Sunday, December 14, 2014

Pre-construction meeting questions

We are less than a week away from our pre-construction meeting which is on Friday 12/19.  We started the process about 2 months ago and now we are ready to see this house get built!

Based on all of the terrific blogs out there, we were able to compile a list of questions to ask our project manager ... we might think of a few more along the way.





Here is what we have so far:

Interior

What type of shelves are in the closets?

Where will outlets be located? Will there be one in the laundry room? Will there be one in the master closet? Is there an outlet on the kitchen island? How many outlets in the garage?

How wide is the opening for the fridge?

Will the windows have screens?

Standard recessed lights over each shower?

Can we remove granite backsplash lip?

French door or sliding door on morning room?

Where exactly is the crown moulding and the chair rail? Should we run the chair rail up the stairs?

Towel bars in all the bathrooms?

Make sure we are on the same page with light and fan rough-ins.

Wall paint color do we have the exact name?

Can the tile be diagonal?

 Laundry room light?

Where is all of the lighting?

Who is the AC and furnace manufacturer?

Where will the windows be in the basement?

Will all of the bedrooms have locks on them?

Verify all selections including the bronze finishes (including faucets, etc), flooring, cabinets, tile, and countertops.

Verify that they are putting in our wood stairs.

Exterior

Are there outlets in the garage or anywhere on the exterior?

Location of drainpipe in the garage?

Does he know anyone who can build a simple set of stairs from the morning room? What exactly is the slurry finishon the garage walls?

What outdoor lights are standard any in the back of the house? Porch lights?

Confirm where are the hose bibs located?

Will the lawn be seeded or does he have a suggestion for a landscaping company?

Do we have to put in sidewalks or does RH do that?

What limitations do we have in terms of putting in a fence because of the egress?

What is the dimension of our back yard (that we can fence)?

How soon after the house is finished should we put in a lawn?

 What brand of roof shingles (and year) are on the house and what is the warranty? 

General Questions

What inspections will happen at each stage?

When can we visit the site?

What is the best way to reach you if I have questions?

Can I bring in my own home inspector?

They have built 30 or so houses at Nature’s Preserve, mainly the same sub-contractors? What issues does he usually see with the sub-contractors? 


7 comments:

  1. Two things:
    1. Consider your furniture placement in regards to the electrical outlets. I realized that the outlets in the living room would be on either of where we planned to place the entertainment center. With a toddler running around that likes to pull on things this could have been really bad with the power cables sticking out either side. (And just looking sloppy anyway.) Before the drywall was put up I got our PM to get an electrician out to install an additional outlet in the center of where the entertainment center would go.

    2. I haven't finished writing the story up yet to post to our blog but find out for absolute sure where the survey pins are located so there's no question where the property lines are when it comes time to build the fence. One of ours ended up being inside the water meter hole and we went through a crazy amount of stress and hell with Ryan Homes and our fence contractor after it was discovered that 25 feet of the fence was over the property line by 2.5 inches.

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    1. Great thoughts, thanks! I will be curious about the fence - I hope yours turned out great!

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  2. You're only going to get one outlet in the garage. We upgraded to a second outlet before signing but I'm sure if you work with your PM, he will allow you to work with the electrician to add one. They'll let you work with the electrician if you ask on small extras. Email me on this if you have questions.

    Great thing about Ryan homes is there's tons of electrical outlets. I was able to chat with our electrical before they did the rough in to get favorable positions in the great room but it really wasn't a big deal. Per code they have to be so many feet apart and you get a ton. Some will be redundant.

    We are doing a private home inspection before pre settlement not as much to delay closing but to help in our first warranty year and for peace of mind.

    They will put the hose bibs where they want unless you tell them.

    Feel free to email with any questions or to dig deeper on this stuff.

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  3. Thanks for the feedback on our questions. How far out are you from closing? I'd be curious to know how it goes with the private home inspector.

    Best of luck!

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  4. Pre settlement is Jan 28th. My home inspector has been in business for 25 years in a market where Ryan has been building for 35 years so suffice to say he was able to explain the entire Ryan home process to me. Again I'm not expecting anything earth shattering nor am I expecting any findings to hold up closing. This is more for my peace of mine, for my PM to know I will have an unbiased naked eye look over the house and of course to educate me on the 1 year warranty in terms of what to look for. Traditionally a home inspector on a pre existing home is looking for major issues that would steer you from buying. Chances of major issues are
    much much smaller in this circumstance.

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  5. Happy new owner hugs the very good box. Security Fencing

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  6. Govt or Felda or Lend Lease or Mulia are not paying for the TRX infrastructure and tunnels. 1MDB has to pay for them.
    driveway gates

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