The Maronda Home I Had Built

This is an editorial writeup of the home I had built by Maronda Homes in SouthWest Columbus, OH, near Grove City. I'm going to do my best to document the procedure of the house construction and everything...

Dec-22-2001: Contract Signing. Jenny and I decided upon the Dover model. Estimated date of completion is 2/3 of the way through July. Our Maronda contact is Ken Reamy. BTW, he makes a wonderful hot sauce (really really good).
Feb-25-2002: Pre-build meeting. We met with Tod Savage (Construction Supervisor for the neighborhood) to go over all of the choices we'd made. Tod came across as a very nice guy that insisted on doing things right. I was quite impressed. He said that blocking should be started that afternoon. Images Movie 1.3Mb
Mar-18-2002: Pictures of the house just after the foundation was poured. Images
Mar-26-2002: Pics of the house during framing.
Mar-29/30-2002: Pics of the house at the end of framing. The only things that I noticed that weren't quite right were a torn screen and then on a floorboard a corner was broken off.
Apr-23-2002: More pics will be up shortly. I was at the house with the inspector and a few big ticket items were found. The straps that hold the frame to the foundation weren't properly secured, the trim over the garage and bay window needed to have a metal lip covering on it (both of these before siding), and then a few of the floorboard joints weren't nailed down and the glue has popped up.
May-04-2002: This gallery includes the pictures from Apr 23 and May 04. The movies can also be found here:
- We had Dave from Able Inspecting come in again to take a look at what has been going on. His comment after a while had been, "The guys building it aren't listening to you. Some stuff still hasn't be addressed since the first report a month ago." Some other things had been addressed which was good to see.
- One of the most concerning things is that a month ago it was noted on Dave's report that the straps that connect the frame to the foundation weren't properly secured. They are to have 8 nails in them and they only have 2. They still aren't done properly and now the siding is up. With the siding on, it makes it much more difficult to put those nails in. If the city inspector had acutally looked at this, there is no way it would have ever passed inspection. Here is a copy of the city inspectors sign off on the framing.
- Here is a movie (1.1MB)of the seam that runs through the dining room and living room and there is a similar one on the 2nd floor through the loft and one of the bedrooms. The gap is up to a half inch in some spots. It wasn't nailed and glued down in the dining room. And here are pictures 1, 2, 3. On the 4th there were nails in the missing locations and some liquid nails had been put into the seam, which was very good to see. Fixed 1, 2.
- The box in the kitchen where the cabinets are attached is pulling its nails out. It looks like the left side could just use an 'L' bracked to secure it to the 2x4 in the cieling. Picutres 1, 2, 3.
- In the basement, there a 3 posts holding the main beam of the house up. Here are older pictures where they are very crooked 1, 2. These have now been mostly straigtened and cemented in. Right now just one of the posts is out of line here (there are 3 posts, the furthest one down is leaning to the left) but they have all been cemented in, so it'll be a lot of work for them to get the post realigned.
- In one of the spare beadrooms there is a hole in the floor. Also the seam can be seen here on the 2nd floor. It was nice to see that a metal plate and some adhesive had been put over it. Fixed.
- The sump pump line is leaking... it just looks like a cracked glue joint. Picture 1, 2, 3.
- Also, there is no sign of the natural gas outlet for the grill yet. I'm not sure when that would happen. (I was told this will be installed later)
May 14, 2002: I asked for an update on the issues raised from the date above and Ken was very helpful. He indicated that Tod (building supervisor) and his VP would be taking care of it. [Ken, if you're reading this: Thanks for all the help with everything.]
May 15, 2002: In the last 12 hours I've gotten 3 or 4 emails from people asking me about the house so far and Maronda. I've tried to sum them up, and here is the response.
May 17, 2002: Tod, the construction supervisor, called to give an update of what is going on and that the straps had been secured. [Tod, thanks for all the work and making sure everything comes out right. I appreciate it a lot.]
May 18, 2002: Everything noted above has either been taken care of, or will be installed later. We are quite happy. :) Here's the latest gallery.
May 26, 2002: More pictures. The finish work is beginning.
July 1, 2002: More picutres. This was our final walkthrough.
July 5, 2002: Closing. We closed with Chicago Title. This was probably the most frustrating portion of the entire "building a house" process. My opinion of Chicago Title is that they are disorganized at best. They are supposed to call you beforehand (as in a few days) and tell you what to bring and how much to have the cheque made out for and who to have it made to. Well, I called them a few times in the week previously and they kept promising that they'd call me with the information. They never did. So we got there at 1pm. We signed all the papers, and they said you need a cheque for X dollars. We went to write the cheque and they then informed us that it needed to be a certified cheque. Nobody ever called us with the amount. So we went to the bank to get the cheque, and then realized they they also never told us who to make it out to. And they weren't answering their phones either. Go back to the office, ask them, go back to the bank, get the cheque and go back to the office again. If you have to deal with Chicago Title, start hounding them a week before your closing to get these details to you. So after we got back to the appartment there was a message on the answering machine (with a timestamp of 12:48pm that day) with all the details. Sorry to break it to you, but 12 minutes just isn't enough notice for all of that.
July 8, 2002: Moving day. We had Berger Allied move us. They have moved me before, and I've always been very happy with them.
July 22, 2002: Well, we moved in a little bit ago. They missed the utility sink we ordered in the basement, and that was put in a week after we moved in. The AC had a coolant leak and it was taken care of quickly. Right now one of the toilet seals is leaking, but not very much. We'll be calling it in soon.
October 19, 2002: We've been in the house about 3.5mo. now. We're happy with it. We're comfortable here.
November 20, 2002: We got a letter saying that our 6mo. warranty inspection will be at the end of January. I think there are just a few small things.
July 4, 2003: It appears that our drainpipe from the gutters out to the road was crushed while the house was being built. Troy and his crews were very good in replacing the crushed drain. If any of them read this, Thank You.