Finishings

Monday, October 15

Well, we had the walk-through on Friday, and we discussed some finishing items that needed to be touched up.  Here is what I can remember of the list and any updates I found after stopping by on Monday afternoon.

• paint touch ups everywhere, especially the basement (all paint touch ups were done.  I found one spot we missed during the walk-through, but I can touch that up myself since they gave us the extra paint)
• Railings/spindles still need to be stained and finished.  [This is still not done, but it looks like they were working on it today]
• Master linen closet doors were damaged.  Jason offered to replace them, since paint would not fully cover the issues.  [Done!]
• Furnace-possible gas leak, need filters [Done!]
• Cabinets-touch up stain and align cabinet doors [to be completed]
• Tempered glass window needs to be moved to the proper place [to be completed]
• Touch up paint on front door [Done!]
• Fix lump in basement carpet [to be completed]
• Add outlet in pantry [done]
• Nail side of cabinet in kitchen [Done!]
• Insert screw covers in back slider [Done!]
• Finish installing doorknobs [Done!]
• Reverse two switches [Done!]
• Adjust closet doors [Done, but I'm not totally satisfied with one of them]
• Repair sidewalks [They were cracked during grading; this may be done in the spring since the weather is much cooler now and the grading on our property may not be totally finished.] 

Bank paperwork tomorrow, keys Wednesday.  I also ordered all of our window treatments (shades and blinds), so that is now taken care of.  I started setting up utilities, but current debate is Cable vs Dish.  Any thoughts?

Finishings

October 4, 2010

I stopped at the house again yesterday.  Things are really moving quickly!  Here is a summary of what has been done/is left to do...

1. Flooring: Everything is installed, but I found a lumpy section in the basement.  Everything else seems to be pretty good.

Plumbing:  All faucets are in.  Shower heads are in the house, but not attached.  Three out of four toilets are installed (the one in the basement bathroom has been delivered, but not installed). All sinks have been installed. The hot water heater has been delivered, but not installed. Kitchen sink needs plumbing underneath and a garbage disposal.  Dishwasher needs to be installed.

Electrical: All lighting fixtures are installed.  Three outlets are wired incorrectly (I checked them all myself), and the exterior outlets and garage outlets have no power yet (but the breaker may be off- not something for me to mess with!).  One switch does not work properly.  Missing outlet in the pantry (the wiring is just covered up by drywall, I believe). Garage door opener is not yet installed.

Paint/stain:  The walls need touch up paint/a final coat. The spindles and handrails need to be finished.  Some new trim pieces need paint/stain.

Closets:  All shelves installed.

Bathroom fixtures: Towel bars/toilet paper rolls are installed.  Unfortunately, we were supposed to be called to discuss these before installation.  We wanted two towel bars in the master.

Doors:  All doors (closet doors included) are installed.  Some of them need some touch-up paint.  All need door knobs (which have just been delivered).

Jason (the construction manager) says that the electrical issues will be taken care of before the walk through. I hope he's right.

Landscaping: Met with the landscaper about lawn options.  They will bring in a machine to remove large rocks, spread seed and cover with hay for the included starter lawn.  For $700 they will also hand rake and remove medium-sized rocks and add fertilizer...  We haven't decided about this yet...  Any thoughts from the world wide web?

Walk through on Friday 10/12.  Signing paperwork on the 16th.  Getting keys on the 17th (hopefully).  I am now worried after reading a blog from another K. Hovnanian customer who was supposed to get his keys today.  Check out his blog: http://ourkhovexperience.blogspot.com.

Counters and railings!

September 24, 2012

I stopped by the house again today, and we have countertops and stained handrails!  There is definately some touch-up work to do on the paint from the other work being done, but I'm sure they'll fix it up.  Also, under the counter between the dining room and the kitchen, it looks like they cut the wall too short.  I'm sure it will be patched up, but I'm curious to see how they do it...

Kitchen countertops (Formica Calacatta Marble, beveled edge):

A better view of the kitchen counters (LOVE THEM!)

The downstairs bathroom (Formica's Portico Marble, beveled edge):

The railings, stained, but not sealed yet.  I'm so glad we did all stain instead of white or white railings with stained spindles!!!

Oh, and we meet with the landscaper on Wednesday!

Grrr... (update)

Got a very nice email back from the construction manager with all the information that I needed.  He also said that it may be possible to do the walk through in the evening if an alternate date can't be worked out.  I am MUCH happier.

Grrr...

September 22, 2012

Got an email back from the construction manager today, regarding the two sets of dates that he has sent me.  His reply?  The second set is correct.  "My bad." I already arranged my work schedule around the first set of dates, and scheduled *paid* training on the 12th, which is now supposed to be our walk-through. I let him know about the problem, and I'm awaiting a response. And I'm still waiting for a response to a question about the landscaper, after asking it twice.  FRUSTRATED!!!

Paint and communication (or lack thereof)

September 21, 2012

Well, I have good news and bad news.  First, the good news.  The house is looking great!  This week, they painted the walls and the trim, installed bathroom and kitchen cabinets and poured concrete for the driveway, front stoop and front path.  Some pictures:

The front bedrooms:

 The finished area of the basement:

 New handrails!

 The front (although I'm not sure why they haven't finished the siding for over a week...)

 The kitchen cabinets:

 The newly painted front door:

Now, on to the bad news.  First of all, they still haven't finished the siding.  It has been 80% done for over a week.  The extra siding is in the garage and has been since before the original installation. At one point it sat on the driveway and was rained on for a few days.

Finally, the title company and my lender are calling me asking for closing details, but K. Hovnanian (Oster Homes) has not told me anything.  I emailed the construction manager about the dates, and he sent me an email that walk-through would be on October 5th and closing would be on October 10th.  The title company called and scheduled a meeting for the 5th.  Still no communication from K. Hov's main office.  I sent another email to the construction manager stating that I hadn't received anything from the main office yet, after he told me last week that I would.  He sent me back an apology for not sending me the dates earlier (he did send me dates already...) and that the walk through would be on the 12th and closing would be on the 17th, a week later than we originally discussed!  I'm so confused and no one seems to be communicating.  I feel like someone at K. Hov dropped the ball here, and now I am left to rearrange everything after spending hours organizing work schedules planning the move.  Hopefully, someone will get their act together ASAP communicate with me!!!

Mechanical Walk-through

August 29, 2012

Wednesday was our mechanical walk-through, which is where we make sure that the plumbing, electrical and other mechanical items are what we were expecting.  My dad came with us since he has some knowledge of construction.

Overall, the work was very good.  The contractors installed everything properly, and almost nothing needed to be corrected.  We found a couple of wood pieces that had been cut off to install the HVAC system that Jason (the construction manager) knocked down for us (they just never got removed after they had been cut) Leaving them there could result in a rattling noise every time the heat or air conditioning was on.

In addition, my husband and I had discussed where we would like to put up a baby gate in the future, and there really weren't any spots where the 2x4s were across from each other in the walls.  Jason offered to add a 2x8 in the wall so that we had better support for a pressure-mounted gate.  He also suggested doing the same thing at the top of the staircase (great idea!).

I'm sorry for no pictures today, but I was just too tired yesterday and today they had a large crane unloading drywall, so I skipped the stop at the house to stay out of their way.

Framing is done!

August 23, 2012

Hello again!  Well, the framing is finally done and everything looks good!  The workers did a nice job overall, and they left the place pretty clean. The only negative thing that I saw was that they didn't cover the drain in the garage when they were cutting the wood, so there are quite a few pieces of wood in the drain.  I asked about it, and Jason assured me that it would be cleaned out. I also asked about adding an extra board in the wall upstairs so that I can pressure-mount a baby gate in the hallway (not at the top of the stairs) without putting all of the pressure on only drywall.

We also did the electrical walk-through today.  The electrician was super helpful.  He was very patient while we were making decisions and he made some really good suggestions. The mechanical walk-through will be next Wednesday!  Things are moving fast!

The exterior:

Standing in the pantry, looking at the kitchen, dining room and great room:

The finished area of the basement:

The view from the master bedroom:

First Floor!

August 15, 2012

We finally have a first floor! After a few weather delays, they finally started framing today! I got to walk through the first floor and could finally visualize the rooms!  This is finally becoming real!

The view from the front:

The wall in the great room/foyer:

The 2nd floor is starting!:

Another view of the 2nd floor support:

All of that was put up in one day!  I'll be back in a few days to check it out again!

Ready for framing

August 10, 2012

Well, things are moving along!  We stopped by on Tuesday of Week 3 (our anniversary), and all of the lumber was delivered to start framing!

They also poured the concrete in the basement and the garage (the pipe in the middle of the garage is for the floor drain:

I probably can't stop by until next week.  I am so excited for school to start (I'm a teacher) so that I can stop by every day (the house is on my way home)!

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We have a basement!

August 3, 2012

Well, things have been progressing!  In the past three weeks, they dug the basement, poured the footers, poured the basement walls, did the below-ground plumbing, backfilled the foundation and poured stone  for under the concrete floor.  I know the pictures aren't too exciting, but I wanted to post something. Framing starts next week!

The front stoop and the garage:

 The basement with a cut out for a glass block window:

The I-beam is ready to go:

Digging and pouring the footers

July 23, 2012

Please feel free to click on the links- I linked pictures to a lot of our choices!

My husband, Ryan, and I are building a house with K Hovnanian (Oster Homes) !  We chose the Potomac floor plan (with a modified kitchen) back in January 2012 (First floor- original floor plan, Second floor, basement).  The base Potomic has 2314 sq. ft.; 4 bed, 2.5 bath.  There is an awesome mudroom (perfect since we have 2 young boys!), an open floor plan, a pantry, and larger bedrooms. We delayed closing for various reasons, so they just started building last week!  Here's a summary of the experience so far:

We signed paperwork in January 2012.  Our salesperson was Gina (in the Lorain, OH office).  She was able to delay closing until October, do some customization of the floor plan (Kitchen, first floor half bath, and larger finished basement), and we were able to do a 3 1/2% down payment in 3 installments!  They really made everything manageable for us! Our lot is on a cul-de-sac and the back yard overlooks a pond!  We had to choose the structural upgrades when we signed the initial paperwork.  Here are some of the things we chose:

• Elevation "B" 
• Finished basement (approx. 23 x 24; not the size on the posted floor plan!)
• Half bath in basement
• Add second window in basement
• Reconfigured kitchen
• Add second entrance to main floor 1/2 bath, extend bathroom counter
• Add roof over front stoop
• 9' ceilings on the first floor
• 8' garage door
• Handyman garage package (floor drain, heat, hot and cold water)
• Run gas and electric to the range
• Add ice maker line
• Double sink basins in main bath

After signing the initial paperwork, we had a little while to wait (since we delayed closing).  Step 2 was signing off on the blueprints, which happened in mid-June.

The third step in the preparation phase was the Design Center.  This was both fun and overwhelming.  I was really glad that we had extra time to consider our options.  I have no idea if we would have been able to choose everything without the extra time.  Kelli was super helpful- she really had some good ideas when we were having trouble making decisions.  If you're curious, here are some of our choices:

• Siding: slate, roof: charcoal, shutters/front door: black (we also upgraded the front door by adding a glass panel, since there are no windows in the front of the house on the first floor)
• Handrails and spindles all stained wood
• Cabinets: Aristokraft Avalon in Maple Sasparilla.  We added pull out drawers on the base cabinets and chose 42" upper cabinets.  Upgrade the master bathroom cabinet to 35" tall.
• Countertops: Formica Calacatta Marble in the Kitchen and Master Bath, both with a beveled edge.  Formica Portico Marble in all other bathrooms; beveled edge in the 1st floor half bath, standard edge everywhere else.
• Lighting: Progress lighting's Trinity Collection
• Vinyl flooring: Mannington Benchmark 3783 Oregon Slate
• Carpet: Shaw Collinsville 00500 Sterling
• Paint:  2 colors included.  We chose Sherwin Williams' Minor Blue and Argos (grey)

Whew! One more step to go!  We met with Jason Lance, the construction manager.  He was also very organized and pleasant.  We went over the construction process, along with a rough timeline for the first couple of phases.  

Finally, last week, they dug the basement and poured the footers!  

The front stoop:

The right side, garage in front:

Distance shot.  It's bigger than it looks:

This week they are working on the foundation walls!

Feel free to leave me a comment!  I'd love to hear from you!