Final Walk Thru


Like most builders, DR Horton conducts a final walk thru / orientation with the buyer a week or two before closing. 

Our walk thru lasted about 3 hours and was conducted by the construction manager, George Leon. The experience was an absolute pleasure as George covered everything in detail and shared ins and outs regarding various items, including appliances, water systems, heating, air conditioning and everything else.

This was our first view of the home in a clean condition and we were blown away. Everything looked fantastic and it was impossible to not get really excited about moving in. First there was the setting. The back yard is a completely private open field and in late May the grass was tall and beautiful. The landscaping was well done and - at least for now - most of the new sod that was installed is still alive and green. The builder has a timer-based sprinkler system that is keeping the lawn alive at least until we move in. There were many small bushes installed in the front and 7 trees (4 in front and 3 in back). 

Inside the house everything looks great. We found the usual paint 'misses.' George himself found a few items he hadn't seen before, such as improperly installed hardware and improperly configured items. Laurie found some issues with cabinets and many small paint defects - all of which should be corrected before closing.

Our driveway is continuing to settle a little bit and we expect that will keep happening after we move in. But they will keep fixing it, at least for the first year.

Our biggest concern is that the driveway is just not big enough around the house itself. The builder held firm that they only do so much, so we'll be on our own to add to it once we're in the house. 

Everything is on track for a closing on 5 June though there are a few things that could derail. We had to say goodbye to our beloved doggie Socks last week as she started to seriously struggle with several ailments. Making her comfortable meant putting off noisy disturbances in our home and so we were unable to install the Radon mitigation system needed to close on the current house. The system goes in this week but there is now no extra time for new issues. Also, the mortgage company is asking for corporate tax info, but our corporate tax return was not filed until last week and the accountant is off on a vacation in Greece and not easily reached. 

Ready to Rock!

View from the "Future" Back Porch

View from Front Porch



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Closed

Image
 We went through the final closing process today. It was pretty painless, though there were a lot of signatures. DHI Title organized the whole thing very well.  It started with an online signing session when I first got up in the morning. There are a number of documents that need to be signed and the online portion was about 33% of the total. All documents were easy to follow.  Then we went to the lot about an hour early to look at the surveyor stakes on Logmill Road. We wanted to see where our property really started and stopped. The stakes are fairly recent and easy to find.  Next, we met the Construction Manager, George, at the house to do a final final walk thru. There are still a small number of open items but most issues were addressed since the initial walk thru. The house looked great! There are still a small number of outstanding items - a cabinet door in the master bath needs to be replaced, the driveway and other land keeps settling, and one of the trees looks like it's
Read more

Finishing Touches

Image
Once all the heavy installations are done, there's still a long list of more minor things that can take up 1-2 months of time.  Our walkthru is set for this coming Thursday (25 May) so everything is just about done.  As everything was installed, there were three issues that we needed to raise with the builder: The septic in the back had an access that was about 20 inches above the natural grade, and it was in a very central position behind our house.  The driveway makes a hairpin turn (150 degrees) as you reach the area house, making it hard to turn into the garage, especially if there are other cars in the driveway and the blacktop area gives us almost no maneuvering room.  The refrigerator promised in the sales literature included a premium refrigerator with in-door water and ice dispenser, but the only available fridge would not fit the installed cabinet design. The great people at DR Horton, George Leon - our Construction Manager, and Riich Moortgat, our Builder Rep, were able
Read more