Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Guardian question

Ok, so we meet with Guardian in a few days, and then everything will be done and we just wait.

I know that we will discuss the alarm system thing (not happening), all the pre-wire stuff, extra outlets, ect. Is there anything else we should know or expect? Do they discuss any lighting stuff?

I looked at the lighting in the model today and it was fine. I don't think any of it was upgraded because the dining room light was candle-like. Does that make sense? Anyway, if that is the one light I don't like, I can upgrade it later in life. You know?

I know that the extra lights we wanted come with the house, so I'm good there.

I'm going to take some of the advice I learned here and put a few extra outlets in (garage for one and then one of our master closets. Maybe an extra on the island too).

Can anyone tell me the pro's of having them pre-wire for digital? Is it worth the money?

Ok, I think I have rambled enough. Any info you could give me would be great. Thanks so much guys! Love ya!

12 comments:

  1. I feel like a lot of the other bloggers discuss so much with their Guardian people..we only talked about a security system. All the extra electrical stuff like extra outlets or pre-wires we worked out with our sales rep. I don't think Guardian is in charge of the lighting. We got cable outlets in family room and all the bedrooms and an extra outlet in the master closet. But the extra outlets in the garage are a pretty good idea. So far we aren't feeling like we missing an outlet anywhere..
    I agree about the lighting, we have checked out some possible options from Home Depot and Lowes that we can put in later for much cheaper than the upgraded light fixtures Ryan is offering. Hope you have a good meeting with Guardian!

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  2. We have our meeting with Guardian on Friday. I have left a lot of this up to my husband since he seemed to be very interested in having every room wired for cable and telephone. I read a suggestion on another blog about having an outlet on the outside of the front of the home. This was more for holiday decorations. Also, my husband want at least a ceiling light box or ceiling fan/light box in every room.

    I'm not sure if this helps, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who is searching for some advice. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

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  3. Thanks ya'll!

    Our meeting is Friday too. I just like to be as prepared as possible! lol Thank God for all you lovely bloggers!! =)

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  4. HW: I tried to comment on your blog, but it said it's restricted to team members.

    In anycase...CONGRATS!

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  5. Hey HW...open your blog up to the rest of us crazy Ryan Home bloggers. That's half the fun and you will find you will get tons of ideas from suggestion others make.

    Noey...see my blog for a full list of everything Guardian has to offer. If you are getting Guardian to do a prewire for a TV in a location where there is not an electrical outlet they will include that in their list. Other then that you usually do all your electrical and lighting changes with your sales rep.

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  6. Some thoughts...
    1) One thing to keep in mind about the security system is that you get the feature whereby the system will send out an alert to fire and police in the event of fire. I saw this save the new Ryan home next to ours last month. The people closed just last Dec 1st, and were not home at the time, but a defective lamp timer they had hooked up caused a fire in their L/R, and the emergency vehicles arrived very quickly, thanks to the Guardian system, and were able to save the house. The damage was 90%+ smoke related, next to no structural damage.
    2) Consider outlets in your master closets, and garage, as said above.
    3) Consider pre-wiring for any room you may install a ceiling fan/chandelier in.
    The temptation to add phone, cable, etc. for every room gets expensive. With wireless technology, not as many phone/ethernet jacks would be needed nowadays. We installed our cable modem and wireless router in the basement and have good coverage throughout the house for internet.
    We put cable outlets in any room that we could foresee having a TV in, even occassionally. For example, if someone is staying over, we might hook up a smaller flat screen TV in that BR temporarily. When the particular cable connection is not being used, I terminate the connection using a 75ohm terminator. This prevents any signal leakage and results in greater stability.
    The kitchen lighting package is something we're glad we got. We also got the lighting package for our finished basement which we like. We did not get any recessed lighting in any BR though, going with lamps instead.

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  7. We had prewiring done for tvs that we plan to mount on the wall so that all the cables are hidden. We also had them place outlets at the appropriate height for those tvs (power cords cannot be run through the wall and still meet code). You add most outlets through the sales rep, but we were told that any more than 6 inches above the floor had to be done through guardian.

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  8. All the lighting stuff is done through your Sales Rep the guardian does not do any of the lightings. As for the outlets you will again have to go through them with your Sales Rep. If you ask for the blueprints of where exactly the outlets will be it will help you visualize where it will be. If you plan to have a TV mount on the wall then you will want to add an outlet in that area. Adding an extra outlet on the island is a good idea that is what we are also doing.

    The Guardian is only responsible for cable, internet, phone lines, audio sounds, central vac system, and any pre-wires for TV. We added a prewire to go over our fireplace mount since it will make it look nicer and not have to worry about running any wires around the fireplace or in the family room.

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  9. See, now I'm NOT happy with my Rep. I told her I needed to know about the outlets, but when my hubby said he'd just take it up with Guardian, she dropped it. UGH! And, she NEVER brought up lighting at all!! The only time she did was the recessed lighting in the kitchen, did we want it? I'd never known about the ones above the fireplace if it wasn't for you guys! She never gave us any upgrades list or anything.

    As person, she's great!! As a Ryan Rep, at least to us, she is starting to look so good. I emailed her over the weekend. It's WED!!, and I haven't heard from her! This happens way too much. I know she went out of her way to get us that incentive money that paid for our morning room, but seriously? I need details she isn't giving me.

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  10. *that was suppose to say NOT look so good.

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  11. How much time do you have left before all of your options need to be finalized? I asked our sales rep for an upgrades list prior to even signing the purchase agreement and she was happy to provide one and explain anything that needed explaining. It listed all of the possible upgrades for every section of the house, as well as prices. Then when we met to do our purchase agreement we went through every item on there and discussed if we wanted it, and looked at all of the pictured upgrades in their look book (light fixtures, faucet fixtures, everything). Why don't you call her instead of emailing her? Or just stop into the model. I never even had my reps email address. If emailing her is making time tick away on your deadlines, pick up the phone and call her twice daily until you get answers. Maybe things are different where you are, but here Guardian only handled the alarm and the technology things. Regular lighting and regular outlets were done completely by Ryan.

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  12. Lispis: Not sure yet. *shrugs*

    I can't stop by all that easy. My toddler is VERY active and at most of our meetings, I'm stuck watching her instead of participating. A one on one with the Rep is impossible to do with my toddler in tow.

    I email, because I like having the written copy of correspondence. I don't want any mistakes made or anyone saying "I didn't say that". I want it all documented. She said to email her anytime. I have. It's what easiest for me. Plus with three kids, I rarely get to carry on a phone conversation for more more than 5 minutes. It's always something. *eye roll*

    @Mike: Thanks for the info! We just can't justify spending an extra $60 a month on something like that right now. It's a lot of money a year. We have other priorities. But, it does give me something to think about!

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