Pre-Construction Meeting

We had our pre-construction meeting today. I learned a lot! We went over pretty much every inch of the house - inside and out. Our PM thought we would get bored but I loved every minute of it! We discussed all of the upgrades and selections we made. We discussed things that I have no clue about - such as water drainage from the house and easements. He told us where our air conditioner and our electric meter are located.

Our PM was telling us where our sump pump was going to be, and it was right in the middle of where the powder room goes in the basement. I don't know if he got confused about the fact that we were getting the powder room or about where it is located. Good thing we got that cleared up! He said they don't like to put the sump pump in the same place that it is in the blue prints because it's towards the center of the house, in the closet with the water heater and furnace. Something about running the pipes farther? I don't know. This is where we wanted it because it would be the most out of the way. He pretty much let us choose where it was going to go since his original space didn't work out. This was super important to my hubby since he is planning on finishing the media room later. We were worried that the sump pump would end up in the middle of our future media room. We are happy that it's also not going to be in the morning room extension part of the basement either. This space is going to be unfinished but it's nice to know that we have the option to finish it later without the sump pump being in the way. We will also have more room for storage in there. The only thing that will be in our morning room extension will be our electrical box. He also let us move the location of one of the doors to our unfinished area. Again, this is important for our future media room.

As I have read in many other blogs, I requested to have the switch to the garage coach lights be moved next to the front door. This way I can control all of my outside lights from one area. He said that could possibly be an option but that I should also leave a switch in the garage as well. That way if I'm going outside through the garage and I need to turn them on, I wouldn't have to walk to the front door. He made a really good point. There are two lights flanking our front door and a lampost. We might not even need to turn on our garage coach lights whenever we want our outside lights on. Our SR is getting a quote for us to see how much it would be to add this switch to the front door. If it's not too much, we will move forward with it. I will be leaving the switch for it in the garage as well.

I requested to have the switch for the light inside the garage to be located inside the house, instead of inside the garage. I didn't want to have to reach into a dark garage to flip the light on. This request got shot down. Our PM said that it was building code to have it in the garage. I guess I could have requested a second switch but it's really not that important.

Other great news: I asked for our PM to clarify our trim package. I wasn't completely sure what all it got us. I thought it was chair rail and crown molding in formal dining room, cased doorways, and crown molding in the foyer. Apparently it also includes crown molding in the study and crown molding in the upstairs hallway! That's so exciting! Especially with how much the trim package cost us....

Our PM is super nice and I feel like he will definitely keeps us in the loop throughout this process. He said we could call, e-mail, or text anytime and he will communicate with us through our preferred method. He even said he would send me pictures if I asked him to! We break ground on Thursday (instead of Wednesday) and our footers should be poured on Friday. Now I know when to make the long trip out to take pictures!

Now for the slightly bad news - Our SR has been telling us all along that our closing date will be July 20th. Even when our breaking ground date got pushed back, she told us that our "delivery date" would be the same. Our PM had a different story. Our new projected closing date is August 5th. That is 16 days later than we were told. We aren't in any kind of hurry but I must say it is a little disappointing that I will have to wait that much longer to move into my new home! He said this date is an estimate, it could be 10 days earlier or it could be 10 days later - lets hope for earlier or on time!