Service Requests

I have not posted in a long time, and still need to get pictures posted!  But... I wanted to post a quick update about Service Requests.  The first one we had was due to our furnace leaking and we had puddled water in the basement. Not a huge amount, but enough to know something was not right.  We put in a request and the HVAC guy was sent out within a day or two.  It was quick and easy. (Although, I am still perplexed as to why our brand new furnace in brand new home would leak!)

Our second request has not been good.  We had A LOT of rain here the Saturday before Christmas.  While it was raining, we noticed a leak above the master bathroom tub.  It was leaking from the recessed light. It was not a steady pour, but a pretty steady drip.  It stopped dripping not long after it stopped raining.  I put in a request that night, as soon as we noticed it. We received an email Monday afternoon from our Customer Service Manager that he had sent info to a roofing contractor. I know it was the holidays, but we did not hear from the roofing contractor until 8 days later. He called yesterday, said he'd be here at noon today. We waited and waited.  I sent an email again to our CSM just now and the contractor just showed up!

We have snow coming tonight.  My son has a big swim meet this weekend. We are getting more snow Sunday and are supposed to be headed back to work on Monday. I just hope they can get this fixed today!

Oh, and to follow up on the garage, my CSR told me her manager would be in touch to follow up on the garage/driveway issue.  That never happened. :(

Still love my house. Still hate the garage.  Hope this isn't just the beginning of many issues to come!

Another gripe about the garage

I'm sure you all are sick of hearing me gripe about the fact that our truck won't fit in the garage. But... now it just keeps getting crazier! My husband moved some thing around so that he could park it in the double bay at a little bit of an angle and planned to park my SMALL Nissan Altima in the single bay. Well.... it won't go... can't make the turn without plowing through the grass to make the curve! Seriously????  What a joke! So, even if we bought a shorter truck, we still couldn't park both vehicles in the garage. Putting them both in the double bay would mean we'd only be able to get in on one side of each of the cars because it's so tight. Ridiculous!!

What I wish I had known.....

After moving in and living here for about a month now... I have few regrets.... but there are some things I wish I had known...

1. Upgrade the pad on the carpet. I can feel every little bump from the subfloor through the carpet.
2. Work with your PM and electrician if you can to move electrical outlets and light switches.  I really didn't think this was that big of a deal...and it's not huge... but I have a big china cabinet that lights up and the outlets are next to it instead of behind it. Light switches seem to be in odd places, especially in the basement. I have to go downstairs and around the corner to get to the light switch.
3. Check every single window after you move in and inspect things closely before your 30 day walkthrough. Luckily, it has taken about a week for them to fix things and we keep finding things to fix. We have a great PM, so he just keeps sending people over to fix everything.
4. Ask PM if you can either install toilet paper holders/towel bars yourself, or mark where you want them.  Our towel bar in the powder room is up really high and I don't want to deal with patching holes to move it right now.
5. Don't bother with a blower for the fireplace.  Ours heats the entire house without the blower.
6. If you bake or host holidays... splurge for the double oven. This is probably the only real regret I have.
7. If you have a handy husband, don't pay for kitchen/bathroom knobs. We were able to pick what we wanted from Menards and installed ourselves for much cheaper and could do pulls on drawers instead of all knobs.

Things I'm soooo glad we did....
1. The upgraded paint package. We did Pavilion Beige and with the 2 story entry, it looks great.  There is no way my husband was going to be able to paint that!
2. Builder built deck.  Yes, it's standard,  nothing fancy... but it's done. We grilled out our first night here.
3. splurged for the cabinets I wanted.  Love my kitchen, it's the best part of the house.
4. rough-in for water softener. We had our water softener installed within the first couple of weeks we were here and it makes such a huge difference not only showering, but cleaning too.
5. Upgraded fixtures and doorknobs.  We got the bronze upgrade. Love it! Looks so good.
6. Added windows in morning room and family room. We have a great view of the pond behind our house, and the windows brighten it up.  We decided not to add side windows to the living room and bedrooms since they just look at the neighbor's house.
7. When they actually lock you out.... typically, the windows aren't locked.... we found ways in anyway, and we checked on things DAILY and took TONS of pictures.

The house has been an ongoing organizational mess... now that we are at least mostly unpacked... I will post pictures tonight after I give it a good cleaning!
 
And as much as apartment living/temporary housing sucked.... yes, it was totally worth it! Hang in there!

Love the house, but the truck does NOT fit.

If you've been following us, you know that the fact that our truck would not fit in the garage was a big deal.  We met with the SR manager and his words were "trust us" we will make sure it fits. Yeah, well, it doesn't. Unfortunately, we didn't pull in and check until we had closed. I don't feel like I have much recourse now. We were very happy with PM and indicated that on our survey when we closed, but not happy about the garage. We indicated that on the survey, but I'm pretty sure that won't have any impact on anything at all. So, when they say "trust us"... yeah... don't.
On another note, we do LOVE the house. Very few issues, nothing major yet to be addressed on our 30 day. We don't have a working alarm system yet, so no beeps when we go in and out. I've emailed the rep from Guardian to see how we get things going there. I promise to post pictures soon. Things are just still such a mess!

We are in!

We moved in last weekend! Everything went well and looks great! Pics and update soon! We just got internet hooked up this morning!! Good luck to the rest of you still waiting!

Day 91 - walkthrough tomorrow and we're finally locked out

We've been lucky so far to have been able to get in and see everything along the way.  We went in last night and everything was pretty much done except for appliances, light fixture in the entry way, and crown molding on the kitchen cabinets.  My brother was able to get in and check it out today and said the appliances are in. So, I think it's DONE! We have our walkthrough tomorrow, but we don't close until Monday. I was soooooo hoping we'd get to move this weekend. We have to be out of the apartment by Wednesday so closing Monday means moving Monday night and Tuesday. Anything I need to know about the walkthrough? I'm planning on being super picky especially since they'll have 5 days to fix it!

Day 88 - Landscaping

They have gotten LOTS done this week... but still plenty to finish up this weekend.  The PM said the painter is coming in this weekend to touch things up so he let us go ahead and mark things with blue painters tape that we wanted fixed. He had already done a lot and we added plenty.  So... we now have grass, bushes, columns on the front porch. The door has been painted. All of the cabinets in the kitchen are in.  The bathroom mirrors are in.

This was Wednesday.

This was Friday. Originally the tree was planted in the side yard, which I thought was a waste. So, PM was able to move it for us. :)

 

 

This is where siding has been ripped off the back of the house. I'm not sure how this even happened? Maybe when they installed the gutters?? This is being fixed of course.

They moved the TP holder. :)

 

Finally have these installed in the basement.

 I didn't realize this would be done. I'm guessing it's a moisture barrier of some sort.

 

 

Deck is done.

Upgraded door handle is in.

 

 

We aren't happy with the gaps in siding. Anyone have info on this? PM says it will expand with the humidity over the next few months. It looks cheap and I'm concerned about moisture getting in there. PM says there is moisture barrier behind it to take care of that. I'm seeing issues down the road with this. :(

 

 

All of the rod iron bars are in! Love it

All of the cabinets are hung! Now to shop for hardware. That's A LOT of doors and drawers... any recommendations on where to shop besides Home Depot, Menards and Lowes?

Crown molding is up in the dining room.

Mirror in the master

 

Close up of porch.

Shutters are coming this weekend or by Monday. Cleaners are coming Monday. Walkthrough Wednesday. We drove by this morning and there were several cars there!

 

So...here's the list I can think of that needs to be done this weekend or at least by Wednesday's walkthrough:

 

Fix ripped siding.

Finish installing doorknobs on all doors, we are missing a couple.

Install all faucets

Install all toilets

Install pedestal sink in half bath

Fix the wiring to the island (they drilled the hole for the wire in the wrong place so no they have floored over the wire, thus no electricity on the island)

Install entry way light

Install light in half bath

Finish installing trim

LOTS of touch up paint

Install all appliances

Install shutters

 

We bought a light for my daughter's room this morning. We have our ceiling fans and our projector and receiver for the basement. We still need a light for the morning room.  It's getting really close!