That's a HUGE Window!

My super duper awesome PM texted me today with an update! The plumber was out at the house today to get started! They have also started to shingle the roof! Oh yeah, and the window I've been so excited about was installed! They even installed the front door and the door on the morning room. So much in one day!! I totally wasn't planning on visiting today. I asked my PM to send me a picture but he had just left! Bummer! So of course, curiosity got the better of me!

Love love LOVE that window! I had to stand behind the front door while my husband took this photo because the wind kept blowing it open!

Creepy basement shot. It's interesting how they suspend the framing so that they can pour the concrete.

Super creepy basement shot. I refused to go down there.
My husband was on his own! - I hope my PM isn't reading this ;)

Basement stairs were installed! Duh! How else do you think he got down there? :)

Hall shower was put in place. No tile for me! I HATE tile!

I can see where the tray ceiling is! 

Goodies in the study!

Plumber holes

More plumber holes. How is one of them perfectly round and the other one is all crazy?

Morning room door was installed. I love this door. I'm glad it's standard - with the 4' bump out in the family room. A sliding glass door is standard without the bump out. I'm not a huge fan of any kind of sliding doors.

Outdoor shot of the morning room door :) I was hiding on the other side.

Standard picture of the back of the house! Yay for shingles!

We Are Locked-In!!

We JUST locked in our interest rate at 3.25%! How amazing is that?!?! We paid .625 points to decrease the rate. We will break even on what we paid in six years and then the following 24 years will just be savings! If anyone is curious about the type of loan we have, it's a VA loan, which means no PMI :)

Weekend Progress

Dare I say it? THE ROOF IS DONE!! WOOHOO!! Now that I got that out of my system! We actually restrained ourselves from visiting the house yesterday. We went today fully expecting no progress since Friday. I know the framers were supposed to work this weekend but I haven't had much faith in them recently. They definitely showed up and they got a lot done! They even installed most of the windows. I was wondering why they skipped the one random one in bedroom #4. We went into the room and there was a window propped up against the wall. Looks like it's the wrong window. It's in the fourth picture down.

Can't wait for the arched window that goes above the front door!

Why is there a random gaping hole in the side of my formal dining room? There's a smaller one in our laundry room as well.

This window is missing the horizontal lines. Must be the wrong one.

Window in the master "water closet" RH's fancy name for a closet with a toilet in it! I love that there's a window in here. It's up high enough for privacy too. It doesn't open though.

Cool shot of the attic

What's the little square cut-out for in the roof? The other houses have some  kind of pipe sticking out there.

Self-Control: I Have None :)

"I won't visit the house today. I won't visit the house today. I won't visit the house today. I WON'T VISIT THE HOUSE TODAY!!" I spent the entire day telling myself this. I had every intention on waiting until Saturday or Sunday to visit. My husband is a bad influence!  He came home from work today and says he wants to go to the house! AAAAHHHH! He claims that I'm the only crazy obsessed one! I think he just does a better job of hiding it :) He's the one who didn't want to skip a day going out there and today wasn't the first time! Sure, I may be the one obsessing over all the furniture, paint colors, layouts, appliances, and everything else pertaining to the house. I don't currently have a job so I have nothing better to do! It's good to know that I'm not the only one who likes to visit daily! Of course I didn't put up much of a fight and we made the drive out there :)

Mother Nature must hate me because it rained this morning. The good thing is it stopped raining around 10:30am and the framers got back to work! They started on the roof today. I'm excited that they added the triangle that goes on the front of the house, above the door. You can see it in the first picture.

My triangle up close!

The garage has a roof!

Back of the house. They also added the decking? to the top of the morning room. Is that what it's called or are those trusses?!? I can never remember.....

They framed out the fire place! One less hole for children to throw rocks through!

Outside view of the fireplace

They pulled out the shower and garden tub in the master bath to add some insulation.

Our walk-in closets have a roof! It's slanted but it's still tall enough for my 6'2'' husband to stand up straight in there!

I forgot to mention this little piece of good news in my blog yesterday! Last week I noticed that there were trees lining the street that weren't there before. I was wondering if the homeowners were planting them because they weren't in front of every house. I asked our PM and he said that RH is the one planting them! This makes me happy! After we get our sod, we will get our very own trees! I thought we were going to have to pay to get them ourselves! Here's a picture below!

I'm hoping for good weather this weekend. The framers are supposed to work through the weekend and finish up. Hopefully they can get the windows in too! I'm super excited to see the house with windows and (unlocked) doors! Those might have to wait until Monday though. The important thing is that they finish the roof!

Met with our PM Today

I was having lunch with my husband today and I told him that we should make the drive out to the house. He has extra hours put in for this week and his work is closer to the house than where we live now. It would also save us the trip tonight. He told me I should text the PM to make sure there was actual progress first. Our PM said there was progress and that he was heading out that way. I asked him if we could meet up and possibly walk through the house with him. He said we could meet him but he didn't feel comfortable walking through the house without the roof finished. Once we got there we saw why. They were putting in our roof trusses and the ones that were just propped up were swaying in the wind a lot. I didn't want to go in after seeing that!

We talked a lot with our PM. I told him how disappointed I have been. First with how long the framing process is taking. I also told him I was upset that the houses across the street are getting framed faster than ours and we bought our house first. He did point out that our house is larger and that our roof is much more complicated in shape. I never really looked at the roof that closely but he is right. He said our house is scheduled to be finished before their's and that everything for our house is scheduled to happen before theirs - such as plumbing and electrical stuff. Our pre-drywall inspection will probably be in about two weeks. Or did he say three? Either way! The best news he gave me was that WE ARE STILL ON SCHEDULE!!! I don't even know how that's possible with all of the delays with framing but it is! He said as of right now our final walkthrough will be August 3rd and then closing on August 6th. These were the dates we were given in our Pre-construction meeting so I'm super excited!!

Our PM said they should start putting on the roof today when they are finished with the trusses and finish it up tomorrow. He also said our windows should start going in tomorrow. The framers are supposed to work through the weekend if they don't get finished tomorrow. He said they may come out on Monday to do some final touches. Our plumber is scheduled for Monday and the concrete for the basement and garage is currently scheduled to be poured on Wednesday! On Thursday the framers should be coming back to frame the basement walls and to complete the "punch-out" list my PM creates. The electrician is scheduled for next Friday. Our PM said we should schedule a time to walk through the house with him. I told him I want to see the basement so I think we may be meeting him out there next Friday, as long as my husband can take the time away from work.

I just wanted to mention one more thing before I post a picture of today's progress. I know I have been frustrated with the waiting game and the delays with framing. I just want everyone to know that my frustrations are with the framing crew and not with my PM or with Ryan Homes. Our PM really is a nice guy and is great with communication. I've never had to wait longer than five minutes to receive a response from him. He even responds to me in the evening when I send a frantic text - I'm going to try to stop doing that by the way! I did tell him that I have a blog but I warned him that there are pictures of the inside of the house - even though we are not supposed to be going into the house without someone with us. He said he didn't want to hear that so I told him he better not look at my blog then! I'm sure curiosity will get the better of him and he will read it! I also made sure I told him that my frustrations aren't with him so I hope nothing in my blog offends him. I really need to get a job so I can stop obsessing about this house so much! I'm just going to try to relax and keep reminding myself that it will be finished eventually! Once they are done with the framing, we only plan on visiting once a week. Maybe then I will be a little less crazy - maybe :)

At Least They Showed Up

Well the framing crew showed up today. Too bad they spent most of their time on the two houses across the street. Both houses got their trusses and their roofs installed today. I was too pissed to take a picture. All they did to our house was lay the trusses in place and installed maybe less than 10% of them. I was too pissed to even get out of the car so my husband took these pictures.

Roofing

Framing Update

Yesterday our PM told us they had a crane scheduled to come out this morning so they could get started on the trusses for the roof. He just texted me and told me that the framers never showed up today and they aren't returning his calls. I appreciate him keeping me in the loop and saving me a trip out there. I am sad though. These framers have been dragging this process out so much. Our closing is already about two weeks behind. I just can't wait for the framers to finish so I don't have to constantly be disappointed with them. I can't take the roller coaster of emotions anymore! Our plumbing is scheduled for Monday. Let's hope the framers get back to work and don't push our schedule back anymore than they already have.

We have a second floor!!

My PM texted me today to let me know that we have a second floor! They also scheduled a crane to come out tomorrow to so that they can start on the trusses for the roof! Finally some progress! They also framed the second floor for both of the houses across the street. I think they are trying to keep us on the same schedule so they only have to have the crane come out once. Makes sense but I’m still going to be a big baby and say it’s not fair! We bought our house first and ours should be done first! I feel like that’s what’s been causing all of the hold-ups. They keep going back and forth between the three houses.

I think I'm going to have to copy Thomas and start a night watch! While my husband and I were walking around the second floor of our house checking everything out, we kept hearing loud thudding noises.  I seriously thought we had stepped in the wrong place and that our framing was collapsing on the first floor! It turns out that our neighbors had their nephews over. The two of them were picking up the huge clumps of rock and dirt from our yard and throwing them at the side of our house and through the hole for the fireplace! I was ENRAGED but I did a good job keeping my cool. I stuck my head out the window of the second floor bedroom and saw the kid holding a GIGANTIC clump of rock and dirt. I calmly asked him if he was throwing rocks at my house and he dropped it and said no and blamed it on his brother. Seriously? I'm not stupid. I'm surprised they stuck around long enough for both my husband and I to come downstairs to have a talk with them. They were probably both under the age of 10 but still old enough to know better. I told them that they were throwing rocks at my house and that I didn't think it was very nice. I asked them nicely if they could please stop. One of them didn't even acknowledge me. Their father walked out to check on them and I let him know what was going on. He was super nice and apologized and told the kids they were in trouble and made them go inside. A few minutes later, my neighbor - their aunt - came over and apologized. She said the boys were both standing in a corner in time-out. She even offered to pick up the rocks they had thrown in the house. We told her that we had already done so and that we appreciated her coming over. The situation was handled very nicely. I'm just super sad that someone would want to "hurt" my house, especially after the first incident we had - if you don't know what I'm referring to - click here.

Now for the good stuff - PICTURES! Warning: There are TONS!

We can finally take a straight-on picture without our showers and bath tub blocking the front of the house in the yard! The staircase you see through the front door is actually our basement stairs propped up.

They installed our stairs. Last week they had the basement stairs installed in this space instead of the correct ones. I have no idea why! The stairs on the left are our basement stairs propped up.

Left side of the house - hole is for the fireplace

Back of the house - obviously! The medium sized window is above our garden tub and the tiny window is in our "water closet" 

So glad we got the service door on the back of our garage!

Looking into bedroom #2 from the hallway. This is the biggest of the 3 "spare" bedrooms

Closet for bedroom #2 - you can see all the way through to the other side of the house, into the master bedroom in this pic.

Looking into bedroom #3 from the hallway.

Closet for bedroom #3

Looking into bedroom #4 from the hallway. This is the smallest of the 3 "spare" bedrooms. This will be my husband's music room.

Hall bathroom - the bathtub isn't in the correct location yet. They just need to turn it.

Looking into the master bedroom from the hallway. The wide doorway is for our french doors! We also have a "hallway" that leads into the actual bedoom.

Master Bedroom looking from the entryway of the bedroom. I really wish there was a second window on the side wall. It is there in the model but wasn't even an option for us.

Master bathroom. This will also have french doors. The double vanities will be on the right, then the bathtub, then the shower. Our "water closet" is just past the shower.

"Water closet" and linen closet for the master bathroom. View is from the hallway.

This is hanging on the wall of the master bathroom.

His and Hers walk-in closets!! You can see both in this picture but there is a wall separating them.

Looking down into the foyer. The basement stairs are blocking the shot!

Another view of foyer from upstairs hallway.

Looking from the far wall of the master bedroom into the rest of the second floor.

Looking from bedroom #3 into the rest of the second floor.

Neighbors across the street. They both have 3-car garages and I'm jealous! We are the last three to build on our street. That means no construction once we move in!