least a week in advance.  He also said that he would schedule our pre-drywall in the morning and then our inspector could come through with us that afternoon.
• Can we visit the homesite whenever we want?  Yes, we just have to call in advance.  24 hours notice is best.  Our PM wants us to visit as often as we want, so that we really feel like we are part of the process.
• Will we get updates throughout the construction process?  Yes, our PM will either call or email us weekly with updates on what was completed during the past week and what is scheduled for the upcoming week.  
• How many steps will there be to our front door?  Our PM anticipates that there will be 1-2 steps, and if there are 2 steps they will be spaced out (one closer to the sidewalk and one closer to our door).  He does not want to have to put up a railing since it changes the look of the front of the house.
• Are there any exterior outlets and where are they located?  Yes.  There will be an outlet by the front door, an outlet on the deck, and an outlet out back by the AC.
• Are there any exterior lights? Yes, there will be a light on the deck and a light by the front door.
• Will there be drywall in the garage? Yes
• Will there be outlets in the garage?  Yes
• Can we put a deadbolt on the garage door? No, because that has the door is according to the plan and can't be changed. Our PM said he will give us contact information for a handyman that can install a deadbolt in our door after settlement.
• Can we move the recessed lights above the island so they are centered?  (We plan to replace the recessed lights with pendant lights after we move-in.)  No, because there is a joist that runs over where we want to move the lights.  Our PM said we can revisit this during pre-drywall in case there ends up being a way to make the lights more centered.
• Can we pick our own slab of granite?  No, but there shouldn't be too much variation in the slabs.
• Is there an outlet on the kitchen island?  Yes, there are two outlets on the island.  One will be on either end.
• Is it possible to move the attic access to the closet? No, because there isn't enough space in the closet.
• Can you change the wire shelving in the laundry room so that we can put in a stackable washer and dryer set?  Yes
• Where is the thermostat located? On the wall between the stairs on the main floor.

We also went over the placement of all of our prewires and all of our options.  During the meeting we went floor by floor.  Our PM gave us details on what would be on each floor and gave us a chance to ask questions.  

The only question we still have is what color the exterior siding and shutters will be.  Our sales rep has been calling the main office daily to try to get us this information, but the designer for the community still has not yet decided on the color scheme for our block.  We know it will be something neutral and it is our only minor issue so far, so it is not really bothering us.  Overall, we are really happy with our entire Ryan Homes experience so far.  We can't wait to stop by our homesite this weekend to check on the progress!  

Pre-Construction Meeting Complete

We had our pre-construction meeting today, and we found out that they broke ground already and put in the footers. We thought that construction would probably start before our meeting since we waited a couple weeks to schedule it until we had a day off.  It was so exciting to see that construction already started!  From here on, our project manager will be sending us weekly updates.

This was the first time we met our project manager and he was very helpful. He answered all of our questions and was willing to accommodate us with some special requests such as moving the shelving in the laundry room so that we can put in a stackable washer and dryer set. He was very open to us bringing our own inspector to the predrywall and presettlement meetings. He also said we can stop by the homesite whenever as long as we call in advance.

We were really happy to see all of the progress in the community while we were there. There was another set of Strauss homes finished and one almost done. The condo models were also opened and another condo building was going up. The playground was complete too. We can't wait to see how far along the community is when we move in May. 

Our homesite

The footers on our lot

The alley behind our homesite with other Strauss town homes 

Newly built Andrew Carnegie NVHomes 

More Andrew Carnegie NVHomes 

New building of condos

More views of the other Strauss town homes in the community

More views of the other Strauss town homes in the community

Pre-Construction Meeting on Monday

We have our pre-construction meeting on Monday morning, and we are very excited to finally meeting our project manager.  We're hoping that the PM will be laid back and let us stop by the house to check on the progress.  We live about a half hour away from the community so we will only be able to stop by on the weekends, but we are really looking forward to seeing our house being built.  I plan to take a lot of pictures of the building process and post them here.  I can't wait to move in to our first home in May!

We also cannot wait to see all of the progress in the community when we go in for our meeting.  Our community, Greenbelt Station, is a mix of NV Homes Andrew Carnegie townhomes, Ryan Homes Strauss and Strauss Attic townhomes, and Ryan Homes Matisse and Picasso condos.  The community will also have a park, a playground, and walking paths.  

Last time we stopped by the community was in December and they had almost completed the first building of condos.  They were also working on two blocks of Strauss townhomes with delivery dates in January and March and one block of Andrew Carnegie townhomes.  The playground was also almost done being built.

This time the condo models are going to be open and we plan on stopping by those.  The playground and some of the townhomes will also probably be complete or nearly complete.  It is amazing seeing how quickly the community is coming together!

Construction to begin in the next two weeks

We just got an email from our sales rep that construction will begin on our house in the next two weeks!  We are working with our sales rep to set up our pre-construction meeting with the project manager.  We will likely be meeting with the project manager on the 19th since we are both off work that day.  So far everyone we have worked with through Ryans Homes, NVR, and their subcontractors have been so helpful, and we can't wait to finally meet our project manager.