Two steps forward, one step back … or the good, the bad, and the ugly

Let’s start with the good news first.  The exterior of the house is painted.  In fact, some of the construction delays have actually been a blessing because last Saturday, when Katie’s brother Andy came to visit, he mentioned that the original color we chose for the exterior body (polo/navy blue – very striking with white trim!) was going to absorb a lot of heat—which is not such a good thing because we have almost no shade trees near the house.  We contacted our builder and learned that the painter had not ordered the exterior colors yet, so we switched things up and went with Sherwin-Williams Summit Gray instead.

We noticed that the painter also painted the exterior of the French doors gray (instead of white to match the trim), and Katie isn’t so sure about that look.  There’s probably still time to go back to white.  What do you think?  Leave them gray?  Paint them white?

In more good news, the kitchen counter top and sink was installed this week: it is quartz in Zodiac Stratus White. 

The master bathroom counter top and sinks were also installed (Corian in Rain Cloud with under-mount rectangle sinks—sorry, forgot to take pics).  We were going to do the kitchen in Corian too, thinking it would be cheaper, but the quartz was actually cheaper to install (perhaps it was on sale at Top Master).  By the way, Top Master was super easy to work with and extremely dependable.  One of our best experiences in the home build process so far.  Highly recommended.  We feel the same way about Metro Appliances.

The floor installation was also completed, and we are happy with the end result:

We went out to the house yesterday to clean up of all the trash and debris in the yard.  The hard work in the hot sun helped us work off a bit of frustration at the continued lack of construction progress (more on that later).  While Katie used a wheelbarrow to haul trash and wood, Matt borrowed our neighbor’s skid steer to haul wood down to our ever-growing burn pile near the river.  We are going to have one helluva bonfire this fall.  Get ready!!

Now you see it:

Now you don’t:

It was over a hundred degrees yesterday, and we wisely decided to work in the hottest part of the day.  Naturally.  But we wore sunscreen, bug spray, and hats, and we drank LOTS of water.  Nothing like some hard physical labor to wear down some anger and frustration.  Our neighbor Scott actually stopped by to help, filling up the skid steer with fuel and lifting and moving lots of heavy things – stone, wood, etc.  If we had brought our swimsuits, we could have taken a dip in Megan and Scott’s beautiful pool.  They always make us feel welcome.

One last bit of good news before we turn to the bad and the ugly.  With Andy’s help, Matt installed a new dishwasher in our South House.  The old one conked out a few weeks ago, so we bought a new one prior to tomorrow’s home inspection.  Looks pretty good, and it works great!

We’ve also been packing and hauling stuff to the new house – storing in the basement and the shed out back.

The fact that the septic system still hadn’t been installed as of last weekend was a blessing because we were able to drive over the backyard to pick up the trailer.  Once the system is installed, we cannot drive the truck over the lines.  The trailer is now parked were we can access it easily when we need it next weekend.  Silver linings, right?

Plus, Katie's dad came to visit this weekend, and it's always a hoot to spend time with him.  Yay!

So, now for the bad news.  We’re going to call this section “Things Your Builder Says to Reassure You … And What He Really Means”

When you remind your builder that closing is only ten days away, and he writes back, “I know, we will be fine.”

·         What he really means:  “I just got back from surfing in the ocean, and I have no concept of time and haven’t since we began this build 9 months ago.  Haven’t you figured that out by now?  We will miss this new closing date by at least 10-14 days, maybe more.”

When you tell your builder that your current house is now under contract, so the construction delays have to stop, and he e-mails:  “No worries, we will have everything done even if i have to work all weekend.”

·         What he really means:  “I will work for a maximum of four hours the first weekend and zero hours the second weekend before your now thrice-delayed closing date, even though the day before inspection there are so many things still not finished on the house, I’ve lost track of them all (e.g., septic system, plumbing, electrical, AC/HVAC, final grade, touch-ups, hardware, etc.).”

When your builder asks you for yet another extension on your construction loan and delay in your permanent financing and adds “we’ll make sure the house is presentable for inspection; the city inspector won’t even check to see if the septic system is there.”

·         What he really means:  “There is no way in hell we’re going to make this closing date, so you might as well contact your bank for permanent financing and see what it’s going to take to either pay for a rate extension, or let it expire and lock in a new rate.  While you’re at it, contact your construction loan bank and find out how to extend that for the second time.”

Before you even start building and you’re walking through the different options with your builder and you ask approximately how long it takes to build a house, start to finish, and he says, “Oh, we can build a house in three months.  You should allow for six months, but we can build it in three.”

·         What he really means:  “I am talking out of my ass right now.  We can build a house in no less than 9 months, probably more like 10, and you should definitely plan to get multiple extensions on your 8-month construction loan.”

The building contract actually states that “the residence will be substantially completed no later than 180 days after construction commences” (p. 4) with “substantial completion” defined as “ready for occupancy but lacks completion of minor details” (p. 5).  One hundred eighty days is 6 months.  Six months, people!  Technically, we passed the 6-month mark on April 29!  The construction loan officially ran out on June 29.  It's now July 24.  

Of course, all kinds of delays are permissible in this contract, including “difficulty scheduling qualified subcontractors” (p. 5).  It doesn’t specify difficulty due to the builder’s lack of planning and time management, but we assume that our builder could probably make this case.  There is absolutely no protection for the buyer in this contract.  

So, folks, our closing date is no longer this Wednesday, July 27.  As of yesterday, there were no lights installed, no electrical, no AC, no plumbing, no septic system, no hardware, no appliances installed, no toilets installed, no shower door installed, no railings installed on the back stairs off the garage, and the front door is still sitting in the garage unstained.  All of our appliances, toilets, light fixtures, shower door, bathroom hardware, etc. are at the house and have been for weeks (we delivered everything ourselves, except the appliances).

In fact, had we known that they weren’t ready for the fridge, we could have asked Metro Appliances to delay that delivery.  Instead, the fridge is sitting, uninstalled in the middle of the kitchen.  The same is true for the countertops.  Top Master cuts the holes for the faucets on site—and our builder has known this for weeks!—but apparently the fixtures weren’t there on Thursday, so no holes were cut.  Bravo, builder, bravo!

Are we annoyed?  Yes.  Frustrated?  That too.  Wondering where we will live if our South House sells before the North House is ready?  Definitely. 

At this point, we are planning to move our big items (bed, dressers, washer/dryer, shelves, couch, etc.) to the North House this Saturday, July 30.  That’s our last (free) weekend before we close on the sale of the South House.

If we still don’t have A/C, toilets, plumbing/septic out there, we will be camping out on the carpeted floor in the south house for a few days, praying that they just finish already on the north house.  And if they are still not done on August 10, we’re moving in with our builder.

Almost there!!

In exactly 7 days, if all goes according to plan, we will have closed on our house.  That’s right, folks, on July 27 (next Wednesday!), we will sit down to close on the permanent financing of what we have affectionately called the North House for the past three years.  Pretty soon, it’s just going to be OUR HOME … and we can’t wait!!!

Several exciting things have happened since our last post:

1. Matt accepted a job as a drafter/designer at Seat King, LLC in Hutchinson, Kansas, and he began working there last Monday, July 18.  The company designs custom lawnmower seats, and Matt is really enjoying his new colleagues and the work.  Seat King even provides a company van, so the 9-10 Wichita employees can meet in Maize (very early!) in the morning to drive/ride to Hutch together—about a 45 minute drive.  Pretty cool perk!  And in August, they are sending Matt to LA for a week for training on software.  Woohoo!

2. In our last post, we shared that we listed our South House so we could take advantage of the summertime market.  Well, if you go to our listing, you’ll see that it’s no longer on the market.  Why?  Did we decide to rent it out?  No, thank you.  After 15 days on the market, we got a full price, cash offer from a woman who has family in our neighborhood and who was overjoyed to purchase an all-brick, one-story home.  And we are overjoyed too!  Our home inspection is this Monday, July 25, and we are scheduled to close on that sale on August 11.

3. And last bit of exciting news … our builder is confident that the house will be finished in time for the city inspection and appraisal update this Monday.  To be honest, there is a LOT left to be done in the next four days … septic system, AC/heat, plumbing, electric, BUT!!! We are putting our faith in our builder that he will come through for us.  We have already extended the limit on our permanent financing to the max, and we’ve extended the construction loan by an additional month, so we are just trusting that this will all come together.  Go, builder, go!

And, now for a much delayed update … the following pictures are actually from July 2, but we will post updated photos as soon as we get them downloaded.

On the first weekend of July, we spent all day Saturday prepping the floors for laminate.  It was hot and tedious work:

At the end of the day, we realized that the flooring we purchased was too unwieldy (read: cheap) for us to manage on our own and in the time frame provided by our builder (1 week).  So we called our builder, and he graciously assured us that he would take care of the installation.

A week and half later (last Thursday), our builder informed us that the flooring we purchased was too crappy even for his crew to install, and he generously did several things to help us:

1. He took all of our cheap flooring back to Menards (with our receipt) and demanded a refund.  Apparently, Menards took back ALL of the flooring—even the cut pieces.
2. Then he found laminate flooring that has a similar look but is more durable and easier to install—and we will pay the difference between the two items.
3. He began installing the new flooring last Friday.

Matt was just at the house this evening, and he confirmed that the entire main floor is finished – and the exterior paint is done too!

Even though we didn’t install the laminate, we (mostly Matt) did install all three bathroom floors.  Katie assisted with some measuring and cutting, but Matt really did the bulk of the work.  He is so good at house projects, and he loves using his creativity to find the best solution to any house problem.

We also got to park the truck in the garage for the first time during a ferocious thunderstorm:

(There are some low spots in the backyard that we will have to fill ... it doesn't normally look like this, but that was some rainstorm!  No leaks in the house though -- another blessing of all the rain we've had.  That house is tight as a ship!)

Katie’s big task, in the meantime, has been keeping up with all the paperwork for both closings and wrapping up some complaints with our original mortgage broker.  Those things also take time, energy, and ingenuity, and we’re glad that we can both contribute our strengths to the tasks of building and purchasing a house, while selling another.

We will post an update soon – because things are happening fast.  We can’t wait to see the finished house, and we can’t wait to share it with you!