Quick Update - Week 6

This week was productive for the framers!  Adam said they were able to finish up nearly everything this week!  They also started the mechanical, electrical and plumbing this and will continue with it into next week.  They also plan to begin the brick front on the exterior.  There is at least one unit that I know of that has full brick on the front and ours has about 3 feet of brick at the bottom, so I guess that is what he means by that.  Other than that we have the pre drywall meeting to look forward to next week!  Below is the picture Adam sent with his email.  Can't wait to see what it looks like inside!  We plan to try to get some interior pictures tomorrow.

We are the 4th unit from the right.

T.A.C. Tile - Resolved + new meetings

Mike and I met with Deena today at T.A.C. tile in Manassas to look at the corner shelves for the roman shower in our master bathroom.  First things first, Deena was AWESOME!  Our experience today was the complete opposite of our meeting with the other person last month!

Deena showed us an upgraded soap dish as well as two sizes of corner shelves, all made from the same cast stone material.  We opted for two 8" corner shelves in the color sand.  They are going to install them right below the listello.

The little miniature corner shelf is a color sample of what we will be getting along side the tile and listello we chose.

This is the full size version of of what we got (just in a different color).  I put my hand in the photo so you could get an idea for size.

In other news, Trinity called the other day to schedule a meeting for us to come and confirm our wiring locations so they could mark them in our home.  We will meet with them on Tuesday and they said they expect it to be installed on Thursday.  Adam our PM also emailed to find out when we can come out next week to have our pre drywall meeting!  WOOHOO!  We will be meeting with him on Thursday of next week.

On my way home tonight after the appointment I drove by our house.  It was dark so I didn't take any photos, but I can confirm that all of our windows have been installed, along with our front door and our french door that leads out to the balcony.  It also looks like they have begun construction of the balcony too!  We will have to wait for Adam's weekly update tomorrow to find out what else they were able to complete this week.  I know they expected to have HVAC and plumbing begin installing this week so I really can't wait to get inside to see what they did.  Mike and I will venture out to see our SR on Saturday to make our final payment as well as get some progress photos (as usual).

T.A.C. Tile - Update

Our SR Lauren called to let us know that we can indeed get the shelves in the roman shower!! WOOHOO!

She is now in the process of setting up an appointment for us to go and check out the three different options T.A.C. has.

I am so relieved!

Homesite Visit - Week 5

ALOT has happened since Colin's update yesterday!!  It is just so amazing what they can accomplish in a day.

We have roof paper installed and front windows (minus the first floor).  The windows were a surprise as they were not mentioned in the update email so it was exciting to see half of them installed!  Another exciting surprise was the appearance of stairs.  We knew the crew would be working on them next week but it looks like they got it done yesterday and today.  All of the units had stairs going up to at least the main level.

*WARNING*  We walked all three levels of our home today after the crew left.  When walking your home during construction, please be sure to step carefully and be aware of your surroundings at all time.  Your home is considered a hard hat area during all phases of framing so it is important that you follow all rules your PM has made to keep you safe.

That being said Mike and I broke the rules and toured our house anyway, lol.  I didn't take panoramic photos this time because it looks like they are still working on some of the framing but I plan to take some in the future once wiring and HVAC is done so we know what is behind those walls!  As you can see from the photos below, the inside was very messy, but its understandable considering how busy they have been!

Some of our windows are installed!

Window holes aren't cut out yet.  I assume its to keep it a little warmer inside.  You will also see the unit next to ours isn't wrapped.  It was at some point but it looks like the wind ripped it off.

Now we have french doors in our garage as well as 4 front doors.

A picture of the bright sun coming through the front door.

Our stairs leading up to the main level!!

This is our kitchen.  The framed space there in the corner is the pantry.

This is half of our living room.  The framed space in the back is what will be our powder room.

These are the stairs leading down to the main level from the 3rd floor.

Master bedroom

Bedroom #3

Bedroom #2

Roofed and Wrapped - Quick Update Week 5

Colin, the production supervisor just sent us an update email!  We have a roof  now and they are working on finishing up the wrap today.  Tomorrow they plan to put the paper on the roof and the shingles will be delivered on Monday and they expect to begin installing them on Tuesday.  The framers will focus next week on the interior to include the stairs, interior walls, etc.  Colin also said the rough trades will begin late next week, starting with HVAC and plumbing.

So based on all that information I bet we are not too far off from our pre-drywall meeting.  These guys move quick!  Below are the two photos Colin sent with his email and as usual Mike and I will visit tomorrow to get some up close photos.

Lauren is still waiting to hear back from T.A.C. about whether they even offer the corner shelves for our roman shower, but she did assure me that it would be no problem to add them if its something we want to do.  So fingers crossed T.A.C. has them!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

In this photo ours is 3rd from the right.  You can also see that all of the windows for the row have been delivered and stored in the first unit's garage, and the french doors for the kitchen are are stored in the second unit's garage.

Ours is 4th from the right.  You can see a worker cutting out our door hole...

Shower shelves and a new area rug

Yesterday I read another Ryan homeowner blog that talked about getting a marble or ceramic corner shelf in our roman shower. (thanks Rick and Nadase)  Mike and I have been racking our brains for a way to keep our shampoo's and soaps within reach while we shower.  We had resigned ourselves to getting one of those unsightly shelves that hangs over the shower door when I saw what Rick and Nadase had posted.  Unfortunately T.A.C. tile didn't even mention this option to us.  Add to that a less than stellar appointment to begin with and we were very disappointed.

I emailed Lauren our sales rep today to find out why T.A.C. might have left that option out during our individual meeting?  She responded promptly as usual (thanks Lauren) and explained its possible T.A.C. tile may not offer that option but she is going to call the manager there anyway to find out if its available and if its possible to add the option in.  I hope its not too late.  And if it is, I will be very upset with the T.A.C. representative for not bothering to show us other options that were available. 

On another more happier note, I have been LUSTING over an area rug I found online at Rugs USA.  Well last week they sent out an email stating that they were going to have the biggest pre black Friday sale in their 13 year history! I WAS STOKED! So on Monday I patiently waited for my email to come and FINALLY in the afternoon it did.  The sale was for 75% off tons of rugs on their website.  WOOHOO!

Mike agreed to allow me to order the rug for my birthday/Christmas present since we are on a tight budget right now.  We have all wood floors on our first level so it just makes sense to get area rugs to warm up the space and protect our floors.  So, we are now the proud owners of this beautiful new 100% wool rug!  It is 7'6" x 9'6" in the pretty color blue, that we plan to put in the dining room.  It was originally $757 and we got it for $189.25!! What a deal! 

Homesite Visit - Week 4

We didn't receive an update from Adam yesterday so we didn't know what to think when we visited today.  Apparently somehow we weren't on the email he sent, but I think they have that worked out now.

Anyway, guess what?!  WE HAVE A SECOND FLOOR! And they were also working today!  One of the other units even had part of their third floor up.  Cool right?

Lauren our sales rep forwarded the update email from yesterday.  Adam says that they will continue framing through next week and they hope to have the roof trusses up by the end of the week.  I suppose that means by the last week of the month we'll have a roof? I sure hope so!  How insane is that?!

Because they were still working while we were there, we didn't have the opportunity to walk around because it didn't seem safe, however I was still able to get a couple of photos of the progress.  We don't have any stairs inside which will make it hard to photos of the upper floors until those are in.

Here is what we got:

This is the rear of the home.

Here is the front.  Its starting to look like a house!  And the unit next to ours is already getting their 3rd floor!

This is a closer pic of the garage area.  I wanted to get an idea of where the steel beams were.  Also the open space above the door is where our little balcony will go in.

Just another view of the upper half of the backside.  Through the window on the left you can see the holes where the ventilation will go that connects to our microwave. 

This is the photo Adam sent out on Friday.

Potential setback? - UPDATED -

UPDATE - Adam got back to me really quick.  I wasn't expecting him to reply until tomorrow!  Anyway he said, its an issue he was already aware of and they will get a plumber to come out to fix them all.  He also implied that this would not cause a delay in the rest of the construction.
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I was going over the pictures that I took yesterday and something didn't feel right.  I was also still pondering why they didn't work this weekend like they were planning to.  Adam answered my email this afternoon which is awesome.  He said the fork lift broke down!  Bummer right?!  Oh well, stuff happens.


Anyway this picture was really bothering me:

 See how the wall is partially obscuring the opening?  Well I went back today and looked at the other units.  Ours wasn't nearly as bad as this guys...

This is what it should look like...

  

Some of our new neighbors were there and also their parents.  Her dad explained to me that they will probably have to dig out the concrete around the pipe and install an elbow to make the pipe come out at the right location.  Hopefully it will be easy to fix and won't hold back the progress too much!  I emailed the pictures to Adam to get his take on it.

Tumbleweeds... Homesite Visit - Week 3

Well there isn't much change to our home since the brief update from yesterday, but all of the other units had a lot more progress.  We visited with Mike's parents today so they could get a chance to see the model home too.  Yesterday Adam had emailed everyone and indicated there would be people working over the weekend since the weather would be excellent, but when we arrived, the place was a GHOST TOWN.  We are really bummed (yes even Mike is bummed).  We don't really expect them to work every weekend because people need some time off, we get that, but when your PM says they are working through the weekend, well hell, I expect there to be people working!

We passed another Ryan Homes community on the way to our home and there were workers all over the place working away on the homes there.  Why not ours?  I am also worried to see that our unit has practically NO work done to it at all compared to the others, which have framing done in the basement (poweder room, closet and HVAC room).  Why not ours?  Its bothersome because it makes me wonder if something went wrong with our unit.

Pretty bummed.

I took this picture to show a friend of ours how the wood was sitting on the concrete.  Apparently it has to be specially treated for this kind of contact, including the metal.

Mike and his parents in our very empty little home.

See that pipe coming out of the concrete? Its for our powder room.  I found out that the space in the concrete behind the pipe is like that because the concrete may not have been agitated enough.  Not a reason for concern.

A good indicator of how behind our unit is.  All the other units have a front to them and have framing inside.  Ours? Not so much.  Its the only one like that.

What is this for? Its partially covered by the dividing wall between units.

This is the backside of our home.

Quick Update - Week 3 Framing begins

We just got our weekly update from Adam!

Even with the sketchy weather at the beginning of the week they were able to pour the slab and begin framing!

Here is the photo he sent:

Adam says they will continue to work through the weekend, which is AWESOME.  It seems like they are only a few days behind schedule so KUDOS to them for working extra hard to make sure it stays on track.

Mike and I will take our weekly trip out there to take more pictures for our blog. 

EEEKKKKKKKK!! It's happening so fast!

Over the moon - thanks

I just wanted to take a moment to say how pleased we have been with the building process with Ryan Homes.  This of course includes using NVR for our loan.  Over the past month I have read a lot of blogs that have had negative things to say about both NVR and Ryan, but we have had the exact opposite experience so far.  We are so grateful to have an amazing team of professionals working on our home and loan process.  Everyone has been so responsive to our needs, inquiries and anal retentive tendencies (okay just MY anal retentive tendencies, Mike is cool as a cucumber).  Our team has made this process so easy for us, and mostly stress free (waiting for our loan was brutal, but that wasn't their fault).

So thank you Ryan Homes and NVR for making this possible for us! (That means you Lauren, Sophia, Adam, Colin, Kay and Chrissy)

Homesite Visit - Week 2

Mike and I visited our home today.  It looks like they are nearly done with getting the plumbing groundwork done.  Only unit "F' needs to be finished.

It seems like everything is coming along nicely and if they did indeed work today, it shows they are really trying to stick to a schedule.  I am assuming that is because they have an inspector coming on Monday.

I noticed two of the pipes coming out of the ground at the back of our home are broken/damaged.  It looks like it was hit with the backhoe while they were digging.  Hopefully these two pipes weren't important right?

UPDATE: I emailed Adam this morning and he got back to me right away! He said "those are utility pipes that are more for marking locations than anything else just yet.  They will eventually be for the power connection to your house and the Verizon connection, so nothing to do with any of the plumbing ground works that we are currently installing.  When those utility connections are made, new conduit will be installed."

Crisis averted.  My mom will be happy to hear this news.

 

So, I guess from here we just continue to watch our home be built!  The lumber arrives on Monday I think and I am hoping they will be able to pour the slab.

Here are some additional pictures I took.

From the front

Add caption

This is everything from the back of the house where the garage will be.

Our sign got knocked down. :(

Friday update from Adam - Week 2

We got an update from Adam this morning with another picture!  Despite Sandy, they were able to pour the walls this week.  Adam said that today and through the weekend they plan to work on the plumbing ground works and on Monday they will have it inspected. They will then prep the slab and pour it.  After that they will back fill around the foundation and begin framing.  Not sure if they expect to begin framing next week or not, but I do know that the lumber is still scheduled to arrive.

Mike and I plan to visit this weekend to get better pictures of what they did this week, but until then, here is Adam's picture!

WE ARE CLEARED FOR LIFTOFF! - WE GOT APPROVED

Words cannot express how better we feel now that we have a loan approval!!  A huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders.

WOOHOO!

And for our picture loving friends, here is a picture of a home with a similar elevation to ours.  Our shutters and door will be green and the siding will be a little lighter than this.