Give my your best house building tips!

[golfgal]

Chances are good that we will be moving and I want to build our next house. We have not done that before and I need tips/ideas on what to do. I have some pretty set ideas of what I would like, Silestone counters, site finished wood floors on the main level, a large laundry room and a particular kitchen layout. After that I don't have a lot of preferences.

For those that have built what would you do/not do again. What are good ways to save money building, maybe things that could be finished easily later? I don't want to put in builder grade carpet to tear it out 3 weeks after we move in for better stuff but anything else we should consider for cost savings? How about the opposite, what should we put extra money into that will save us money over time (I know we will need to put in good windows being in Minnesota for example). Is it worth it to say insulate your garage to help keep heating costs down in the house?

Any and all help would be great. Ideally we could find the "perfect" house and not have to worry about any of this.

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

My best advice.... Don't do it.

Ok, now maybe something you're actually looking for. Figure out what you think it will cost. Then add at least 20%. It you're handy, the best way to save it to do some things yourself.

As far as leaving things to finish later, it will probably take a while since the house will cost more than you think.

Good Luck.

 

[canwegosoon]

I would always have a contract with dates to be met...and concequences if not met. As far as style that is a really indv. item.

 

[mrsgus06]

If you want a multilevel house, you may look into putting the laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms. I have a 5 bedroom house right now, but the laundry room is on the 1st floor, bedrooms on the 2nd floor. Also, when we built our first house, I had electrical outlets placed every 4 feet in the living room and kitchen. In the bedrooms, I had a cable outlet placed on every wall. We did not build the house we live in now, but we are getting ready to add 3 bedrooms and another bath (project starts Saturday, oh yea!) and we are tearing the wall down between formal living room and den to have a great room, will be adding a lot of cable outlets and tons more electrical outlets. With that said, I don't think I will ever build another house. I will find one that fits my needs and make the changes I want gradually, and I am married to a licensed contractor!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Even after you build you will say we should have done....so just be prepared for that.

I will start with the should have done....

1) Neighborhood...watch your start prices, square footage minimums & garages. DO NOT be the BIG HOUSE in the lower price neighborhood. If you want BIG better to go to a neighborhood where everyone has same build price, square footage, 3 car, brick, etc...

2) Elevation of the house. Do brick or brick and stone. Do not do vinyl siding. Siding lowers the look and value of your home.

3) Garage...3 car is a necessity for pushing the price of your house higher. Without it you are stuck.
Also do the 9ft wide door and the highest possible height...do not do a standard garage door size. SUV's can barely make it in, you have to fold in your mirror otherwise.

4) Kitchen Upgrade...This is the best thing you can do for your house. Go top of the line here, counters, appliances, etc...Put your money here. Well worth it!!! (Granite and dark wood, like walnut cabinets is in.)

5) Flooring? Sometimes builders do not do the best installation. Honestly, I would check out their work BEFORE I paid for an upgrade there.

6) Put Master Bedroom on main floor, if you can & you are building a 2 story.

7) If you are doing a 2 story make sure that you do a sound barrier from the upstairs.

8) Plan out your BASEMENT as if you were going to finish it (even if you are not)!!!!! That way you can have some say over where your AC/Furnance, etc..will be placed.

Anyway those are our main issues....I could go on & on....

 

[SeeDisney]

I love our heated lamps/lights in our two bathrooms upstairs.

We have central vac. and love it!!

Don't know if you have kids are not....have a huge walk-in coat closet. Kids' winter coats, their gear, book bags, my coats, boots, ugh!!

Have a mud room. Wished we did!

Have a large master bathroom. Wished we had a larger one.

If there's more I'll think of some.

 

[Minnie824]

Make sure you have a lot of closets.
Plan for a 'mud room' or just some room off the garage for extra junk you have no where else to put.
If your family room is open 2 stories, pay extra and have the fireplace brick or stone go the length of the wall.
Make sure you have 'wall space' if you want it in your foyer. Our foyer is such a waste of space, and I cant put anything in it, because theres no empty walls.
Any electronic wiring (and plan ahead!) you may want now or in the future, have done. Stereo surround sound, cabling, computer stuff, whatever.

 

[MinnieM3]

One more bathroom than you think you need.

Fireplace in the master bedroom

Storage space (we don't have basements here)

 

[mickeyfan2]

I was the general contractor for our home. PM me if you have any questions.

 

[mickeysgal]

We've built two homes and each time there are things that we wish we'd done so be prepared for this. That said, here are my recommendations that I haven't seen mentioned yet. I feel these bump the resale value. We had most of all these in our last house and when we sold, we did well.

1. Walk in closets in every bedroom
2. Separate full baths for every bedroom or shared jack-and-jill bathrooms
3. Low-E glass if you're in a hot climate or at least on those exposures that see a lot of sun.
4. A closet in your laundry room
5. A mud room - nothing better for shoes, book bags, coats, etc.
6. Min 9 ft ceilings on each floor.
7. Sunroom or screen porch
8. If you will have a basement, make it an extra foot deep.
9. Rough plumb the basement with another bath and even a kitchenette.
9. Wired for speakers throughout house with separate room controls
10. Wired for an intercom
11. Solid suface countertops in kitchen, main floor powder room, and master bath. All other countertops in bedroom bathrooms don't have to be.

I couldn't agree more with the advice another poster said about NOT being the highest priced home in the neighborhood. We were real close to being this in our last house and I firmly still believe we could have gotten more for the house if not for the neighborhood. Don't build a designer custom house in an area that will not support its value.

Good Luck!

 

[brerrabbit]

Since you are financing the whole thing go ahead and spend a little more for some energy efficiencies. There is a product called SIPS which are preinsulated wall sections. Instead of being built on site they are shipped from the factory in sections with solid insulating foam inside. They work great. Next seriously consider a tankless water heater. They are more expensive up front but provide hot water on demand and use a lot less energy. I also agree with the garage situation. When we built our house we had a four car garage built. Our lot size prevented it from being four across so its actually two wide by two deep. We have a garage door on the back into the back yard. Also consider a half bath in the garage. We had them build one and its great. A place for both kids and adults to go while playing and working outside without having to track through the house. Also placement of the a/c. heater, and water heater are important. If possible put them in easily acceseble ground floor locations. Down the road when repairs and replacements are needed it will be much easier to access and you won't get charged extra fees because the water heater is in the attic or someother place thats hard to get to. Those are just a few I can think of.

 

[AMcaptured]

We built our house and it is a night mare but worth it in the end because you get what you want. A friend of ours just built a SPECTACULAR house and it is a modular home and WOW, I can't even describe how fabulous it is with less than half of the aggrevation. Now I am not talking a mobile home here, I am talking a real wood frame, cedar shingled home. You would never know it came in 6 sections, it wasn't cheap, it still cost them over 300K before any site work was done but they went all out. Everything was built to their specifications and its custom in every way. The house would have cost so much more to build, they figured they saved at least a 100K over hiring a contractor.

I was totally amazed when I drove up to it the first time, of course I love their paving stone driveway. I would check out different manufacturers online and at least look into it. Modular homes aren't what they used to me.

Here is an article I read recently about them because their house peaked my curiosity.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/01/pf_rustic/index_01.htm?campaign_id=aol_historic

Good Luck, its a big undertaking but with LOTS of hard work and LOTS of research, very rewarding.

 

[Chicago526]

I've never had a house built, but if I ever do, the one thing I'll be sure to do is have plumbing for a bathroom roughed in for the basement. Even if I never get around to having it finnished, the next buyer will see that as a HUGE plus. And it's much easier to put in plubing when the basement is dug, rather than to jack-hammer through it at a later date to lay the plumbing! Having a half or full bath in the basement makes the space very versital, you can use it for a private guest suite when you have company and a family room/rec room the rest of the time.

 

[Karista]

I loved building our house and would love to do it again. Hopefully some day. The one thing is just keep in mind that no matter how perfect you plan it, once it's done you're going to find something that you want changed. It's inevitable. Our friends took 4 years agonizing over their blueprints, right down to where every electrical outlet was going to precisely placed. After all that time, 2 years later, they are talking about changing this and redoing that. Human nature I guess.

If/when we ever build another house, the one thing I would do different is to make sure all of the rooms are painted before we move in. We just went with the builder white because I knew I would want to decorate down the road. Painting is a pain and messy and now I have carpet to cover, trim to tape, etc. Would have been much easier in an empty room.

I would also recommend going neutral with the major stuff, like countertops and expensive flooring. I wanted dark green for my kitchen in the worst way, and our builder really discouraged me. I'm so glad he did, because now I'm starting to get out of my green phase and I know my husband would never agree to replace all of the counters just because I don't like them anymore. Now that flowered wallpaper is another story.....................

 

[Desnik]

We had a house built and it was so stressful for me! Too many desisions.

I completely agree with the poster who said to rough in the plumbing for a bathroom in the basement! Also make the basement a walk out and put in regular size windows, not the small basement type ones. Even if you have no plans to use that space, it is a great selling point and if you have kids, trust me you'll want to finish that space later. Also I would put 9ft ceilings in the basement and first floor.

I also loved the heat lamps we had in our bathrooms.
I would put in an attic with a staircase, no pull down stairs. It is a great space for storage and it won't be a pain to get in and out of. We have this now and love it.

I also agree with going all out in your kitchen. Upgrade everything! It will be worth it and a kitchen is not something you want to have to renovate and upgrade later. Trust me, I'm moving and going on my 4th house and DH is a contractor. I know that lots of things builders charge for are way over priced and you could probably get someone else to do somethings after for cheaper, like crown mouldings.

Also, keep in mind that the first year your house will settle and you will get some cracks. Lot's of people I know wait a year before painting any colors.

Our house we built had upgraded wiring for our tv's, I think it was CAT5, they now have CAT7. It was also networked, and had a central speaker system. All things I would do again.

Gas fireplace, no forced air heat, no cathedral ceilings, those are the things I would've done differently.

Add about 25% to the amount you think it will cost.

But, the most important thing no matter how nice a house you built is LOCATION!!! Check out every nook and crany about the land/area around where you want to build.

 

[suzannen]

Just know at the outset that:
1) It will always cost more than you think it will (you'll be amazed at all the "extras" that keep popping up, and
2) It will always take longer than you think it will (the electrician can't come until such & such is in, the weather means the roof/driveway can't be laid this week, the granite you ordered is now on back order, ...)

As long as you remember this and are truly prepared for it, you will have fun and may feel less aggravation. We positively love our house and it was a very rewarding experience. But, I'm not sure we would ever make the decision to build again.

 

[barkley]

don't cheap out on the yard. we opted to pay a separate contractor to come in and regrade the yard and add a drainage system as well as drip and watering systems wired into timers. our outside upgrades cause our house to "comp" out at the highest end of our neighborhood (and we are up against landscaping with high end pools, waterfalls and the like-which cost the homeowners 50 or 60k more than our stuff).

i always have to be concerned with resale (just the way i am) so i would want to find out what is popular in a particular region. electric appliances may be a personal choice, but if gas is popular in the area having a gas line plumbed during construction is a lower cost investment that can pay off in the end. we don't like water softners but went ahead and had the garage plumbed for one because most people in our area consider this a basic offering.

one of the things i did'nt think about but love in our current home is the wide hallways and space around the doors. it never occured to me how valuable this is until my mom got to the point of sometimes needing to use her wheelchair. she has so much more accessability in our house than most.

i think on upgrades in general-look at what it will take to do them post construction and what hassle it will entail. anything that will require pulling out drywall or cement will likely be more cost effective during the building process (we did upgraded wiring for our computers as well as upgraded in the garage where we knew we would have an extra fridge and freezer).

one thing i wish we had done was to see if we legaly could have put the fuse box inside the master bedroom closet. it would be so nice not to have to go outside in the dark, in the cold to throw back a breaker switch.

 

[Tanuki]

First and foremost - start with a good plan.

Buy a computer program that lets you simulate the house you plan to build.
We used 3D home architect - take the time to put in the floor plan yourself and spend a LOT of time visualizing the rooms. These programs will let you put the furniture you actually HAVE in the room and see if it will fit. A lot of these floor plans make you imagine a large house because they have a lot of rooms. The rooms are basically the size of closets and your furniture will not fit. So make sure you thoroughly understand the floor plan and how it meshes with your family's lifestyle.

We saved enough money to put in Corian countertops by changing from the more expensive 12 pitch roof the plan called for to a 10 pitch roof.

Make sure you consider your plans for placement of furniture before you purchase your lighting fixtures

and be sure you have enough phone lines and cable outlets

 

[malibuconlee]

Dont get into a rush. My friend and her DH moved into his new house about a year before they got married. He spent years finding the right piece of land, saving his money, knocking down the barn on the land, only to rush at the end.

They decided to do the painting themselves and only did one coat because "they guy installing all the trim needed to get started". My friend was trying to figure out how to cover up the holidays in the paint after the trum was up. You know, the light spots when you need another coat.

The funny thing is her DH and his family own a lumber yard and deal with new home builds all the time. They should have just taken another weekend to put that second coat on. It doesn't take that long and you know it's a house they're never going to sell.

My MIL works at a local bank and they see more couples have marital trouble or even divorce over building a house. It's very stressful.

 

[TxJasmine]

We had our house built 13 years ago, and it was a nightmare! We love our house now, but I'm not sure I'd ever want to build another one. You may have a great experience building, but if you don't, then you must be ready to stand your ground and fight. If something isn't done the way you want, then don't settle and think it will be okay. You will have to live with any problems for a long time, so make sure things are done correctly. Getting into confrontations with your builder isn't a lot of fun - but sometimes it's necessary in order to get things done.

Some of the things we wish we had added (but didn't) are these:

Cable and phone jacks in all rooms.

Double oven. Really wish we had another oven, and I don't even cook much! They are also good selling points.

3 car oversized garage. Also good to have a lot of extra garage space for storage, workshop, etc.

Walk in attic access from a closet. Much easier than using the pull down stairs.

Extra electrical outlets outside. It always amazes me as to how much we use electricity outside. It's especially important for Christmas decorations!

Have backyard access through a utility room or garage. Don't have the only access from a living room or bedroom.

Have a built in safe under a closet floor. A neighbor did this, and I really wish we had done the same. It's a great idea for storing jewelry.

That's all I can think of for now!