Yesterday, being Wednesday, nothing exciting happened. I did manage to make a couple of returns, pack a box, do laundry, vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom (yeah, just one), removed some nails in the walls and patched them, etc.
The builder's salesperson, Michelle, called me a few times to verify where some of the issues were from the walk-through. She wasn't part of the walk-throughs and therefore didn't know each detail. Ted who knew the issues wasn't at the house so Michelle was double checking all the work. I eventually emailed her the photos I had and a list of the concerns.
Adams Homes is pretty hot to close. NACA had emailed requesting a closing date for Monday but Jim and I will not commit to a closing date without completion of the punch-list. The rush is on, the contract is only extended until Thursday 9-22-11 at this point.
When Jim came home we went out to dinner and then stopped at a couple of furniture stores. We're rethinking the bedroom furniture purchase for both style and price. We may just cancel it out all together and wait until all the other small purchases are made.
Fast forward to Thursday, we had the walk-through at 8:00am. We weren't 100% happy with a few of the repairs and noticed 3 things we hadn't noticed prior OR didn't exist prior. One of the brick decorative porch columns has a crack running down 2 bricks, and paint booger in the dining room and something else that eludes me right now.
Some time later in the afternoon, I receive a text to schedule another walk-through for tomorrow at 8:30am. Jim will be late again to work as a result and isn't very happy about it. Why didn't they just scrutinize their own work prior to us coming this morning? It's constant wastes of time that continue to irritate us.
What is with the lack of quality? Some readers have commented about the quality along the lines of: Do you really want this house? What don't you see? -- The good thing is that we've watched every step of the way and had Jim's dad, who owns a construction business in Naples, FL, come and look at everything before drywall went up. I have to believe or maybe want to believe that all will be OK. Adams Homes is such a big builder in Florida with a general good reputation... what's going on here in North Carolina?
While at work, some where around 7:30pm, Jim emails me that he worked late to make up his time and that he stopped by the house to see the brick had been repaired and that the front door still had a chip in the paint (as found this morning) and the caulk was still missing from the corner of the house for the 3rd time. He's not going to tomorrow's walk-through as a result. It's probably too late but I emailed the sales person about what Jim found and warned her I'd be angry if it wasn't at 100%.
Friday morning, I arrive at the new house to find Ted and a couple of painters are already there and have everything complete. Egg on face much? Yeah. We had no idea they’d get there early in the morning to get stuff done. I felt completely stupid that Jim didn’t come AND that I had emailed the salesperson. Either way, what a relief. Now, we’re waiting for a closing date which is Wednesday.
I was helping a friend of mine faux finish the interior walls on what could only be considered a "million dollar home" in a very exclusive neighborhood on the river and I could not BELIEVE the crap that builders get away with. Seriously these people have paid real money for this house, it is HUGE it has two garages, a pool, an exercise studio with full length mirrors, a second kitchenette downstairs, my entire apartment could fit into their living room, their basement would have been sufficient for any reasonable person to house a six person family... and there were places where we had to fix the caulk in the baseboards, or to add caulk that wasn't there, there were places where the baseboards didn't fit together. It couldn't have been that old and the window cranks in the master bedroom had some kind of white corrosion, the tops and some of the sides of the windows had been primed or something but they weren't all the way painted. All I can say is, it's amazing what a nice tube of white caulk can fix.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...maybe the painters wouldn't have been there if you hadn't sent that email?
ReplyDeleteI think you should bring a copy of that lovely unicorn painting and ask if they can do a mural in the dining room before closing.
@Lauren: It is terrible. I used to work as a service manager in a car dealership and customer's expected perfection on their $15,000 car but I shouldn't for 165k? They're screwed up. I know that there's a lot of spots I "ignored" during the walk through.
ReplyDelete@Flartus: I had thought the same thing but wondered if they'd have enough time to pull that off... I doubt it. As for the mural... uhhhh no. Too complicated to get permission to reproduce that.
What egg? They needed to be told, and I agree with Flar... evidently there is a coconut wireless in Charlotte and the right people got notified. I am inspired by your demand for quality. When we built our home, we closed with a punchlist as long as my leg still unfinished. Stuff got done, but not expediently because it didn't have to be. They had their money. We were probably lucky they came at all. If we ever build another home, I'm hiring YOU to come keep everything moving along the way it should. You'd think in an economy like ours - and especially a housing market in an economy like ours - builders would be shooting themselves to get contracts and one-upping each other all over the place. Unfortunately, that's not the way it goes.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side... you and Jim have a beautiful new home just waiting for you and the next chapter of your life to begin. I'm so happy for you. I might just buy you some All-Clad.
XO
@ Flartus: LOL on the unicorn suggestion. But with a bigger horn, I think...
ReplyDeleteYou should be glad that you emailed them to tell them that it wasn't done. How do you know that it wasn't going to get fixed until you emailed them and told them to stop wasting your time. I can't wait to get you guys housewarming present! the end is almost here!
ReplyDeleteBoozy: I'm glad they finally got to the repairs at your house. All-Clad? No I just couldn't. Imagine the friends I'd lose over it.
ReplyDeleteAmy: Oooooooo presents!