Redirect Your Future

I have never had a home built before and the thought of doing so was both exciting and terrifying. My wife and I had found a great school district for our daughters to attend, but we could not find a home in that district to buy. We decided to build. Who wouldn't want to build a home and be the first people ever to live in it? Who wouldn't want to choose the color for the brick, siding, floors, cabinet and all the other items that can be selected for their new home?

We had the city picked out, but now we had to find the area of town that we wanted and could afford.

We chose a community called Stone Ridge. We liked it for many reasons. We liked that it had a country feel to it. It bordered with a Mare Farm. It had very reasonable Home Owner Association (HOA) dues. It had a walking and biking trail. It had a club house that could be used for special occasions. We loved the lower taxes. We loved that it was a new community, but had plenty of mature trees.

The community was originally started by another builder who abandoned the project after the market took a dive seven years prior. The new developer brought new life and lives into the community that only had about 20 homes spread throughout the subdivision. We could see our family living there.

Now that we had the community, we had to decide on the lot and the home type or plan that we wanted.

Our last home was in a large city and on a very busy street that had both heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. It was a very wide street as well which made talking with any neighbor across the street very difficult. On top of that, there was only one other family with a child anywhere near our children's age.

We wanted a block that was totally different than the last. The lot we chose was picked because it had no neighbors directly behind us. It also was on a smaller street than what was available in the rest of the community. The community consisted of a huge sphere shape that had a single street loop through it and then a much smaller street at the base. Finally we would have a normal neighborhood block.

With that out of the way, it was time to pick the plan. The plan that we really wanted was discontinued prior to us deciding on buying. Builder will sometime remove or add plans to get to a desired neighborhood makeup or profit margin. Either way, if you are ready to move on a deal, don't wait to long to me up your mind. In the end, we chose a plan that included 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a decent size kitchen with a huge walkin pantry. Other must haves included walkin closets for every room and a loft area for the girls and their friends to play their dance video games in peace (and not in the family or bedroom).

With a lot and plan decided on, it was time to sign the purchase deal. This is a pretty big deal. The plan you decide on may have option items that you can chose from like:

- three car garage or extended garage

- master bath upgrades

- a fireplace

- Jack and Jill bath

- mudroom

- extra sinks

- extra windows

- recessed lighting

It is very easy to say no to many of the options available because their is a cost associated with each item, but you should consider most these carefully before saying no.

Some things can be added fairly easily down the line like a fireplace or extra sink, but a garage extension, new window or a mud room or a sunroom can be much more expensive and/or difficult to add once you are have a completed house and have moved in.

We added the mudroom and we upgraded our master bath to include separate sinks for the two of us and separated out shower from the tub. With all of this decided upon, we signed our purchase agreement.

[11-26-2013]
SOLD!
We immediately went to the lot and put the sold sign on the lot marker. We took several pictures on the lot and was fortunate that someone came by to talk a picture of the four of us with the sign on the lot.

[12-08-2013]
Researching the Selections

The next step was to select the colors for various materials that would go on or in the home. We were given a date for finalizing our selections. Before the date would arrive, we traveled over to the model several times to ponder over the choices. This is could be a very stressful period because there are so many options to choose from and their is no real way of knowing how these choice will look together until the home is built.

[12-14-2013]

Selection Meeting

On Sat, December 14, 2013 between 11am – 12pm, we had our selection meeting with our salesperson.

[03-06-2014]

Pre-Construction Meeting

At the Pre-construction Meeting we met with our Construction Coordinator, Dave and Sales Manager, Jordan to review our new home. This meeting is very important because this is the last time changes can be made that will alter the design of the home. At this meeting were given an opportunity to ask our Construction Coordinator and Sales Manager specific questions relating to the actual construction of our new home. Our Construction Coordinator reviewed every aspect of your home from the placement on the home site to a review of our interior selections including illustrating on the floor plans the type floor coverings and their placement. We decided which rooms and the location for the cable and CAT-5 lines to terminate. We discussed the surround sound and HDMI installation that would installed in the Family Room. Lastly, we decided where the canned lights would installed in the kitchen. Our Construction Coordinator also spoke with us regarding the construction process and timeline specific to our new home.

After finalizing the items at the Pre-Construction meeting, the wait time gets smaller.

For us, we regretted not adding the windows on the sides of the house; this would have provided a window in the powder room and extra natural light in the family room. We are still up in the air about the decision to skip on the gas fireplace. We were able to add four recessed lights in the family room to try to make up for not having the windows on the side.