7/23/15 - Our Pre-Final Walkthrough

Not sure what exactly to call this, but tonight we did a bit of an impromptu pre-final walk through with our PM Mark.  After a very long and aggravating day at work I stopped by the house to meet up with my wife to grab some dinner and much to my surprise the guys were still out there working away. I hadn't planned on looking around tonight since we were going to meet our PM there tomorrow to do that, but when I saw the house all lit up and wide open I had to see what all had been done.

While I was snooping around I stumbled across our PM who was still there as well, so since all parties were there we decided to go ahead and do the walk-through we had planned on doing tomorrow.    It was really great to get to see the house getting all buttoned up.  All the walls were cleaned up and painted, the trim gleamed white, the doors were painted red, the railings were being stained and all the final touches were getting taken care of.  It's amazing to see how far it's come in the last few weeks.  It's really starting to look like a home.   We've very happy with the attention to detail that w've seen through the final stages of this.  We've been very happy to find that any concerns we've had have usually been addressed before we even think to bring them up.  It's really comforting to know that our house is being built with pride.

For those that have messaged me and asked, we plan to keep this blog going post close.  I've read a lot of these that basically end at closing day, but we'd like to keep this up for us and for future Ryan owners.  We have a bunch of decor/upgrades planned post close so we will be sure to keep up the picture taking and posting so everyone can check it out.

7 Days To Go!!!!!!!!

7/22/16 - 1 Week to Go!

Wow things sure do move fast now.  I stopped by the house yesterday to see that the hardwood floors were all in and most of the carpet was done too.  I did notice what appeared to be water collecting in the basement which seemed to have halted the carpeting process down there.  This worried me a bit so I sent a quick e-mail out to my PM Mark asking if has was aware and what the cause was.  We replied right back (which was awesome!) and asked me to give him a call if I had a second so that he could go over it with me real quick.  Turns out that the flooring people had cranked up the A/C in the house while they were doing the installation and the pump in the basement for the hvac equipment hadn't been connected yet so it was all condensation from the A/C unit, and not outside water which was a big relief.  He let me know that he was on top of it and was actually out at the house while we were talking. 

Today I stopped by and was happy to find that all the water was gone and they had fans and a commercial dehumidifier running to make sure all the moisture was gone.  They also had done a bunch of touch-ups and it appears that the blue-tape fairy had visited as well.   It's really exciting to see it getting finished up.  Our final walk-through is this Tuesday, but our PM asked if we could meet him out at the house Friday afternoon for a walkthrough so that if there was anything we wanted addressed it could be done before the final so we could know everything was as it should be.   I thought that was a pretty awesome was for him to do this.  I've been very happy and impressed with how great Mark has been.  It feels like he really takes pride in what he does and is really trying to make sure everything goes as well as possible.  This is a huge moment for my wife and I and it's nice to see that the people involved feel the same.

Now on to the pictures!

7/18/15 - We Have Power!!

On our way over to VA Beach today to run some errands we stopped by the house and found the electricians out working hard.  We took a quick peek and then went on our way so as to not disturb them.  After running around all day, and even visiting another Ryan site to take a look at the pretty decorating that all their models have, we stopped back by and to our delight, we had LIGHTS!!

12 Days left to close.  Everything is coming together very nicely.  Our PM seems to be on top of everything and most (if not all) of our concerns have been handled.  We can't WAIT!!!

7/16/15 - The Home Stretch!

After work today I stopped by the house like I usually do and to my delight, I found that there had been quite a lot done.  I know I've posted a ton of pictures that probably look very similar to these, but oh well lol.  I tried to put them into some type of order so I can go through like a bit of a walkthrough.

This is from the front door looking into the great room from the foyer.  As you can see, there is the beginnings of the final electrical install.

To the left is a coat closet and a half bath/powder room

From there, to your right is the dining room

And to the left are the two staircases

Straight ahead is the great room

From there, the kitchen is to the right, and all our appliances are here as well as all of the plumbing is completed!!  We went with an appliance upgrade that was three or 4 levels (I can't remember which) above what came standard.  We wanted the whisper quiet dishwasher as well as the upgraded range which is gas (also an upgrade)

We also did in-ceiling audio in the kitchen/morning room with a volume control mounted on the wall

Off of the kitchen is the morning room.  We opted for the additional windows here as well to give us as much natural light as possible.  The left wall that you can't see has sliding doors that will open out onto a 20'x30' deck that will be built after we move in.

Next is the finished basement downstairs.

At the bottom of the stairs is a large storage room.  It's unfinished, but does have electrical and HVAC

On the right is a full bathroom with a walk-in shower

Then there is the main living area in the basement

The sliding doors from the basement walkout lead to a small platform/deck with steps down to the back yard.  Since the house is built on a hill, we opted to do it this way rather than having the yard back filled to make it a true walkout.  This gives us a much more useable back yard.

And here is a shot from the morning room doors looking down at it.  You can get an idea of the back yard too.  The wooded area past the sod is our property, but it's an RPA so it has to be left alone for the most part.  (Ignore the screwed up sod.  it rained like crazy about an hour after it was laid and they haven't come back yet to straighten it out)

To the right of the main basement area is the theater room and off of that is the mechanical room that houses the HVAC equipment, tankless hot water heater, sump, structured wiring cable and data panel,  and all the wiring for the multi-room audio, surveillance cameras and the theater system.

Across from the mechanical room is the 5th bedroom/ the kids playroom

Now we move upstairs..

First is the Master Bedroom.  We did the standard bedroom layout, but we added the tray ceiling and some extra outlets/ceiling fan rough-in

Walk-in closet in the master

Next is the master bath.  This is an alternate/upgraded layout with a shower stall and a soaker tub, as well as the tile and the expresso vanity

From there we go to bedroom #2 which will be the guest bedroom

Next is the hall bathroom, again with the expresso vanity

Across from the hall bathroom is the laundry room.  This is one of our favorite things in this house, our old house had the washer and dryer at the back of the garage and it was such a pain to do laundry.

Down from the laundry room is bedroom #3 which is our son's room

His room also has a walk-in closet with a window.  We plan to remove the door and put his desk under the window to give him a little sitting room to do his homework.

And lastly is bedroom #4 which we be my wife's scrapbooking room and our office.

I think that covers most of it.  It's still got a little ways to go, but it sure is coming together nicely.

14 Days to Go!!!

7/11/15 - Sod, Gutters and More!

We were headed out of town today to take our son to camp so we decided to swing by the house early to take a look at more of the progress.  To our surprise we found the guys out putting up the gutters.  We took a quick peek inside and found the bathroom tile to be all done and all the door handles and such installed as well.   After we left and were on the road our neighbor messaged me and sent a picture of our sod that had been laid today.   It's really starting to come together!