Island Dilemma

Last night a fellow Courtland Gater - helped to answer a few of my pre construction questions.  Thanks CG Blogger!   He helped confirm the size of the standard island in the Courtland Gate- a mere 4 x4 for a kitchen measured at over 20' x 15'  with an attached morning room measured roughly at 16' x 11'.    The island will look like we purchased  a rolling cart out of a Sears catalog!

This island is the actually width of what they offer as standard!

So I made a non standard request- an extra base cabinet (single unit okay) with a longer piece of granite and have it run parallel to the kitchen sink.  Based on what I have been reading on the blogs- they answered with the typical RH "no"   In fact according to my SR- they qualified with absolutely no more changes.  Now, I found this really quite offensive as the only thing we actually did was to ADD windows and a garage service door.  That's it.  I didn't go back and forth with flooring, or tile or exterior color choices or deleted this to add it back- none of that.  Outside the 21 day window and they already ordered everything for our home.  Really?  We did not have the pre construction meeting yet, we have not broken ground AND the cabinets and thus the island is more likely to be installed roughly 60 days out from breaking ground.  I was then hit with "We order everything at the same time"  Please refer to my above disbelief.   "You can order the cabinet and do it yourself after settlement"  Uhm no- Timberlake is unlikely to sell me one cabinet and then I would have to do a search for the same granite and hope that my hardwood floors do not get damaged in the process.

Did I neglect to mention that I asked the size before and was not given an answer presumably because my SR did not have blue prints available (we are the first CG in the community).  I had to ask another SR in another community and then I had to verify that it was the same in my community.  That verification did not come until today.

I am not angry- just determined.  So tonight I emailed customer service.  Waiting on their response.  

Additional Pre Construction Questions

I have been reviewing additional blogs to see what they asked at pre construction.  Maybe this was a bad idea.  I have started to ask a ton more questions- some I wished I had ask earlier.


I was once told the standard island would be 4'  (feet) long.  This would very ridiculous in the size of the current kitchen.  I don' t necessarily want the gourmet island, but can we add an extra cabinet and a longer piece of granite?

How will the tile in the bathroom be laid?  Can we get the tile in the hall bath to be laid at a diagonal?  This would add interest to all the white tile we placed in there

Starting to look at furniture purchases.  How wide is the door frame with the door in place? Is it easy to remove and replace the door if we have to?

What exactly is included in Trim Package #3?  Does it comes with the wainscoting in the dining room and up the steps?  Easy fix if it doesn't

How far in advance do you schedule pre drywall and pre settlement meetings?  I need to be able to time the arrival our own inspectors.

Which rooms get locks?

As for any left over tiling and flooring (handy for decorating,paint choices and repairs)

The CG model in DE had storage under the basement stairs- will we also have that?

How big are the ledges in the shower?  The ones we saw in the model in MD was rather small.  Can we make them bigger?

Where is the access door  to the attic located?  Can it be moved to the laundry?

We are considering installing our under cabinet lights- can an outlet be moved into inside a cabinet to hide the wires?

Dehumidifier- yay or nay?  What size and brand is best to accommodate the size of our basement?

Master Bedroom Ideas

Wow wee!  I found this great site that had some great master bedroom ideas.  So I will post the ideas that I liked the best.

Pre Construction Questions

We have constructed a list of specific questions for our pre construction meeting.  Some of these we have gleaned from viewing other blogs and homes.  What questions did you ask  or will you ask at your pre construction meeting? 

Kitchen

-how big is the island? We have a morning room hoping that the standard island will be on the larger side

how big is the refrigerator cabinet? trying to buy the largest refrigerator that can easily fit in this area

50/50 or 60/40 sink

what is the model of the appliances? 

Do the cabinets come with sliding shelves?  Noticed this all the models have this feature would like to know if this comes standard with the cabinets

Mudroom

can we have the light switch on the inside of the mudroom 

is the bead board included over the bench?

Family room

where are the outlets located

does the family room have recessed lights

Owner's Bedroom

can we put an outlet with a dedicated switch on the tray ceiling ledge

Are there recessed lights in the hallway/ archway?

Can we move an outlet to the master closet?

are there lights in the walk in closet?

We are planning on installing a closet system- will this be a problem for our 10 month  drywall inspection?

Bathrooms

does the towel bars come in the bathrooms? Where are they located?

Where is the toilet paper holder located?

Is there a shower rod in the hall bath? 

Exterior

How wide is the driveway

Where are the hose bibs located

Where will the egress window be placed, 

Placement of the basement windows in relation to the deck

How big is the buffer- how much yard will it take up? 

Laundry Room

How big is the laundry space?  What size washer and dryer can I feasibly fit into this space? 

Would the laundry door to swing OUT- so the door will not have to be closed while doing laundry
How high are the vents and the water valves placed (I'm short)

Dining Room

Is the tray ceiling included?

Is the columns between the living room and the dining included

A Pre Construction Meeting Date and Amerihome Update

After my kindly worded letter to latest person who was scheduled to handle our loan I was kindly invited to call the new processor to discuss my concerns.  I took her up on her offer.  S he patiently went through all the reasons she needed her long list of items and explained she just got my file this past Monday, about 3 weeks after my last contact with loan officer assistant.  She also promised to be a lot more responsive than her predecessors- I will hold her to that.

But on to more exciting news:  My pre construction meeting has finally been scheduled! We had been working on a list of questions but soon stopped because we were driving ourselves crazy.   Now with 2 weeks to go I guess we will begin to hone in our pre construction questions.  There are definitely more questions that have come up.  Lately, I have been absorbing myself in the grading of the lot.  I have read so many disaster stories that it has me a little concerned.

Crossing my fingers and hoping that all goes well.

NVR and their cronies

Let me just say that this truly isn't a NVR problem but they did submit our application to another bank- Amerihome.

RH insists that you meet with a loan officer (either NVR or one of your own choosing) to start the loan application within one week of you signing the purchase agreement- we did that within in 4 days.  We got a call the following week from our loan officer at Amerihome and was approved- everything had to be submitted to underwriting.  Great!

I have contacted Amerihome on 3 separate occasions to see how underwriting was going.  I was told on 3 separate occasions everything was fine.  On the last inquiry I was told that the assistant of the assistant to the loan officer would be contacting us to verify a couple of pieces of information.
Well the contact came today- with a LONG lists of items they needed to be submitted- items that was submitted with the original application nearly 2 months ago!  I understand needing new bank statements and even an additional paystub BUT needing employment history, a W2 and a letter of intent for our current property that was submitted with the original application?  In addition they want us to sign paperwork on a disputed claim to say we don't dispute it.  ?!?!?!  This would mean we agree that we owe those funds- which Amerihome then would expect us to pay before we could proceed with the loan because it looks like an outstanding balance.

I expected them to request more paperwork- but the SAME paperwork and to go as far as to admit to an account we NEVER opened- already getting a little ticked.  I was informed that this info was needed before they could submit it to the processor.  Okay- what the hell were you doing for the last 2 months?

 I kindly responded saying they need to keep better records and that I expect a more timely response and acknowledgement from here on out.  After a few questions are answered, I will resubmit their requests- then I will be the most annoying person they ever met and email them everyday to make SURE that they are processing the paperwork and not just letting our files languish on the corner of someone's desk.  I am highly annoyed.

A little about my family

It's November 1st and we are still waiting to break ground  :(.  Building permits and underwriting of loans (ours apparently is going pretty smooth) is taking up most of this time.

SO.........
I decided to give you guys a quick run down on my family to kind of pass the time.

I have known my husband for nearly 15 years, married life has taken up 7 of those years.  I married a super intelligent man and I like it that way.  And I love how he keeps his major promises (changing the light bulb is a work in progress).  Year after year he tells me what he is going to accomplish for himself and for us as a family.  And year after year he exceeds expectations.  Yes, he drives me nuts when he gets a clean cup for a drink rather than re using the one he JUST finished drinking from and so nicely left on the table, but I think he does it just to see if he can drive me crazy.   I can honestly say marrying him is the best decision I have ever made.

We are college graduates with master degrees in our fields: he is a software engineer and I am a pediatric physician assistant.  We absolutely love what we do which made finding a home a hard choice.
I moved to Philly in 2002 to start my graduate coursework.  A few months after graduating and finally getting a job in my career I discovered I was pregnant with our first son.  And thus begin the spiral of  I don't have time for myself.  It wasn't until recently that I truly felt established in my career and developed some friendships where I could truly be myself.  I took root.  My husband on the other hand is a free spirit.  California is the way to go, he would tell me.  This after he took a job in New York and wanted us to move there. Notice the spots he loved are big tech areas- places where he would definitely feel at home.  I hate change and I just had this feeling of my well established life being ripped away from me every time he peppered me with questions of why I didn't want to move so far.   In the end, I got my way and after the children are out the house, I will happily follow him anywhere he wants to go.

Our first son, SC, is a dream boat.  I am not being biased here although as his mother I have every right to be. We have always been told that we should have him model and had we not been so busy paying bills, we probably would have established his career by now.  I have a thing about sharing too many pics of my kids so don't expect to many here either, you just have to trust me.  SC was 2 1/2 when he started having seizures.  We took him to the best doctors we could find and for another 2 1/2 years we had no answers.  None of his seizure activity would show up on EEGs but he would consistently have them one right after the other, sometimes up to 40- 50 seizures a day.  He had to wear a helmet because he would have drop seizures (where he would lose all muscle tone and fall but wake up as he was about to hit what ever hard object was in the way).  At one point he was on 6 different medications with no relief.  We were referred to a specialist of the specialist.  She listened to his medical history intently and afterwards, put her finger to her lips and then pointed at him and said "I think he has Doose Syndrome"  Wait? What? After all this time, we have a name for his condition?!  SC was a complicated case because he didn't have just one type of seizure.  He had every seizure you ever read about in the medical books: Generalized, partial, staring spells, walking in circles, drop attacks, yelling.....  My son had it all.  Now we had a name to his collection of seizures, otherwise know as Myoclonic-Astatic Epilepsy, but do we have a cure?  Not a cure- but better meds had just hit the market and better yet HE CAN GROW OUT OF IT.  There is a lot that I am leaving out BUT his seizures have been under control for a little over 2 years now, and he is down to 2 medications.  At this point we are working with the fall out from having seizures so young in life and currently have him in a private school to help with reading while encouraging his strengths in science and math.

Little did I know, that while my first born was going through the fight of his little life, I was pregnant with number two.  Yep, MC, was born in the middle of chaos- his brother was ill and Philly had record snowfalls. I'm talking 30 inch drops within in 2 weeks of each other plus other "smaller" snow storms.  I kind of think, MC likes it that way.  He is a smart, strong willed (read as stubborn) little man that is going to take the world by storm. We just have to finish raising him first.  While my other son is peaceful and the big compromiser, MC is all about bull dozing his way through,  We call him the body guard as he doesn't take kindly to anyone messing with his family.   Thankfully he only has asthma, something I can manage quite well between me and his doctors and yet another illness that he could be finished with by time childhood is a distant memory.  For those of you who say "only asthma?!", I say after going through the hell of trying to help my oldest with his seizures with no real answers in sight for YEARS,  yes "only" is the perfect word to use.  He is already learning how to read and he starts kindergarten next year.

We also have a cat named Fuzzles.  He was a rescue cat and named by SC.  He appears to be a Siamese mix.  He is a fierce about protecting his home (he snuck out the other day to give the stray cat that's been stalking our house a good swat) and of course refuses to listen about not sitting on the furniture or the laundry.  We are a little concerned over our new hardwood floors and carpet as he still has his claws and he will not let me trim them.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated (unless you say declawed- that is NOT an option)

If any more children get added to the equation- it will be adoption.  My pregnancies are high risk and busy career does not make it easier.  With both pregnancies, I was told to slow down. Uhm yeah, tell that to all the sick kids or over anxious mothers I help daily.  And I am so type A, that would NEVER work.  Besides we could be a very loving home to a child who would have otherwise not had that option.  My husband is still voting for both another pregnancy and adoption. ;)