Friday, March 22, 2013

The Home Stretch (no pun intended)

Here we are, 2 days past the beginning of spring and it feels like January.  Poor Puxatawney Phil, he's getting death threats on the internet.   Hopefully, the little guy gets paid well with all of the pressure he has to endure.  I, myself, tweeted a suggestion for Groundhog Sushi (PETA folks, you can just chill).   For Monday, we have a forecast of 5" of snow.  That may affect progress outside.


 
On the NVR side, things are looking well but they are taking document requirements to a whole new level.   Maybe it's the paranoia resulting from the housing crash of 2009.   Last week, Pam our processor has requested copies of our statements of the accounts from which we wrote our earnest checks.   They wanted to see the account activities for those months.   Though it's not too wild of a request, I'm wondering why.   I already had to send copies of the cancelled earnest check that I sent them and now they need proof that it rolled out of that account at that time?   These doc requests are weird and I am not blaming Dean nor Pam for these pointless requests, they're just getting it from above.  With a bit of lollygagging on my part, I finally got these to her.  Hopefully, we won't have to submit a blood sample or DNA test to finalize closing.

Well, true to her promise, Amy dropped in on the progress and it looks like, aside from the carpets, the house is almost complete on the inside. In the kitchen, the microwave, ovens, and dishwasher have taken their place.   Door knobs are now on the doors.  Hopefully the the scraggly knobs that are now securing the house aren't the ones we are stuck with.   In any case, if they can't be made to look like new--problem for the PM.


 
 


To our relief and Brandon's credit,  they leveled the uneven concrete in the basement, formerly marked with an X.  I guess closing is more likely now!   To the concrete guys:  you LIVE to do concrete another day.

This morning, Brandon had given me a call with his weekly update.  Next week, there is going to be more work on the exterior, namely the grading of the yard, and the porch is going in finally.   With the porch being the star of the show, we are definitely looking forward to seeing this go in.   In the interior, painters, drywall, and trim will be going over their work.  Remember those bricks that I had pulled out?  Brandon moved all of those into the garage--a gold star for the PM!  What a good guy.

We will probably do a drive by this weekend since I haven't seen the house all that much this week.   After taking  look at our countdown to closing, we have a little over 2 weeks left.  Definitely the home stretch.

3/19/2013

Somehow, this week, it's been hard catching someone at the homesite after 5pm.   Trim is pretty much done and after a few days of this I told Amy to pop in on the house after dropping off Mikey at pre-school which is around lunch time.  Most likely there are tradesmen there so the house would be open for a impromptu walkthrough.  



Progress did move but they are for the details now.   Today the bannisters were stained with the dark finish that has so dominated in our furnishing choices.    With the white spindles, they look pretty darn good.   Wish I could afford the iron spindles though.  



The coated wire racks were all installed in the laundry room and closets, helping that completed look along as well.   Avoiding as much mud as we could, we took a survey of the outside and saw that the siding was actually pretty well done.  I hadn't looked at the north side of the house, but our central AC unit is in and ready for hopefully a good Summer!  Our yard light was finally installed and  all that was left to do on the outside was the deck, the porch, and some trim on the vents.  




Amy's going to hold steady with here Monday-Wednesday-Friday visits to the homesite until closing.    We may not catch all discrepancies, but we can strive for 100 percent perfect.  The goal is to get the discrepancies on the radar before closing, else it's going to be a long wait to get them to tend to it.  

4 comments:

  1. Like the Ground Hog day reference. I'm in the Navy and we play that movie all day long when we cross the international date line and essentially repeat a day. Your house looks great and is really coming along.

    We start in about 3 weeks and the waiting is taking its toll. I know once they start our motivation will return. They are making wonderful progress on a Courtland in our section and it is going up pretty quick. They were framing the second floor yesterday and will be rolling the trusses any day. That's keeping us going right now because can at least see our neighborhood come together.

    Again congrats, your house looks great!

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    1. Glad you liked the GHD reference. I heard of that tradition for crossing the IDL.
      Good to hear that they finally gave you a start date. Did you get Brandon as your PM? If you are, you will really like him and find that he is easy to work with. My advice to you is to keep a close eye on the house and ask lots of questions, especially during framing. I bought myself a 4'level, blue tape, flashlight, and a T square and found them very helpful. If you can, visit your home every day.
      Since you are a shipmate (I was a Navy ET from 1996-2006), remember, it is better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. I will leave it there. The framers are fast but it is not the cleanest work. I am hoping you get a better frame job because you're in Wallingsford. Though we are confident that our frame is solid and right, it took alot of QA and corrective carpentry to get it that way.
      I got a feeling that you may be early if not on time with your time frame. Ryan Homes seems really good at meeting their completion goals. Despite a snowy winter, we are making the target closing date set 4 months before. Since good weather is going to be ahead, don't be surprised if they finish early.
      So, congratulations on your start date and good luck with your building experience. Hit me up ANYTIME if you have questions and feel free to stop by and say hi. You know where we're at!!

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  2. I was a Marine in the late 80's early 90's, had a brake in service where I owned a computer corporation for 4 years then enlisted in the Navy. They offered me the Advanced Electronic Computer Field (AECF), so I took it and chose ET out of BEE or Tech Core. I was an ET from 1999 to 2003 when I commissioned out of Navair as an Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer. I currently teach at the Air Force Institute of Technology and am getting ready to retire (ie move on to my next career. Which I haven't figured out what I want to do when/if I grow up).

    Thanks for the gouge.

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    1. Very cool! I did AECF also and didn't know that it meant a free, extended stay in Great Lakes (1996-1998). Did you remember a short instructor with a limp named Mr Lowry who taught radar/communications principles? He was quite a fixture in Tech Core. The means did justify the end.
      It looks like that you've had quite a career. As for me, my OCS application was turned down in 2004, so I decided to call it done at the 10 year mark. I did have a good run...and here I am.
      Great sharing this with you. Hope it wasn't too bad of a gouge. Very pleased to make your acquaintance.

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