Pre Construction Meeting T-8 Days???

Quick update -- Today was our pre construction meeting, which means we are officially a week from construction.   Foundation digging is scheduled to begin on the 7th or 8th of March, for an early June completion.

We met our PM Brandon for the first time and got a good feeling about him.   No major concerns or issues came up and the whole meeting went pretty smooth (but still took 2 hours).    We walked the lot with the PM, found the lot actually had been pin staked (metal pin on the property corner, saves us some money when we put in a fence).

One minor change (window placement) was required to accommodate the utility meters, but it is still in the same unfinished part of the basement, so no real gain there.  

Plot Plan

Lot Staked!

I stopped by tonight on a hunch and we got to see our house staked out for the first time.  I was just here on Tuesday, so this was a very welcome surprise.   I am pretty sure our side yard is larger than the back yard, which is interesting.  The house is a set distance from the front and side yards (30' and 15' maybe?), and not just centered on the lot, so with wide corner lots it gives you a big side.   

The mounting pole for the temporary electric was in too.   I'm guessing digging on the 5th is probably a firm date at this point.

From the front street towards the door (looking South)

Back of our lot looking North towards the Courtland under construction, Lots sold on either side  

East from the House line towards neighbor's foundation. 

Standing on curb of driveway looking into garage (East)

New Start Date and Neighbor Mistake

I knew the original start date had to be optimistic.  Unless they were planning for serious issues, the house would have been done nearly a month early.

Anyway,  today I got a new date for groundbreaking from our Sales Rep --  March 5th.   That puts completion for very late May, and perfect for a Early to Mid June closing like we wanted.

In other news -- the Courtland across the street is coming along fast.  3 weeks ago they were about to dig, and last time I drove through there the roof was going on.   5 days after they poured the basement.

Our neighbor next door is under construction now also (Ravena).   Sort of a funny story about that one.  We are both on corner lots, and I drove through after work a few weeks ago and theirs was staked out.   Only it was on the wrong street (of the corner lot), so basically it was turned 90 degrees.   I thought this was sort of strange, but liked that their back yard would face our side yard.  Sucks for the people across the streets view though.

  I mentioned it to the sales rep when I called her about something, and she said there was no way it was staked out wrong.   I told her either the ravena is only about 25 feet wide in the front or it is off.       Needless to say, I was right.   I drove through a week later and it was moved.     I have been checking the County permits website to see if they were filed for our lot, and the notes on the neighbors lot are sort of funny.   Footing inspection was canceled 3 times because not only was it staked out wrong, but the plans were wrong.   They had to adjust and get them re-approved before the dig.    I wonder  at what point they would have noticed if I didn't say anything.   The plans matched the stakes -- but didn't match what the neighbor expected.   Could have been an expensive mistake.

Mistakes can obviously happen, but this is why I plan to, and will be following my construction like it is my job.


 

Updates

I stopped by the model on my way home today and the sales rep said we are slotted to break ground on Feburary 20th. That was definitely a surprise to me. With 84 days to completion they should be done way before the mid-June dates we had planned on. Not a bad surprise, but unexpected. No permits have been applied for or approved yet, so that date could slip, but a week or two early might be good. I also learned that a few other houses near us have sold. Next door will be a Ravena, and another Yorkshire will be across the street and 3 houses down, but with a different front.

Permits and Stalking

So this is the downtime before construction.

All the selections have been done.

All the deposits have been paid.  Loan has been approved.   Current house is on the market.

There is nothing left to do until the pre-construction meeting.

I can't help it, but I have been driving through the neighborhood every few days.  Basically anytime I am in the area I do a pass through.    In the last 2 weeks the house across the street has finally started.  They are probably a good month ahead of us, but now their foundation is in.   It's interesting to see the shape of the house and be able to identify the floor plan (Courtland with side entry garage) based on the basement outline.

There is also a Yorkshire around the corner that is getting close to done.  This has the same front as ours but with a front entry garage.  Now that the brick is up you can really see it taking shape.    Then I met a neighbor the other day who was out taking photos of his Yorkshire while I was driving around (aka "stalking the neighborhood").  They have a completely different front and reverse floor plan though -- so you can barely even tell it is the same house.  So far there are 3 of our model out of 15 or so, but all 3 are very different.   Interesting to see how opposite people can configure the same plan.

Finally, today I noticed the permit application for the lot next to us was just filed.   They are supposed to be 1 or 2 weeks ahead of us, so we are getting close.   I'm guessing permits will be filed around Feb 1st.