UPDATED PICS!

Daniel stopped by the lot on Thursday to look at the progress of the foundation. 

I also spoke with our PM yesterday.  He said that they just finished up 8 hours of work on the foundation.  He also gave a little schedule for things to come:

They should be back filing next week
Lumber is scheduled to be delivered March 7 and framing starts March 8
We should have our electrical walk through with the electrician around March 18
Pre-drywall meeting we're shooting for March 25.  My dad wants to be there and he lives in VA.  I'm hoping I can convince them to make a weekend of it. 

Also we had a very enlightening trip to Best Buy yesterday.  Since we decided not to get the surround sound, we're still concerned about the TV being able to project if we're in the kitchen.  So Daniel has been looking at sound bars.  It's not surround sound, but it will project the sound and should fit the bill.  However, the gentleman that was helping us told us about HD antennas.  See we have basic cable and internet through Comcast and we mainly watch stuff on Netflix and our local channels.  Well Comcast has stated that if you don't have a little converter box, even though you have a digital TV, you won't be able to get your local channels.  So we got the boxes, which were free, but on our HD TV the local HD channels no longer exist.  So we started thinking about going back to cable, until we were told about the antenna.  If this works, we won't have to pay for basic cable and all of the channels will be in HD.  We're so over cable/fios/satellite, that we're excited about this being a possibility. 

GUARDIAN MEETING

I'm very proud of us. We stuck with the basics. We got the fireplace mount, 4 additional outlets, extra key pad (tried to get it free), and window sensor for the egress window. Were getting the motion detector for pets under 65 lbs and 3 months of monitoring for free (K M, I tried to get the 6 months, but no dice).

I will admit we thought about the surround sound system, but for $1000, we decided not to. Plus Daniel has been looking at sound bars, so that's his little project. He goes to www.crutchfield.com for this, just in case you wanted to know. Plus when we finish the basement, we'll look into the surround sound.

When we met at the model it was beginning to snow heavy so we didn't see any progress on the foundation. I might stop by tomorrow after work. I almost called my sales rep to see if there was any progress.

WE BOUGHT A REFRIDGERATOR!

I have been obsessed with this ever since I saw it on sale yesterday.  I thought all hope was lost as the original retailer couldn't extend the delivery date due do it being on back order.  So today I checked one more retailer and THEY HAD IT!  It was like $10 cheaper, this is on top of the $700 savings, than the place I saw it at yesterday and they extended the delivery date with no problem.  If everything goes as planned, this will be delivered the day after we close.

You may be thinking "there is an external dispenser on the outside, but nothing on the inside.  Where does the ice come from?"  The answer, its all on the refrigerator door.  LG, Whirlpool, and Kenmore are the only manufacturers with this option that I know of.   
Super excited!

IT'S GROUND BREAKING

We have pics!.

Oh and we have our Guardian meeting on Monday.  Usual question, what would you recommend?  I know most of the Ryan blog family have had this meeting already and I probably read your posts, but it would help to have it in on place. 

Now on to the pics...




From the model parking area




Almost at the easement in our backyard




From the model




Look at that dirt move




Funny, I just noticed the men in the hole here, lol




I think I should comment on how excited we are to have the black fence




Now that's a big hole




Funny story about our neighbor's house.  Four days before the Super Bowl we stopped by the model to get our electrical prints and there was just the foundation.  When we went Super Bowl Sunday to take our lot pics, the house was up...And this is another pic of our hole. 



ITS' A GREAT MUD PILE

I couldn't wait. I went by our lot tonight, mind you it was pitch black outside, just to look at our mud pile. Last time we saw it the ground was still hard and frozen. Tomorrow's the big day. Daniel is going to go out and take pics during the day. Can't wait!

MOVERS & PRE-CONSTRUCTION MEETING

We got 5 estimates for moving and storage today. Some gave us ridiculous quotes, others were what we expected. Another option we might look into is renting a truck from U-haul, use their moving helpers, and rent self storage. Too many options.

The meeting was great. It was longer than it probably should have been, but we asked A LOT of questions. Our PM is great. He gave us some suggestions for electrical and Guardian upgrades.

And....WE BREAK GROUND TUESDAY!

PRE-CONSTRUCTION MEETING SCHEDULED

For Thursday. Our sales rep emailed us saying our PM wants to break ground on Tuesday and if we could come in real soon.

Super excited.

Now on to my questions. We have to pick our electrical additions. We already have recessed lighting in the kitchen, 200 amp service, and outlets in the garage ceiling for the garage door openers. We will add a dedicated line above the stove for the microwave, outlet above the fireplace and on bedroom wall in owners suite for mounted tvs, and ceiling rough ins for all bedrooms. Any other ideas?

Thanks

LOT PICS

We finally put our "SOLD" sticker on our lot post and took pics of the lot today.  I think you may be able to tell that we're STEELERS fans, lol.





This is it, lot 24




It felt good to put the sticker on there




The proud owners




I couldn't help myself




Doesn't he have the cutest smile :-)




We may not have the black fence up, but we got construction equipment





This is Daniel and our sales rep Stephanie.  I wanted to try to show the full scope of the lot in this pic.


On another note, we got our electrical prints and need to make a decision about our additions.  Fortunately we already have the 220 amp in our house as it's standard.  Our rep Stephanie also confirmed that we should be setting up our pre-construction meeting around Valentine's Day. 

We also did some more appliance shopping today.  I'm starting to think that maybe we won't seriously look until about a month before closing.  There are a lot of great open box/scratch and dent deals out there.  Unfortunately, the stores don't want to hold them for more than 30 days. 

Oh and one more thing............................................................GO STEELERS!  ON THE ROAD TO 7.