Tips for building a new house

[Golf4food]

I know these threads have existed before because I remember seeing them but no amount of searching on the site or via Google using a site modifier brings up anything useful for some reason... so a new thread!

DW and I are considering a new house with the market being affordable at the moment and are deciding between existing and new construction. After living in our current home built in 1959 and all the fun that entails, the idea of a brand new home up to modern code with - hopefully - fewer things to fix (at least early on) out of pocket is quite alluring, lol. Also the ability to control changes from the start and not have to fix someone else's do-it-yourself screw ups.

So any that have built a new construction home recently, can you offer tips, advise, warnings, ideas, concepts and rationalizations, obscure findings, etc. The more the merrier.

 

[C.Ann]

The biggest tip I can give you - if you plan on living in this house into retirement - is do not go hog wild and build more than what you actually need.. I have seen people waste an awful lot of money doing that..

Also - if you plan on living in this house "forever", make all doorways wider (handicap accessible) and install a bath with a seat and grab bars.. Try to avoid a multi-level home that would make it impossible to live in if you or your spouse should one day end up in a wheelchair.. Also be careful of how you have the house set on the lot should you one day need a wheelchair ramp..

Don't mean to be a downer, but these are serious issues to consider when you're making such a large investment..

Good luck!

 

[agentpleakley]

My guess is that you will be able to get a better bargain from buying v. building your own. There are a lot of spec houses in our area way below what they were selling for last year - some in my neighborhood have dropped as much as 75k. We built in 2004 and I'm seeing spec houses for less than what it cost us to build ours.

If you do decide to build -- do not buy KENMORE appliances. My stove is a POS and my microwave/hood just died last night.

 

[DebbieW]

After having lived in my house for a number of years, here are a few things I would change or do differently --

1. Water spigots on all sides of the exterior of the house to allow for easy watering of flower beds, lawn, and washing of cars.

2. Electrical outlets strategically placed on the exterior of the house (think holiday lights).

3. Electricity available for lighting in flower beds, or uplighting for trees.

4. Sufficient number of windows to allow for natural lighting in every room.

These are just a few of the things that really bug me about my house and are on my list of must haves whenever I purchase my next one. I could probably think of more if I had more time.

 

[richsilver]

Include a whole house generator.Have some type of window protection built in also.Much easier to do this when building.

Consider whole house tile floors and rugs.I wish we had done this years ago.

3 car garage for 2 cars.Nothing worse than having to try and squeeze in and out your door every day.

If land needs to be cleared,and you really want to be good and save that tree near your slab,don't.It may die off from the digging and you'll be stuck paying to remove it.

A few of the things I can think of right now that I wish we would have done when we built.



rich

 

[Kae]

After having lived in my house for a number of years, here are a few things I would change or do differently --

1. Water spigots on all sides of the exterior of the house to allow for easy watering of flower beds, lawn, and washing of cars.

2. Electrical outlets strategically placed on the exterior of the house (think holiday lights).

3. Electricity available for lighting in flower beds, or uplighting for trees.

4. Sufficient number of windows to allow for natural lighting in every room.

These are just a few of the things that really bug me about my house and are on my list of must haves whenever I purchase my next one. I could probably think of more if I had more time.

Very good ones. Also when it comes to windows try to get sizes that are availble in ready made Blinds, shades & such you will save a ton. If you can have the gagrage drywalled & finish coated. My sister has a slop/laundry tub in her gargage & loves it. She said to basically cost her the price of the sink & faucet. Stay in the price range of the neighborhood/area.

Kae

 

[eeyore65]

Just finishing up my custom house...

- check the background on everyone you hire. We had mostly good experiences but we had one guy take off with substantial deposit money.
-design your dream and then cut back sq feet. This saves you tons of money in the long run. Every sq foot helps.
- Bathrooms are very expensive. How many do you really need? Do they need to be full baths?
- Lighting is very important and hard to change later. Better to have more lights and outlets then less.
- Learn to love your builder. You will be spending lots of time together.
- Compromise with your spouse. Pick your battles for stuff you really care about. It is a long process with more decisions then you would ever dream you would have to make.
- Use the internet! We found tons of stuff cheaper on-line and could get local people to match. We also found more options then we did in stores.

 

[Golf4food]

Lots of good stuff so far.

Some other considerations:

We have no kids now, but plan to start in the upcoming few years. With that in mind, what are some tips you may have for building a house knowing there will be children involved - things to watch out for, things that would make life easier, etc.?

 

[agentpleakley]

Lots of good stuff so far.

Some other considerations:

We have no kids now, but plan to start in the upcoming few years. With that in mind, what are some tips you may have for building a house knowing there will be children involved - things to watch out for, things that would make life easier, etc.?

We ended up building because of kids. Our kids have way more stuff than either DH or I. We wanted their bedrooms to be large and for them both to have very large walk-in closets. So glad we did this. It is such a pleasure that everything and the kitchen sink is nicely organized into their closets.

We also have their rooms on the 2nd floor, ours is on the first. Second floor is the kids floor. Their bedrooms, bathroom, family room all on the second floor. Keeps my living room clean. We also put two huge walk in closets on the 2nd floor just for storage. I never thought we would fill all of the storage space. HA HA silly me -- in 4 years both walk in closets are close to capacity as well as 2 attics, garage and storage shed. You can never have too much storage space.

The only mistakes with our house which I truly regret are (1) should have added a screened-in porch and (2) I wish we would have his and her closets in our master suite (DH is not too neat).

 

[Mom2Nick]

Building with kids in mind really depends on how long you plan on staying in this house. Is this a 5-10 year house or a long term, this is going to be the "house we raise our children in" house?

If it's a 5-10 year house build it with all bedrooms on the same floor. It's a pain to have to go up and downstairs to tuck in and check on little ones.

If it's a long term house - then do the master bedroom downstairs but make sure you have a seconday bedroom you can use for a nursery nearby. Make the nursery large enough so you can convert it to a study/homework area/computer room when all the kids are in school.

BIG CLOSETS and BIG LINEN CLOSETS. Think of not only clothing but storage for large toys. Toy boxes hold very little...

Try and make the bedrooms for the children as close to the same size as possible so nobody is upset Jane got the "good room".

Bathrooms - double sinks in all full bathrooms unless you are able to build one full bathroom per bedroom. Having double sinks in the guest bathroom makes life almot heavenly when you are trying to wash 3 sets of hands and brush 3 sets of teeth at night.

You need at least one regular old tub in the house. Trying to wash a wiggly child in a big jacuzzi tub is rough.

Have a large mud room in between your garage entrance and the kitchen area. Large enough to store backpacks, muddy shoes, coats, hats, mittens etc.

A secondary living area separate from your main living area- even if it's a finished basement or upstairs family room. This is great for when the kids are little and there are toys everywhere - but also when they're bigger and want to have friends over.

 

[agentpleakley]

Note about bathrooms I just remembered. We had to eliminate one bathroom because of the size of the septic tank that the Health Dept. would approve for our lot. If you are going to build where you need a septic tank - check with the Health Dept first before you get your heart set. Our bathroom elimination was fine since we were done having kids at the time. Had we wanted additional children - that 4th bathroom would have been a necessity.

 

[SeeVee]

I just built one and I have one thing that just bigs the snot out of us....the shower head in the master bath is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to high! it is probably a little over 7 feet in the air...my wife and I are both about 5.5 feet.

Since the enclosure is cultured marble, there is not much we can do to lower it.

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

We just moved into our newly-constructed house and the best thing we did was this. We took the two front bedroom and made one huge master bedroom with a huge walk in closet. Our kids are gone and this house will be ours through retirement so we chose a one level ranch (full basement). Our washer/dryer is on the main level so that as we get older it will be appropriate for us. We did have daylight windows installed in the huge basement so that we can put the third bedroom down there and it will be at code. Also, if you are not going to finish the basement right away, put in at least rough-in for the bathroom. Our kitchen/dining area/livingroom is an open plan so that when all kiddoes are back, it is very easy to visit.

We have a three-stall garage, but wish we would have taken the back of the third stall further back making it longer. Oh well. We also wish we would have put an electrical outlet in the huge walk in closet. Again, oh well.

We absolutely love our new home and I wish you the best in what ever you decide. Have fun with it!!!!

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

I just built one and I have one thing that just bigs the snot out of us....the shower head in the master bath is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to high! it is probably a little over 7 feet in the air...my wife and I are both about 5.5 feet.

Since the enclosure is cultured marble, there is not much we can do to lower it.

That happened to us also!!!!!!! I am only 5'3"!!!! ARGH.

 

[agentpleakley]

That happened to us also!!!!!!! I am only 5'3"!!!! ARGH.

Okay - I'm going home to measure mine. I have no idea - DH does not complain at this house, he's 6'5"-- at our other house he used to complain that the shower head was too low.

 

[rwdavis2]

On the first floor skip the separate formal living room AND family room. You'll never use the living room. We turned ours into a den that gets tons of use: boo shelves, computers, etc. You may want to consider a house on a sloped piece of ground where the entire back of the lower level (basement) can be open to the outside with doors and windows. You can put kids' rooms down there and when they leave you have storage or guest rooms.

Look at some open floor plans such as Deck House, Acorn, or Lindel. They make pre-fab, post and beam homes that are really nice. Pricey but nice.
Bob

 

[arminnie]

Put a walk-in closet (large) in every bedroom. I also recommend a large walk-in pantry with adjustable shelves - sizes of items (especially appliances) will change over time.

Try not build anything to specifically fit a certain appliance unless there will be an easy way to modify it later. I have a kitchen that was redone 12 years ago. Most of today's refrigerators are now about 1/4 to 1/2" wider, so I cannot get one without removing cabinets. It could have been done with molding on the side of cabinets for a smooth fit - replacing molding (or filler) would be easier than ripping out all of the cabinets.

I can't tell you how many people have beautiful cabinetry in their homes (<10 years old) that will not hold a larger TV than is the norm today.

Put in LOTS of storage. Cabinets and shelving everywhere.

 

[SeeVee]

On the first floor skip the separate formal living room AND family room. You'll never use the living room. We turned ours into a den that gets tons of use: boo shelves, computers, etc. You may want to consider a house on a sloped piece of ground where the entire back of the lower level (basement) can be open to the outside with doors and windows. You can put kids' rooms down there and when they leave you have storage or guest rooms.

Look at some open floor plans such as Deck House, Acorn, or Lindel. They make pre-fab, post and beam homes that are really nice. Pricey but nice.
Bob

Perfect for the occasional Halloween celebration!

 

[agentpleakley]

Perfect for the occasional Halloween celebration!

 

[northcapemaymom]

Whatever you "think" the cost of extra accessories for your home will be...double it. Don't forget to add in all the little stuff such as towel racks, medicine cabinets, landscaping, shelving in closets, ceiling fans, etc. It's amazing how much the little things add up in the house budget. After building our home we must have easily spent $15,000 the first year in moved in. Writing those checks was sure fun!