House Timeline

• Saturday, October 3rd, 2011: We went to check out a Ryan floor plan in a community we thought we'd be interested in. Turns out the home was waaaay too small and the community was not what we had hoped.
• Friday, October 7th: We stopped into another Ryan community we thought we'd be interested and checked out the model home. I Fell. In. Love. with the Rome floor plan and we decided to pursue the idea of moving.
• Saturday, October 8th: We stopped into a third Ryan community to check out the model home, a Naples floor plan that was very similar to the Rome, but a bit smaller on paper. Unfortunately, it felt CRAZY smaller in person, but it helped to confirm my love for the Rome.
• Saturday, October 22nd: Hubs and I met with a Ryan Sales & Marketing Representative to walk through the numbers and create a Cost Estimate for building our dream home.
• Sunday, October 23rd: Believe it or not, we stopped into yet another nearby Ryan community just to check out the floor plan, the Venice. I didn't much care for it. It's a process of elimination at this point and all signs are still pointing to the Rome.
• Saturday, October 30th: We had our Ryan Rep prepare a Cost Estimates on the Naples floor plan to see how it stacked up against the Rome -- with essentially the same options and selections. We weren't too surprised to see that the difference wasn't that substantial, and ultimately decided it wouldn't make sense to buy the smaller Naples and pay more per square foot for a smaller home. The decision was made that if we decided to proceed, we would DEFINITELY build the Rome!
• Saturday, November 5th: We had a second meeting with our Ryan Rep to walk through the numbers again and get a second Cost Estimate. We got a pretty good idea of where things sat and left with the needed information so we hubs could process it more. Let's just say there were countless spreadsheets involved and a lot of heavy analyses taking place (again, by hubs -- certainly not by me! Haha!).
• Sunday, November 6th: Requested additional information from our Ryan Rep. Seriously. There was no end to our need to have every ounce of data possible for hubs to review. Every. Ounce.
• Tuesday, November 15th: Hubs and I were starting to seriously actually unbelievably really consider the idea of building a home. I couldn't believe it!!! We asked our Ryan Rep for a list of the lots available in the community we were interested in. We had been debating over two different communities, but the school assignments ultimately made our decision for us.
• Tuesday, November 22nd: We made a decision on the lot we wanted and received yet another updated Cost Estimate from our Ryan Rep. More numbers for hubs to analyze! Woot! ((notice how patient I've been throughout this process... very, very patient))
• Tuesday, November 22nd: We requested MORE information from our Ryan Rep. Gotta figure out our appliance options and which elevation we prefer.
• Wednesday, November 23rd: Hubs and I were on our way to visit family for Thanksgiving, and in the car on the way there, we got a call from our Ryan Rep that our home would have to be built reverse plan. Now, this may not mean much to some, but it rocked my ever-lovin' world!! This meant everything we saw (and loved) about the Rome model home would be: BACKWARDS. I couldn't hardly stand it! I about threw up! I made some serious phone calls and took several deep breaths. And maybe had a minor freak-out. So much for being very, very patient...
• Friday, November 25th: Our 6-year wedding anniversary! We were still out of town, but we got the AWESOME news that our home could be built per plan (i.e. NOT backwards) on the lot we selected. EPIC SCORE!!!
• Sunday, November 27th: You guessed it!! We received our FIFTH Cost Estimate from our Ryan Rep. :)
• Monday, November 28th: We met with our Ryan Rep to prepare -- wait for it! -- an OFFICIAL OFFER on our dream home! Ack!! We submitted it on Monday and awaited the counter offer to arrive on Tuesday. And we knew there would most definitely be a counter offer. ;)
• Tuesday, November 29th: Received our counter offer and... and... and... ACCEPTED IT!!! OhMyGoodness!!!!!
• Friday, December 9th: We met with the NVR Mortgage loan officer. This was basically a meeting where I entertained Chase while hubs and the loan officer talked about numbers and stuff waaaay over my head.
• Monday, December 12th: We met a representative from Rite Rug, the third-party company Ryan uses for all of their flooring. This was where we were able to pick out our colors for carpet, hardwoods, vinyl, etc. It was fun but seriously overwhelming! So many options! And you know ALL the ones I liked were the "upgrades" that weren't included in the home pricing we'd already set. Yay for added costs... Haha!
• Wednesday, December 14th: We met with a representative from Guardian, the third-party company Ryan uses for home security, wiring, etc. Again, this was a hubs-ish meeting where he discussed home alarm systems, window/door contacts, motion sensors, smoke detectors, cable outlets, telephone outlets, and lots of other non-exciting (to me) features of our new home. So thankful this is one of hubs' many areas of expertise since it's super-duper important, but totally boring to me. :)
• Thursday, December 15th: We had to jump through a few hoops with our Sales Rep to get the appliances we I wanted. I was being super picky and obnoxious with my heart set on a certain solution, and eventually we got there. Whew!
• Wednesday, December 21st: Our pre-construction meeting with our Ryan Rep and Project Manager!!!!! We walked through every inch of our blueprints and discussed ALL of the specifics of our new home!!!!!
• Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012: Estimated date we will receive our building permits and can BREAK GROUND!
• Thursday, January 5th, 2012: Actual date we broke ground and had the plumbing installed. An inspection will take place next, then the concrete will be poured!
• Thursday, January 12th, 2012: After a brief delay due to rain earlier in the week, the concrete was finally poured and the slab was completed! We also received our lumber package, too!
• Friday, January 13th, 2012: Oh my goodness! The framing has finally begun! What an awesome site to see an actual house finally being constructed on our lot! The first floor was finished in no time!
• Saturday, January 14th, 2012: The second story has begun already! It's amazing to see the transformation from an empty lot on Wednesday, to a concrete slab on Thursday, to first floor framing on Friday and second floor framing on Saturday! Yay!!!
• Monday, January 16th, 2012: The trusses are up and it's starting to look like an actual house! So excited!!!
• Tuesday, January 17th, 2012: The roof is on! The windows and doors are scheduled to go in tomorrow!
• Wednesday, January 18th, 2012: The windows and doors are in and the shingles are on! Woot!!
• Thursday, January 19th, 2012: After 7 days of actual construction work, an amazing transformation has taken place from slab to roof -- and the brick has started, too! HVAC and plumbing have been knocked out as well. Simply amazing!
• Friday, January 20th, 2012: The brick facing on the front of the house is done (scroll to bottom of that post to see the pic). The electricians have started, too!
• Thursday, January 26th, 2012: Our pre-drywall walkthrough took place and we were able to verify the placement of our outlets, alarm system contacts, etc. Also, our siding was installed and we LOVE our color choices! ((whew!))
• Friday, January 27th, 2012: The drywall started going up! Our home is starting to have walls and ceilings! We expect the drywall to be completed by Monday.
• Saturday, January 28th, 2012: I was finally able to see the beauty of our external color choices -- brick, siding and shutters -- all in the beautiful light of day and we are totally smitten! It looks just like we dreamed it would!
• Monday, January 30th, 2012: Drywall is complete and the rest of this week will be spent mudding, smoothing, sanding and prepping the walls and ceilings for paint.
• Sunday, February 5th, 2012: The first coat of paint is on the walls and ceilings! Also, we had a slight debacle with our granite, but were able to get it resolved when we met with our PM later in the week.
• Monday, February 6th, 2012: Lots of cool things happened to the house during this week. The garage door was put in, the cement for our driveway and back patio was poured, the fireplace mantle, granite and trim was installed, as well as bathroom sinks, doors, window trim and baseboards. We also had the drop-down attic stairs put in, the post on the front porch installed, handrails for the stairs were in and the entire interior of the house was painted.
• Wednesday, February 15th, 2012: After a pretty busy week or so of making progress on the house, I was pleased to see even more had happened when I stopped by today. Flooring in the kitchen, pantry, mudroom, powder room, laundry room and kids' bathroom was down, and the tile bath, shower and floor was complete in the master bathroom! The mirrors and vanities are in both upstairs bathrooms and the hardware is on all the doors!
• Friday, February 17th, 2012: The granite countertops are in, as well as our microwave and dishwasher.
• Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012: Our carpet is in! It looks great!!!
• Friday, February 24th, 2012: After a big meeting with all parties involved, hubs and I decided to leave our orange kitchen floor as-is. It kills me that we paid an additional $1,200 to upgrade to what was supposed to be a beige/cream vinyl floor but actually has a lot of orange squares throughout, but there were no other suitable options for us to choose from, so it is what it is. :(
• Wednesday, March 14, 2012: Our final walk-thru took place and overall it went great! There were just a few minor touch-ups and little issues to finish up, which should be easily completed by our closing on Monday. :)
• Monday, March 19, 2012: Our closing date!!!!! It's finally officially OURS!!!!! Woot!