are you advertising a service?

You certainly spent a great deal of time on your site. It is very helpful. We are just beginning the process, and the builder told me the first thing I needed to have picked out was the windows. So many options and it's harder than I anticipated. I didn't look at every section on your site, but I didn't see a window section. With so many choices to make in regards to windows, wood/alum clad, wood/vinyl clad, wood/fiberglass, all vinyl, casement, double hung etc., a section might be helpful for first time builders. Your home is beautiful; you must be so proud..Congratulations!

Thanks Stayn2Busy! I appreciate it much!

I have a note about the windows being installed on Day 22, which is Slide 26, but to be honest, I really didn't go in to a lot of details. The windows for our house weren't much of a consideration past how we wanted them to look, the builder didn't have a lot of options, mostly grid-lines in them or not. They are installed quite early in the construction process though.

cynandjon, I don't have anything to sell or services to provide, my website is strictly a photo-blog of the process for building my house. Sorry.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.fromplattoplace.com

Ok sorry platt,

I had the same exact feeling about the size of my old home as well. It seemed small when it was just a slab, both before it was built, and after it was torn down after being flooded :(.

On another note, I'd like to know how much distance there is between the countertops at the peninsula.

Since you are basically getting more or less a standard spec house (but with your choice of floors, etc.), and with so many homes these days being sold at deep discount, why didn't you buy an existing home? Or perhaps the land and the builder are at equally good discount?

I found the site to be educational and informative.

If only all home building was so smooth and straightforward as you depict.

Ryland (homebuilders) seem to be featured a lot, did they build your house?

Ryland is/has been sued in several states for shoddy building practices

swampwiz: I tell ya.. we really did go buy a tape measure and measure it out.. We thought they must have halved the floor plan! When its pre-drywall and only the studs, it looks HUGE.. then it shrinks with the walls up. You get used to walking in it with just the studwalls, going from room to room. When they put up the drywall, its like.. BAM.. I have to use the door now. :)

Yeah.. it is a spec house, but they really did have quite a few options to customize it.. I guess for us, we REALLY liked the neighborhood and lot.. Actually.. We picked the lot first and then the house plan..

emilynewhome:
Ryland was the builder.. We had a good experience with them on the build, so i mention them quite a bit. We liked their setup due to the "turn key" nature of their building. We basically picked a floor plan, picked the options and the rest was autopilot.

We did do quite a bit of research on Ryland, the lawsuit your referring to is probably the "leaky house" issue they ran into with a type of stucco the used on a bunch of houses that was water permeable. They have since switched to a different stucco, and we don't even use stucco for our house, so we didn't feel it was much of a problem. For our house at least, we feel the work was top notch.. I cant speak for other houses built by them though.

Here is a link that might be useful: From Plat to Place