This week the builder worked double time to get the finishing touches completed at the house in order to be ready for an initial county inspection that took place on Friday. Shrubs and bushes were planted, mulch was placed, and hydroseed was sprayed. The screen for the back sun room and appliances were installed, and after some additional paint touch ups inside a final cleaning took place.
Here are some of the progress pictures we captured this week:
Here are the items still left to complete:
County code inspector’s punch list (install attic ladder, complete combustion air termination for fireplace, tape and mud basement ceiling penetrations, install cook top lockout breaker) – This weekend
External paint touch ups – Next week?
Install window screens – Next week?
Install remaining accent stone caps around garage – Next week?
Irrigation installation – to be scheduled w/ landscaper once Certificate of Occupancy is received
Punch list items:
Final paint and caulk touch ups inside
Clean up clay and paint spots on carpets
Repair damaged brickwork
Replace damaged window glazing beads
Repair scratches on hardwood floors, kitchen cabinet
Repair damaged dryer vent connection
Inspect water marks on trim in guest bathroom and great room (lower right corner window)
We are scheduled to do our final walk-through on Monday. At this time we will provide a punch list (see above) of any items we are not 100% happy with for the builder to come back and correct. The county inspector will be back again on Monday as well to ensure a couple (minor) code related items he provided to the builder were corrected.
In talking to our lender, it sounds like it will take five business days to process the necessary paperwork to convert our construction loan to a conventional loan. During this time our new home consultant will be working with the builder to complete the finishing touches on the house and then with the bank to coordinate a time for a final appraisal to take place. Once the bank receives the final inspection from the appraiser and certificate of occupancy from the county, we will be provided the keys to our new house.
We hope to get some final pictures to share with everyone once we are all settled, but in the next couple weeks we will be busy packing, moving, unpacking, and then prepping our current home to put on the market to rent out. Future updates might be less frequent moving forward for a little bit, but Derek and I still plan to use the blog to share updates about ongoing projects around the house (ex: landscaping, outdoor kitchen, dock build, finishing of the basement).
This week we met with the builder on the lot to discuss the final grading, water control, and the last remaining steps. The supervisor was hoping to get it turned over to us by the end of next week but some additional rain next week might delay that. Workers have been busy getting us closer to that goal though.
On the exterior, we have seamless gutters and downspouts installed. The lot also had its last rough grade. The stone veneer has been put on and we love how it finishes off the look of the house. Around the side of the house, we have a small deck/walkway that wraps around to the back screen room. At the back of the house, not much has changed other than the chimney cap getting put on. At this point, they will need to power wash the house, repair any damaged siding and give the house its final coat of paint.
Moving inside, the stone veneer has been placed around the raised hearth and fireplace surround up to the mantle. The oak tread staircase, railings, and front door are getting stained a rich walnut color to match the dark wood floors through the rest of the house.
Here are some pictures of the progress from this past week:
Here are the items still left to complete:
Interior paint and trim touch up – WIP
Stain hardwood landing, stairs, mantle – WIP
Appliance installation – This weekend?
Fine grading, landscaping, extend drainage pipes around basement of house – Monday, March 25th
Sun room screens – Next week?
Power wash exterior, second coat of paint – Next week?
Irrigation installation – TBD
Punch list items:
Replace spray foam over sprayed roof shingles (shingles delivered Wednesday, March 20th)
This week has been another relatively rain-free week, so there was a good amount of progress made on the house. On Tuesday, when we dropped by the house on lunch, we saw the garage door and fireplace mantle had been hung and workers were making progress on the sun room.
Later that evening, we met with the contractor that would be building our sun room landing and stairs, to coordinate how we wanted that placed. When we arrived on site, we noticed that the sun room guard rails and door were installed.
On Wednesday carpet installation began and by Thursday it was complete.
By the end of the day Thursday, HVAC was turned up, the hardwood floor for the upper level landing and sun room fan had been installed, and two of the three exterior columns had been placed.
We caught the builder and our new home consultant as we were on our way out and they let us know that stone would be delivered over the weekend for the exterior accents and columns.
A rough grading was supposed to take place on Friday, with landscaping work to begin today, but we ended up getting rained out. Once the ground has a chance to dry out we should start to see those trades start their work.
All in all, we are making steady progress. Here are some pictures from this week:
And, here are the items still left to complete:
Stone accents in front of house, around fireplace (install chimney cap?) – Monday, March 18th
Seemless gutters, downspouts – Monday, March 18th
Appliance delivery, installation – Tuesday, March 19th
Interior paint and trim touch up – next week?
Stain hardwood landing, stairs, mantle – TBD
Sun room screens and deck stairs – TBD
Irrigation installation – TBD
Final grading, landscaping, extend drainage pipes around basement of house – TBD
There has been a lot of work completed at the house this week. The wood stair treads leading up to the second story and guard rails have been installed and are waiting to be stained. The deck portion of the sun room has also been completed. The next step is to have the screened walls and stairs put in. Also, the frameless glass shower door in the master en suite has been installed, and all the bathroom vanity countertops have replaced.
Here are the items still left to complete:
Interior clean up, paint and trim touch up, – Scheduled for this coming week
Carpet installation – TBD
Appliance delivery, installation – TBD
Sun room screens and deck stairs – TBD
Gutters, downspouts, extend drainage pipes around basement of house – TBD
Stone accents in front of house, around fireplace, install chimney cap – TBD
Final grading, landscaping, irrigation installation – TBD
After a week and a half, of what felt like non-stop rain, the weather has cleared up enough for the builder to have our driveway poured. The builder had to deliver 3-4 truck loads of dirt to grade up to our garage. Also, we requested they put the driveway as close to the property line as possible and to make it 16′ wide the entire length. It cost us a little extra money but it will definitely be worth it once we have 3 or 4 cars in the driveway.
Moving around back of the house, the plumber had installed the septic tank and was digging trenches for the drain lines. Interior plumbing work should start in the next day or two as well. They are holding off until the bathroom vanity tops are replaced.
Finally, we noticed that they installed our mailbox. Seeing our mailbox with the house number really hit home that we should be moving in shortly. Might be time to get back and start packing things up!
There has been a good amount of progress inside the house this week. All lighting fixtures have been installed, switches are wired, wall outlets are in place, thermostats have been wired up, and the air conditioning condensers are hooked up outside.
We received some really good news this week as well. Our new home consultant called to let us know that they heard back from the cabinet company about our concerns regarding the bathroom countertops. Apparently the manufacturer had trouble keeping up with the high volume of orders and experienced a shortage from their original supplier. In order to continue filling orders, and unbeknownst to the builder, they started to fill orders with a different supplier to help fill demand. Since what we recently had installed looks nothing like the builder’s sample piece, the cabinet provider is going to switch the countertops out for the ones that match what we selected. We are hoping to have that work scheduled as soon as next week, and were told the plumber (who was scheduled to come out this past Monday) is on hold until that work is complete.
Unfortunately, much of the work we’ve been waiting to be finished outside (concrete driveway, patio, parking pad, additional fill dirt and topsoil etc.) has been on hold due to the large amount of rain we’ve received. We are hoping for a dry spell so the builder can continue to progress in those areas.
We received a call this morning giving us a heads up that we needed to bring our induction cook top to the construction site for the marble countertop installation. When we arrived, we found that some finishing trim work was being completed too.
By the end of the day, when we stopped back to pick up the cook top, the kitchen countertops and island were done. And, we had some closet shelving, bathroom mirrors, and doorknobs too.
All in all, while the plumber and HVAC contractors haven’t made an appearance yet, it was a nice surprise to have this other work completed a day early. Here are some pictures of today’s progress:
Last week we met with our construction supervisor and new home consultant. We wanted to meet on site to discuss the placement of our driveway and some concerns we had regarding the grading process.
Prior to meeting, we sent an email as a reminder that we paid extra to have a basement and were told there was an added cost in this contract line item to cover trucking in fill dirt (to build up the driveway, parking pad, and around the front and sides of the home). In our on site discussion, we pointed out the fact that the layer of topsoil from our lot had been scraped away by the grader and used to back fill for these things instead. Because of this, our lot was stripped down to the red layer of clay. We explained that this of course will cause issues in the landscaping portion of the build process, as the compacted clay soil is not ideal for growing grass by seed. Ultimately, we requested that the builder consider using topsoil instead of fill dirt to replace what the grader moved. They agreed and assured us that the building supervisor would schedule another on site meeting to discuss these details with the proper parties.
Earlier this week, we made one of our daily lunch visits to the construction site and noticed that the power had been ran from the electrical box out front to the utility meter on the side of our home. We also noticed something we had originally overlooked in the excitement of seeing our cabinets installed: wiring for the vent fan and under cabinet lighting that needs to be re-routed.
We sent a quick message to our contact and she assured us this would be addressed. She also made us aware that the countertop company had been out to the site to create templates, and suggested we schedule a time to lay out how we wanted these cut from our slab. So, we coordinated a time with East Coast Granite and did just that. Here are some pictures of the process:
Another update, this one we are probably the most excited about, a big portion of our flooring was installed! All that’s left is the carpet and hardwood stair treads leading up to the second level.
Finally, the update we are probably the least excited about… In an effort not to be redundant, I’ll just let the photos and their captions do the explaining:
With three weeks left until the one year anniversary of signing our contract, we are getting down to the wire of the 8-12 month build time quoted to us.
Here are the items still left to complete:
Final Plumbing hookup, toilets, sinks –> Plumber was scheduled Feb 22nd, but was a no show
Power on HVAC –> Scheduled for Feb 25th
Lighting, fan installation –> Delivery Feb 25th and installation Feb 26th
Kitchen countertop installation –> Scheduled for Feb 26th
Final Electrical hookup, light switches, electrical box covers, reroute electrical for vent fan, under cabinet wiring – TBD
Carpet, hardwood stair tread installation – TBD
Poured concrete for the driveway, patio, parking pad, sidewalk to front entryway – TBD
Appliance delivery, installation – TBD
Deck, sun room – TBD
Stone accents in front of house, around fireplace, install fireplace cap – TBD
Garage door, mailbox installation – TBD
Gutters, downspouts, extend drainage pipes around basement of house – TBD
Internal paint and trim touch up, clean up – TBD
Septic tank installation – TBD
Final grading, landscaping, irrigation installation – TBD
Yesterday cabinets were delivered, and by the end of the day today, the kitchen and bathroom installation was complete. Next step is coordinating with East Coast Granite to template and install the marble countertops.
We are down to the last two months of the build process and we are starting to get really excited about the big move. On Tuesday, we’ll be meeting with our construction supervisor to discuss the placement of our driveway and hopefully by that time, or soon thereafter, we’ll have better projected completion dates for the remaining work:
Last March, when we originally signed our contract, we provided an address for a house in one of the builder’s tracts that we liked the external color of (Sherwin Williams’ Grizzle Grey). Unfortunately, when we took one of our daily trips to the construction site, we noticed that the color being painted looked a lot darker than we expected. We decided to drive by the house we based our color decision off of and that’s when we knew that the builder had made a mistake.
We called our new home consultant and had her check the contract and compare the color that was being painted with the color at the address we had asked them to base our color scheme off of. She confirmed that it was definitely two different colors.
In the end, the darker color (James Hardie’s Iron Grey) really grew on us and we ended up liking it better. The blue/grey tone really pops with the bright white trim and black accents, especially in the back of the house which gets full sun.
Here are some photos of the external paint progress to date:
Now that the first coat of paint is complete, here is a walk through video of both the inside and outside of the house: