Same. We have about 3 months to go and I'm tired of people breaking into the house looking for something to steal.

Building is an intense experience (esp for our first house) and it is slowly draining my will to live.

I'm gonna love having my own bathroom though ;)

Yup, I can relate! But try to resist the urge to say "Do whatever, I don't care!" I did that a few times--mainly with DH (I designed the house & he was the GC in our owner-builder project), and most of those caving ins, I really regret. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and we love our house now that we're in and have been able to finish up on a more relaxed schedule. I became able to accept most of the the things I wish I'd done differently, but I hate having regrets on the things I knew I was right on that I'd spent so much time working out the details on, but was just too tired to do battle on.

In fairness to DH, he was overwhelmed with the numerous day-to-day decisions and crises, and he was quite sick for a couple of months in the middle of our build, so I'm just really glad that he's ok now. I know I'm very fortunate to have him, our new home, a beautiful lot, and good health.

Anne

Me too, but I am too tired to talk about it :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Build in Pictures

Ditto. I'm tired. I'm having anxiety attacks. I can't sleep. I'm ready for it to be done, moved in.

I'm sorry, I'm glad I can still laugh at your responses. I was up in the middle of the night last night and my husband says "Well, what were you thinking about" I said drywall. Drywall! I don't even know why. But I know it was a BAD dream :). I'm exactly where all of you are. Exhausted, anxiety attacks and mildly aggravated at the people in my family who are like "Come on, make up your mind already for crying out loud". These decisions are so stinkin expensive and if you screw up, THAT'S IT. Easy for them to say!!
I'm happy to say they do pat my shoulder as I'm banging my head on the table.

I'm there too, exhausted physically and mentally. I'm wondering if I'll have enough energy left to actually move when the time comes. We're aiming for the end of the month. It feels so close yet so far when I think of the not so short list of things that still need to be done before then.

i'm with you! i never thought i'd tire of it but i can no longer muster the energy or desire to do much more. i need flooring for ALL our bathrooms and the tile guy who i really liked went out of business. -fortunately before we ordered anything so maybe it's a good thing i started dragging my feet? so back to square one. oh wait! i did manage to make some decisions on my laundry room. i saw a really great wallpaper and decided i had to use it somewhere so i paired it with some beautiful pendants and that was that. love it. can't stop looking at it! of course i suppose the laundry needs a floor too though... and i need bathroom vanities. maybe someone wants to volunteer to finish the rest for me??? but here's my wallpaper. did i mention i LOVE it? it makes me happy and i can use some of that.

{{gwi:1424654}}
{{gwi:1424656}}

your laundry room makes me happy too :).

Kateskouros, I love that you had the courage to put in what you really wanted. Around here, most people are doing the French Country or Tuscan look. Taupe is everywhere. My yellow walls are unusual for the area, but they are what I love.

We have a lot of theft in the area too. We had our original cedar beams and floor tile stolen. Someone tried to get the powder room vanity, but I may have have interrupted that by showing up at an odd time. In the last month, I've called in several reports of suspicious people at the neighbor's builds. Tonight I called in the Port-A-Potty tumpers.

I'm in my house and we're doing punch list. I've been here for a month and I can't motivate myself to unpack. I went to a lot of trouble to pack up last summer and now that I haven't seen it for months, I don't miss it and don't want it messing up my house. I'm ready to do something else.

ah, the tuscan look. i don't mind it really ...as long as you're in tuscany. consideration of surroundings is a pet peeve of mine and while i'm all for doing what makes you happy it pains me to see a 10,000 sq foot tuscan villa stuck in the middle of new jersey. unfortunately i've been feeling the pressure and have managed to find myself in that perpetual state of pms so i'm just rolling with it. i'm far from the decorating stage but i figure a laundry room isn't a place i feel a need to play it safe. and as long as i'm the laundry goddess around here i will decorate it however i choose!

and don't talk to me about that damn port-a-potty. if i find one more stranger on my property to use the facilities i'm going to knock it over while he's in there.

Yes, after daily episodes of disapointments and the project essentially finished after 7 months, instead of me continuing to complain I just accepted some minor issues and told the builder we're done.

Kate, I love the wallpaper. I want to do something similarly fun in our laundry room, but I've run out of imagination and energy. I have a gazillion different colors of paint sitting around (which I am going to put on the walls this weekend), and I figure I'll end up throwing the color I have the most left of on the walls of the laundry room. I was thinking of red or doing stripes, etc. Unfortunately, I'm putting some kind of paint stripe in all my kids bedrooms (can you tell the imagination is running out), so I don't want to do yet another striped room.
Anyway, yes anxiety is setting in and attacking. I too wonder if I'll even have the energy to move. I want to be done! This morning I popped into the house to see the paint color in the bathrooms and had a mini panic attack. It was a grey, but it read a little blue. I quickly called our babysitter and begged her to run to the paint store while I am at work and drop off a different shade of grey for the painter before it was too late! I feel ill today.

gobruno: deep breath... it's ONLY paint. and there is no such thing as bad color. it's all in how we perceive it.

Amen! I'm sure you all already know my story so I won't repeat it. But, I decided to take time off from work to focus on finishing the dad-blasted house and have been spending 8 to 12 hours a day there for the past three weeks riding herd on subcontractors and doing as many of the jobs myself as I can possibly tackle in order to save money. Which basically means I'm the cleaning crew and the punch list person for all the little things my builder started but left undone when I got fed up and fired him.

Then yesterday it was pouring rain once again - it's been unusually wet here in central Texas - and I walked out on my front porch to rest for a few minutes only to find a leak coming down right in the center of the porch roof. Sleazy builder put the roof on before I fired him a little over a year ago. State mandated warranty on roofs is - you guessed it - ONE YEAR.

My position is going to be that the law says the warranty period starts when the homeowner moves in or the builder transfers title. I haven't move in yet and he has refused to release a residual lien he has against my house so, in my opinion, he hasn't yet transferred title. But, it is going to be yet another fight plus more money going down the drain.

This morning I was just too depressed to even go out to the house. I just couldn't face it and since nobody was delivering anything today and the only work on schedule was me cleaning windows, vacuuming for the ten-thousandth time, and burning a bunch of trash, I pulled the covers back over my head and went back to sleep. Maybe this afternoon I'll go back out.

Will this EVER END or am I stuck in some sort of twilight zone nightmare????

i'm so sorry bevangel. yours does seem to be a particularly aggravating situation. i think if i were you i'd be crawling back under the covers on more days than i care to count. you've worked too hard for this! but to answer your question, yes, it will end and i hope that will be much sooner than later.

I am so there. We have about 3 months left and I have so many decisions yet to make and I'm so tired of it all! So tempted to just say "whatever you decide!" to whoever is asking! :) Hopefully I'll get through it!

almost done here as well started back in August Im so over it too much going on I am 7 mos pregnant and we just put our current little home on the market, we bought a small home to live in while with the intention to build on a 2 acre lot, after we moved from FL to TN so now we are packing as well....

agreed, as a person that watched all the diy shows and almost every Holmes on Homes, i can say i never want to build a house again. Everyone is constantly bombarding you with requests for money, some guys are shady and overall the experience is not pleasant.

i wish i could say it ends when you move in but then there are all the little issues (ie faucet handle put on backwards, ding in the molding, water leaks, etc)--- fun is just starting.... we are 3 months in and still trying to deal with issues.. when does it end?? I would never build again- ... too much lost sleep..... sorry i understand what you mean... all too well..

Yeah, I have found very little of this experience fun. Exciting at times, yes, but so time consuming, worrisome, exhausting, and disappointing at others. And, nearly everytime I watch Holmes right now I feel a little fear and skepticism rush over me. It's such a rollercoaster ride!

Bevangel, I'm really pulling for you as you're nearing the end of your exhausting journey! I appreciate you sharing all that you have so others can be more aware.

Suzie, your house turned out so beautiful, and I hope that all of the issues you're having will be not too hard to fix. I'm a little anxious to move in knowing that the real test is actually using everything and living there.

Eyesofgreen, best wishes with your precious new baby. I can't even imagine the stress of moving in the last trimester, but maybe it'll make those last weeks go by faster for you.

Now, I should quit procrastinating and get up and start packing and cleaning. ahh...

I am so with you... we should have been done by now, but the finish work is taking longer than I thought- mostly because no one is out here working!! They have other jobs going on as well, and I guess I am too nice, because the other people are demanding theirs get done, so that's where they are at. It is driving me bonkers! I just want everyone done and out, I go over daily making sure my cabinets aren't dinged up, etc. I'll sleep better once it is done. It's been fun, don't get me wrong, and I feel so fortunate to be able to do this, but house fatigue is setting in...

Oh my, you voiced my feelings exactly! We just finished framing and have to make decisions ("is that your final answer" time). I've lived with this house in my head for a year now--ever since I learned we'd be relocating. We didn't find it in a pre-existing home, so here we are--building. I'm so afraid that it'll be so anti-climactic that I'll be depressed when we move in instead of happy (except that it'll be great to get out of our cramped, dark apartment).

We have to go choose the kitchen cabinets tomorrow. I've lived with the thought of a creamy white, "antiqued" kitchen with cherry island for a year now only to find myself changing today (I think?) to stained cabinets with maybe a painted island. Aaaarrrgh. That means my paint color idea changes too. I wanna cry. I'm hoping inspiration will hit tomorrow at the cabinet place and I'll fall in love with something--anything.

I have so many questions to ask on this forum (and the others), but I'm just too overwhelmed as to how to word them, so I don't. LOL....glad I'm not alone!

Good luck, everyone!

When does it end? I'm not sure it does. We had been experiencing water leaking in over some windows and the builder repeatedly tried to discern what was causing it. After FIFTEEN years, gushes of water came through during a recent storm. Had the shingles redone, roofer didn't see anything wrong. I INSISTED that something was NOT RIGHT and to stop work until they found it. Upon careful inspection, they found a flashing that sloped down had an adjoining piece but the lower piece wasn't UNDER, it was OVER, so water would enter right there!

Mitri
Today we had a home inspector come out (we hired him independantly)-- well the good news is he said the house is built well-- we do have some issues and he helped explain them to us and told us the steps to get them resolved. I feel tonight I will sleep well..... The $$ we spent today was worth it for peace of mind and for the information i recieved. Hire a GOOD home inspector shortly after closing and let him find the errors..... We found most of them ourselves but we didn't know how to properly fix them. The builder told us how they were going to fix them but it was good for us to hear from a 3rd party they best approach.... ahhh for now!!

good luck!!

I have actually loved this whole experience (including all the decision-making), and have been so excited to see this house come together, but the amount of nervous energy and anxiety that I STILL have even when totally happy about this, is really taking its toll. I have had many many nights where I can't sleep and I wake up in the middle of the night only to find that I can't fall back asleep. My hair has been falling out (a lot) lately and I think that's anxiety too.

Each day, I love seeing the progress and my vision come together....but I do know that a home build is really hard on a family, and whoever is "in charge" of the majority of the decisions ends up exhausted by the project.

Kudos to EVERYONE here for putting their heart and soul into their project! Chin up folks....stay motivated!

Thank you everyone for expressing your feelings so freely about your home building experiences. We are living in a rent house after a hurricane and have just finished with the architect and engineer. We have been looking and researching for months now (hurricane was in Sept 2008) and now are getting contractor bids. I thought everyone else knew exactly what they wanted and I was the only indecisive one. Esp Tracey, you make me almost feel normal. I never knew DH and I had so many differing opinions until we started designing a house and now it is continuing in to the building process. But I think I'm wearing him down! Looks like I'm in good company.

You people are depressing the heck outta me, since we're starting in August. Yikes! But I still appreciate your sharing.

Question---if I'm seeing some things I like now, should I go ahead and buy? (Lights, tile) We are GC'ing ourselves with a hired builder, so this is not a budget/allowance issue....I can buy ahead...is it going to be a big time-saver if I've gotten some supplies ahead of time? I'm thinking I could be spending this 3 months getting a little jumpstart, esp. when we travel and I see good deals. My husband is feeling like, "Nah, wait..." and I think I should be buying. It's an 8000 sf house, so there will be a TON of decisions. Please advise. Thanks-

Hi,

Here is an interesting story. Mr. Johnson, from the family of Johnson & Johnson the big medical products company was building his new offices in Racine, Wisconson. He had hired Frank Lloyd Wright as his architect. He remarked that at first Mr. Wright worked for him. Then as the project progressed they worked together. Finally he was working for Mr. Wright!

I know how you guys feel .... my daughter who was about 5 at the time we were building has Home Depot phobia .... she spent so much time in Home Depots / HD Expos while we were building, she now hates those stores.

Warmest regards, Mike.

Highjumpgirl:
We have a lot in common, I am the GC on our house, about 8,000 square feet, and will be starting in June, I hope. If you have a place to store stuff safely, I would begin buying stuff as soon as you break ground. I wouldn't buy earlier, just in case anything changes in the design or materials.

In the mean time, you can make a list of items and start researching prices. For example, if you know, a vanity light fixture should cost about $100, when you start shopping, you can more easily spot a bargain. If you want to share any info contact me at sarayale@aol.com. I have done a tremendous amount of research on lots of stuff, and have some good ways to save money. I have also become an expert on where to get cheap tile, how to tell the quality of the tile, etc, etc.

In terms of house fatigue, I am burned out and I haven't started yet. I have over 50 books on everything from kitchens, to concrete, to electrical wiring and plumbing, to contract writing. The only good thing about being so tired of it all is I started sleeping better at nite whereas before I kept waking up in the middle of the night from worry.

Hi HighJumpGirl,

I have the following tips:

1) If you buy ahead, make sure that you have a good place to store off site. Stuff left on a building site can get damaged and or stolen.

2) Make sure you inventory all that you buy ahead

3) A spreadsheet to keep track of all the logistics, prices etc. is good. Think organization, computers, filing cabinets offices.

4) For appliances your FAX machine is your best friend. I decided what I wanted for appliances. Compiled an exact list with part numbers. Then FAXed 10 companies / shops for quotes. The best two priced shops I visited and checked out on the BBB. Saves loads of haggle time.

5) Door handle hardware. Ordering via the web is possible. Again attention to detail is essential. Color, model, left hand, right hand, finish. For like 40 doors, you need a spreadsheet and EXACT model numbers. Compiling this list is a one day job at least. Once you get the parts, safe storage and inventory is important. Do not use the click and point Web site interface, simply fax your complete list to the company. Saves everyone loads of hassle and you get the right parts, in the right color. Think attention to detail and logistics.

6) Plumbing components. This is a more difficult one. My recommendation is to use a good shop. Why? Well consider a shower. You have a valve that installs behind sheet rock. That valve will only fit certain handles and will only work in a set of components. Any error, at a later stage will involve you ripping out sheet rock, and tile and redoing it. So an error here can really be expensive. A good pluming shop usually has computer systems that can track and ensure compatability via good experience and good sales people. As it was I spend 4 hours going through a 38 page list of over 100 items. Again, color, finish, component, order number... any error wrong part.

Good luck.

best, Mike.

Count me in on house fatigue. Our foundation is almost completed and I keep hoping that this will get easier! We are building our dream house in our dream location. Why can't I sleep? Did I exhaust myself in the design phase?

I hope this little scenario will make some of you feel better. We are building on an island adjacent to a barrier island in South Florida. The little bridge connecting our island to the barrier island is under construction, so it's down to one lane. When they tried to bring the giant crane in auger the 85 25' piles for the foundation, they found the bridge was 6" too narrow. So, they brought it in an 80' barge. No problem, you say? You should have watched it.

I'm thankful we have a mellow spirited GC who takes this stuff in stride.