No realtor on this purchase, just a selling agent for Ryan Homes.
They use a '3rd party' inspector for each phase.
I have a small background in construction (taught fundamentals of construction technology at NCSU) and worked in framing as a summer job. I may not know all the codes, but I can spot issues fairly well. I already caught one mistake that they have already fixed.

11/13/2015 9:51:24 PM

11/16/2015 6:51:49 PM

Second floor is up, and the roof trusses will go on tomorrow.

11/18/2015 6:35:28 PM

Trusses are up. Most of the house wrapped.

11/20/2015 9:46:09 PM

keep the pics coming!

11/21/2015 9:47:00 PM

Received the first offer on my house, and it is only $18,500 below asking price.
Nope. Let's see where the counter offer gets us.

11/22/2015 5:22:34 PM

And..... My current house is under contract.

11/22/2015 6:58:18 PM

wow that escalated quickly!

11/23/2015 6:57:34 PM

We were asking $198,500 for the house, and settled at 190k.
While this is lower than we wanted, it is the highest amount paid to date for this floor plan.
We bought for 144k a little over 5 years ago, so we did pretty well.

It was a cash offer with no contingency or conditions, so pretty unheard of in this price point according to my agent.
Our cosing date on the sale of my current home is Dec 29th.

The house was on the market for 68 days.

[Edited on November 24, 2015 at 7:16 AM. Reason : .]

11/24/2015 7:14:40 AM

Framing completed. The roof should be finished by next week. Trades will be completed in the next two weeks.
We then have the pre-drywall meeting.

11/25/2015 1:45:12 PM

A lot of progress was made this week.
All of the shingles are on.
The windows are all hung.
The plumbing is almost complete.

11/27/2015 6:30:11 PM

3/4 of the front and rear have been leveled with fresh top soil, as well as the right side of the house. The driveway foundation has been placed, and the hvac has been nearly completed.

12/1/2015 7:16:33 PM

in NC you'd be well served to do a radiant barrier before the siding goes up. a metal roof too but it's a little late for that

12/2/2015 5:40:43 PM

^all brick! no siding. Metal roof over the front patio

12/2/2015 6:37:14 PM

Had the pre dry wall meeting Friday. Inspections for framing, electrical, and plumbing are pending. Once those happen, brick and drywall start.

12/14/2015 12:09:16 PM

Will the builder pass the inspections first shot around? Working on a tight timeline and with so many people in the house (plus the fact that I had between 8-15 other houses going) I hardly ever passed a framing inspection first time.

12/14/2015 1:53:31 PM

coming along fast!

The gf and I bought a condo across the street from where I currently live and we got a GREAT deal, $190k but we are going to have to totally renovate it at around $70K but it will still come out a great deal. She already sold her existing condo and we are about to list mine here soon, hoping to get around $260 for it and I paid 160K six years ago. I'll take it haha.

12/15/2015 12:14:17 AM

^^ our construction manager has 8 houses right now.
On my walk through I didn't see any issues, but I'm not up to date and that well versed on codes anymore.
I fully expect that walls will start within two weeks. It helps that everything is done to approved plans, so their shouldn't be any surprises.

12/15/2015 12:23:40 PM

Electrical must have been fine, because the exterior walls were all insulated today. The concrete was also poured in the garage.




[Edited on December 15, 2015 at 6:33 PM. Reason : .]

12/15/2015 6:32:47 PM

All of the inspections passed with no problems.
I had asked my construction manager if he could install insulation in the shared wall between the bonus room and the master bedroom, as well as between the laundry and kid bedroom.
He called me this morning and said that he wasn't able to add anything, but the inspections were completed and all the dry wall goes up tomorrow.......

So I went in this evening. Installed R-15 between:
the master and bonus shared wall
80% of the laundry room
Entire interior wall of guest room.

Used my iPhone light and a small hand held flashlight. This will be evident in the crappy pictures.

It took two trips to get the insulation to the house:


The guest room wall:


The master bedroom:


[Edited on December 18, 2015 at 9:37 PM. Reason : .]

12/18/2015 9:34:01 PM

sound deadening? that won't do anything. You need mass like MLV sheets.

12/18/2015 11:10:20 PM

This will stop vocals, dishes, and household noises. Or at least reduce them.
I made the cotton version of this stuff for over 4 years. All the major hotel chains use it for noise control.
It is even written on the packaging that there is sound control built in.

[Edited on December 19, 2015 at 7:29 AM. Reason : .]

12/19/2015 7:27:53 AM

I did that to my guest room (which will probably be a nursery at some point) when my walls were opened up. It definitely keeps the noise level down which anyone with a baby will tell you is important.

12/20/2015 12:34:34 PM

Drywall has been hung, and guys are working long nights getting it all taped and mudded.
A couple loads of brick have been delivered.
Kitchen cabinets will be in by the 28th, and counters installed the first week of January.

12/22/2015 7:37:34 PM

Cabinets delivered. Downstairs drywall complete.

12/24/2015 11:40:44 AM

All of the walls have been smoothed.
The doors, trim, and balusters have been delivered.
The cabinets have all been installed.

These are cherry, so the flash in the dark is distorting the color.

12/30/2015 6:35:04 PM

Thanks for the continued updates. That is a big house and big kitchen.

12/30/2015 10:54:31 PM

Interior doors are in. Base coat of paint completed.

Panoramic of living room and kitchen:


Living room to kitchen:


Kitchen to living room, dining room and front door to the left:


Material for the deck has arrived:

1/1/2016 2:43:05 PM

Looking good. That is a big living area too!

1/2/2016 8:36:54 PM

They started the brick. The perspective is misleading, as there is about 35' between houses.

1/6/2016 7:42:15 PM

Brick is done on front:


Sink has been installed in garage:


Fixtures, counters, sink, outlets, hardwood floors installed:




The stone accents, left side and rear brick, and deck are left on the exterior.
The stair lands were all stained today so I was not able to go upstairs, but I believe the tile has been started.

1/15/2016 6:43:15 PM

Started brick on the left side and rear.


We have power.


The carpet was installed. The hardwood floors downstairs were an upgrade. We upgraded to the 8lb density foam as opposed to the 5lb foam, as well as upgraded the carpet from what was standard.


My wife's office.


The tile in the master bath was grouted.


My construction manager said the interior will be completed in the next week and a half, while the exterior will take till the end to finish. Besides finishing the brick and stone work, they need to level the yard, pour the porch, front walk, and driveway, build the deck, and landscape.

1/18/2016 6:38:03 PM

That has probably gotten behind because of the rain.

1/18/2016 6:54:41 PM

Finished trimming the entry and dining room.

1/20/2016 12:05:51 PM

Erie the similarities there are between this house and the way its built vs. the houses I built with Meritage Homes.

Looks good man.

1/20/2016 4:03:00 PM

Pre-closing walk through is scheduled for 2/8.
Closing is scheduled for 2/12. Only 3 weeks away.
Locks have been placed so I'm not sure how many more interior progress pictures that I will get.

House is actually 3,460 sq ft with the options we picked.
I realized I haven't put the floor plan in for all of your viewing pleasure.




The study downstairs will be my 'office (cave)'. The front left bedroom upstairs will be the guest, and the front right will be my wife's office. The left rear is where son sleeps.
We chose to have the jack and Jill bathroom for guests so company will have two sinks and a larger bathroom.

[Edited on January 20, 2016 at 5:43 PM. Reason : .]

1/20/2016 5:41:34 PM

No tub in master?

1/20/2016 5:46:16 PM

If you look a few posts up, you will see there is a tub in the master.
The original plan was for a large shower and no tub, but we updated that after I screen slotted the floor plan.

1/20/2016 6:55:38 PM

Looking good. I hope you're planning on having more kids to fill that big house up. Thanks for the effort in keeping the thread updated. Maybe one day your son will find this on the interwebs and be all amazed.

1/20/2016 9:48:20 PM

No more kids. Not really possible at this point.

Plenty of space for his friends to come over though, and for my wife and I to entertain.
We like having our friends over every few months for meals. That sometimes turns into 10-15 people, which was a struggle in the last house.

1/20/2016 9:56:03 PM

Only 2 weeks away now. The brick should be completed tomorrow. When I went through tonight,there were dirt and mud stains in the carpet. Already have an email sent on that, as the carpet upgrade was not cheap, and I question whether they will really get the stains out.

Pano from front door


Pano from 'Morning room'


Pano of master bath


Kitchen with lights. My wife and I plan on installing under cabinet lights ourselves later. It was $1k for them to do it


Giant island, nearly 4x10'

1/27/2016 7:37:19 PM

Why the preference for carpet upstairs...kids?

1/28/2016 7:39:57 AM

Pretty much. Kids, noise, cost (area rugs and such).
We may put hardwoods in the master bedroom (called owner's suites now because of PC) at a later time down the road.

I got a call this morning from my construction manager. The builder is replacing 100% of the carpet.
There were some other issues as well, so that was the easiest solution.

The toilets, towel bars, shelves, and the other finish items are now installed as well.

1/28/2016 9:16:30 PM

I think you should've gone ahead and paid for the under cabinet lights. Those are totally worth not having to do yourself.

[Edited on January 29, 2016 at 1:00 AM. Reason : Actually...you wouldn't be putting very many up....never mind.]

1/29/2016 12:58:02 AM

Photobucket is temporarily down.

The driveway, front walk, and front porch were poured today.
The eaves and trim are being installed.
The brick has been finished and the stone will go in tomorrow or early next week.

1/29/2016 7:28:29 PM

Brick on the rear complete


Long driveway


The front

1/30/2016 6:38:45 AM

that's a pretty baller house, nice work

1/31/2016 8:31:05 PM

Stopped by the house tonight to check on the progress. The inside looks good from the 15' view. I noticed a lot of detail work that needs attention. The entire tray ceiling in the dining needs work. A lot of wavy edges and seems are visible. One large span of wall you can clearly see where they did touch up work. One of the side panels in the island needs to be replaced, as they missed with the nails and the trim doesn't cover the heads.

A few more pictures as things come along:

Dining room with lights


The stairs have their top coat


From the property corner


And the front columns went in. We plan to paint that small triangle of hardy-board to match the shutters.

2/2/2016 7:23:23 PM

i like most of it except to make the backyard useful would be expensive

2/3/2016 9:25:19 AM

^there is at least 5 acres of maintained field/ play area about 1/4 mile from the house. We are happy to be on a wooded lot, and there is enough level space for a swing set.


The deck is being built:


The stone is complete:


The construction manager says the closing date is good, but wants to move the pre-closing walk through from Monday to Wednesday.

2/4/2016 8:33:20 PM