Looking Like A House Now (4th Week)

After 23 days since the groundbreaking, we have this... not bad at all.

Right side of the house.

My family in the Morning Room.

Front of the house

Living Room with the optional side window.

Morning Room

Pantry, kitchen and garage

Side yard.

View of the house from the street.

Another Verona on our street. Met the owner
and his family.Seems like a nice family.



Front of the house.

 

Framing/Roof Part II (3rd Week)

More pics from this weekend:


Front



Left side of the house



Morning Room



Basement exit





Foyer and Living Room





Morning Room



Family Room and Study



Garage

  

Front Yard



Back Yard



Hello!

Framing/Roof (3rd Week)

Spoke too soon. In a week since we came by the house (last Sat.), the house has been transformed to... well... a house.  These guys are moving fast. Within 7 or so days, the foundation, framing and roof structure are done (visible at least). Shocking. Only able to take 2 pictures because of the rain today. I will try to take more pictures tomorrow and perhaps even some interior shots.


Front 1



Front 2



Deck or Patio

Once we moved in, one of the things I would like to start working on is building a deck or patio. Perhaps we will do a combination of both. We are definitely going with Trex instead of wood if we decide on a deck. After researching it and talking to friends, Trex is low maintenance although more expensive. For now, I'm leaning on a patio-- cement, brick, stone, gravel, etc. Less area in the backyard to mow! Here are some inspiration from Pinterest. Definitely a fire pit and a built in grill is a must!

Foundation (2nd Week)

Foundation almost done. They seem to be moving slow but that's ok. We are in no rush. June 9th closing seems to be attainable at this point according to the Project Manager.

Front of the house.

Garage.

Entrance.

Big Hole (1st Week)

Came by the lot after church and before heading to Baltimore for lunch and the Irish Parade. You can see the outline of the house. Almost. What we did notice is how quiet/peaceful the neighborhood is. Having lived across from Camden Yards in downtown Baltimore, it will be a welcome change.


Facing the right side of the house.




Towards the street.




Towards the garage.



Ground Breaking

Did not get a chance to check out the lot yesterday for the ground breaking. Not much to see there I'm sure so we'll just wait to do a drive-by this weekend. The workers there should get a lot of things done because of the incredible weather we're having today and especially tomorrow.

Pinterest



While we are still months away from moving in, the site Pinterest has given us great ideas on how to decorate the new place. Fortunately, the walls are not going to be "asylum" white. We were told they are going to be slightly gold/off-white in color. We will probably need to furnish the 2nd floor first so we and our guests will have beds to sleep in. :) Then we will tackle the family and dining rooms. As opposed to some familes who have rooms that are off limits, we will have none of that and we'll make every room usable. No formal dining for sure. Here are some pics that we will try to replicate:



family room



morning room



living room






Timeline

Pre-Construction : DONE

Ground Breaking: we were informed by our PM that they will break ground tomorrow and will start the foundation work the following day.

Pre-Drywall Meeting: April 18

Pre-Settlement Meeting: June 5

Closing: June 9

Barring any strange weather occurences in the Spring, the dates above should be ok.

Selections, etc.

This is our second build so we knew what and what not to get in terms of options. We knew it will be difficult to add something structurally later on to the house so we focused on getting those options out of the way. A lot of the options that we thought should be included was not at all.


Exterior/Structure: bonus room, morning room (incentive) w/ additional window, single-welled exit to basement, extra window in the living room, bathroom rough-in in basement, light fixture rough-ins in all rooms, ceiling fan rough-ins in master/family room. That's about it.

Interior: granite in kitchen, hardwood/tile in most of the first floor including stairs, upgraded carpet in 2nd floor, stainless steel microwave/oven, upgraded tiles in both bathrooms. We will need to get the fridge and washer/dryer ourselves. We did not like what they have to offer plus it will be cheaper elsewhere. Hint: to those thinking of house warming gifts :)

As expected, all of these options and additions added up to the base price of the house. We did not go overboard since we knew we can get a lot of things on our wish-list later on such as finishing the basement, adding backsplash in the kitchen, patio/Trex deck, etc.

Stone or Brick?

Decisions (3x). We went back and forth on the elavation and the front surface of the house. Initially we chose brick until we met up with the SR again. Since our previous houses were brick, we wanted to do something different. Stone it is. This picture is pretty much how the house will look like except there will be a bonus room on top of the garage.

Lot Location

One of the things we considered when house hunting was lot location. We wanted a lot that is: relatively large (to plant cherry blossom trees, outdoor space to bbq (a patio), build a tot lot, etc.), clear separation/partition from neighbors and a backyard that does not look into a neighbor's backyard i.e. privacy. Fortunately for us, the lot that we were eyeing became available (the previous owner's financing fell through) and we went ahead and put a deposit right away. We own lot 20.

Sold Sign

First entry on this blog dedicated to the building of our forever home in Maryland and everything in between. Excited to finally see the "sold" sign on our lot. The loan approval process went smooth but I'm sure there will be many questions along the way. When should we lock the rate? Are we over the loan limit after the additions/upgrades? Are we way over budget?

Met with our Project Manager (PM) last week. He seems to be a good guy and has many years of experience in home building. We will be best friends over the next few months I'm sure.

Our Sales Rep (SR) was also incredibly helpful since the very first day we stepped in to his office/model home/community. Does not hurt that he was a Syracuse grad like me. After looking @ various model homes and options, we decided on the Verona. We had to travel to Frederick, MD to see this particular model. After seeing it, we had to do a change order from the Ravenna to Verona. Adding options/upgrades proved to be challenging (staying below the loan amount/likes/dislikes). In the end, we felt we created a home we will enjoy for many years to come.