Question for Ryan Builders...About Food!

This may be an odd question, I'm just not sure of the proper "etiquette".  So when telling people that they are starting on the house this week, a few have asked me if I'm going to take baked goods or other treats to the workers.  I had thought about it before, too.  I envisioned dropping off donuts on the first day of construction.  But then I realized there will be different workers doing different things - those that are there for the digging of the foundation may not be the ones there to frame etc...  Plus our PM told us that we shouldn't really be talking to the workers.  Not that we can't say hello but that we really shouldn't be asking them things about the house, it should all go through him.  So then I wondered if I'm not really supposed to interact with them, should I be bringing them food?  I know I may be giving this way too much thought, but was wondering if anyone else did it.  How often if you did?  Is it common?  Would I be weird for doing it?  What is the home buyer/subcontractor relationship supposed to be?  Any tips would be appreciated.

Pre-Construction Meeting

I felt like it was never going to happen, but we had our pre-construction meeting today!  It went well.  I really like our project manager.  He's been with Ryan for years so he knows what he's doing - bonus!  We went over the blueprints.  Aside from a couple of lights we didn't know we were getting, everything was the way we expected.  There was some confusion about the location of our laundry room.  Originally we were going to have it in the basement, but I finally convinced my husband to have it on the second floor.  That change wasn't made in our paperwork.  Our PM doesn't think it will be an issue to have the location changed, but he has to check with a couple of people about it.  Hopefully it won't be an issue.  One thing I'm bummed out about (and its really not a big deal) is that Ryan changed the cabinet selections.  I like the cabinets we're getting, but there some new ones that I love.  Oh well.  I know that we've benefited from past changes to the materials and house plan.  Oh, and Ryan's incentive this month?  FREE FINISHED BASEMENT!!!  Too bad it doesn't apply to homes already purchased.  Can you tell I'm still a little bitter about not getting any incentive?

After a good hour or so going over the blueprints we went up to check out the lot.  It was staked out so we had a good idea of our property and the "outline" of the house.  The "house" looks so small!  I guess its hard to envision.  But it was cool to really see where the rooms, garage, driveway, etc... will be.  They'll start digging next week and then do the foundation.  He says the lumber will be delivered around the second week of December.  With the holidays coming up, I'm sure time will fly.

Finally, tomorrow is Thanksgiving!  I have so many things for which to be thankful.  For the purposes of this blog, I am so thankful that we are able to build a new home of our own, that we get to see our house being built, that we're going to live in a great neighborhood, and for all of the wonderful times ahead of us and all of the great memories we'll be making in our new home.  I'm also thankful for all of the other bloggers out there who have written about their journey so we know what to expect.  Happy Thanksgiving!

It's About Time

After 2 more weeks of no progress being made and no explanation of why, I made an appointment with our sales manager to see if we could get some answers about what was going on and how the delay would effect our closing, locking in our rate, and other variables.  We met tonight and finally got the news we've been waiting for.  Half of the road is in.  Our pre-construction meeting is set for the day before Thanksgiving, and construction will begin the week of November 29th!  The delay was due to a combination of issues between the township, paving company, and developer.  I feel so much better knowing what was going on and what is planned now.

She insists that even though construction will be beginning more than a month after what was planned, we will still close in February.  I'm not sure how that will be, but after reading some of the other blogs, the house does get done pretty quickly.  I guess the project managers have goals to meet so that will provide some motivation to get our house done on schedule.  Every night that I've been there lately, even as late as 9:00 or 10:00, I've seen contractors in at least one house, so I guess they do work hard to meet the projected deadline.

So after this month of frustration and waiting, it looks like things will finally start to happen.  It's about time!

Still Nothing

We drove through the plan yesterday and the road still hasn't been put in.  I don't know what the hold up is.  Hopefully it will be put in this week.  The weather here is supposed to be beautiful all week, so at least that can't get in the way.  Hopefully my next post will contain some good news!