Pre-Settlement Demonstration

Today was our pre-settlement demonstration.  It went very well.  We started at 8:00 am and ended at 11:30.  There were just a few issues, but I was pleased to see that most of the things on my punch-list had already been taken care of.  I really like our new PM.  I'm bummed that we didn't get him for the entire build; I get the sense that he would have done a much better job managing the subcontractors.

The minor issues included fixing the top piece of our hardwood steps which had a major gash in it, touching up some scratches in/around the kitchen cabinets, sanding/re-spackling/trying to straighten the crooked corner in our powder room, fixing a nail pop in the front door, fixing one of the windows in the master bedroom, and moving the towel bars in the upstairs hall bath.  The one thing I asked about that he didn't think he could fix was the defective piece of wood in our powder room floor (see below).  He said because natural products always have variations, they typically won't fix something like that (which I kind of expected).  He said the hardwood people will be in our community next week for another house so he is going to have them take a look at it, but he didn't want to make any promises.  I really hope they can fix it because I know that will bother me forever, but I'm trying to prepare myself for the fact that they most likely won't.

He reviewed every aspect of our house, went over all of the warranty and supplier information, and outlined some recommended maintenance tips.  I'm glad that Ryan provides a binder with basically everything we went over because there is no way we could have remembered it all.  Our PM mentioned that since he is the new PM for three developments in our area, he'd be happy to stop by if we have any questions or need help with anything in the beginning.  I'm sure Greg will be able to handle everything, but it's nice to know that he is available and actually wants to help us.

A few things he recommended we do before we move in, such as sealing the garage (if we want to), sealing the bathroom tile and re-sealing the granite.  I definitely want to seal the tile because with the all white tile, when that grout gets dirty it's really going to show.  Since we are moving in the day after settlement, I am hoping we can do most, if not all of these things the day of settlement.  I also want to lay some contact paper in our kitchen and bathroom cabinets.  I bought some fun contact paper at Aubuchon Hardware.  It was the cheapest place I could find that still had some variety.  Another place I looked was chicshelfpaper.com.  They had a great selection, but were a little too pricey for my taste.

I didn't take too many pictures today because I was too busy listening, but it was so nice to see our house all clean finally!  Here are a few:

Master bedroom and sitting room to the left

Looking downstairs.  Study door to the right.

Looking into study.  Our first look at the french doors uncovered!

Formal living room and dining room.

Looking back toward the family room/kitchen

Kitchen and morning room.

Kitchen

Me on my favorite part of the house!!
This will be a great area for Christmas card shots, future prom pictures, etc :)