We had our pre-drywall meeting this week. I must say I am very pleased with how things have worked out so far. Although I thought things were taking a turn for the worse. This is the first time I've ever been involved in building a home, but my step-dad has built three homes now and as a crane operator, he has seen alot of homes in the contruction process by a lot of different builders. I had my him walk through our home with me this past weekend and he noticed a lot of things that I hadn't. Here are some of the things he pointed out to me:
1. Above the rafters it appeared that the support beams for the attic space had just been pieced together, he stated that it was most likely to code, but just didn't look good and meant that I would never be able to finish the attic space without redoing the rafter system.
2. At the peaks of the A Frames they did not miter where they join at the apex, this left a rather large gap at the peak in some places.
3. HVAC loop from bedroom 2 and 4 connected. This meant that when both doors were closed the air circulation update I mentioned in a previous post would be negated. Picture below.
4. A triple beam which supports the roof rafters at the front of the house was not nailed together.
Well needless to say I was a little concerned about these things and probably went about trying to take care of it the wrong way. Let me explain. I was in search of information about Ryan Homes building policy so I went to their facebook page and sent them a message, I was a little brash and told them that I had noticed several issues and wanted to know what their policy was on correcting these issues. I was expecting a corporate policy respose, something very generic like "we strive to make our homes with the best craftsmanship possible, yada yada yada." But instead they actually researched my name and found out where I was building and spoke with the PM about my complaint. No doubt this surprised him, because I hadn't even talked to him about the issues yet. Here I was searching for information and to some level ammunition if the meeting didn't go as smoothly as it did, and instead I felt like I got him in trouble and he didn't even have any warning. Sorry S.R.
Well we ended up having our meeting the next day and everything went awesome. The PM stated that all the issues I had would be repaired and those that wouldn't, he explained why. Here was his responses to the issues above:
1. Rafter, He stated that the reason the rafters looked pieced together was because if he hadn't done that I would have about a 1 1/2 foot step in the attic space floor. He took it upon hiself to add the extra attic space floor supports in order make the entire attic space level. It does meet code but then he went above and beyond in order to better serve his customers. Thanks S.R.
2. A Frame Peaks, This is just a matter of how Ryan builds their homes. Part of how they are built so quickly is that they are framed in panels off-site and put together on the foundation like a puzzle. This gap is just a result of building technique, and while it may not look great in its current phase, the building method actually makes the home stronger and we will never notice this after the siding and aluminum trim is in place.
3. HVAC loop, well this was incorrect and the PM immediately stated it would be fixed. This would have been correct if we hadn't chosen the 4th bedroom option. It would've been correct in a loft layout.
4. Triple Beam, the PM agreed that my step-dad was right, the triple beam is supposed to be nailed together and he would have that fixed. (update): The PM called today for our weekly update and stated that he found that the triple beam had actually been constructed offsite and was fastened together, but he was going to have the framers throw a few more nailes in it just to be sure.
Moral of the story is, just because it's different doesn't mean it's wrong, and always ask questions.
As for how the rest of the meeting went, we marked a few bad wall studs and braces, and made sure that all of the electrical options my wife and I selected were correct. Fortunately for me the electrician was still on site. something to keep in mind is that some electrical options don't cost anything. Here is what I did. I had a switch put into the master bedroom for the flood lights out back. This way I don't have to go downstairs to turn on the lights in the event that I hear something outside. I also had the electrical outlet inside the cabinet above the microwave turned into a halfhot with a switch under the cabinets. This will allow us to install under-cabinet lighting after we move in with no need for splicing into anything or dealing with the battery operated lights. Another big plus for us was that the electrician made a mistake and put our third flood light on the wrong corner of the house. Instead of pulling the whole cable, he is leaving it as a pre-wire, and putting the light to the correct corner. This means after we are in all I have to do is find a light that matches the others and I can have all four corners of the house lit up. We also discussed the common area that will be between our home and our neighbors to the right. He stated he would check to see what the plan was for the area, and try to get approval to have sod put in so it will blend nicely from our home to the neighbors.
