Friday, January 16, 2015

Week 8


This week was a busy week for our Naples.  There is a lot to talk about so this post will be LONG…..

After our pre-drywall meeting our PM told us the following time line for this week:  Insulation would go in on Saturday and siding and drywall would go in on Monday.  He also said the concrete in our garage would go in at some point this week. 

Since a lot of things will be happening to the inside of our house I told our PM that I wanted to start meeting weekly to see the progress.  Our PM told us at our pre-construction meeting that we were never to enter the house without him.  We honestly have followed his instructions and stayed out of the house.   Since my husband and I both work, I told our PM that we would not be able to meet until 4:00pm or later for our meetings.  Our PM wasn’t too excited about this and FINALLY gave us permission to go into the house after hours and on the weekends.  Note that I have taken full advantage of his offer!

So on Monday, I went to the house to see what was going on!  Insulation had been installed.  There was one minor problem….that leak that I talked about last week was still there.  I brought it up to our PM and he basically said that everything will be perfect before we move in.  No drywall.


 

Tuesday, I drove by the house and they had started working on the siding!  They had completed the back and sides of the house.  They work really fast! Still no drywall. 
 
Here are some cell phone pictures....

 
 

We had a snow day on Wednesday so I didn’t stop by the house.

Thursday they had started putting the siding on the front of the house.  The concrete for the garage had also been poured.  It all looks really nice.  Since no one was working, I decided to take a little tour of the house.  Our drywall had been delivered and was sitting on the floor in all of the rooms.  Now, back to that leak….you know the one in the kitchen???  Well someone thought it would be a good idea to put our drywall on that leak and now water was leaking on the drywall.  I also noted another spot in the kitchen where water was leaking from an above pipe.  As I was leaving, I noticed something going on with some of the wood in the roof of our porch.  I took pictures of the leaks and the porch and sent them to our PM…I’m documenting everything.  There is no way you will say I didn’t tell you or that you didn’t know! 

 
 
Here is the first leak and drywall
 
2nd leak:
 
 
 
 
Here is the porch thing I was talking about....what's the deal with that separated wood by the recessed light? 

 
 
Well here we are today….Friday!!  I have played phone tag all day with my PM and have sent him another email, to which I expect no response and I’m sure I won’t get a phone call until Monday at this point (did he forget about that little survey at the end of this experience?).  Our siding is done and it looks really nice.  I am pleased with mostly everything.  I just really wish Ryan Homes would do something better than the tiny samples they give you to pick out colors for an entire house!  Now that we can see the colors on a much larger scale, we actually like the white trim that is currently on the house.  We originally picked beige trim.  We think it will be too much beige in the end if they paint everything beige.  Since we were at the house we visited our SR at the model and he basically told us since our garage door is beige that the trim has to be beige.  He also said that after we close we can paint it any color since we don’t technically have an HOA (another post for another day).   So my question is this….if we can paint it after we close, why can’t you just keep it white like we want??!?!?!?  Well I emailed our PM again….and of course you know how that goes. 

Here is the siding with some white trim:







 So let’s rewind to earlier today….I was thinking about the house and wondering why drywall hadn’t gone up.  I remember my PM stating that there were some inspections that were supposed to happen this week and then a light bulb went off!  We must have failed an inspection L

After some research on my counties inspection website, I found out why we had a delay.  They failed the counties framing inspection.  This is disappointing for a couple of reasons.  1) Our PM never said anything about this failed inspection 2) Our personal inspection happened minutes before the counties inspection and the only thing our inspector noted was some water under the house.  Now I know our personal inspector might not check for the same things as the county inspector, but it is still disappointing.   They finally passed the framing inspection on Wednesday….the drywall was delivered on Thursday….and WE FINALLY HAVE DRYWALL TODAY!
 
Living room looking into dining room

Family Room
 
Kitchen


Morning Room
 
 

I’ve been reading RH blogs since before we signed our contract in September and there is one complaint that is pretty consistent amongst a lot of bloggers…..the quality of the drywall job is pretty bad.  I know nothing about drywall and the process, but I did note some things when I walked through our house this afternoon.  There are several places where the drywall just doesn’t look good.  I know we are in the beginning phases and there are several more steps, but I’m starting to wonder if we will be another blog that has drywall issues.  Should there be gaps in the drywall?  I know they use mud and tape to make it smooth and look seamless, but won’t gaps show as the house is settling?  This is another item added to the list of topics for our PM. 
Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about....




 

Remember that wood on the porch roof?  Well this was put up today, so I guess I’ll never know if it was actually fixed. 
 

Oh, in one of my many emails to our PM I asked if our closing date would be pushed back since drywall was delayed.  In a voicemail he said that we are still set for February 20th.   Is that date even possible at this point?  He even told us that it was 5 weeks to closing AFTER drywall was complete.  We are exactly 5 weeks to closing today….and drywall started TODAY!

OOOOOH, and one more thing.  We did receive our official letter about our new home orientation and closing….our new home orientation is scheduled for February 19th and closing for the 20th.   Isn’t that too close?  What if we see things during our new home orientation?  They will have no time to fix things before we close.  I emailed our closing person and they said they would see if they can move the orientation back, but it’s pretty much set in stone. 

Wow, I told you this would be long!

 

 

8 comments:

  1. Wow, lot of information and pictures. :) what website did you find the information about your failed inspection? I would to check up on mine after we break ground, I asked my PM if we could be present for these inspections, and he said it would be hard since they only get a time window

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  2. I literally searched around our local county government site for about an hour before I found it. They have a page where you can put in the building permit number and everything for that permit comes up. I will definitely be keeping track of inspections!

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  3. Nokomis-

    You are so wise to finally go in that house. Believe me when I tell you to go in daily. You will feel much better. Our PM told us to stay out as well. I never listened. While it may be your "job site" it's going to be my home. I want to be involved.

    I would be insistent on proof that things were properly done. Document everything. Pictures, notes, and whatever else you need to do. If you don't feel like you are getting appropriate answers then go over the PM's head. That's what we had to do and I'm glad we did.

    Jim and I can tell you that the drywall work is GARBAGE. We are very happy with the house but by far the painting and drywall are just shit. Sorry for the French. Every single day when the sun hits certain walls I just cringe. I'm not talking about nail pops or settlement. I'm talking about gouges, taping issues, and sloppy ass splotches. We WILL be vigilant at the ten month because this work is unacceptable.

    I think your house will be beautiful with either color trim. I like the siding a lot.

    What we tell people with Ryan is you will get so many "yes" answers until you give them that money. Then it's all no. No no no no no. Try not to get yourself upset.

    we had our orientation on Friday and closed Monday morning. There will be a checklist you fill out with your problems when you go in for the orientation. They will get it done. You may be moving in while they are doing it, but it will get done!

    The house truly is beautiful! I'm so excited for you guys!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Bridget! I appreciate your response!

      We have requested a meeting with our PM to discuss our own findings. I definitely want proof that things have been taken care of and done properly.

      It's sad that we spend all this money on a house to have a crappy job on the one thing that EVERYONE sees as soon as they walk in the door. Did you catch any of the bad drywall work before you closed?

      I 100% agree on the getting all yes answers before you give them money. They would give you any and everything you asked for to make sure you signed a contract. Now, everything is no. It's like talking to a brick wall.

      Moving in with people trying to fix things will definitely suck! That's what I'm trying to avoid, but with the way things are going it looks like that will be my only option.

      Now it's time for some more updates from you! I want to see how you've set up your family room and loft!

      Thanks again!

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  4. The drywall issues were not resolved. I look at that as partly us not saying anything. I will say I'm glad they didn't though because we have put a few marks in the walls while moving that RYAN did... If you get the hint!

    There is a gouge in the loft ceiling that we didn't do and it drives me bonkers.

    With us we just wanted the major things fixed. The basement window well wasn't attached so the day we moved in we had two guys dig up the whole back yard to fix that. Luckily our PM had everything fixed before we moved. We still have the outstanding siding issues due to the fact it's so cold here so they can't do anything until the weather breaks.

    The big things were fixed. That's a good thing. I think the drywall they don't concern themselves too much with it because of settlement. We have a lot of settlement going on here already. So I think by 10 months we will have a ton of repairs. We had a very good family friend who painted/patched up the walls for us on the first floor. Now that it is painted it looks ten times better.

    I might have rambled... Long day with the toddler. Lol. Jim is doing the surround sound tomorrow in the family room before the big reveal. That's been his "baby" and he's been waiting forever for his speakers. Lol!

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  5. Glad to see such awesome progress. Hate to say I "told you so" but get in that house. LOL. See the shit that goes on if you arent in there to take pics. I assure you no one ever fixed the porch ceiling. Just watch that. And areas of the leaks behind drywall, I bet no one fixed that either. All you can do it take so many pics and document.

    Oh the drywall, I have to say though, we hired outside contractors to do our basement and honestly pretty much looked the same. Its the finishers that make all the DIFF in the world. They are the ones that hide all that crap and tap lines and what not. But just nit pick it to death and watch it in certain lights, they really wont do anything about it until paint goes on it and you can really see it.

    Pay attention to when they place up the baseboards, those will really tell you if a wall in bowed. I have a few bowed walls that I ignored cause my list was just so damn long, and i regret it everyday. :(

    Siding looks awesome, great colors!!

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  6. As a whole, the sad world we are in is a quality drywall job equals a premium price, and Ryan won't pay for it. Even in high end houses, drywall can look crappy. It's just the current state of the Trades. Here's how we're trying to look at our house, there's structural and cosmetic. We want the structural solid, like HVAC, framing, etc. Those are the big things. Cosmetic, though it's unacceptable for them to do a cheap job, can be fixed, and doesn't negatively impact the safety or livability of your house. Trust me, I hate looking at some of the bad drywall, but in the big picture I need to just take a breath, and at the 10 Month have them fix it, and ride them hard until I know it's fixed to our satisfaction.

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  7. Hi, all of the comments are on-point. One thing I can give you a heads up on is that your ceilings will NOT be perfect. You will see some tape seams and a slight hill/valley thing. Its really just the nature of the install and is very difficult to do. So hold your breath on those, there really isnt much they can do about it. Im in my house for 2 years and notice them every once in a while but youll forget just as fast...woosah... :)

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