4 - Pre-Construction

So it's been awhile since I've written anything, but not much has really happened in the past month. We'd hear a few things, but nothing substantial. Last week we were supposed to meet with one of the representatives for a pre-construction meeting. How exciting, right? Something was happening! We're finally moving forward!!! Well, we drove all the way up to the model home to find out that they didn't have our house plans ready yet, and therefore we couldn't go over anything... a little upsetting. Not in the angry, throw a fit type way, but more like... couldn't you let us know that before we drove all the way up there just to drive back home. Anyway, Vernon gave me a driving tour of The Village since we had nothing else to do that day, and I already took half the day off work, then we got some pizza and went home.

Fast forward to today... we had our pre-construction meeting! Huzzah! I even texted our sales rep last night to make sure it's still on for today. I was not going to have a repeat of last week. The pre-construction meeting really is not that exciting, but it was for us. The meeting mainly consisted of going over the structural components of the home. The foundation, the walls, insulation, etc... If we had any big changes we wanted to make to the floor plan, this would be where we tell them.

To make things easier, here's a basic picture of our floor plan. If you're not a fan, don't judge. We love it. It's more than enough room for our family of three... even though yes, I sometimes wish we had more garage space. It'd be out of our budget to get a larger garage, so two car garage it is. Most of the changes we requested are minor, at least they seem minor to me. There's also no extra cost for the changes we asked for, and that's always a good thing! Anyway, I thought it would make more sense for you to have the visual before I went in to detail.

Our first request was to set the whole house back five feet from where they would have had it on the lot. At the current position, we'd have a 30 foot driveway. If Vernon and I parked our cars back-to-back on one side of the driveway, we'd barely fit. Yes, we tried this. So we thought adding an additional five feet of driveway would give a little more wiggle room. Plus, we're not looking for a huge backyard. I think our backyard depth will be just under 40 feet with the house set back. Journey goes on daily walks, so it's not like she needs a huge yard to run around.

The concrete slab on the side of the garage is where I assume most people put their trash receptacle. Who wants to roll that thing through the grass to get it to the front yard? Not me. So we asked if they could connect the little slab with the driveway. They said yes. Sweet!

There's another home with the same floor plan, in a different neighborhood, that we've walked through a couple times. We've pulled ideas from both homes (that home and the model home) to make the one we think would suit us best. One of the things we liked from that other home was the front porch. That lower left corner of the porch area is the column. We asked them if they could concrete from that point all the way to the garage wall. The other home (and turns out the model home did too, I just didn't notice) had it like this, and we liked it a lot. It gave more porch space and also less garden... we're no gardeners. Less plants the better...

In the master bathroom, we're removing the tub since neither of us take baths. They'll still run the plumbing in case we do end up selling the home down the road, but we're having a built in storage bench added there instead. The sink wall will come out towards the window about six inches to give a little more depth to the closet. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it really will be fantastic once it's done. That six inches makes quite the difference, and since there won't be a tub, it won't feel cramped.

In the kitchen, we changed the shape of the counter extension where the sink is. Instead of that 45 degree angle, it will be in the shape of an L. The other home had it built this way and it adds more counter space, and who couldn't use more counter space?! Especially in our fairly small kitchen. The fridge will be moved to the other end of the counter section that it's shown on currently, and we're going to put the cabinet pantry where the fridge is drawn.

Okay, I think those are the biggest requests we made at today's meeting. The other little things were: spot for storm shelter in the garage, door swings, and blocking behind the wall where wall mount TVs could potentially go. The next meeting will be the most exciting... design! I've already got a huge list made up of what I hope can be done. It mainly deals with cabinetry, but I have my fingers crossed that we can do most of it at the current price point. Otherwise, I'll have to live with what we get, which isn't a bad thing. I could happily live in that model home as it is now, but since we're building... doesn't hurt to ask right?

Overall it was quite a successful meeting, and the best part is that they're going to start the foundation next week! Super pumped! Hopefully I'll have pictures. If not for you, then for me :)

Have a great night!