Preconstruction Meeting

Hello! Ok so it's been a little over a month since we had our preconstruction meeting. I have anticipated this day since signing! This is the day when things finally become real! The day we know that soon after magic will begin to happen in the empty space that we have driven by every day since signing! We are building a house! I am so excited! This is truly a blessing. I always wanted a house, but honestly I hadn’t pictured myself in one. It is still actually pretty hard to believe it is happening. Any who, let me get off my soapbox.

The meeting went really well. It consisted of myself, Deonte, the SR, and the PM. Our PM is super nice and comes from a family of construction. I had prepared a list of questions for the meeting that I did not have to use (see below). He was so thorough that I forgot I had the list. He reviewed our lot blueprint, the blueprint for our house, confirmed the light placements, additional power outlets, location of mounted TVs, and colors. There was only one issue, the French patio doors were left off of the blueprint. The McBride is a new model for RH, Kensal Green is the first community to offer it. We were going to request that the hot water heater be moved to the garage instead of the closet on the main level. The only closet that was on the main level was an optional powder room. We chose to have the powder room instead, which would leave no closet on the main level. The engineers had already decided to move the hot water heater, I guess they realized the same thing we did.

One of the questions that I asked our PM is, if I provided knobs/ pulls for the cabinets if they could install them? I was informed that he could not do that and had to install what RH provided because of the quality inspection that was be done at the end the build process. I was pretty bummed to hear this. I had read so many posts about how the PMs would do changes like this and all sorts of stuff. Can you say disappointed? We were considering adding pulls instead of the knobs. It would have been much easier for them to add them during the process, versus us adding them later and having to deal with the holes from the knobs they installed. But we plan to change out the cabinets in the future anyhow so no biggie.

We were set to start building April 12th, 2018. However, I had a feeling it would happen while we were on vacation. Guess what? IT DID! They started breaking ground on April 5th, the second day of our vacation. It was pretty cool to come back to the lot being staked out for where our house will sit on our lot. Next the footers will be dug, then they will install the blocks for our foundation. After that they will have the plumbers come out and put some plumbing lines in the foundation and once the inspection is complete they will pour the concrete slab for the foundation, weather permitting. We are ready for the ACTION! The next meeting will be the pre-dry wall meeting and then on to New Home Orientation and CLOSING!

Pre-construction Meeting Questions

General Questions for the PM:

Estimated timeline/milestones, exact Closing date.

What inspections will happen at each stage?
Can we visit the site? Do we need permission from PM?
What is the best way to reach the PM if I have questions?
Can we bring in our own home inspector?

Verification Checklist:

Selected Upgrades and Options
Low voltage Selections (Cable/Ethernet)
Design package/ exterior color selections
Light placement / F

an rough-ins

Home related checklist by area:

Common Areas:

Will the house be cleaned prior to closing? Will the construction dust and debris be cleaned out of the ducts?
What type of paint will the walls be painted with?
Smooth or rough ceilings?
Power Outlet location for each room (specifically - kitchen, bathroom vanities, garage, deck and TV location)
Will all windows have screen?
What is the cost for extra insulation?

Kitchen: