Tuesday, January 1, 2013
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Cart before the horse
Cart before the horse
This post is for prospective new home owners seeking to do business with Ryan Homes. In the business I work, perception is the most valuable asset. No other job in my life has there been such a keen awareness and accentuated alignment as supporting a positive perception. By relating to this fact, I am able to understand how important what I say is to the livelihood and proliferation of the entity we do business with, Ryan Homes.The development of my "Rome", Elevation N, has been generally smooth, even by comparison to other bloggers I've since been keeping up with. However, there is a distinct point in the 5-7 month process where I believe your scrutiny is especially important. Of course I am not completely through the journey, so I could be speaking prematurely, but you should begin paying extremely close attention to the development of your home at the pre-drywall meeting stage. There are without doubt, other key points, but, up until this point your home is developed rather sequentially. That is to say, one thing is done, then the other, but nothing is really started until the previous task is complete. This kind of progression is easy for the human mind to keep up with.
After the pre-drywall meeting, things start to happen in parallel. This is to say, one task may be started, while another task has yet to be completed. When the human mind starts to multi-task, it is much more prone to error. For all of you existing bloggers, who are close to me in progression, or who have since gone through this journey, you understand all of this. We know one particular human mind is especially important in the process, that is your Project Manager. Once you come to terms with the awareness your PM is multi-tasking the development of your home, in parallel with the development of several other homes, and along with other facets of work, such as sick time, vacation, and role change, you can appreciate the possibility, or probability, something will be overlooked, or go awry.
In my opinion, your qualifications aside, this makes you the only true Project Manager of your new home. When all is said and done, when the warranty expires, it is your home. Any deficiency in craftsmanship is on you... caveat emptor! If you notice any detail during the development of your home that doesn't seem quite correct, it is on your shoulders to surface the concern. With independent workers coming into your home with the intent of completing their task, they do so with little to no knowledge of other tasks that have occurred, are occurring, are incomplete, or otherwise are required to start. Also, after the pre-drywall, workers are far more likely to make a change that is difficult and costly to undue, especially should a necessary and preceding step not have been completed, or worse, was completed incorrectly.
In total awareness, this means there is a high likelihood, parts of your home will be compromised because of such an oversight, and if caught too late, which is, in some cases, even the next day is considered too late, will be left to remain, with, or without your cognition to effect.
In retrospect, when tasks appear to break down, or when your PM appears to be aloof, you will start a mental dialogue where perception is at stake. It’s quite likely that the disparity between your knowledge of development and your project manager’s is so great that a concern you may be having is really just based upon misunderstanding. Still though, enough of these can stack up, and can degrade your overall perception, which in turn can contribute to the global perception prospective home buyers have of Ryan Homes. Give your PM a chance to answer, and give RH a chance to make it right. If they don’t make it right, and it’s at your expense, be assured your perception will ultimately balance the equation, and thus it’s to Ryan Home’s credit to do right by you.
Best of luck, and to your good fortune, stay engaged!
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I completely agree! It's probably a good idea to bring in a professional for the pre-drywall so that nothing is missed.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly why our PM stressed the need for good communication throughout the building process. He wanted to know if we had any issues, concerns, questions, etc. He wanted to be sure there was little room for misunderstanding. There were times when we questioned why something was done a certain way or in a certain order because it didn't make sense to us, but after talking about it with the PM we gained an understanding for why things were done the way they are done.
ReplyDeleteWe were blessed with a PM that never got frustrated with our questions and that always took the time to explain things that we didn't understand. We also went into this with the attitude that this is going to be our house so it's our responsibility to keep an eye on things during the build to be sure we'll be happy with the end result. The PM can't read our minds... so if we don't think something is right or if we are unhappy about something it is our responsibility to speak up about it so the PM has the chance to make it right.
I've got the same sentiment, probably because I've got the same PM. In a couple words... he rocks! :) In a few more words, cuz I like to jabber, every question or concern I've raised has been handled exceptionally. The majority are cases where I have not understood part of the process, but there have been a couple where I've drawn attention to legitimate issues and have left the conversation with a strong impression, a confidence the problem will be or is being resolved.
DeleteI concur!! I suggest that new home builders consider getting an inspector just because it's worth having an extra pair of eyes. I am sure each PM is doing the best that they can; however, if the workload is large he could use the support. The things that appear to be the most obvious to the new home buyer will stick out like a sore thumb where as other things that we are unaware of can be patched together and become a potential problem down the road. I have read many blogs where bloggers have shared how lovely the house was and after 30 days of living in the home or even after the 10 month inspection find issues with the home that was faulty.
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