Waiting...

Just a quick update to say nothing has happened.

This somewhat expresses our feelings on this matter

This expresses our feelings much better

We went to visit the lot last weekend (in hopes that something may have been started, it hasn't) and were able to walk around and attempt to get a feel for what our backyard will look like. Previously, the lot has been mostly covered with supplies for the two houses being built next door and thus inaccessible on foot.

As of today it has been 12 days since we last met with the sales rep and gave her some possible times for the pre-construction meeting. We expected a pretty quick turn around to schedule the meeting because the sales rep keeps saying that Ryan is eager to start on the house. Unfortunately, we did not hear back from her and had to send a reminder email yesterday. She replied by blaming the delay on the PM and then scheduled the meeting for next week. I guess the good news is the sales rep also says the pre-construction meeting won't hold up any construction. (This statement is baffling to me as the very definition of pre-construction would indicate it has to occur prior to any construction)

Overall, the frustration has continued with the sales rep and her lack of communication. When we reminded her about the meeting yesterday, she replied with some random inconvenient times for next week (nothing in line with the 4 days of the week we requested) and some vague non-answers about some other questions we had asked. She even tried to talk us out of having Ryan do one of the things we've requested and suggested we contact an outside contractor. Overall, we're not impressed with the sales rep and are hoping that our project manager is a big improvement since all the other bloggers have raved about their PMs.

So for now, we wait and will meet with our PM next week to walk the lot and do some pre-construction meeting things. We will drive by the lot again this weekend, just to see if indeed construction has started, but we're not holding out much hope that it has.

Step Five: RiteRug and Flooring Selections

Floors!

It's finally time to pick out the flooring for the entire house! It's amazing how little attention we pay to the surface below our feet on a daily basis, but it's incredibly difficult to choose that precious, unappreciated material.

We went to the flooring place, Rite Rug, on a Tuesday. It's the first appointment that didn't take place at the model home & the first appointment that interfered with work in any way (at least for me). The entire appointment took about two hours, but I think some computer glitches caused the appointment to last about thirty minutes longer than is would have.

We met with Debra at the flooring showroom/warehouse. It's very clear that they get a lot of business from Ryan because the people before and after us were all building Ryan homes. Debra told us she has worked in flooring for 30 years, at Rite Rug for 3 years, and is a designer not a sales person. We asked her to show us the lowest grade for each item first regardless of the fact that we had already budgeted for upgrades for certain things (i.e. we went through the price sheet and eliminated choices based on price before we ever saw a sample & these choices have already been factored into the price listed on the initial contract). We did our research (aka reading Ryan blogs) prior to our appointment and knew that we may decide to eliminate the kitchen backsplash due to the cost versus the limited design options. We also knew that we may opt to upgrade the Owner's bath tile after finding out that level A is a 6x6 almond or white shiny tile.

Anyway, Debra pulled up our contract, but did not have the most recent updates that were put into place two days prior to our appointment. We had to call the sales rep and get the change orders emailed to Debra to make sure we got all the selections we needed and that the end price was correct.

Our first selection was the tile downstairs. Apparently it's weird, but we are doing tile in the foyer, entry hall, powder room, kitchen, and breakfast nook instead of hardwood. The reason behind this is our 130 pound great dane, T, and also because that is how our house is now and we love it. We budgeted for level B tile, but looked at A first. A was pretty, but Debra recommended porcelain tile and there were only two porcelains in the A category. Both of the porcelain tiles in the A category were light in color which does not work very well with the red NC clay that eventually gets tracked all over the place. Category B had a lot more porcelain choices and we picked our tile with little debate. The tile we picked is a V4 variation which means it has a higher variance between each tile. It makes the floor more interesting and is designed to look like slate. I'm posting the large tile piece and then the miniature example of the variance below. As I stated before, I took terrible pictures because I was so excited, but at least you get an idea.

The Variance between tiles

Our tile, counter, & kitchen cabinet

We discussed the kitchen backsplash, but ultimately decided to eliminate it due to the limited choices and because we would rather see what our granite slab looks like before we pick a backsplash tile that may not look good depending on what colors show up in our granite. 

Next, we chose the laminate flooring for the family room, study, and dining room. We prefer laminate because it is so durable and does not scratch the way hardwoods do. We chose single plank Heritage Heights Mahogany pictured below with our tile and also in the stock image from the Armstrong website. 

With our tile

Stock Image

Now, we move to the owner's bath tile. This was a priority because it is one of the rooms we will use on a daily basis as we get ready for work and bed each day. We initially indicated a level A tile in our budget, but with the eliminate of the backsplash, we had some wiggle room for an upgrade. Ultimately, we chose a level C tile. They will do the 12x12 tile on the floor, shower walls, and bathtub surround. The listello will be a line around the wall next to the tub and near the top of the shower. Debra gave us the ability to swap out different listellos for no charge. Our selection is below with our cabinet selection and our new counter top selection, Sandstone (small white-ish square). 

Daltile Stratford Place Willow Branch 12x12, Daltile Stone Radiance SA52 Listello 

We opted to stay with level A tile in the hall bath because our guests don't need anything too pretty or they may stay too long (just kidding, don't take offense if you are one of our future guests). We also chose to use the Sandstone counter top pictured above in the hall bathroom with the espresso cabinets. Less excitingly we chose a vinyl for the laundry room and wet bar areas. Both of these areas are pretty tiny, so we didn't agonize over the decision for very long, our vinyl selection was Armstrong Initiator 66178 Bridgeton Cinnamon.

vinyl flooring, wet bar laminate countertop, and berber carpet for basement

Next, you probably guessed was the carpet for the basement and "zone 2" (the second floor). I posted a picture of the basement carpet above. It is a level B berber called Shaw Courtyard Manor Apple Butter. We chose the berber because it holds up well and works better with any moisture issues that may arise from being in a basement. For "zone 2" we budgeted for a level C carpet, but entertained the idea of downgrading. Ultimately, we stuck with the level C carpet because it felt thicker and looked better. We upgraded to the Admiral II 8lb padding in all carpet zones for that extra cushiony bounce (technical term). Pictured below is the "zone 2" carpet Shaw Favorite Choice Ridgecrest next to our owner's bath tile and listello. We're mildly concerned that when we looked up the zone 2 carpet, it says it's been discontinued. Hopefully, Rite Rug has a secret hook up and we won't have to go back and choose something else. 

Zone 2 carpet and owner's bath tile

After we made our selections, Debra entered them into the computer and let us know the damage. Shockingly, we came in $20 under our projected budget! We signed some paperwork, Debra reviewed floor care requirements and warranty information before she sent us on our way just in time to avoid death by hunger pains!

Next Step - supposedly a pre-construction meeting, but our sales rep says they may break ground first! So stay tuned!

Step Four: Exterior, Structural, Cabinet, & Countertop Selections

A few days after the Guardian appointment we met with our sales rep to finalize any structural changes so they can order materials and start building our dream home. When our sales rep told us that was the point of the meeting, I have to admit my heart did a crazy happy dance because it's becoming more real by the minute!

We met with the sales rep on a weekend. They don't prefer weekends because that's when all the looky-loos come in and demand attention. Luckily, we've still been able to have all our meetings with the sales rep on the weekends which helps avoid problems with our work schedules. I think this meeting is usually the last one, but because we weren't able to get the flooring appointment scheduled earlier, we went ahead with it anyway. Our sales rep says Ryan is eager to get started on our house, I think it's because we are the last Ryan home in our community and once we close they will be completely done with their part of that neighborhood. We like that they are motivated, because we are too!

Anyway, back to this meeting. The first thing we discussed was outlets, yes, outlets. We had to review the electrical plans and see if there were any additional outlets, lights, or switches that we needed to add. It wasn't as difficult as we expected it to be since the outlets were clearly marked on the plans and easy to locate. We also placed the fan pre-wires and informed the sales rep of a few structural things we wanted to change (square off the media room and use only one door, eliminate one closet door and make the owner's closet one big room, change in patio size, switch door to owner's bath to open into room due to collision issue with water closet). We also changed the basement lights to a recessed package (6 lights in Rec Room, can't remember how many in wet bar and media room). We did this because otherwise the lighting is ridiculous in the basement with 5 lights (pictured below) in the Rec Room, 2 in Bar, 3 in Media Room.

We didn't choose this because it's weird.

Next, we wandered upstairs to pick our exterior colors, cabinet colors, and countertops. My pictures aren't great because I get excited and they all come out blurry, but I'll post them anyway because I'm still excited. Here are our choices: 

Exterior 

Trim: White

Shutters: Black

Door: Tricorn Black

Brick: Charlestown

(there is about 1 row of this brick on the bottom of the porch)

Siding: Evening Blue 

Stock Image

Our Picture with the brick

Kitchen

Cabinets: Tahoe Cherry Bordeaux

Counter: Santa Cecilia Granite

Stock Image of Cherry Bordeaux Cabinet

My picture of the Cherry Bordeaux Cabinet and Santa Cecilia Granite

Upstairs Bathrooms (Owner's & Hall)

Cabinets: Scottsdale Maple Espresso

Counter: Santa Cecilia Light  Granite (this got changed later)

Stock Image of Maple Espresso Cabinets

Wet Bar

Cabinets: Honey Oak

Countertop: Formica Jamocha Granite 

Stock Image

Stock Image

We also signed some change orders to keep our paperwork up to date with all the changes and provided some times for our pre-construction meeting with the project manager. Our sales rep said Ryan would probably start the build within the next two weeks with a projected closing in December 2013!

Next Step: RiteRug and Flooring Selections

Step Three: Guardian

We are anxiously awaiting for actual construction to begin, until then we're just super excited with nothing tangible to make it feel real! While we wait we have to set up meetings with the following people:

1. Guardian
• Wiring for phone, data, speakers, security, and cable
2. Rite Rug
• Flooring
3. Sales Rep
1. Finalize structural changes
2. Pick exterior colors/materials
3. Choose cabinets & countertops

The first meeting we had was with Brian from Guardian. I should preface this post by explaining a little more about my husband and myself. 

I consider myself to be computer savvy with probably a little more computer knowledge than your average professional due to several years of engineering classes in college. I have forgotten a lot of the advanced knowledge I had, but I still feel pretty competent in the computer world. As far as movies, they're great, but if you ask me if I've seen something, my answer is usually "I've seen parts of it". So needless to say, this wasn't the appointment I was most excited about. 

My husband on the other hand works in IT and in my opinion is a computer genius with the patience of a saint. He is the first one to have a cool gadget, he loves movies, and he listens to that ridiculous computer music that just sounds like random noise to me. He is passionate about everything in the Guardian repertoire and was pretty pumped about this meeting. 

Now on to the meeting. We met Brian at the sales office/model home after work one day. Brian was great to work with, wasn't pushy about upgrades or forcing us to get things that didn't interest us. He took time to explain things we (mostly I) didn't understand and was willing to be creative if we wanted something outside of the normal package. 

Brian started out with a print out of our floor plan and a brief explanation of how phone, cable, & internet wiring used to run versus how it is done now. We don't use a home phone, so we changed the phone wiring to data points. Brian had us pick out which rooms needed cable and data points in the house and gave us pricing for the extra connections. We had four connections included and ended up adding a few more to accommodate my techtastic husband's computers and the media room. 

Next, Brian reviewed our security options and gave us information on pricing and options based on our needs.

Finally, Brian talked about music wiring with speakers and then wiring/speakers for noises (technical term) that come out of the tv or media room. 

We made most of our choices on site, but had to think about a few things and email the final result to Brian later. Brian then submitted the information to our sales rep and we signed a change order for the additional costs incurred based on our Guardian choices.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience. It seemed to be a fairly simple meeting from my view point, although that might be because I have no idea what the difference is between the speakers on my old boombox and a state of the art sound system.

In the end, we decided to add data and cable points on each level, pre-wiring for speakers in the media room and basement rec room, pre-wiring for outdoor speakers, wiring for a TV over the fireplace and a few in-wall/ceiling speakers where we wanted things to be discrete. We weren't crazy about the pricing, so we tried to only opt for stuff that had to be done behind the drywall.

My husband's goal

Next Step: Finalize Exterior & Structural Choices. 

Step Two: The Loan Application

Immediately after signing the contract you have to send in an information sheet to NVR finance. Aside from our initial contact resigning from the company right after we turned in our paperwork, we have not experienced any bumps in the road so far and NVR has been very responsive and helpful.

We got the loan application package from NVR pretty quickly. It was very organized & easy to understand and aside from a lot of reading & signing, we had to provide the following:

1. Copy of last 2 paystubs for each applicant
2. Copy of last two years of W-2 for each applicant
3. Copy of last two years of tax returns for each applicant
4. Copy of last 60 days of bank statements for all bank accounts for each applicant
5. Copy of most recent retirement fund statement for each applicant
6. Contact information for employer for employment verification for each applicant
7. Copy of HUD from any recent real estate sales
8. A letter of intent to sell our current home
9. A check for the credit check and inspection

NVR provided a self addressed UPS bag thing in which to return the packet and you have 48 hours to do so. We shipped ours back the next day and it has been received. So far we've been told they do not expect any issues with the loan, but we know this is a source of stress later in the build from reading other blogs, so we'll see how it turns out.

Hopefully, they'll share some of that

Next Step: Guardian

Step One - Meeting the Rep

Once we determined that Ryan had the trifecta of our favorite floor plan, a basement lot, and was in the right location we went to one of the model homes with our realtor to talk to a sales rep and get this party started!

At our initial meeting, we discussed available floor plans, base pricing & options, and we toured a basement-less (totally a word) James Joyce. We returned home with a little bit of sticker shock and spent some time evaluating how we wanted to proceed. In case you didn't know, unfinished basements are made out of gold and finished ones are apparently made out of platinum and diamonds, so if you're considering one, be prepared!

We spent about a week emailing back and forth with the sales rep and our Realtor in an attempt to gain clarity about the process and the cost. We have struggled with communication and obtaining straight answers from our sales rep from the beginning, but we've powered through and will soon move on to the project manager and the build!

We visited the sales office again a week later to get a more exact idea of the cost with our desired upgrades and then spent more time budgeting and reviewing our options. We actually obtained a copy of the price sheet, which GREATLY helped with the process. We finally submitted all our choices for our dream house with the mentality of "go big or go home". Of course the sticker price was ridiculous, but our realtor is awesome (this will be the 5th time we've bought or sold with her) and had no qualms about asking for a significant reduction on the sales price.

Ryan countered back a few days later with a discount and stated it was their "best price". We countered back anyway and asked for additional closing costs as well. Ultimately, Ryan Homes agreed and a contract was born!

None of these people were actually at our meeting. Also, not sure why the lady has a question about a blank white board.

Next step, applying for the loan.

Let Us Introduce Ourselves...

We are excited to be building a fabulous new home! We are so excited we felt the need to share that excitement and a little about our process with the world.

To start, let me introduce myself, you can call me KD and you can call my husband MD. We will have been married three years next week and currently live in NC with our great dane, you can call him T.

We recently decided it was a great time to find a house that would better meet our needs as we start thinking about having wee ones in our lives. (I should also mention my husband has an unnatural obsession with basements, which we don't currently have.) So, we agreed to explore our options. We looked and looked and looked at existing properties. Clearly we didn't find anything and moved towards new construction.

We met with several builders and did some online research prior to deciding on Ryan Homes. Ultimately, the James Joyce floor plan and the availability of building a basement were the deciding factors, but the Ryan blogging community was a huge help!

So here we go! We will attempt to post every step along the way so you can learn about the process and of course see how fabulous and perfect our house turns out to be!

Photo we received of a James Joyce with Elevation A