Pre-backfill inspection

Today I had my home inspector come out and do a pre-backfill inspection.  This is a chance to inspect the foundation from both sides and a lot of the plumbing that you cannot see that is either under the concrete slab that they pour in the basement (the inspection is done before this is poured) and the plumbing that goes around the foundation.  This is all stuff that you never see in homes because it is buried and completely inaccessible, so this is the one chance to see it.  I paid $175 for the inspection which took about one hour.

Overall things looked really great.  It seems that my project manager took great care to make sure that all looks good, and my home inspector gave it a thumbs up.  Know that everything is good gives me a lot of peace and mind and I would recommend getting a home inspector for the pre-backfill (my project manager acted like it was not needed).  I have heard stories of crazy things that home inspectors find during these inspections and you don't want your home to be the one that has that pipe that can't drain because it is going up-hill.  I also learned a lot (from the home inspector, the project manager was not there) during the process which is why I would advocate you being there for it.  I learned that a poured concrete foundation (which Ryan homes did) is far superior to cinder block, you will basically never have moisture problems with poured concrete like you will with cinder blocks.  Whoever you build with you should ask them if they use poured concrete or cinder blocks for the foundation.  I now understand where all those pipes that will eventually just run down in to concrete run to and what they are used for.

It was also nice to see how our house fit on the property and finally see what our backyard looks like.  It is a bit on the small side; however, it is mostly because my wife and I are used to the large (and flat) backyards of the Midwest.  Overall things are going on quite well and we are happy with the progress.

Siding follow up and more

It has been a over a week since we went out to check on the sidings, but I haven't got the time ot talk about it until now. My wife and I went out and looked at the house that has Autumn Beige siding, and yes I think it is a bit pink. In fact my wife always thought that house was pinkish and didn't realize that was the color we chose! We looked at the other choices and for a darker gray we like, but there was a problem. Ryan homes has very specific choices of door color and shutter colors that you can choose from with each siding. With the color we chose (mountainstone clay) we couldn't get the shutters and the door to be the same color unless they were both green! My wife kept was very vocal about how stupid that was to the Ryan rep. We decided to drive around the neighbor hood and look for a different siding color that we liked or decide on what color we wanted our shutters and door to mismatch. As it turns out every homeowner in the community choose a pattern that had the door and shutters the same color, so it wasn't just us that thought it would look silly to have them mismatch.

While we were out driving around the rep called her supervisor and asked about letting us have both the doors and shutters painted black like we would have wanted. Typically they can't/won't do this, but I think that since they were playing damage control with the autumn beige thing and my wife was vocal enough the supervisor told our rep that we could get both black. This shows that Ryan can bend the rules a little when they want, but I think my wife being vocal about how the situation stunk a whole bunch helped.

In other news they finally started digging. A two week delay in getting the permits. My wife and I saw the hole in the dirt last weekend. They were going to start the foundation on Monday, but the workers were a no show so they started late, but they got going now. I'll do a pre-backfill inspection with my home inspector next week. I should be able to see the foundation this weekend when my wife and I go over to look at the place. This will give us a chance to see how the house fits on the lot for the first time. It is a big house and not a huge lot so this will give us an idea of how big our back yard will be. Of course we saw all the dimensions on paper, but seeing it in real life will put a perspective on it.

Pink siding?

Not our house, but one with the same siding color as we chose.
I can see some pink in it.

I got an email from our rep the other day, after she left a couple voice mails, about our siding color.  We chose Autumn Beige which was a grayish brown.  Turns out that Ryan homes has been getting some complaints about the siding color which apparently shows a lot of pink shades when it covers a whole house.  Our rep wanted to let us know about the complaints, come out and check out a house that has that siding on it (as opposed to seeing the 1 by 2 inch sample in the showroom), and if we want to, choose a different color or to sign off that we are ok with how it looks.  We haven't gone out to see the home yet, we'll do that on Sunday.  Above is a picture of a house that the rep sent us that has the same siding color.  We have half brick so we'll have less siding, but the side and back of the house will be all siding.  The rep says that not everyone sees the pink and a lot of people have been happy with it too, but I think I see what they are talking about.  We'll go out and make a decision on Sunday.  I am glad they let me know and are giving us the option to change it if we want.