Today was the last day for the 2008 Parade of Homes. We went through several homes between soccer games and other activities. We got a few more ideas we are going to send Jay's way. We finished our tour by stopping at his parade home. Anne (Jay's wife) and Jo Nel spent most of the visit talking about how Anne would work with Jo Nel in finding things for the new house, etc. This feels right.
By the way, nothing from Jerry Sunderman (a.k.a. Builder A). It will be interesting to see if we hear anything from him next week now that the Parade of Homes is over.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Plans Arrive
Got an email from "Jay" aka Builder B today. He attached a copy of our first floor design per our conversation. At a first glance, wow! He was really listening to us. Can't wait to show talk to Jo Nel and get her thoughts.
"The Note"
Received an email from the realtor today. He is trying to nudge his father in law along to get the plan to us. He wanted to make sure we knew they had not forgotten about us.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Reflections
What a difference between 2 builders. Although we feel Builder A builds a quality home and his name is know in the area for that, I am still replaying our meeting. At the very least, we should be able to get ideas from 2 sets of plans and start making some decisions. My only fear is dealing with a friend and how to tell him no while we build with his competitor. The cart may be in front of the horse right now but it is concerning.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Who is selling whom?
We met with "Builder A" and the realtor tonight to show them the plan we liked and how we envision us combining this plan with one of his pre-builts. We had only been there maybe 5 minutes and I was ready to walk out the door. What an arrogant. . . . . . Sorry - still too fresh in my mind. We got the sense that we were trying to convince this guy to build a house for us. He is the builder so we were looking for him to lead the conversation on how we may be able to combine a couple of plans to come up with a house that we wanted. The image of a dog chasing it's tail would be a good visual for this meeting. The realtor had to leave about 45 minutes in to the conversation. Once he walked out the door, it was like a turn of events. All of a sudden the builder seemed to change his demeanor and it was actually a good dialog. We agreed that he would take our ideas and plans and give them to his draftsman and come up with a very preliminary drawing. We stressed that since we have no idea on how this will shake out, we did not want either parties spending a lot of time and money on this. He agreed with us. The 2008 Parade of Homes was only 2 weeks away so he was rather busy right now. Not a problem, we told him. Give us a call when you have something for us to look at.
Had my Jo Nel not kept the conversation going, we never would have seen the other side of this conversation as I would have been home downing my Miller Lite's in rapid succession out of frustration. We are trying to figure out if he was feeling a need to put on a show in front of his son in law. Whatever the case, I am not completely sold on using this guy to build my home.
Had my Jo Nel not kept the conversation going, we never would have seen the other side of this conversation as I would have been home downing my Miller Lite's in rapid succession out of frustration. We are trying to figure out if he was feeling a need to put on a show in front of his son in law. Whatever the case, I am not completely sold on using this guy to build my home.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Grand Tour
We met with "Builder A" tonight. He spent 90 minutes taking us to homes he has built in the area to show us some different designs. Come to find out, he has 'transplanted' half of his old neighborhood out to the area where he lives. He joked saying that was the only way he could control who his neighbors would be.
We saw a few things we liked from a design perspective but nothing in it's entirety. He asked us what size of a home we were looking at. Not really knowing the correct response, we told him 2,400-2,600 on the main base. Without even thinking, he told us we were nuts and that we would swim in that house. He would gladly build it for us but he thinks that is way too big. Alas - an honest man???
The last house we saw was his and that is where we sat at his dining room table and showed him the plan that we had found. His wife came over and said she really liked our ideas. Knowing both of them it was easier to open up and talk about how we want the house built around the kitchen and great room. He took our ideas and said he would draw up a plan in the next couple of days. He is behind on his parade home but thinks he can squeeze this in.
We saw a few things we liked from a design perspective but nothing in it's entirety. He asked us what size of a home we were looking at. Not really knowing the correct response, we told him 2,400-2,600 on the main base. Without even thinking, he told us we were nuts and that we would swim in that house. He would gladly build it for us but he thinks that is way too big. Alas - an honest man???
The last house we saw was his and that is where we sat at his dining room table and showed him the plan that we had found. His wife came over and said she really liked our ideas. Knowing both of them it was easier to open up and talk about how we want the house built around the kitchen and great room. He took our ideas and said he would draw up a plan in the next couple of days. He is behind on his parade home but thinks he can squeeze this in.
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