Pre Construction Meeting + Extra Sq Footage we didn't know we had!

We met with our SR and PM today to discuss all the details about the house.  This meeting was almost 4 hours long!  I'm not sure it's that long for everyone...we talked about a lot of things and got off topic a few times (just say'n).  Our PM seems really great to work with and hope that remains true throughout this process.

During the meeting the PM & SR go over all of your selections.  Placement of lights, outlets, speakers, etc.  We were able to go over the plans and gathered a ton of info from looking at those.  From looking at the plans we realized that by choosing Elvation L we added an additional 2 ft in the living room & bedroom #3.  This makes the home 3934 sq ft instead of 3800 sq ft.  The locations of the windows in bedroom 3 changed as well.  We have 1 centered on the wall that is the front of the house and 1 on the side of the house close to the closet.  Speaking of Closets  OH MY! the kids closets are HUGE! The basic floor plan doesn't list measurements for those.  The closet in Bedroom 1 is almost 10' wide and has large double doors.  The closet in bedroom 2 is almost 9' wide and the closet in bedroom 3 is almost 8 ft wide.  I think standard width is 6'.

The Olsen Model has I Joist contruction.  This means that per code our basement ceiling will be drywalled even though we have an unfinished basement.  I-Joist info via Wikipedia

An engineered wood joist, more commonly known as an I-joist, is a product designed to eliminate problems that occur with conventional wood joists. Invented in 1969, the I-joist is an engineered wood product that has great strength in relation to its size and weight. The biggest notable difference from dimensional lumber is that the I-joist carries heavy loads with less lumber than a dimensional solid wood joist.^[1] As of 2005, approximately 50% of all wood light framed floors used I-joists.^[2] I-joists were designed to help eliminate typical problems that come with using solid lumber as joists. The advantage of I-joists is they will not bow, crown, twist, cup, check or split as would a dimensional piece of lumber. I-joists' dimensional soundness and little or no shrinkage help eliminate squeaky floors.

Pre-Construction Questions

Scheduling? I would like to know step by step of the process.

• How long will it take to build the house?
• What inspections will happen at each stage?

Our PM went over this info with us.  We also learned that our finish date has been pushed out a month!  EEK, I really hope they can move it up but the new date works for us still.

Visitation? I’d like to visit each day there is activity.  Yes, I can visit.  The PM just wants us to call first.

What is the total square footage of the home? 

Electrical panel locations, contents. We went over placement of this in the basement

Ceilings smooth or textured? Here in Ohio they do textured "spider web" looking ceilings which I don't like.  In PA we had smooth walls and ceilings.  The insides of the closets were smooth too.  Here they do a gross texture thing inside the closets. I'm not a fan!

BLOCKING in the walls next to or in front of for a rails/towel bars in bathrooms/stairwells. Yes this can be done.

Outlet voltage/locations. We went over these and had a few outlets moved up higher on the wall like in the study were I will have a work counter and in the garage.

Closet/pantry shelving - type/location/can it be moved? PM is going to let me choose the heights of the shelves which will be interested because I learned that when you add the bonus room the stairs to the bonus room cut into the pantry.  There will be a slanted "dormer" type celing in the pantry.  Hopefully this doesn't affect storage too much.  I also learned that the ceiling in the pantry will be 7 1/2' instead of 9'   I think the pantry will still work but I'll have to see.

Review Guardian locations. We reviewed locations for this and realized that the surround sound speaker location was never plotted by guardian.  PM is double checking where these are going

Drywall Concerns. Flashing  The drywall job in our first RH was horrible!  I voiced my concerns to the PM and he listened.  Maybe some encouragement and doughnuts on drywall day will get the job done right.

Tree on the Tree Lawn? This is the HOA's job so are checking with them.

Stair Hand Rail to match hard wood floors? Yes

Side garage entry painted to match front door? Yes

I want to select or granite slab. Yes

How big is the space for the Fridge?  Not sure since the plans only listed the width not the depth.

Where is the attic access? Right now it's in my daughters room (bedroom #3) right when you walk in the room.  PM is going to try and move it to the laundry room.  

Extra Studs for hanging cabinets in the laundry room & office Yes

Light switch for garage carriage lights location? Forgot to ask this so will email or discuss during framing

Single sink, can I buy one for you? Ha!  PM looked at me with a blank face for a while.  I really really want a single sink put in because replacing later will be a total pain since our countertops are granite.  I offered to contact the manufacturer and see if they have the same "shape" sink but wihout the 60/40 divider.  I've seen them online in the 60/40 shape single bowl.  I know the sink cutout is done off site so it has to be the same as the one RH offers.  I will update if I get what I want. - FINAL ANSWER NO, I can't have my single sink!!!!! SO VERY DISAPPOINTED

Where is the switch for the disposal? PM is checking on this

Drain/pan under washing machine? Yes

access panel for jetted tub location? In front of tub.  Not the most desirable place but its ok.

Master Bath Shower Head Heights.  We want a his and hers.  I'm short, hubby is tall.  Yes, just have to remind him come plumbing time.

Under hardwood red rosin paper or builder's felt? Yes they use and underlayment with a vapor barrier.

Is there a cabinet above the Fridge. If so can it be built out?  Yes and Yes

Is there a mailbox provided? Yes

After reviewing the home I'm getting really excited about it!

 Front corner of our property looking diaganoly at the house

 You can see where all the stakes are.

 View from my front door.  That huge dirt pile is where the Cul de Sac is.  I'm not sure what they are doing with it?

 View to the side.  It's clear now but eventually all you'll see are homes.

 View of the other side.  The road starts to curve toward the end of our property. We don't get a lawn put in but per code RH has to seed the front of the lot prior to and post build.  It's not anything nice but better than dirt.

 Back of our property.  Learned today that there is poison ivy back there.  Yikes!  We'll have to see about getting rid of it...time for a Google search.

There is a golf course directly behind this row of trees.  When all the leaves fall off our view will definitley change.  We'll have to plant some evergreen trees back there.

We've been Staked!

Went to our lot today and they have our house staked on the lot.  The stakes mared the corners of the house, the driveway, and garage.  It was nice to see how the home will sit on the lot.  Walking around it seems small but it was like that with our first home too.  I'm sure it will feel bigger once it is built.

View from the street.

I'm standing on our property line and hubby is standing on the other side.  I love how wide it is.  Mowing the yard should be super fun :)

This pond is not on our lot just nearby.  I hope I don't live to regret being so close to it.  I've seen a number of Geese already.

Our Updated Floor Plan

Our Olsen

This is our floor plan with the structural changes we made.  The X's mark where recessed lighting, lights, & fans are going. "Kind of" 

Non Standards - Yes or DENIED!

Here is our list of Non Standards that we requested.

1. Front Entry - there appears to be a small wall on the right side of the front hallway.  Not sure what/why etc.  Will ask at Pre-con and update later 
2. Remove middle window in the Family Room - YES 
3. Cut the corner of the family room carpet and replace with wood.  With it left the say it was all traffic would trample one corner of the carpet to get to the kitchen - YES, that will be and additional $275
4. Ryan Homes sink is a 60/40 split.  We want a single bowl sink - DENIED.  We will revisit this with our PM and see what happens
5. Cabinet to be fitted for garbage cans - DENIED. Pretty stupid being denied since a lot of models I've been through have this option in them.  I'll buy the kit from Lowes and see if PM will install for us.  If not, we will do this on our own.
6. Alternate Layout for the microwave.  I hate having it right about the stove top.  I feel like it crowds my head space.  I would much rather have a range hood. - DENIED.
7. Can I have a range hood and no microwave - DENIED.
8. I had my heart set on cream cabinets and a chocolate brown island.  I requested to have Rushmore Maple Espresso on the Island (same profile as the cream cabinets + another blogger asked for the same thing and got it) I was - DENIED
9. Glass fronts on some of the cabinets - DENIED
10. Remove wall between the 2 master closets - YES
11. Don't install wire shelving in the kids closets - YES
12. Make shower in the Master bath a Roman Shower - YES, that will be an additional $495
13. Tile surround for kids tub/showers - DENIED

As you can see we were DENIED on what I thought were pretty easy requests.  Super dissapointed!

Rite Rug Revisited

After our initial apt. failure at Rite Rug I couldn't sleep.  I felt sick about how much money we were spending on the house and questioning everything.  I considered getting everything builder grade and doing upgraded flooring later.  But then I thought about my beautiful cabinets and granite and the thought of putting linoleum in just didn't make sense.  Then there was the issue of the cabinets being the wrong height if we put wood in later.  See I want to extend the cabinets into the morning room and the new cabinets would be on wood and existing would be on linoleum.  They would be about 3/4 inch off.  Then we toyed with having our cabinets raised and having a light install done on the linoleum so its easier to rip out.  None of these options sat well with me.  We are spending a lot of money on the cabinets and granite and I want the kitchen to be really nice.  We talked with our Ryan SR a lot about this and she simply said there is nothing that can be done.  What I wanted her to say is "Hey, we realize the flooring is overpriced...we will throw in the living and dining room for free"  HA! in my dreams...right?

**If I could pick any flooring I wanted I would choose a chocolate brown hand scraped maple floor. **

The wood floor we chose at Rite Rug we found online for $6.00 - $7.00 a sq ft and labor is an additional $2.99 / sq ft.  With a little math Rite Rug was charging $9 a sq ft for wood and 2.99 / sq ft for install.  We feel sick being overcharged like this.  But feel kind of trapped as well.  We don't want to mess up our cabinets or risk a debacle with the flooring later.

Our SR at Ryan set up another apt for us at Rite Rug with a different SR and told us we could "shop the store"  to find what we were looking for.  I accepted this news with a leary attitude.  And of course I was right.  Shop the store meant you can only shop Armstrong wood & Shaw carpet.  Not anything you want.  I was hopefull but kind of expecting this.

After accepting that we would be spending way more than necessary to get the wood floors we wanted we proceeded with the appointment.  This time the SR at rite rug was way more helpful.  She pulled options and really discussed things with us.  This is what we ended up with.

photo from heavenlyhighgrove.blogspot.com

 Armstrong Brown Bear hand scraped 5" wide oak.  A beautiful floor (just too exspensive in my book) in the front entry, kitchen, morning room, powder room, & family entry.  ** We are planning to continue this wood flooring into the living room and dining room later and will purchase it from a less exspensive retailer.

So our temporary flooring in the living/dining rooms is Baseline Carpet White Fox

Study - Baseline Thornwood.  This too will be replacesd shortly after we move in.

Family Room Carpet - Level C upgrade with 8lb pad.  This is Shaw Simple Times Great Plains.  We chose this carpet in our first Ryan home and were happy with it.  It hides stains well and is comfortable underfoot.

Stairs & Second Level Carpet - Shaw Simple Times Quartz.  We are using gray tones in the kids rooms and this color goes well with grays and beiges.  It's kind of a greige color.

Stair railing is being stained to match the wood flooring

Master Bath - since all our money has been spent on the wood floors we went with the standard options and will upgrade later.  I don't feel too bad about this since they didn't have anything I liked anyway.

Initiator vinyl floor & 6X6 white tile on shower & tub.  We chose standard andover maple vanities since we don't like the Ryan homes vanites.  They are plain and the storage stinks.  We will replace these later on.

photo courtesy of heavenlyhighgrove.blogspot.com

Bath #1, Bath #2, and Laundry Room also have the Initiator vinyl.  Andover maple cabinets in all bathrooms.  We plan to paint or Rustoleum transform these to make them accpetable until we can replace them.

Rite Rug apt - Flooring choices BUST!

We had our apt with Rite Rug, the flooring company you work with (in Ohio) for your options.  We drove 30 min to Rite Rug and were greeted by the sales person. She immediatley told be that her assistant had scheduled an apt directly after ours giving us only 45 min to pick the tile and flooring for our entire house!

I started looking at wood flooring first since I knew I wanted this in most of the first floor.  I was shocked at the poor selection!  We had priced out wood floors in our previous home before we decided to move and had really shopped around. We feel like we know EVERYTHING about wood flooring.  That being said we were expecting to pay $7,000 - $8,000 for the Front entry, living room, dining room, kitchen, morning room, family entry, & powder room aproximatley 1200 sq ft.  I picked out the only wood that was remotely close to what I wanted and was quoted a price tag of $16,000!  What the what?   Are these floors made of gold or something.  Needless to say I was deflated at that point.  I decided to move on to tile and revisit the wood later.  Tile was not much better.  They didn't have ANYTHING I wanted!  Wow, another dissapointment.  At this point the other apt showed up and we left without having picked anything.

Feeling really discouraged now.

Our Options & Upgrades

The process of choosing upgrades for the house can be really stressful.  Do not feel bad about choosing stuff and then changing or reconfiguring.  It is what the SR is there for and this is a big investment so you want to get it right.  Since we had experience with this process I think we took the SR by surprise!

My big gripe about this process is that every single upgrade possibility isn't listed. There is a list but it doesn't include everything you could change.  I had to constantly ask the SR what can I add in this room, what about moulding, are there upgrades to the stairs, etc.  We felt this is information she should have been telling us instead of the otherway around.

Here are the upgrades & options we chose.

Olsen Model Elevation L.  It has stone, shake, & siding.  We couldn't get the colors we wanted for our home because Ryan Homes thought this part of Ohio was not "ready" for the new colors.  This was a real disapointment because we are READY for the new colors!  We ended up choosing Pebble Creek Siding, Sandy Tan Shake, White Trim, Bucks County Ledgestone Stone, Brown Shudders, Outerspace Door.  Cottage style front door & garage doors came standard.

We upgraded to whole house Oil Rubbed Bronze hardware & chose level 3 molding package which gives you larger baseboards, larger door casings, crown molding, chair rail, etc.  We upgraded the stair balisters to iron.

Basement 

• Unfinished (just couldn't fit it in the budget)
• 3 piece bathroom rough in

First Floor

• Added the morning room
• 4ft extension on study
• recessed lighting in the Family room
• Partial Stone Fireplace.  We originally had a full stone fireplace but it was feeling a bit too rustic for my taste.  Then I discovered they offer a partial stone...so pretty.

• level 4 appliance package

• Level 2 cabinets Rushmore with a Hazlenut Glaze

• Level 2 Granite New Venetian Gold
• Goose neck faucet

• Gas cooktop (electric is standard)
• Ceiling Fan in Family Room
• Light in Living Room
• Light in Study
• Extra outlet in Study
• Added an outlet in the Pantry
• Under cabinet lighting
• Cabinet Moulding

Second Floor

• Added Bonus Room
• Upgraded Master Bathroom
• Ceiling Fans in all the bedrooms & bonus room
• Changed the Master shower to a Roman Shower(his & hers shower heads)
• Jetted Tub
• Removed the wall between the 2 master closets making 1 large closet.  We have seperate closets now (which I love) so we will see if we like this set up. 
• Laundry sink

Garage

• Added an outlet
• Added an extra Hose Bib
• Service Door (gives you a light on the side of the house too)
• Floor Drain

We did not get the Hutch in the morning room although I really wanted it I just couldn't justify the $5,000 price tag. Plus this is something I can add later on.

We did remove one window from the family room.  They have 3 windows across the back of the house in the family room kind of spaced out and I think it looks weird.  We removed the center window so now the couch will go in between the 2 windows.

We requested for them to not install the wire shelving closet system in the kids closets.  I HATE wire shelving!  If I could remove it from the entire house I would but I just can't afford to redo every closet nor do I have the time.  I will install custom closet systems in the kids closets and then do the master closet later.

We would have liked to Jack & Jill the bathroom upstairs but would have to give up the vaulted entry way.  Since the boys will be sharing those bedrooms & bathroom we figured they didn't need walk in closets.  This was a $6,000 upgrade.

With the added upgrades the sq footage of our home is now 3,800 sq ft. not including the basement.