Updated Basement Layout

See below for an updated layout of the unfinished basement.

Knowing that we want to finish the space later I was a bit reluctant on the placement of the sump pump, but it is where it makes the most sense for the property.  We'll have to trim it out later.

Some good news is that the sump pump won't simply dump outside onto the soil.  They will be running the line underground and back to the easement at the rear of the property.

The electrical will be sleeved under the garage and down to the panel as located in the diagram.

The natural gas service is a pending concern.  Since the service enters the house on the garage side, we were told the pipe would run into the garage, then up the wall, across the ceiling, and back down the wall to then enter the basement - all outside of the drywall (visible / in the way in the garage).  Since the garage is somewhat narrow for two cars as it is, I'm not happy with that idea and have requested changing this in some way to conceal the line.  I provided some ideas and hope to hear back with something positive.

We moved the windows around to accommodate a future patio area in the back and also add some light to the front half of the basement.

Virtual Tour & Interior Pictures (from RH)

So, I went to the RH website to check out a few things on the brochure for the Bateman and realized they just added a virtual tour from one of their models!  Also some decent interior photos!

Check it out here (Foyer to Great Room)

Looks like this is a Bateman built reverse plan, lots of upgrades.

The tour isn't the most intuitive to navigate, but one can move around fairly easily to get a perception of spacing.

Other direct links:
Study
Owner's Bed
Bed 3 to Hallway
Finished Basement

Some pictures from that site as well:

 Exterior Elevation

 Great Room (w/ tray ceiling, additional windows, fireplace, etc)

 Great Room into Kitchen

Kitchen & Morning Room w/ Hutch

Dining Room w/ tray 

 Study w/ extra windows

Owner's Bedroom w/ Sitting Area

 Owner's Bath

Finished Basement

Bedroom 2 (altered due to Sitting Area)

Pre-Construction Meeting Complete

Our pre-construction meeting is complete and we are still scheduled to dig on 2015-05-05.

The dirt pile has been pushed out and our lot will be staked soon.  There is a pending question about our gas line coming into the house and I was not excited about the prospect of it riding the interior wall (outside of the drywall) in the garage (up the wall, across the ceiling, and down the wall again to enter the basement).

I need to update my ongoing set of plans with the various items we altered / selected today.  I'll post those, but otherwise there won't be much to update until some progress is made on the site.

2nd Floor Lighting and NVR Update

Much like the previous post, please be aware that these are my sketches and are for impressions.  These aren't specific plans and are just to share the road we took on lighting.

INCLUDED

Included we were again pleased with a number of unexpected items.

Two recessed in the upstairs hall that are also tied to a recessed at the bottom of the stairs - all on a 4-way switch (three switch locations)

One ceiling light in laundry room

Two ceiling lights in master closet

One ceiling light in 2nd bed closet

Ceiling light and exhaust fan in the master toilet area

One recessed over the master shower (reminder that we did the roman shower upgrade)

Exhaust fan in master bath

Vanity lights over both vanities (I believe they are both 3-light) in mater bath

One recessed over bath 1 shower

Exhaust fan in bath 1

Vanity light over the double vanity in bath 1 (I believe this is a 4-light)

Switched outlets in each bedroom including the master/sitting area

The one switched outlet in the sitting area to light the entire master bed is absurd.  I know it meets code, but for all the great inclusions on this house this one seems a bit lacking.

FINAL

Our changes:
Moved the switched outlet in the master to behind where the headboard will go (for lamps, etc)
Moved the switched outlet in bed 2 to the front wall (for decorations in the windows)
Added one ceiling light with switch in the sitting area
Added ceiling fan rough in to master bed (and will add some recessed lights after we move in)
Added ceiling fan rough in to each of the other three beds (Bed 2 will definitely need additional lighting, but 3 and 4 may get away with just the fans)


After we close, I'll be hooking in a control/automation system with smart switches all around the home.  We upgraded to Decora outlets throughout the house but not the switches.  We didn't do the switches because we'll be swapping in plenty of dimmer switches along with the smart switches.  In the end, the entire house will be Decora in one fashion or another.


We are installing plenty of low voltage items, but I'm not going to do a ton of detail on here until after we wire it.  I have the fortunate circumstance of owning a professional audio/video integration company and we work in new construction all the time.  I put my company through NVR's compliance program so that I will be allowed to work on the site and install various LV items on my own (speaker runs, TV runs, cat6, coax, automation lines, network surveillance runs, etc).  If you're not a professional in this regard, I wouldn't recommend pursuing this track.  It is very expensive in regards to insurance a company needs to carry and would likely outweigh the cost of paying Guardian or the electricians to do this work for you.  Lucky for me we already carry that insurance and have a solid reputation in this market - so we are going to add quite a bit of technology to our home.

As another note here, Guardian isn't all that big in Central NY.  ADT is the big player in town with Time Warner and others being second.  There is apparently one Guardian rep located about 150miles from us and he works through the electricians so he doesn't need to travel much.  We never met him, but the appointment wouldn't have been very valuable to us considering their pricing, the five year commitment, and the fact that I represent a variety of security companies with my business.

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I received a surprise phone call today from our NVR rep.  She let me know our loan was approved!  While we were on the phone I heard the email notification come through from the processor with our commitment letter as well.  Great stuff!

1st Floor Lighting

In this post you'll find a floor plan from RH's website that I have customized.  The "included" plan is from my memory and may not be a representation of what lighting is included in your area or in the future.  The "final" plan is the lighting we opted to have installed.

INCLUDED

The included lighting was better than we expected, but did not live up to what we desired.  

Five total recessed lights in the kitchen plus three pendants over the island.
A recessed light in what is considered the "dinette"
A hanging light in the dining room
Three recessed in the foyer
One recessed in the powder room hall
Two recessed in the stairwell to 2nd floor
Two recessed in stairwell to basement
Vanity light and fan in powder room
Two ceiling lights in the garage
A ceiling light in the mudroom
Switched outlets in the morning room, great room and study
Three standard lights are included on the front of the home
One wall light near the back door
Another wall light near the rear garage door that is standard when opting for having that door installed

FINAL

We moved the dining room hanging light into the morning room.

We moved one of the kitchen recessed into line with the "dinette" recessed

We added four recessed in the great room

Added a ceiling light in the study

Added four recessed in the dining room (that we plan to use as a library)

Added a floodlight above the garage (yellow)

Added three floodlights on the back of the home (yellow)

Hopefully these are useful in planning out your lighting.  We like to have the ability to get rooms fairly bright.  I'll add the second floor when I have time to lay it out  We spent around $5000 on additional lighting around the house, but did so mostly to meet a set of circumstances that allowed us to add additional lighting after we close using the runs done before drywall.  Since the first floor will not be easily accessible (like the unfinished basement or using the attic above the second floor) we added everything we wanted (except for some closet/pantry lighting and under/over cabinet lights we will add later).

Yard Space & Measurements

Not much of an update to share yet.  We had our electrical selections meeting and spent a bit more money, but we believe that with our additions the home will be fit our needs perfectly.

I'll create another post later about the electrical and what we came up with for lighting, etc.  That's one important piece I didn't see on other blogs very often.  I am creating my own rough sketches to keep track of everything we have selected for use later to confirm it is what we received, etc.

We were thinking about the back yard today and how big it might be.  It was tough to visualize, so I created this (almost exactly) proportional sketch.  The back yard ends up being just shy of 4000 sqft which is more than we have now and certainly enough room for us to entertain and our two small dogs.

We haven't decided if we will later add a deck or patio and may add a shed as well.  For now, hopefully the attached sketch helps.

All measurements are in feet.  BL is the building line.  I left the rear fence line in aligned with the back of the house, but may elect to move it forward a bit depending on how it all comes out.  The rear fenced area comes out to 56x74 minus the 18x10 morning room. Approximately 3964 sqft back there.

Hopefully anyone with a similar lot size may find this useful to visualize the yard.  Eventually I will sketch on the potential deck/patio, shed, front path and front door stoop as well.

Look forward to a future post with my floor plan sketches and our lighting, outlets, and low voltage diagrams.  Our electrician worked with a group that is currently building a Bateman model and had some creative ideas for lighting placement that we liked.

Overhead estimation of what our house will be with neighbors.

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