Besides reading this forum :) talk to lots of people that have been through it before. If you are building on your property keep in mind how far you will be from the electrical hook up and water, etc. Talk to your utility co. to see what they charge from where you want your house to the road, etc. House plans are everywhere; internet, magazines, books, etc. Even if you don't buy a plan off the internet(like we did) you will at least get an idea of the type of house you want. I would say that "word of mouth" is so important for good and bad things; builders, contractors, subs. One thing I have learned already is that there will ALWAYS be some unexpected expenses!! Our excavation should only have been about $3K and we ended up paying $10K because they hit "hard pan", kind of a rock ledge which makes digging almost impossible! So be prepared for anything! Best of luck to you! Hope this is helpful!

DEFINE before you design! (That's the name of my blog...can you tell I used to work at a software company...define your software requirements (what customers need) before you design the software!

Somtimes it can be easier to start with what you know won't work, based on past experience. For example, in your current home, what drives you crazy? You know you want to fix those things.

This is an excerpt from my first blog entry:

Before we could even define what we wanted in a house, we had to figure out what problems we wanted to solve and what amenities we wanted to include in the new home. This involved up-front research and decision-making. We walked our chosen land over and over again to understand the setting, the orientation of north/south, the ground conditions and the views in all seasons.

We thoroughly considered what problems we wanted to solved. We prioritized amenities into "must have" or "nice to have" categories. We spent hours visiting open houses, studying house plans and looking through books and magazines.

It may be easier to make sense of my writing if you go back to the first blog in March of 2007.

Hope this is helpful.
Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: blog about building our home

Hi Cindy

First of all reading this forum is a great start. I wish I had been a regular here back when we first started planning.

I would recommend a couple of things.

First spend a lot of time on your land. Really get to know it so you know exactly what views you have and can take advantage of etc. That will help you pick/design your house plans. We live where we are buidling and have for 14 years. One of the things that people say about our house is that it is "perfectly" sited. Of course it is! I have been mowing/working and playing on the property for years and know exactly what each site line was!

Look at many many plans. The plan we eventually used was one I saw about 8-10 yeas ago and it stuck in my mind. I was certainly not intent on it when we started this process but it eventually came out on top. I think if you look at your land and the plans you like you will then be able to figure out if you can do a stock plan or you need an architect or some design help.

Start spending some time on the road. Assuming you are going to use a custom builder - the best ones are often very low key and it's a stroke of luck finding thme. Start looking at new construction anywhere you see it... or nice remodels. Drive down a lot of country roads if you are in that type of area. You will find the hidden gems. Don't be afraid to ask people who built their home. I knocked on several doors to ask just that. Our builder ( who rocks by the way) has built about 12 homes in our area over about 8 years. I was stunned to knock on the doors of two very different homes and find out he had built both of them. That told me he was able to not only build a nice home but also build the vision of the owners.

Start making a file now. Any pictures, brochures etc of anything you like- start a file. Pictures are worth a 1000 words when you are trying to relay your ideas to someone.

Last but not least- save your money!! Easier said than done. We literally have done the very minimum to our current house ( which will be torn down) over at least the last 5-6 years - that's when we decided to build. Since then we have developed a nasty hole in the bathroom floor, towel racks have been broken, screen doors have broken, lights have fallen off the ceiling, the pipes under the kitchen sink have rusted through etc etc ( most recently the main burner on my cooktop went out.... the house knows!) and we have done the bare bare bare bones minimum to keep it going. We call it adventure living. We dont' know how to act when we get in our nice new house and we can actually flush the toilet more than once an hour.

I think we met with our builder for the first time about 2.5 years before we started. Some of that time we were waiting on him. We actually sat down with him with several different plans, several different times and he helped us actually finalize what plan to go with.

I hope this novella helps. Our build has gone really well- mostly because I am really clear about what I want and I trust my builder.

Have fun!

PD

Pay loads of attention to how you want each room oriented to take advantage of natural light...Don't forget to consider changes at different times of day and with the seasons.

Also remember that your lifestyle today may not be your lifestyle of 5 or 20 years (if this is your 'forever house') from now. Think how life might/will develop and change and how you'll want the house to meet your needs best at each stage.

We are in approximately the same situation, although we hope to break ground in 2 years or less. I've been doing LOTS of research into not only house designs, but also the 'nuts and bolts' of modern construction- plumbing, electric, type of foundation, siding, roofing, insulation, flooring, etc. There are lots of 'new' or 'alternate' types of construction you might want to consider- SIPS, ICF, timber frame, etc. You're going to need answers to all those questions some day! Knowing nothing about you, my generic advise would be to think small and save every penny you can. People are starting to build smaller and smarter these days. Our future build has become a goal to be attained, and money is the number one issue. We hope to not have a mortgage when it's all said and done. I'll also echo the advise about siting the home, and where you want windows, etc. You might want to read some books on this topic; I recommend 'A Pattern Language' for starters. It's a kind of strange book for people used to typical homes, but it will open your eyes to a lot of possibilities. At this point, you have a lot of studying to do!

If you have the capability, work with any of the subs before you start your house. We put up a storage building the year before we started our house and hired the plumber, electrician and a concrete guy for that. I got their names through referrals, but it was nice to work with them ahead of time and make sure that they were easy to work with and did their job well. I know a lot of builders have their own subs, so you could get their names from your builder. Choosing the right builder is half the battle, but working with the subs is a big part of it, too.

I recommend 'A Pattern Language' for starters

I second that. We're to the point where we say to our architect: "See #139: Farmhouse Kitchen" and he understands immediately what we're trying to achieve. Of course, it helps that he's familiar with the book.

It's pricey, though, so you may want to get it from the library.

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, by Christopher Alexander.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon link

Although I'm sure you did due diligence when purchasing your land, keep up to date on any local, state, or federal changes in land usage regulations that will affect your build. For instance, does your area now have seismic/high wind requirements for a build and it didn't 5 years ago when you purchased your land? What about that "drainage ditch" that runs across the property. Has something changed in the county map so that it's now considered a "wetlands"? Is the area now covered by a city sewer system rather than having to have a septic? What about your muncipality's plans to expand the small local airport to accommodate the flight school that's locating there? Is your home going to be sited under increasing air traffic? Etc. THese are all true situations that have affected some builds. Be up on things before they surprise you.

If permitting and codes are enforced in your area, regardless of wether you are owner/building or having the services of a builder, introduce yourself down at the building dept. and get familiar w/ their mode of operation concerning your build. Ask for a copy(s) of local code requirements and the order that they run their inspections. Once familiar w/ codes, go to building sites and take a look at varoious phases of a build. Get familiar w/ lot prep, septic/sewer tie ins/grading-pad requirements, utilities,etc as that's the starting point of the physical part of the show (breaking ground). Research until you think you cant research no more, then more research. Learn how to file,log ,use of spreadsheets for every aspect of the build. Plan on completely enveloping yourself w/ the build and make it the most important thing going in your life w/ the exception of family. Get involved, try to stay on top of things wether you are building or a builder. No question is a stupid question when it comes to building, so never hesitate to ask.This is advise that would come fairly close to breaking ground. The above posters advise is for you to consider now getting the ball rolling in your mind, house placement on the land and all.

We are in a similar situation as you, too. We have the land and will be building a pond on the land, then the house. With retirement about 6-7 years away I felt like I had lots of time - in fact, felt rather foolish even thinking about the build this far in advance.

I begain to realize, though, by thinking about a timeline, that I am not so foolish. The property is in SC and we are in IN so that further complicates things. My sister lives near our property and will be our 'eyes and legs' on the project. She's GC'ed her own house, an addition to her home and a couple of small commercial projects. We are fortunate to have her as a resource.

We will need to build the pond in time for it to fill and for us to incorporate the pond into sighting the house. We want to allow plenty of time for the building process especially since we are so far away. Working backwards from our target date to move, I realized I need to get serious about house plans! The other thing that I realized was, how can you get a handle on the costs without a house plan? With all of the trade-offs that invariably come up, we needed to find a plan, think about the specs, start talking to people to come up with a realistic budget.

I think we have found our plan (Don Gardner - Clarkson) but it was in the first book I bought so I keep wondering, do I need to look more? That was too easy! I've started a notebook with sections for the modifications we want to make, learnings I've gathered from this Forum and other internet sites, then a section for each room so I can jot down tips/ideas as I research. It is surprising how many little ideas you have that, if not recorded, may not come back to you. The immediate time before the building is not the time for me to try to think through the details - there will be too much going on.

My next step will be to educate myself on the building process itself. I'm not the type of person who can take the contractor's word for the best way to do something unless I understand it. I've found some good websites for learning but it looks like I'll have to hit the books soon. Still trying to find the best books to use as resources.

This Forum is a tremendous help, not only the discussions but also the links, sites that members pass on. I look forward to the whole process - I'm still in the naive stage!

If codes aren't enforced in your area, find out what builders are going by such as the ibc (international building codes) or nbc (national building codes) and apply them or make sure they are being obeyed by on your build. Get familiar w/ what is being used in your area and learn it.

I built on 9 acres and regret the way I sited the house. I was fairly new to the state and totally underestimated the wind effect blowing into the sideload attached garage as well as several other major things I thought of but then underestimated, poo poo'd "it will be fine" because other options would have cost more.
Siting is really really hard, mainly because there is usually no ONE answer - the options all have pros and cons. So not only do you have to figure out the pros and cons (and I missed some like the wind) but then you have to decide between them.
Now I'm in a different state and looking to buy a pre-owned home. Again siting is often an issue. For example today I went to an open house on 3 acres. The house was a house, fine. It was built on the end of a cul-de-sac with an open field behind. So it is a wedge shaped lot. Because they elected to put the house to the very far back of the lot they have almost no backyard. All the yard is in the front and sides. The driveway bisects the middle of the lot and so it would be very hard to fence in the 3 acres for dogs or kids. So I looked at it this way - its a quiet dead end road where the house could have sat much closer to the street with no traffic issues (even with wedge shaped property lines). If anyone builds on the field behind - your neighbors or business is going to be close. You can't use the yard for much and its just a bunch of grass to mow. Of course I see houses on acreage's on busy roads that are practically in the road and I wonder about that too (older houses were sometimes there before).
I could go on and on about siting. Some options, sometimes the best options, cost more money, budget for that.

I agree that A Pattern Language is a great book and I read it before designing and building my first home in 1990. However, it's a big book to read and digest.

There is now a book called Patterns of Home: The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design written by a couple of the co-authors of APL. This book is very easy to read and has great drawings and photos for representation.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: Patterns of Home

Save as much money as you can.

We were in the same situation, we have 10 acres. We planted around 700 evergreens over the years, improved the boat launch/dock area and built our pole barn. We are so happy we built the barn a few years in advance. It's paid for now and we have a rent fee place to store the boat in the winter. If we were faced with building the barn now, it would be a few years before we'd get around to it. The barn also made great storage space for when we put out old house on the market (you know, clear the clutter) and when were in a rental for 5 months. If you have any intentions of building a large out building, consider doing it now.

And of course the biggest challenge is trying not to be too anxious!

Find a good therapist.

Start hiding assets, in case of divorce.

When siting the house, don't forget room and setbacks for septic, well, etc.

Well, I just ordered both of those books from Amazon. LOL.

The "Patterns of Home " book has "my" staircase on it... just in the nick if time!

"A Pattern Language" looked so interesting and well reviewed I decided it was good library addition. Plus it's so far from what my real profession is... nice distraction.

Thanks guys.

PD

speaking of books, i just found a new book "The Simple Home - The Luxury of Enough" that is fantastic. It is a Taunton Home Series book. Along the lines of the Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. We are somewhat in the same boat as you. We originally planned to build last year but things changed. So now we are looking at anywhere from 2-5 years.
This is a great website and there are so many great sources/people that are always willing to help.
Good Luck.

We had our land for a year and a half before we built. We had planned on building about 5 years after we bought but circumstances convinced us to start earlier.

The first year we explored our property and became familiar with it so we knew just what we wanted to accent and what we wanted to hide. We did lots of clean up, clearing, tree planting and cutting etc. WE made a priority list of things we wanted based 1st on things we disliked about our current and previous homes and then things we wanted to repeat. Then we made a wish list of things we'd never had but wanted to include.

We also talked around the community to peopel who had built recently and did a lot fo research.

Even so, when we started it was scary and seemed like a huge undertaking. We're due to move in in 3 months time so we're getting there.

Build as energy-efficient as you can afford (especially if this is your "forever" home). Low E 2 windows, passive solar or solar, good HVAC system, etc. Also, look into whatever the best water heater technology will be when you build. Ditto with lighting as governments will probably be doing away with incandescents. LEDs are still being tweaked as are the CFLs.

Speaking of Luxury of Enough , there are some retirement books out now that talk about how much more satsifying life is when you have ENOUGH stuff! (I'm already retired and I agree.)

Cameron

Cameron

I'll second the advice to try to get an outbuilding up first. We're going to try to do that before we sell our current home, since all our stuff has to go somewhere, and I'd rather not pay for storage. Our plan is to sell our current home, which will free up the money for the build, and rent during the build. Our land is 600 miles away, so we're still working on logistics, but I'm going to do much (if not all) of the work myself, so I'll be 'on-site' much of the time.

Will this to be your 'forever' home? Do you KNOW this is where you want to live...forever? If so, try to 'think old': What will your needs be at 70 or 80? Does the area have what you need as far as transportation, medical care, stable economy?

Will your investment hold value? Down the road, who would buy this house? It doesn't hurt to run some ideas past realtors before you 'unique' yourself out of the market. Yes, it's going to be YOUR HOME, but can you afford something nobody else would want?

I like the ideas about landscaping in advance if you can do things away from the house footprint. Great idea to have some storage already built, too. Will everything you store be SAFE? Can you hide building materials as well as store furniture, etc.? Could you possibly LIVE on site through the build?

Get to know the municipality and the people who will be passing on your building proposals. Study the codes. Read the local paper. Talk to future neighbors. Read building department meeting minutes to see the lay of the land. Look near and far around your property to see what zoning may hold, and what could change. (In our case, we were early on the teardown bandwagon. Since then several big new homes have come in -- along with higher assessments and taxes. It isn't just about defending against some WalMart in your backyard!)

Start looking for your GC, and architect, if you need one. Look through plans with heavily embellished elevations to see if they start to feel overly-gabled or too cute. Think both beauty and function. Again, think 'old'. Will the floorplans work for you if you are in a wheelchair? I'm currently recovering from a second hip replacement and am VERY happy with our one-floor, no-thresholds, 36' wide doorways house.

We bought an old ranch on an acre 3 minutes from a top-notch town and did a teardown. It came with beautiful landscaping. We didn't have to put in any new utiity supply lines; could even re-use the chimney and driveway apron. It was partially fenced.

Maybe you've already settled on this land as good for you, but making sure it will 'fit' when you are older is an often overlooked first step. Friends built in a growing town on a beautiful, piney lot. She developed medical problems; nearest good hospital was two hours away. Forest fires took out more than half of the homes in the area, leaving shells and dying trees. The airport was also two hours away; their children lived in another state. They built a wonderful house, but...it was not in a good place for them.

Be sure you and your spouse are on the same page about what you build and where you build. Have your financing ducks in a row and expect to exceed estimated costs by 20%! Be sure you aren't 'getting away from it all' so much that you will regret what you've left behind.

Thanks to all of you who have responded! I really appreciate all of the suggestions given. It sounds like we have some work to do even now. We need to spend more time at the land to really get a better feel for the house location. I think we have a builder in mind whose work we admire and has a good reputation. Just hope he doesn't retire before our build ; ) Hmmm . . . the saving money part. Is there ever enough? I do worry about how much house we can really afford. There are lots of ideas I'd like to incorporate, but I don't know what's realistic for us between now and say 5 years down the road, so it's hard to pick a house plan. I'm choosing favorites between 2500-3500 sf that have the floor plans that are most appealing to us now. As I read posts, I re-examine them for more efficiency. I'll look into the books suggested and check out any changes in codes/regulations. I'll have to continue reading and re-reading all the suggestions on this forum for more ways to prepare.

On the issue of building an outbuilding first check with the laws in your area before you do this. We had some trouble with insurance and with building permits and decided not to go this route and erected one of those tarp and metal sheds instead.

Depending on what is available in your area, check to be sure that your land can have a septic system if your lot is not already on municipal waste disposal -- I once owned a 12-acre lot which had 1 [one] place that passed perc... nearly 1,000 feet from where we had wanted to site the house. Our present 15-acre lot has only two areas that passed perc, and we were advised that it was a limited pass (no more than 2 bathrooms, no dishwasher).

Also, if there is no municipal water, get the well drilled before building! A) It's likely to be a major expense and B) construction will need water available. And C), you'll find out if you need additional equipment to make the water potable.

Before you firm-set your house site, rent an RV and spend a couple weeks living at that orientation. it's much easier to move a RV from north to east than it is to guess that you'll like your kitchen window facing a particular direction.

Check with close-by, long-term neighbors as well as the meteorological services for that area. We discovered that although local meteorologists considered storm winds to be primarily from the northwest, neighbors [and our experience since then] warned that the severest summer storms come from southeast and milder ones from due west, while winter storms come from due south. This can matter, not only for planting, but for considering window size and orientation, and whether your front door and garage doors will be blasted by rain and snow.

As soon as you choose your probable house plans, start selecting and getting the actual prices of fixtures, cabinets, and flooring. Keep a spreadsheet that details how much [X] cost on what date. Add 5% to the cost for each year in advance of the expected building date to allow for inflation. You'll save yourself a lot of last-minute stress if you've already determined that you like a particular type of light fixture, bathtub, kitchen cabinet, floor tile, and so on. Yes, manufacturers will change styles but not all that often, and your choice will usually be available within a 5-year timeframe.

One thing I do [and it doesn't seem to be a common practice], is to make a scale model of the house plans. The operative word is *scale*! I use balsawood, styrofoam and cardboard of various thickness, measure carefully thrice before cutting, and put together with glue and tape. I discovered that -for me- a fifteen foot hallway is dreary, trotting around kitchen islands is weary, and I don't like it if the refrig door gets in the way of carrying a dish to the counter. While pretending everyday activities, my scale model of *me* discovered that many doors are too narrow to manage when on crutches [or in a wheelchair]; some designing-idjits put the bathroom sink too close to something else so that you can't walk past if the cabinet door beneath is open -- a different design had the TP holder four feet from the toilet... ; those same design-idjits apparently think everybody can reach both the top shelf in the kitchen (6 feet up) and the back of the base cabinet. If I need a ladder or to get on my knees, I don't count it as usable storage! And speaking of storage, do consider what you may need, especially if you have hobbies or special interests that may take special spaces. Try to imagine living there during a snowstorm, hurricane, icestorm, and flooding rains. Also imagine carrrying groceries in and garbage out during those conditions -- I don't like attached garages, but my future house definitely will have a portico so I can get the groceries to the kitchen without slippery steps.

I would definitely check out what utilities are available and what you will need to import. I had to run power 1/2 mile. I spoke with a power company engineer (who thought I was crazy wanting to live so far off the main road) years before we built. We also buried a 1000 gallon propane tank for gas.
It took us a couple of years to get the perc, could only test for 6-8 weeks every spring. Then had to do the location survey, which can take some time. Better do it when you are not up against a deadline.
Also, had to pass muster with the department of environment, which took yet another engineer to plat and submit. I pursued and was appointed to a county commission that got me in the door at planning and zoning, so that when the time came for permits I knew exactly who to talk to. Maybe that is extreme, but it wasn't totally selfish. I was genuinely interested and worked my butt off for them, still do.
Do soil testing (my builder told me I didn't need to do that - wrong!), I ended up having to put in an engineered foundation which had not been budgeted for or considered in the timeline (2 week delay that could have been avoided).
Do you need a road or driveway? Once you are certain where you would like to site the house, put in the road.
And if I could have afforded it, I would have put up a pole barn or garage, with both power and water. Think about a generator.
All in all, we took about five years. Which left us looking at the house plan a lot, and by the time we built, we knew exactly what we wanted, almost no changes...
Good luck, patience is a virtue!

I agree with the person who suggested planting trees now. If you are an orchard-type of girl, you'll want to plant now, so that your trees are bearing lots of fruit by the time you move in. Same with your other trees. You can buy the $10 trees at Home Depot and, in five years, they'll be the same huge size that costs hundreds at nurseries at that point.

case in point - blue spruce. they grow 1 foot a year. a six-foot blue spruce is $300 at a local nursery. at wal-mart, it's $2.99 for a one-foot tree. buy it for $2.99 and, in five years, it will be six feet tall and worth $300.

siting is also very important. we were very lucky and love how we sited our house with very little advance planning. but again, we were simply lucky. the wind doesn't blow into our garage in the winter and our windows all face the right direction for the best light for each season, time of day, etc. but again, that was luck.