Pre-Drywall Meeting

We had our pre-drywall meeting today.  We are unable to be there in person as we live on the west coast and building a home on the east coast.  I want to take a minute and say that RH Rep, NVR and our PM have all been outstanding during this process.  It was a little bit crazy from the start with getting documents together and selecting our options, but now its time to sit back and let the process do its work.  We had a good idea what we wanted our house to look like before we selected RH as the builder and thankfully, most of our requests were all ready included or added for a small fee.

Now the meeting....

Our realtor was our boots on the ground and did a great job.  We had about 1 weeks notice from our PM about the meeting, which would give us enough time to get an inspector if we wanted.  We decided not to get an inspector after talking to some local inspectors who said RH does a great job and did not point out any known or systemic issues.  Some of the other blogs I've read have mentioned the RH Reps in the Northeast Region and D.C. area were some of the best across the nation, which seems to be very true!

I talked and email our PM the week before and we went over the following questions.  I did not ask too many that I found on other sites as I felt like we would be micromanaging the build.  I could see how this could wear on the PM and RH Rep if they are constantly being bombarded with requests (responses in red)

Can extra support be added in the laundry room floor to reduce vibration from washer/dryer? It is currently designed with double joists for that reason

Where is the attic access located and is there any room up there to store anything? It is located in the laundry room.  There is no storage access.  Main purpose is to install blown insulation into attic

Is there insulation between the shared bedroom walls and laundry room? no

Is there insulation in the garage? Yes on the adjoining walls to the house only

Do any vents terminate in the front of the house? no

Where is the outlet for the deep freezer located in the garage? There will be 2 outlets in the garage.  These will however be GFCI per code

Are the light switches for the garage inside the house? No they are located in the garage

Where is the electrical panel located? In the mechanical room

Where are the thermostats located? There is one thermostat located in the family room

Is the framing or structure treated to protect against termites? Not sure if this is an issue in Maryland. No we do not treat for termites

Will there be any dead space between lighting in the kitchen and room with fireplace? Can the lights be adjusted to minimize this or will it affect the lighting in each respective room? Yes.  The lights cannot be adjusted as they are required to be installed per the blueprints

Wanted to verify that two outlets are in the kitchen island, on opposite ends of it. yes

Also, the garage door lights are in the garage and near the door, not on some irrelevant wall like I saw on other blogs!

Overall, the responses were consistent with what I found on other blogs but most of the blogs about RH were from 2 to 3 years ago, so hopefully our blog will help those in the future or currently considering RH as a builder (not paid for endorsement :) )

The only thing we asked to considered is the placing of was the surround sound in the basement. I asked the PM if they could hold the duct work tight to the wall and he said he would, but said their needed to be space for the wiring, plumbing and fire sprinkler system.  I relayed that info to Guardian who said they would try to fit the speakers in the bulkhead first and if not, they would have be outside the bulkhead.  We did not want this as it would place all 5 speakers in a short area, thus eliminating the effect of surround sound.  

THANK YOU PM!!!!!!