Work has steadily progressed on our house although from the exterior it doesn't look like much is happening. The framers finished their initial round of work and the roofers completed their job in one day! Those guys were like machines up there.
Here are a few pictures of the house during the end of the framing stage and into the roofing.
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| Front View |
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| Front Porch |
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| Garage Side View |
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| Front View (at night) |
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| Roofing - done in one day! |
On Easter we went back to the house to check on progress. Our PM has constantly said not to go inside without him but we're finding we see a lot more if we go by ourselves. He also said hard hats are a must as this is a construction site. We wore ours but honestly have not seen one worker on site that was wearing one. Overall we came away pretty disappointed. There are several areas of concern that are fixable but show an absolute lack of any sense in the workers.
THE GOOD:
- We have more outlets in the garage than we had thought. Fantastic!
- The rooms are all pretty good size with very little difference in the paper plans.
- We will have a great view out our back windows.
- The HVAC guys did a great job sealing ducts and they're located pretty well within the house.
- There were a few walls where electric outlets weren't shown on the plans but the electrician installed them anyway. I think it was needed for code but I'll take it as a win.
- The Guardian box in the basement was located on the wrong wall but adjacent to the stairs. Perfectly fine as all I need to do is flip it around and it will be under the steps where we can have our servers and switches.
THE UNKNOWN:
- The water heater is a Bradford White 50 gallon natural gas unit. Of the reviews we've seen most are negative toward this brand. Have to ask what the warranty is like and maybe plan for a replacement sooner rather than later.
- The gas furnace is a Goodman. Not the top brands like a Trane or Carrier but willing to give it a shot. We're going to ask our regular heating and air guys (Gruter Heating and Air is the best!) about this and have them inspect the system before we settle.
- Framing. Interior non-load bearing walls are framed with studs at 24" O.C. Would have liked to see 16" O.C. as a minimum.
- Framing. At least on interior wall is composed of 2x4's run sideways to create a 1.5" wall thickness. It's flimsy - especially with 9' ceilings - but our PM assured us it will be fine.
THE BAD:
- The electric panel that we had mentioned several times we wanted located in the basement was located in the garage. We want to finish our basement in the future and now there is no way to run electric without tearing out garage drywall. (UPDATE: Our PM said that they will install a subpanel in the basement to accommodate future expansion.)
- This is the biggie. The layout of our laundry room is entirely backwards from what is on the plans - and my wife is beyond pissed. Maybe rabid better describes it. Remember this when Ryan tells you they are a production builder and that everything they do is according to the plans. First problem, everything is backward from what we thought and now wont look the way we want. Second problem is that the washer is pushed up tight against where the laundry tub is and will leave huge gaps between the washer and dryer. Third problem, we didn't even ask for a laundry tub here and now we'll have to work around the rough-in. This is entirely unacceptable and we're going to have a talk with our PM about this. We can work around the laundry tub rough in but we want to have everything spaced so we can get our 30" cabinet as we originally planned.
- In several locations plumbing was resting against electric boxes or entirely unsupported. We're not going to let that stand as it could lead to banging pipes and future leaks due to the rubbing.
- Recessed lights in the Great Room - my God who would do this. The two middle recessed cans in the picture are supposed to be eye-ball lights pointing down to the fireplace to the right. The electrician decided - against the plans - to install them WAY off the fireplace and in line with recessed lights we added to the plans. The result is horrendous. Since we're going to mount a TV above the fireplace we'll ask that the eye-ball lights be removed entirely. If not they're going to be moved to another stud bay closer to the fireplace.
- In the basement the rough-in for our laundry tub was not in the correct spot. We hoped to have it located so that we could just switch it to a wet-bar sink when we finish the basement. It will still work but it will take some effort from us when we finish the basement.
- The rear hose bib is located at the back of the morning room where the steps from the deck will come down. It wont interfere with the steps but will cause a tripping hazard if we have a hose connected. We're going to ask that it be relocated.
- There is no attic access to the area above the Bonus Room. We have asked about this a few times with no answer. There is a portion of the attic that is entirely inaccessible. We're not letting this one go as it's an obvious flaw in the design plans.
- A joist above the den interferes with the attic access from the bonus room. This is just lazy framing but it makes it difficult to use the access.
- The upstairs return air is in the hallway meaning that bedroom doors will need to stay open to get proper air circulation. Nothing to be done here but keep the bedroom doors open.
- There is an electric outlet in the second bathroom that was framed out on 2x4's. The entire 2x4 stud rotates easily so pushing on the outlet (like plugging in a hair dryer) causes the outlet box to flex into the stud bay. Again, lazy framing caused by studs at 24" O.C.
- Bonus room recessed lights in wrong location. This one is in the sloped portion of the ceiling which would shine the light directly in your eyes. Seriously, who in their right mind approved this? We wanted it placed on the flat ceiling adjacent to the slope. This can be fixed but again shows a poor thought process.
We've asked a lot of questions to our PM about extras we could do during construction that were not part of our original contract - adding 2' width to the driveway, adding insulation to the garage, paying out of pocket for a concrete patio prior to closing. In each case we were told "no." We're through asking for help like that and are instead going to focus on getting the house built correctly so we don't have maintenance issues down the road. We're not going to accept sub-standard building practices and will instead fight to make sure things are done right. No sign-offs until things are done correctly.
We've also hired a highly recommended inspector to look over the house prior to our pre-drywall meeting in a few days. Our PM thought it was overkill as he and the County do their own inspections but I'm having none of that. We are paying a ton of money for this house and want to be happy when we take ownership.
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