Monday, September 29, 2014

Well Helloooo Dormers!

Happy National Coffee Day!  

As I mentioned in a previous post, we were waiting on our lovely dormers to appear.  Over the weekend, I decided to take a drive out to the site to look around.  To my surprise, not only were the dormers present, but so were a gang of workers.  We go out every weekend and this was the first time I saw work being done on a Saturday.

I took a couple of pictures of the dormers for you all.  I tried not to get in the way of the guys working, so I apologize for the far view of the pics.

Bright sun and dormers!

Dormers (pic from inside car)
Of no relation to the dormers, but if you haven't had your coffee fix or need an afternoon pick-me-up, there are a number of places giving away free (or cheap) coffee for National Coffee Day.  Enjoy!  

xoxo

Friday, September 26, 2014

Do I Hear Pre-Drywall?

Happy Friday!

Today, the hubby and I received notice from our PM that they have started our rough trade installations (HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical) and now it is time to schedule our pre-drywall inspection!  Can I get whoop whoop??  I don't know if I should start packing now or what!  Our PM is looking at either October 6th or 8th, depending on our availability.  I am still not sure because the hubby is traveling at the current moment, and I want to make sure his schedule works as well as our broker.  In addition, we will have our own inspection done.  The PM has asked that he be scheduled for October 10th or 13th.

Things are surely moving and we are excited.  My girlfriends and I are throwing a Fashionista Swap Party in October, so it will be the perfect opportunity to purge my closet and decor stash.  My hubby is totally going to wait until the last minute, but I have too much crap AND I don't want to be stressed about last minute pop-ups (that WILL happen)!  LOL  Were you super excited to pack or did you just wait it out like my hubby?

Our PM sent us one picture this morning and one thing is really bothering me...where the heck are the dormers?  I have asked about them and our PM says they will be put on.  My thought is "will the dormers just be placed on top of the home?"  I hope not!  For those that aren't sure what dormers are, they are the little windows on the top of the home (see illustration below of home with dormers then you can see what we are missing).  Perhaps they will come at a later time, but I will keep you posted on the "case of the missing dormers".  There is no purpose for the dormers, but I think they look nice aesthetically AND they were included on our elevation.

I hope you have a great weekend and I will continue to read all your updates!


Dormers on 1st, 3rd & 4th homes 

Our home with the open garage

xoxo


Wednesday, September 24, 2014

A Small Framing Tour + Update

So...last week I provide a small update with no pics because of the lovely iOS update.  I finally have more pics to share and wanted to provide them along with an update!

Our schedule is still on target for settlement during the first week of December.  This week, we took the construction crew some Dunkin' Donuts to provide a little fixin' for the sweet tooth.  It was early morning, so I figured since I was going to get my coffee, why not pick up a few donuts!  They really appreciated them and it made me smile!  The reason for the visit was just to take a look around with our PMs and address any concerns.  The walk-around went great and things were moving right along.  Here are some pics so you can see the same thing we saw.  Finally...it's starting to look like livable space!
Enjoy! 

Front View

Door in rec room/"man cave"
Stairs are in
Looking into the dining room 
Inside the great room

Future fire place in great room

Looking into the kitchen

Master's soaking tub (do you see that slash in the tub?) 

Master's shower
Another view of the dining room


 xoxo

Friday, September 19, 2014

Pic (less) Updates

Happy Friday!

I must apologize for the lack of (meaning none) pics in this post.  I updated my iOS last night and of course the update required a lot of space which meant I had to make some by removing my pics off my phone!  Ahhhhhhh Apple is killing me...LOL

I took a half day away from the office to meet with my PMs at the construction site yesterday.  Our row is looking good and yesterday, they were outside installing the following:

  • Party Wall
  • Ground Electricity
Our PM explained that they are now weather proof because the roof is on (minus the shingles) and now if it rained, our home would not be drenched.  I must say we have been blessed to not have a huge rain problem.  It has sprinkled twice since the building process started!  

I was also informed that our pre-drywall meeting should happen in the next 2-3 weeks.  Yikes!  In conversation, he mentioned that we will definitely be in by the end of November.  I had to remind him that we will not be in town...he quickly remembered and asked if the first week of December would work.  That would be great timing so my fingers are crossed that we do not experience many weather delays.  

The guys were working really hard and nails and woodwork was everywhere!  Our PM walked me up the stairs to the second level (I was pumped to actually see the stairs)!  It is actually starting to look like a home.  Our floor plan is the same as the model home so I could totally see it coming together.  I have only visited the model a few hundred times!  hahahaha

Since my hubby could not join me yesterday, we plan to go out over the weekend.  I will get some pics and post for you all.  I will also be out there on Monday morning just to observe and walk around with our PM.  Since I'm not working on Monday, I figured I have to take full advantage!  

Raised Eyebrows
I noticed in the soon-to-be rec room/man cave, there was a hole in wood the size of my fist.  Of course I wanted to know what happened and what do you plan to do about it.  The PM said it happens sometimes in the construction process and it would be fixed.  I trust they will fix it, but I really wanted him to know "I see yall"!  LOL  

Until next time, happy building, decorating and shopping!  

xoxo




Thursday, September 11, 2014

Anniversary + Second Floor

Hi there!

We drove out to the community Tuesday (09/09/14) evening to take a look around.  It was getting dark so I was only able to capture a few pics.  Wednesday, we celebrated our first year of marriage and that is all I could think about...so I failed to post!  :-)  Boy how time flies, but it has been one amazing year!    

OK...back to the house!  The second floor was almost complete.  The hubs looked around the perimeter and noted some things that he thought would be a concern.  For instance, he saw some nails that looked partially placed and wondered why they were not completely nailed.  He spent some time comparing other homes on our row with our home.  I will be the first to say that I am not a builder, construction gal or an inspector.  I figured that they were still working and we will have our own inspector out soon to double check.  I am leaning on my 'team' to help ensure they are doing things correctly.  However, I am very thankful that the hubby is looking into these items and showing concern.

I also managed to snap a pic or two of the row directly across the street from us.  I wish there were more lights outside, but it looks so nice to see some light over there!  There is an elementary school at our entrance and they were having a school function.  I think it is very important to visit your future community at all times of the day/week.  It is a nice area, but it was relaxing to see that even with the overflow of eager parents, they did not evade the space for the community residents.

Here are a few pics and I look forward to heading out again this weekend!

2nd floor in the works!

The row across the street will be ready soon

Happy 1st anniversary to my love bug (replica top tier of wedding cake)

One year ago being introduced as Mr. & Mrs. (Photo Credit: Vils Photography)

xoxo



Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Framing Party and Pics

Happy Tuesday!

In an effort to stay on top of my updates, here is the latest and greatest.

First, let me just say that both of our PMs have been really nice.  They are going to send weekly updates and pics, so that would be a great way to update you all as well.  On my previous post, the foundation was done and lumber was on its way.  It has been a week and according to our PM, all floors will be framed with the exception of the roof.  You all were right in saying things move really fast once the framing start.  Whew!

The pics can be hard to tell exactly what is what!  Our community offers the choice of either the larger townhome or the smaller one.  We are nestled between two smaller ones.  Once more of the row is built, I will get some better pics of the layout for you.

Here are a few pics of where things stood as of Monday (9/8/14) morning.  I plan to go back out this weekend to see the progress and take more pics.  

Lumber arrived last Wednesday (09/03/14)
The crew hard at work on our unit
The crew working (view from across the street)
Looking into the garage
Another front view

xoxo



Monday, September 8, 2014

Cable and Electrical Outlets

Happy Monday!  I hope your weekend was full of happiness and your Monday has started off well!

I am in need your help!!!

What has been/was your experience with moving cable outlet locations and adding electrical outlets?  We know that everything is easier (and more cost effective) if you do your wiring before the drywall goes up right?  The company responsible for our cable wiring is willing to do the pre-drywall install for a crazy inflated price.

To move the cable outlets to a different location on the wall there is a charge...I believe about $200.  This is simply moving the outlet from the bottom of the wall to the middle of the wall for hanging a television.  Add up each room with a television, and the costs will add up quickly.  They are really killing me here!  LOL

I would also like to add a few more electrical outlets, which I will willingly pay for.  A couple I would like to add is one inside of a kitchen cabinet and one in the pantry.

Were you able to move things like cable outlets or add additional electrical outlest?  How did you handle the requests?

I am not sure if the PM could help me get some of these items accomplished or not, but I will at least ask him...he can only tell me "No"!

xoxo

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Post Labor Day Holiday Update and Settlement Date

Hello everyone!  I hope you all enjoyed your Labor Day weekend and had a chance to relax a little!

We were in NYC eating pizza and bagels...and I felt every bite this morning at boot-camp!!!  Upon returning, we had our first meeting with our PM's (we have two), a representative for our broker and our Sales Rep. (SR).  The meeting went very well and great questions were asked and answered.  It was a very simplistic meeting to go over things like the elevation choice and basic choices inside the home.  Of course, there is always a required signature, but we felt really good about the meeting overall.  I thought the PM's were really nice and professional.  This experience should go well from here on out and we look forward to working with them.  The PM's said they would communicate with us on a weekly basis and they informed us to give them a call or shoot them an email before going to the construction site for safety reasons.  Noted...

So where are they with our home?
The darn foundation was poured while we were out of town.  I have already told myself that there are just somethings you can't change (this goes back to my earlier post).  My hubby informed the PM's that capturing the milestones were a huge deal to me.  The PM's told me they would send me pics because they understood it would be impossible for us to get out to the site to capture everything ourselves.  That was a nice gesture and I really did appreciate them offering to do that for us!

Talk about fast...we have a settlement week of November 21, 2014.  That is super fast and we are super excited...well I am super excited because my loving hubby is always so 'chill' about everything!  LOL  We will be traveling during that time for our family holiday so that date my move to early December.  We were told our lumber would be delivered today so who knows what all will be done when I go back out this weekend.  They have already started to sell homes in two other rows with delivery dates in December 2014.

I snapped a few shots of the row and our soon-to-be townhome.  I will keep you posted as there should be weekly updates from here on out.

Standing in front of our townhome (we are between two smaller units)

Standing on our future driveway

Standing at corner of street (opposite side)

xoxo

xoxo