Some Pictures

Some people have requested photos. Despite being in for a month, we are still so far from being unpacked and furnished. Here are a few pictures to tide you over until we are ready to unveil everything!

Looking from the kitchen to the family room. We moves the dining/sun room table to behind the couch temporarily. We want a small thin table for there to eat at and keep the main dining table and chairs in the sun room. I am also not some with wiring, so excuse the hanging wires. 

We plan on featuring a poster every month. Clearly a good one for halloween. 

Couch from Ikea, rug from Lowes

Print from Ikea

Horror-themed pillows from horrordecor.net

Chalkboard painted wall full of awesomeness. 

Distressed sepia prints in the hallway 

Big ol clock above the front door. 

Looking into the French doors of the geek room

We still want to put up random floating white shelves on the purple wall. 

Video game access panel connected to the tv in the room and a pc in the basement. 

I still need to fix a lot of wiring. Kinect and Wii sensor below. 

Video game library

There are still plenty of pictures to take, but I wanted to give you all a taste of what we are trying to accomplish with our place!

Keys

Cripes, what a journey.

This isn't a major update as I still want the final update to be pictures of the house with everything in it.

DAY 161

Last Tuesday, Jace met my dad and I at the house to walk through and make sure everything on our punch list was fixed.  He has done such a great job with being on top of the mistakes of the house and I have ZERO complaints with him.  The only issues have been with the subcontractors.  At the end of the meeting, we signed off on a few papers and he gave us the keys!!  AWESOME!

Since then, Becky and I have been doing work when we can, but she got a new job and I have been insanely busy with my new job and coaching that we just haven't had any time to do anything.  Luckily, my parents are still fantastic at helping us and have done a good amount of work.

Also since then, the painter has been out to fix some marks and put a clear coat on the front door.  His work has been fairly good, but not fantastic at times.


So, yeah.  From the first dig day at the end of March until now, it has taken 161 days.  That's honestly not a long time, but still over a month beyond their guaranteed end date.  That has been frustrating frankly and WH has not been overly apologetic about that.  That's our only major complaint with them.



Becky and I want to thank all of you who have read and posted on our blog.  Again, we will be back with final pictures of the house decorated in a few weeks.  Until then, please let us know if you have any questions about the process!

Not Happy

One of the things Wayne Homes touts is their ability to put up a quality home in a very short period of time.

My projected end date was July 23rd.
My guaranteed end date was July 31st.

It is now August 29th and I am not in my home and I won't be in it for at least five more days.


The electrician was a mess, the touch up paint work has been pathetic at best and the overall delays the last two months have downgraded my opinion on Wayne Homes a tad.  Again, they people at WH, especially my field manager, have been fantastic.  But, if a company is going to give out these end dates and not be able to come close to sticking to it, maybe they should rethink their policy.

I'll post pictures soon, but the columns out front look sad.  There are distinct tape marks on them from sitting in the hot garage for months and they also need a coat of paint to fill in very noticeable gaps/holes.  Why should I be responsible for that?

It also doesn't help that a delivery man ran over my mailbox and my neighbor's mailbox... but that has nothing to do with WH.


I'm sure I'm just stressed because I'm a week into a new job and coach after work, so I have no time to be at the house.  I spent my few free hours putting together furniture last night, so I don't have any time to directly address issues with the house.  Thankfully, my mom and dad are awesome and willing to help with everything.  I would be nowhere without them.


To be continued....

Cleaning / Walk Through / Inspections

Last week was all about the little things and getting the house ready for final inspection.  I'll get some pictures in the next few postings after we have the keys and the final product is ready to be shown off.

Jace, Becky and I walked through the house on Friday the 16th (DAY 143) to put tape on every little mistake.  The house was practically covered in blue tape, but it's not as bad as it might seem.  Scuff marks and paint drips will happen.  It's just really nice to see Jace be so diligent and willing to not overlook anything.  He's awesome.

The plumbing was passed over the weekend as we expected.  No complaints about the plumbing work. (Saturday the 17th, DAY 144).

We received a check for $500 from Wayne Homes since they went passed the guaranteed end date of July 31st.  It's the electricians fault, but we still aren't happy it's taking so long.

The drywall guys came in to fix drywall errors on Monday the 19th (DAY 146).

The cleaners went through the entire house and cleaned on Thursday the 22nd and Friday the 23rd (DAYS 149 and 150).  Frankly, I think they could have done a little better job.  The basement was swept, but not cleaned after the mud got in there.  There is still some dirt on the basement steps and everything just feels like it could use another really good scrubbing.  Maybe their job is to only rough clean and we just get the minor things.  I'm sure we'll go over our main floor multiple times so it's clean enough to go barefoot constantly.

Trim guys came on Thursday to put up the columns.  They look OK, but need to be painted frankly.  I hope the painter does that.

The painter was also there on Friday the 23rd to do his thing.  He wasn't finished and was supposed to come back today.  He could stand to step his game up a little bit as well frankly...

My dad has been awesome in working to landscape the best he can.  It's still very rough, but we'll get there.  He and my mom also put up our mailbox yesterday!

Inspections also passed for the electric and occupancy on Friday.  Jace worked feverishly to get us keys that afternoon, but the paperwork didn't go through.  I'm sure we'll get them tomorrow or Tuesday and I will be getting my crap in their immediately!! Of course... school starts tomorrow and soccer is still going, so I have literally zero time.  I'm just so stoked.  Becky is stoked.  I can't wait to show you all pictures of our rooms and to see our style.  Updates coming later this week with final pictures.  Becky and I had people over to play Magic: The Gathering last night.  I just can't wait to be in there comfortably and do my own thing.

Plumbing / Electrical Fixes

Sorry I haven't updated in a while.  Between getting a new job and having to start it immediately, coaching for fall sports starting and dealing with the house, I've had very little time to do anything else (I'm three episodes behind on Dexter!!!)


Anyway, minor hiccups aside, the last two weeks have been decent and the house is basically finished.  The plumbers came in on the 14th to do their thing, even though they were supposed to be there the previous week.  It was incredible to see running water in the house and to hear a toilet flush.  I was actually quite happy with the power room pedestal and toilet, but the sinks and fixtures in the other bathrooms are incredibly drab.  I'm sure I won't update them anytime soon, but they are very "premium" to say the least.  Becky and I are already talking about how to redo our entire master bathroom.  We planned that whole thing out very poorly.  The rest of the house, though, is pretty kick ass and our sun room is going to be the key ingredient to the whole thing coming together.  It opens the house up tremendously and gives us room to breathe.

The electrical guys were back out that week to fix the outlet behind the stove, the line running to the fan in the sun room (it didn't work...) and to finish off the basement.  Thank God they are done.  They were by far the worst part of this whole experience and the reason we are over a month late in getting our keys.


DAY 141

On Thursday the 14th, the water was rolling.

 The outlet and light we were promised.. now where is that spigot...???

Does this mean I have to do dishes now?

Each bedroom has a fan with a light.

Very basic fixtures, but who am I to complain about such a lovely house?

Master bathroom = ew.

Access panels to the tub in the master bedroom in above in the pantry (see below).

Electrical Work / Carpet / Vinyl

The rest of this week actually produced some progress, but as has been the case for over a month, the electrician has made things so frustrating.

Across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the electrician was out to finish the job that should have been finished a month ago.  We had a checklist for him and he got most of it done.  All exterior lights were installed, as were all of the light switches throughout the main floors.  Issues with lights not working were resolved and the microwave drawer outlet was hooked up as well.  Thankfully, all of the basement lights and switches were hooked up as well.  Fantastic!  The basement doesn't seem so disgustingly creepy anymore and I also have a bunch of outlets above my network cabinet.  Actually, I have more than I need, but I'll take them.

Even after three days, though, not everything is done.  They have a few more minor things to complete and to get their shit out of my house.  Also, the put in a normal outlet behind the stove, despite knowing we need a dedicated 220 line with four-prong outlet.

DAY 134

The vinyl guys worked all day and got the master bathroom, main bathroom and laundry room completed.  Frankly, I despise the look of vinyl and think it all looks like crap.  Maybe once it's cleaned up, it'll look better.  Side note- CLEAN UP AFTER YOU WORK IN ANOTHER PERSON'S HOME!!!

The closet guys were also out to finish the shelving and put up the mirrors.

The brown floor does not work with the white and black vanity.  Crap.

DAY 135

On Thursday, the carpet guys were in to their thing.  They were awesome and got everything done super fast.  No complaints.  They put the extra carpet we were supposed to have in the family room and sun room in the garage.  We will probably use it in the basement or on the basement steps.  I so want to just vacuum the carpet right now, but we're very happy with the results.  The house is almost done!!!

Also, on Thursday, I got a hired for a new teaching gig, so suck it universe.

The geek room is going to be so sick once everything is in here.  I can't wait.

Our bed was delivered on Friday.  I'm tired of delaying things.

Rough Grading

Because of the weather, the excavators weren't able to grade on Saturday, but did come out Monday to move dirt around.  They did a good job and also moved the drainage pipe from running directly to the left of the house to the back left corner as was originally supposed to be run.

DAY 133

WE HAVE ELECTRIC

IT'S ABOUT EFFING TIME

The permanent electric was hooked up this morning and everything is back on track.  Jace said that the excavator would be out tomorrow to do some work, the electrician would be back Monday (he better be) to finish putting in the outlets and lights, then carpet/floor the next day, plumbing the next and if we are lucky, we will have our walk-through on Friday.  It's a big "if", but nice to hear.

I also spoke with Jace about a few of our issues:

- He looked into getting us an external garage door keylock, but I guess the company they go through only provides locks that automatically lock every time the door is closed.  So, even with an electrical door opener, the thing would lock and we would have to manually unlock it every single time we wanted it open.  No thanks.  We opted out of that.

- We are getting a credit for one light outside of our front door that wasn't installed.

Other notes we need to address:

- The front pillars still aren't on and one of them sitting in our garage is broken.

- We still need all of our basement lights and outlets run, let alone installed.  We also need a light, outlet and hose bib outside of the basement access doors.

Becky and I walked through the house at night just now to see what it looked like with lights on.  It was actually kind of creepy and we didn't want to be there.  Maybe it's because the house is vast and cold still, but it just felt scary.

DAY 130

Box hooked up and conduit on the left for future lines (Internet).

You can't see them for anything, but those lights are red and look great.

The AC was turned on to get some airflow and cool down the basement a tad.

New Dishwasher / Closet Shelves

Well, after two weeks of absolutely nothing, we seem to be back on track.  Wednesday was our official guaranteed move in date and that has clearly gone bye bye.  No one from Wayne Homes has contacted us to apologize or anything, which doesn't totally bother me, but when you make a 110 day guarantee and then that day passes, maybe you should contact your customer to ease their tensions.  Just a suggestion.

Anyway, a few weeks ago we got in the new dishwasher, which looks significantly better than the super recessed older one with a handle.  The new one will still sit under the counter top a little too much, but it'll work out just fine.

Also, a few days ago some guys were out to install the closet shelves.  A small task, but important nonetheless.  They got most of them done, still need to hang the mirrors, made a few mistake drills, but everything looks fine for now.

DAY 120

We still need to put the filler material to the left of the dishwasher, but it fits much better.

We had to put supports under the counter top.  I'm not sure if we'll stick with these, but it's something.

House numbersssssss.

DAY 128

Not sure I want a towel rack right above the tub

You can see the little hooks the mirror has to attach on to.

Above the washer and dryer.

Pantry.