Decisions Decisions!!

We are not the type of people to enter into anything lightly We'll research the smack out of things before we join, buy or invest, so it was a bit out of character for us to decide to build with Ryan Homes without first doing many hours of research. True to form however, we did all of that afterward. There are quite a few blogs about building with Ryan which have helpful hints, and then there are the reviews... Many of the reviews we stumbled across are negative and we began to get a little nervous about our decision. It seems though that many problems that reviewers had with Ryan could be avoided by being diligent throughout the build process. Staying in contact with your project manager, having a pre drywall inspection and being proactive. So at the end of the day we are still excited about our decision and reading the blogs has been helpful in coming to that conclusion.

Now begins the decision making process and there are a TON of house features to decide on. We created charts, spreadsheets, pictures and diagrams to help us determine the house model we wanted as well as the features and upgrades to the home. It was days of back and forth and agonizing over all of the details and we are now locked into our choices and are happy with them. Colors were probably the most difficult to pick since we are doing it via pictures and FaceTime. We won't be making another trip to VA until we move out there so everything is being done from across the country. Everything we chose is listed under the 'Selections' tab but here I'll go into more detail on why we picked what we picked.

We chose the Rome model.
Rome Floorplan

Exterior
-Rome model - Elevation E with partial stone veneer

Schematic of Elevation E with partial stone veneer

This won't be our color scheme but it's the same model (and seeing as it is a model there isn't a driveway)

Shutter Options

Colors we chose for the exterior:  This was the hard part since we couldn't see it in person. Looking at many many pictures online helped us decide on color combos.
     -Siding Veneer Front - Island Pearl
     -Shake-Sandy Tan
     -Shutters- Red
     -Door - French Roast
     -Stone - Fieldstone Autumn Buckeye
     -White Trim

Vinyl Options

Our color selections with brick selection (brick will be in back and sides from siding to ground) The front door is dark brown 

Our color choices with stone veneer choice. The front door is the darker brown not red brown.

-Upgraded landscaping package
This is included in our incentives package. Ryan Homes will sod frond and back, our sales rep said they are the only builder to do so. The upgraded package consists of bushes, trees and flowers.

-Garage Door Upgrade 1
Also included, I believe it's just a nicer door

-Garage Service Door
Door from the garage to outside. Now on the floorpan this door is at the rear of the garage on the side, exactly what we wanted. However, our sales rep told us this is no longer how it is done and the door is toward the front of the garage on the side. Basically this means you'd exit in the front yard where as we wanted it to be behind the fence. There really isn't a point in having the exit in the front yard because you could just open the garage and exit that way. Our sales checked with the project manager and they can do this as a non standard request. So hopefully that will work out. We told them that if it could't be moved to the rear of the garage to just scrap it.

Interior
-Morning Room
This is included in our incentives package

-Morning Room Side Windows
The morning room is all windows on the back and french doors on one side. You have the option of adding windows to the remaining side. We opted to go for this so it will be an entire room of windows.

-Kitchen Faucet Upgrade 2 (Bronze)

-Kitchen Cabinet Upgrade 1- Tahoe Square Cherry Bordeaux
This is more that just looks. The included cabinets are thinner, have more shallow drawers and a finish that isn't as appealing. We went with Upgrade 1 which allows us to choose from the second row (except for the white one, that's Upgrade 2). We're both a fan of dark cabinets so we went with the Cherry.
     

-Gourmet Island
Included as an incentive - a larger curved island. I LOVE it!!

-Granite Countertops Upgrade 1 - Santa Cecelia Light
Included in the kitchen incentive. It's gonna look great with the cabinets!
     

-Cabinet Crown Molding Kitchen

-Range Gas Hook-up
I love to cook and prefer cooking with gas so we are changing form the included electric hook up to gas.

-Exhaust Vent Kitchen

-Appliance Pkg Freestanding Stainless Steel 4GH
I just love stainless appliances and we decided to go for the midlevel package

-2 Light Rough-ins over Kitchen Island
So we can install hanging lights over the island

-Gas Dryer Hook-up
We have a gas dryer that is only a year old so we figured we might as well use it

-Gas Fireplace Family Room Side
We chose side instead of rear of house because we plan to build a deck in the future and don't want to have to build around the fireplace which will jut into the yard.

-Fireplace Surround Family Room Granite -Ubatuba
It's the last one on the first row of the granite pic-Recessed Lighting over fireplace (2)

-Owners Bathroom Shower Upgrade with Seat
A tub/shower combo is what's included with the base price of the house. There are a few options for upgrades including a shower stall and soaking tub and a shower with a seat. Neither of us are bath takers so we decided to opt for a larger shower with a seat and no tub in the bathroom. We did toss and turn over this a little because we were concerned about resale value in the future without a large tub. Our realtor advised that often people say they aren't bath takers but everyone loves a good shower and she didn't feel it would hurt us in the future so we decided to just go with what we wanted.

-Owners Bath Cabinet Upgrade 1 - Tahoe Square Cherry Bordeaux
Same as kitchen- wanted consistency

-Owners Bath Vanity Granite Upgrade 1 - Santa Cecelia Light
Same as kitchen - wanted consistency

-Ceramic Surround Secondary Bath
This is for the shower, standard is fiberglass insert

-Cabinet Upgrade 1 Secondary Bath - Tahoe Square Cherry Bordeaux
Same as kitchen- wanted consistency


-Vanity Granite Upgrade 1 Secondary Bath - Santa Cecelia Light
Same as kitchen- wanted consistency

-House Bronze Finish
Fixtures in bathroom

-Attic Storage
Access is included, this add finish floors in the attic to allow for storage as well as widen and add a ladder to the access.

-Carpeted Stair with Metal Balusters

-Celing Fan Roughins x 8 (3 included in price) - 4 Bedrooms, Family Room, Loft, Study, Morning Room

Non Standards
-Gas line rough-in to backyard for grill
Our sales rep informed us of this option and we love it! No more propane tanks for the grill. This is a non standard but he said it's such a common request that it is called a 'standard non standard'

-Rear placement for garage service door
See garage service door explanation above


We still have to pick our wiring and flooring options but that is required to be done within 30 days whereas the rest is required within 14 days of signing the contract.