Weeks 7 and 8: Construction Progress

I feel like I'm constantly apologizing for the sporadic nature of my posting, but this part of homebuilding is SO boring and uneventful. It's hard go back to the property week after week and boasting about small incremental changes that no one cares about but you.

Oh look, DRYWALL! Yay!

And I have to admit, it is bittersweet to see the progress. I just want everything to be ready and I want to move in! I know, I know ... patience young grasshopper. Patience.

So, I knew that they weren't going to get much done after drywalling, so I decided to stretch out the our weekly trips and I'm so happy I did! I walked in and got the best surprise--CABINETRY! And it looks better than I hoped! We chose a color that isn't very widespread yet, so it was a little scary to have to go by a single brochure picture, and the little glimpse of the cabinet we got at the design center. I've been going back and forth wondering if we should have gone with a more traditional cabinet option, but after seeing them in the house, I'm so happy that I went with my gut and took a chance on it! (Husband of course could not really care less.)

We had a pretty productive visit. We did run into a bit of a problem though, and I'm a little irritated that I almost missed it, because I consider it a major, MAJOR issue. We specifically told the design center that we wanted continuous flooring throughout the rec room. This was the reason why we wanted all tile down there, we didn't want hardwood in some areas, tile in others, because it can make that smallish space look smaller than it already is. After we switched to hardwood, we made it CLEAR that we wanted the entire rec room to have engineered hardwood, tile only in the bathroom.
Imagine my surprise when I found this:

bathroom

Garage entry

rec room/front entry

It's probably a bit hard to see, but these markings of where the tile and wood are supposed to be, and they've pretty much divided it up like this:

• Rec room -- hardwood
• Garage entryway--tile
• Bathroom--tile
• Front door entry way leading to stairs--tile

So the exact opposite of what we wanted which was hardwood everywhere, except the bathroom.

Our PM is on vacation this week, so I stopped by the sales center to let them know of the mistake. She emailed me an hour ago and says that the design center claims that I never specified, and she wanted to know if I had any sort of email conversations proving that I did tell them what I wanted.

Well, of COURSE I do, this isn't my first time at this particular rodeo. I'm a little disappointed that it has come to this, but I've learned a valuable, valuable lesson. Keep track of EVERYTHING, speak up for yourself, and recognize that no one will have your best interest first except for you. Without the email, we would have no recourse. And actually, I'm not sure if we do now, even with that proof.

That being said, (and I hate to be that person)  I will be absolutely livid if we are stuck with the flooring as it stands now, as I can't think of a more undesirable combination. I think I would rather just have cheap carpet all over and swap out the flooring post closing. I suppose I will bring up that option if they force our hand. Still, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that! (Fingers crossed)

Miles and miles of photos to follow:

The outside of our house, corner lot. Not much of a change, but you can see that the deck is in full effect now! Neighbors decks are already completed. They are so much further along than we are, so that kind of wounds.

Entrly level rec room. All drywalled, and the baseboards have been added too!

Utility room, and you can see the stair railing, which will be stained to match our hardwood.

OUR KITCHEN! lol The only room people care about, I think. So pleased with the color of the cabinets, can't wait to see it with hardware added

My little guy, always jumping in my shots. :-)

The island seems tiny to me, but I guess because it doesn't have a countertop yet. It seems so massive in the model home.

Up close shot. I think this reflects the most accurate hue of the cabinets, as they're coming off a bit blue/purple in some of my shots. 

Beginnings of the stainless steel hood...

There's that kid again! 

Family room area, post drywall.

Second and third bedrooms. 

Tiny, tiny linen closet. This is a bit disappointing, not going to lie. We're going to have to come up with some clever options for storage. 

Laundry "room". More like a closet, but it will work.

Master bath double sink. Again, I'm a little disappointed in how small this is, we need tons of counter space. 

Second bath, countertop already installed.  

Countertop, Arctic Ice granite

And one last shot of the kitchen! In case you all forgot what it looked like. :-)

With all that being said, we still don't have a firm settlement date, which really, really makes me nervous. Mortgage stuff is pretty  much all completed, we turned in our last documents today, but they just can't seem to get things together on the other end. Hopefully we will have a firm date soon, since we do have a kid we need to enroll in school by the end of August!