Front Yard Landscape Wall

With temperatures finally starting to drop we got the bug to do some outdoor work.  First off I should state that we absolutely hate the landscaping that was installed.  Nothing we could really do about it as the landscapers are free to do what they want.  What we were given includes a small evergreen bush at the front corner; a bunch of hollies; a few low level bushes in a very large mulched area; a few unknown plants at the garage corners; and a nearly dead street tree.  We often scratch our heads thinking "who would do this" but have always just rested in our knowledge that we would redo it to fit our tastes.

First step - get rid of the steep sloping mulch bed area on the corner.  The bed sits about 4 feet above the low spot on the ground so we needed a wall - a fairly tall wall!

We purchased all of our materials at Menards.  They had the best selection and they let you drive back into the garden center to load your truck.  We ended up using:

- 115 retaining wall blocks
- 10 bags of crushed aggregate base (for the foundation)
- 16 bags of topsoil
- 2 tubes of construction adhesive

We also needed a bunch of crushed aggregate to use as backfill along the inside of the block and we found that on a nearby home site where some excess aggregate material was dumped. 

We started work at 8:30am and finished around 6pm.  There was a kid's flag football game smashed in there along with a second trip to Menards for more material but overall it took us about 7 hours to complete.  The most time consuming part is digging out the foundation, compacting the base material and making sure everything is level.  The bottom row needs to be perfect.

Final results:

Next step is to finish the gutter to drain to the ground.  We had lengths of black pipe to drain the water out into the yard but they're difficult to mow around.  Instead we're digging out some of the lawn and dumping river rock (on top of a landscape cloth) to a distance about 4 feet from the house.  It looks great and is certainly nicer than the black pipe.

Maybe we'll find time to straighten that darned evergreen!

Tiled Backsplash

*** 10/2/17 UPDATE***
The backsplash is finished.  Grouting went off without a hitch and then the entire backsplash was sealed with an enhancer/sealer.  It gives the tile a wetter look (but not obnoxiously wet) and seals out anything that might splash up against it.  Wife is happy so that makes the job a success.

One problem I had was that some of my tile cuts weren't perfect around the electric outlets so the plastic box extenders we purchased didn't work - they just pushed into the wall behind the tile.  We found these little fixers in the electric aisle at Lowes.  These are spacers that can be placed on the outlet mounting screw and push up against the nailed in electric box.  We had to stack about five of these together but they work like a charm.

Gardner-Bender Plastic Wall Plate Spacers

*** ORIGINAL POST***
One of the items on which we didn't want to spend money with Ryan Homes was the kitchen backsplash.  It's not that the cost was much different but it was the lack of selection in tiles.

We went through a lot of samples but finally decided on a tumbled stone mosaic type tile.  Thanks to the Tile Shop for the great selection and for putting up with our sample returns and multiple questions.

We're still in the process but here's what happened yesterday:

Before - planning desk

After - planning desk

Before - at the range

After - at the range

Next steps are to seal the tile, grout, then seal the tile and grout again.  I'll update this post with the final pics in a few weeks.

On another note, when doing your final walkthrough check behind the stove for dirt and debris.  We wonder why our house is so dusty and then we find things like this:

Cleaning the Abyss that is our basement

We've been in our house going on 3 months and we continue to get closer to the feeling like it's ours.  It takes time but we're still opening boxes and getting things how and where we want them.

I might have mentioned it before but our basement is a bit of a disaster.  During the build stormwater came into the basement through the walkout and carried in a bunch of dirt.  While Ryan did try to sweep the dirt out there was a tremendous amount that remained.  And it made a mess.  Kids playing in the basement had to throw away their socks because they wouldn't come close to clean.  Dust was continually dragged upstairs and around the house.

We should have asked to have it cleaned correctly before we closed.  Anyway, we've spent the past two weekends pressure washing the basement floor.  Why pressure wash?  Well, this dirt from hell is ground into the concrete so much so that spraying, mopping and scrubbing with a brush didn't touch it.  Pressure washing got rid of most of it but there is still some spots that we missed.

The funniest part of the whole thing is the number and location of low spots in the basement.  At least five low spots and the floor drain located near none of them.  We used a shop vac to pick up most of the water and then let the rest evaporate.

With that done we were also able to build and load up our basement shelves.  These are 11' wide and 4' deep - we have a ton of stuff!  Easy to build and solid enough to hold a bunch of bins.  Using the Menards 11% rebate helps.

Our New Concrete Patio

Finally, we're getting finished with the problem areas and moving forward to projects that we want to get done.  One of those is to get our patio installed under our deck.

The fine folks at RE Middleton Construction in Mason, Ohio were a great fit for us.  While not the cheapest they have a great reputation so I trusted them to do this easy job.  In the course of one day they hand dug the soil, placed the concrete, and backfilled with topsoil.  All this with very minimal tracking across my lawn.  Great job guys!

Finishing the Garage

Working on a better update for the interior but thought I'd share the job that we had done over the July 4th weekend.  As part of our build Ryan homes hangs drywall in the garage but only finishes the first mud coat.  This is supposed to be the coat that sets the tape in the drywall joints.  It's not pretty.  This weekend we hired a guy to come and finish the garage the rest of the way and to paint.  It wasn't cheap but he was there for at least 40 hours.  The final product is amazing and we can now start loading our garage with all of the stuff from storage.

Before

After

Ryan Homes Making a Comeback

It seems that our emails hit a nerve at Ryan Homes.  Our SR forwarded our email of displeasure to her bosses and within a few hours we have a meeting setup with the Production Manager and the head Project Manager.  Today we had that meeting - and our original PM was not invited.

The two managers had our list of items and we went through every one noting what would be done to make us happy.  We're VERY impressed with the effort that Ryan is putting into making us happy with our home.  We all decided on a plan of action and agreed on all the fixes.

On the exterior we had a ton of issues.  They agreed to plumb the column correctly and determined that the entire side of the porch would need to be reframed and straightened.  That was easier than trying to fix several column related issues.  We honestly didn't expect them to go that far but happy they're going to make it right.

Outside trim was a bit of a disaster.  Several areas of uneven trim and scuffs and scratches in the rest.  We all decided that filler would be used in some locations and boards entirely replaced in others.  Again, thank you guys.

Other outside issues were grading and cosmetic and Ryan is going to see what they can do to get everything fixed.

Inside they looked over our trim work extensively.  I just wanted a few places sanded smooth and repainted but they insisted that the entire board needed to be replaced.  Over and above guys; we like that.

The flooring we chose was another issue all together.  We chose the engineered hardwood and have been dealing with chips and splinters on a daily basis.  We find a few areas one day and then more pop up the next.  Ryan's guys had not seen this before and are now working with Rite Rug to see what the problem is and how it can be fixed.  Again, they set deadlines for answers from Rite Rug and we fully expect some resolution to the issues.

With all this we had people running in and out of the house all day.  Flooring guys to install hardwood transition strips.  Other flooring guys to work on glue spots in the carpet.  HVAC guys to replace a dented piece of the compressor unit.  Window guys to replace some scratched windows.  Flooring inspector as described above.  Foundation specialist to fill a crack in the basment wall.  LOTS of work and fixes done today.

We're getting back to our happy place today.  We're FINALLY seeing a plan to get these things fixed and we're thankful to Ryan for their effort.  Most of this was setup by the previous PM although we happen to think it was under the instruction of upper management.  Most of these issues were brought up nearly a month ago and could have been resolved then.  If you get a good PM you'll know it and make sure to thank them every step of the way.

On another note, we finally have our master closet up and running.  We painted and installed some closet organizers from Home Depot.  My wife spent almost all night putting clothes in the correct place although we don't know what happened to half of our hangars.

More updates soon!

Long Time Between Updates

So sorry for the long time between updates.  Life has been busy between moving, our kid's sports tournaments, and a vacation to Vegas!  So for most of the past two weeks we've actually been out of the house and living in hotels.  Now we're finally getting back to the daily grind and trying to finish moving in.

So, what has happened since our last post...

The water leak in our basement was due to a shrinkage crack and the sprinkler spraying directly on it.  The outside was sealed with epoxy and the inside will get a polyurethane injection to entirely seal the crack.

We had a front column that was not plumb and we were told it was fixed.  Ummmm, no.  The column is now plumb but now about a quarter of the column is hanging over the edge of our concrete porch.  Completely unacceptable.

We had our backyard surveyed and staked.  As we suspected Ryan didn't grade or seed to the back line - only about half-way there.  There is also a small stream that runs right through the middle of our property.  The stream eroded away our straw and low and behold - large rocks that we were assured were removed prior to seeding.  Firstly, I'm sick of the lies from our PM about what will be done versus what is actually done.  Secondly, why did I have to pay for a survey to show our PM that he didn't seed to the back line?  Thirdly, there is no reason to have a stream running through the middle of our back yard where we hope to someday build a pool.

Our list of fixes continues to grow by the day.  Nail holes in trim not filled or repainted.  Exterior trim that is scratched and pitted, unpainted, and overall poorly installed.  Flooring continues to chip and splinter even under normal use.  Downspouts are dented and vibrate in the wind.  Back yard is graded such that there is ponding water - a mosquito breeding ground.

Right now we're living in a house that was rushed to closing.  That's as simple as we can put it.  They put a big effort in to finish the job in the last week but the quality is lacking.  There was no coordination between subs to make sure fixes were done correctly and completely.  I'm certain that we'll be finding even more mistakes as the weeks go by.  For the most part we'll fix it ourselves if it's not large or costly.

To top it all off our SR wrote us an email explaining the customer survey and implying that we should give all 10's for our results.  Again, no.  We had a pretty good experience with the initial sale and NVR was the best experience we've had with Ryan.  Construction - completely opposite.  We'd really have a difficult time giving our PM a 3 even if all of our issues are addressed.  He is completely incompetent and hasn't spent any time reviewing the subcontractor's work.  No, Ryan, you will not be getting 10's and instead will be getting an earful from us in the coming weeks.

We're not at the point where we regret building with Ryan.  We love the house and it's location but we are fed-up with our PM.  We should have been more forceful at the beginning of construction and asked for a new PM when we started really seeing the lack of effort.  At this point we will not recommend to any of our friends to build with Ryan - and if they do we'll make sure they understand what they need to do to make sure it's done correctly and that they're happy when they finally move in.

No Movers!

So at 9:30am we get a call from the moving company "We're sorry, one of your movers called in sick and we had to reassign the other movers to other jobs.  We have to cancel for today.  Can we come tomorrow?"   Ummmmm, no.  PODS is picking up their stuff tomorrow.

Honestly, the close and move could not have been much worse.  The ease of using NVR is the only positive from this past week.

PM still sucks.

We're in - Day 3 update

Day 3 and the frustration with Ryan Homes continues.  At closing we had a list of about 60 things that needed fixed - some big, some small.  About 4 of the small things have been taken care of.  As we live in the house we continue to find things that need to be fixed so the list grows larger by the day.

Recently we added:

   - more squeaky steps

   - squeaks in the master bedroom closet

   - glue in the master bedroom carpet

   - leaking basement (unfinished)

   - unfinished nail holes in the kitchen island

Now we have the problem of not having a working refrigerator water line.  The PM told us at predrywall that the water line would be in a box in the wall.  That didn't happen.  The excuse given was that we couldn't have it because it was an exterior wall.  So, instead they install the line through the floor about 4 inches away from the back wall.  We warned the PM that the refrigerator would hit it but he said that the refrigerator should not sit back that far and it would be fine.  The refrigerator of course hit the water line and bent it so that we can't use it.

Our PM sucks - plain and simply.  He constantly reminds us that he's built over 500 homes and he knows what he's doing.  Maybe that's right and he knows how to schedule but he procrastinated horribly on this house.  Again, had he set the tone with subcontractors to do a good job or at the very least inspected what they were doing we wouldn't be in this spot.

I may have said this in the last post but we're tired of dealing with our PM on this stuff.  It's honestly easier to do it ourselves.  Our refrigerator delivery guy asked why the builder didn't move the water line as it's an easy fix?  And our HVAC guy who came to move a register location was dumbfounded that Ryan wouldn't just move it before carpet was installed.  In 100% honesty they both used the word "Morons." 

OK, onto some good updates.  Movers come today to unload our PODS at which point we can finally start living.  Painting is going well and we've finished the powder room, laundry room and the boy's bedrooms.  Next up is closet organizers and installing a new powder room sink and mirror.  

It's rained here the past couple of days so we shut off the sprinkler system.  Sod looks like it's taking and even getting some grass in the back where the seeded.  

Hoping to get some more pictures soon!

And We're In!

Well, we did it.  What seemed like a never-ending journey is finally over - sort of.  Yesterday we made our final walkthrough of the house and then went to our closing.  The closing process was very simple - sign a lot of documents and walk out with keys to your new house.  Of all the processes we went through to get to this point NVR was the best.  I know they get a bad rap on some websites but they were nothing but professional and courteous the entire trip.

Now for the house.  We love it.  We've waited a long time for this and in the end it was all worth it. 

Now the down side.  Very few of the items on our list were completed before we closed.  In fact they're still going to be working on a few things on the outside while we live here.  Our PM has finally broken us.  Yesterday morning we just got to the point where we just wanted them out of the house and let us take over.  We'll finish the minor blemishes and learn to live with a few things until the 30 day and 1 year fixes.  It's just frustrating dealing with him and watching nothing get done.  We liken it to asking a person to wipe off a counter but instead they wife off the wrong counter - and then they only wipe off part of the correct counter but spill their drink on the floor - and then they clean up their drink but leave the cup on the still dirty counter.  "Just get out of the way and I'll do it myself!"

We started our move yesterday by moving all our personal belongings from my mother in law's house to our new house.  Without much in the form of furniture we're still living out of totes but that's fine.

We also started the journey of painting rooms.  So far the laundry room, powder room and one bedroom closet are finished.  Will try to get the kid's rooms finished before the weekend so they can start living again.  We'll get the rest painted as soon as we can but there is A TON of other stuff to get to.

When you get a new home don't forget to budget money for blinds, curtains, ceiling fans, closet organizers, etc.  It adds up quickly.  Luckily for my wife I'm handy enough to do most of this work myself.  Luckily for me I have a beautiful wife who knows decor.  We make a pretty great team.

Speaking of that, on the same day as we closed we also celebrated our 13th anniversary!  Looking forward to spending the rest of my life with this woman.

On another down note, last night before bed I noticed a little water in the basement.  It hadn't rained so the only water that could be was either from plumbing or the sprinkler in the back.  PM came over this morning and cut away the insulation.  Sure enough, foundation leak.  "I don't know how this is happening; you have waterproofing."  The leak starts right at the ground level mark so obviously the waterproofing is compromised.  He's working on it.  Will keep this blog updated on this issue.

Pictures will be forthcoming.

3 Days to go...

I lied - or just too excited to keep the promise of not visiting the house again.  In either case, I stopped by last night as it was on my way home from sports.  Happy to see some work on our list was done.  Unhappy to see that some of the "work" is not what we would have expected as far as the quality of which Ryan prides itself.  Quality is up to the PM you get.

So, the good.  They added our garage door hardware and opener.


They added the handrail at the end of the porch.  This is technically necessary by code because the fall is greater than 30" so it wasn't our of the goodness of Ryan's heart.  I'm sure they would have much rather not done the work.  In either case, we have the handrail and we're happy.


The bad.

We were told that sliding screens are not included with patio doors.  I think it's something they just stopped doing.

The SR is checking with Production but we were told that the soft-close drawer slides for our kitchen planning desk are not included.  This is entirely disappointing as we upgraded all our kitchen cabinets to get the soft-close drawers and the planning desk cabinets are otherwise exactly the same.  The same layout and upgraded cabinets are in the model and, guess what - they have soft-close drawers.  Hoping for a good outcome but not really expecting much give.

The wood flooring that is chipped in several places - mainly along the edge - was "repaired." I think to them that means that someone took a stain pen and colored the bad areas.  Booooo!  Not really the "quality" that we had expected for the amount we are paying for the house.  We think the floor was installed using a tapping block that damaged the edges of several boards.  We'll keep an eye on it and if any more chipping is seen we'll have a talk with Ryan and Rite Rug.

4 Days to go...

Getting down to the end but so much more to do.  No pictures this post but some excellent info for anyone wanting to build with Ryan and still in the planning stages.

1.  Dark engineered hardwood stinks.  The wood underneath is light colored so any flaw stands out yugely.  I think we had more tape on our floors than on the walls.

2.  Non-sliding patio doors apparently don't come with sliding screens - at least according to our SR and PM.  They're not expensive or difficult to add but would have been nice to have them included.

3.  If you get the planning desk in the kitchen and upgrade your cabinets to get the soft close drawers, the planning desk drawers are not soft close.  This REALLY pisses me off as they are the exact same cabinets and we paid for the upgrade.  Still trying to fight for this.

4,  If you use a buying agent (and I highly suggest you do) have them come out at all the inspection phases.  Ours was quite direct about the house not being ready and needing a lot of work to complete.  Wish we had brought her for predrywall.


Today we had our pre-settlement walkthrough with the PM.  Again, the house was nice but not move-in ready or move-in cleaned.  We came in with a list of about 90 items that needed to be addressed.  We left with a list of about 80 but nothing structurally wrong.  This doesn't include all the blue tape added around the house.  Our agent suggested delaying closing a few days but we have already lined up movers, utilities and furniture deliveries and didn't think we needed to delay all of that.

So what's on our list? If you're interested I've included a PDF of our list below:


We made the list and our Inspection Report part of the presettlement document.  Ryan is now legally obligated to fix what is on the list or at least provide a disposition as to why it cannot be fixed.

We're going to take a few days off the house thing.  Neither my wife or I have been able to sleep much lately worrying about construction.  At this point there is nothing more we can do but attend another walkthrough on Monday before closing.  Keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes well then.

On a positive note, NVR has been great to work with.  They gave us some good incentives to use them for financing.  The process has been entirely smooth and everyone involved personable and professional.

5 Days to go...

Stopped by the house this morning to check on the work that was done yesterday and everything is looking better.  Not perfect, but better.

All the blue tape is gone.  Cleaners came in and did a somewhat adequate job.  Third party inspectors expected later today.  Seems like we're all set for final walkthrough tomorrow.

In just a quick visit I noticed a lot of things that still need to be touched-up:

- Laminate floors are iffy.  Several are chipped.  Lots of paint and drywall dust in the cracks and crevices.  One spot where filler was used to cover where they had driven a screw through a board.  Not happy.

- Trim is still a mess in several places.  If you're not going to use a full length of trim along a wall then at least TRY to smooth out the joint.  Several joints have wood filler gobbed on and not sanded.

- Drywall patches around some outlet boxes that were adjusted is terrible.

- Drywall patch on the master bath is hideous.

None of this will stop closing but it's highly likely they will be working after we close.

Anyway, pictures!

6 Days to go...

Missed day 7 but that's OK.  So much going on right now that this process is a blur.

As a surprise - WE HAVE FREAKIN SOD!!!!  Our neighbors who just moved in a week ago don't even have sod yet.  Looking like a house...

Advice to those in this process - hire a home inspector.  We're glad we did.  My wife was feeling very overwhelmed at the amount of work that still needed to be done.  The inspector reassured her that this is normal and that overall the house is in great shape.  The minor stuff can easily be finished.

Even though our house is still a few days away from being ready we had our home inspector come in today to give it a once-over for major mechanical and semi-structural fixes.  The idea was to avoid the cosmetic items that are still being addressed and instead focus on fixes that can't be covered with spackle and paint.  There were still a lot of tradesmen around the house doing minor (and some not-so-minor) touchups but here is what he found:

- Refrigerator on the same GFCI protected circuit as the kitchen outlets.  If the GFCI trips then the contents of the refrigerator can thaw before we have a chance to reset the breaker.

- Front porch needs a railing.  Code says anything with a fall greater than 30" needs a railing.  We're at 40" on the side of our porch.  Highly likely that Ryan won't do it.

- A bad GFCI outlet on the deck.

- Brick weep holes missing netting material.

- Several doors and latches need adjusting.

- Missing deck flashing and lateral support.

- Rusting (already?) flashing material

- A bunch of minor stuff too numerous to list.

My wife had a list of her own - 5 pages that doesn't include all the blue-tape stuff that we considered cosmetic.  Add that to our previous punch list and we're up to over 60 items.  Ryan's third party inspector comes tomorrow and will have his list of fixes.  In two days we go back for our final walkthrough before closing.  That's where we'll break out the blue tape!

We love the house.  There is a lot of work to be done but we love it and look forward to being able to call it ours.

8 Days to go....

Ryan's punch-out guy is rockin' it.  He was at the house all day yesterday (Saturday) and is there again today (Sunday) doing the little touch-ups and fixes to make the house right.  Unfortunately for him there is A LOT to do.

Yesterday one of the guys installed all the locksets and door knobs.  We were considering an upgrade to all oil rubbed bronze but in the end went with brushed nickel.  I'm glad we did as the the ORB would have stuck out like a sore thumb.  One thing that looked odd to me is that the exterior door hardware is ORB but the interior is brushed nickel.  Probably goes with the style of the house but looks weird.

Looking good for closing!

Still working on columns but installed front door

The front columns were finally installed but there is still work to be done - and it looks like at least one of the columns isn't plumb.  Trimmers also finished the dining room and installed the missing door in our bathroom.  Still some drywall work to be done but it's getting there.

Front door is now on so we're getting closer to the day when we're entirely locked out.  Probably as soon as someone installs the garage door opener.

Also found out today that the garage door is insulated.  Very nice touch.  Now if they would insulate (or let you insulate) the exterior garage walls the garage could nearly be climate controlled!

Dishwasher is in - sort of.

Great Room panoramic

Upstairs hallway

Master Bedroom panoramic

Master Bath Roman Shower

Trim before drywall?

9 Days to go...

It's Saturday!  And the house was abuzz today with workers from all different trades:

Framers - needed to reframe a bathroom door opening that was too small.
Drywall finishers - finishing the bonus room (about time) and doing some minor wall fixes.
Trimmers - working on the moldings
Finishers - working on door knobs and stops and adjusting kitchen cabinets.

There is a TON of blue tape of the wall from the PM but he didn't catch but about half of what we saw.  We started adding our own blue tape until we noticed that the drywall finishing guys already went through that room.  Oops!  Well, we have a one-room head start for Tuesday.

Today we went on a little bit of a shopping for the new house.  Home Depot had a sale on a dryer that we purchased so we ended up getting $160 refunded to our credit card.  Macy's furniture had a sale on our coach that saved us another $350.  Ashley Furniture is likely to have a sale next week on our mattress that will save us another $150 or so.

All the savings are going to be put toward hiring movers to unload our PODS.  With all the things that need to be done around the new house this will help immensely.

Weekend is here and my wife feels homesick from being in an apartment and now staying at her mother's.  It's not ideal living out of boxes but we have just about 9 days remaining and then we'll be in our new home.

10 Days to Settlement!?!

The countdown is certainly on and the work in the house continues.  With all the different trades that need to go in the PM seems to have scheduled people so that they don't interfere with each other which makes progress appear slow.

Today the deck builders finished their work:


Looks great and built solid.  We didn't see it originally but the back windows can pretty easily be accessed from the deck stairs.  May need to rethink our security system.  When the post holes were dug for the deck they damaged our footing drain and just covered the mistake.  It's on our punch list.

We plan on having a concrete patio installed under the deck and will add an under-deck drainage system so that water wont leak down onto our heads.  My wife wants a pool in the future (way in the future) and this would be a nice area for shade.

Carpet is being installed today and our fireplace was finished last night:



The picture makes the carpet appear darker.  The sun is on the opposite side of the house at this time and the entire back is in a shadow.

The fireplace is perfect.  The two 2x4s in the midde were put in by the PM as a mount for our HEAVY television.  We would have rather not have the two eyeball lights in the ceiling but would not have had a credit for not installing - and they wouldn't let us move them to another part of the house.

What's next, you ask?  Well, I don't have the insight into the PM's plan but there is a ton of work to complete and a very short time to complete it:

- Bonus Room - still some drywall to hang and mud and also need to install attic accesses.
- Master Bath - install a closet and the shower doors, finish trim work
- Dining Room - some more drywall finishing and trim work
- Kitchen - fix the island, remove the backsplash we didn't want, and adjust all the cabinets.
- All Over - Paint walls and trim.
- All Over - fit and finish doors, windows, etc.
- All Over - clean up
- Exterior - just a few minor things.

We have a very daunting list of minor touchups to add to a punch list but we're giving our PM the benefit of us not nit-picking everything at this point.  The PM has already added blue tape to a number of areas but he's not picking up what we're seeing.  We'll start our taping next week.

In four days our home inspector will go through the house.  He is going to earn his money as the house will not be anywhere near complete by the time.

In six days we have our presettlement meeting with the PM.

In the next week Ryan will have their "third-party" inspector look over the house.  I'm happy they do it but under no illusions that in the end they still get paid by Ryan so they will have a bias.

In less than ten days we settle.  Again, the house will not be perfect but we'll put up with it if they get the work done in a timely manner.

In eleven days we have deliveries and install for our refrigerator, dryer, internet, and couches.

In twelve days our PODS are delivered to our house and we start unpacking.

In thirteen days movers (hopefully) will magically appear to unload the rest of our PODS and we can start the longer practice of finding a place for everything.

More pictures from today coming later...

QUICK UPDATE:  Met the PMs at the house today and they assured me that they are on track to finish and that the house will look great.  They blue-taped a whole bunch of other things that I didn't see.  Thanks to both of them.  If they have this house as good as they promise by closing then I'll have to eat a whole lot of crow - and feed them a whole bunch of steak!  Fingers crossed.