buy as many materials from your local craiglist.com. it's amazing how much money you can save

What items do you have left to purchase?

Everything! We haven't started yet. But we are going to be maxed out with the budget. So any little budget friendly ideas are encouraged!

Every Showroom I go to, I ask if they have any display models that they want to sell. Today I picked up my son's bathtub for half off because the company moved to a new location and were not puting this back in their showroom. I just started buiding but so far this method is saving me some bucks! Every little bit helps...and it also gives me a little extra to splurge on the antique clawfoot tub for my daughter's bathroom!

I shop on line, find the best deals and then go local and have them match it. It gives me the comfort of knowing if I have to return something, I can just drive downtown and do it. I have never had anyone refuse to match the internet prices yet. I purchased my door handles for $23 each, vice $42 in the local store.
craigs list is great, lots of great deals there.
Keep it simple...too much is....well...too much!
Look for tile stores going out of business, pick out your theme/decor style and stick with it. Don't stray away. You will realize that once your home is built, you already have the necessary "wow" pieces to dress it up.
when you have to get a table/mirror, etc for a room, "shop your own house first". chances are you will find the perfect piece right under your nose.
that's it for now!
best of luck with your new home build!
V

Hi! I've been checking out this forum for a while now, and decided to post some of my ideas on this subject. We're building a house, planning to break ground in the next two weeks (yikes!), but we've been planning the house for a couple of years now, and have been buying materials all along. We find a lot of great things at Habitat Re-Stores, here's a link to the store directory http://www.habitat.org/cd/env/restore.aspx, each store has different items, and we've found a lot of great deals, you just have to keep checking them out because inventory changes quickly. We also check out the big box stores and local home improvement stores for clearance items, sometimes you find just what you wanted at a fraction of the price! I also liked the idea of display models, don't be afraid to ask, we've found great deals on display models in the past (once got some $70 light fixtures for $3!). Try searching the internet for architechtural salvage yards, used building materials, etc. in your area, sometimes you can find great places that you didn't even know existed!

V-thanks for the idea on price matching, I have found some flooring on the internet that I really like, but am afraid to order that online, I'll have to check with our lumberyard to see if they can match the price!

Hope that helps, and I hope more people post their ideas, because our budget is extremely tight, and I'm always looking for ideas!

I'm putting the big money into structural and slow-payback items that are very important to me: much more insulation than is commonly used; solar-assist hot water for use and for radiant heat; hip roof, no dormers or gables, but with deep eaves and long, wide screened porches.

My second guide is for ease-of-upkeep because I firmly believe one can have beauty and utility at the same time, and my age is making me very conscious of the increasing need for simple, easy maintenance. This has directly affected my budget inasmuch as easy-care is quite often considerably less expensive than trendy or "deluxe". One exception to that is the refrigerator: the purchase cost of SunFrost is right up with the ultra-deluxes, but its ongoing expense is notably lower, which I consider a worthwhile trade-off.

I guess the third guide should really be the first: to know exactly what I want. In advance and in petit-point detail, right down to the model numbers and color choices. I made a lot of budget-decisions in the overall design of the house: Windows instead of french doors; a large eating area off the kitchen instead of a separate dining room [which I really wanted only for holidays]; shallow closets with built-in shelves and drawers instead of walk-in closets; cultured marble for the bathroom vanities and shower -- in my area, preformed marble is actually less expensive than installing tile! Budgeting does not mean going cheapskate, it does mean that you spend your money on what is valuable to yourself rather than following whatever trend rumor has the Joneses doing. I spent money on sliding shelves and saved money on square footage; it helps that I prefer stainless steel instead of soapstone and chrome instead of brass, and simplicity to ornateness. OTOH, I prefer real, solid wood to engineered, and that often runs up the price tag, lol.

So shop both online and local (always being careful to compare apples to apples and making sure the models numbers match), but your best budgeting efforts should be done long before you choose doorknobs or faucets.

Thank you Meldy. Thats actually where we are right now. Trying to decide things like that. I was actually kicking around the idea of just a big window in my master rather than french doors.That was last night's insomniac thought process. Theres already a door onto the back balcony in the hall, right next to the master bedroom. Might be better not to have the french doors to the master and just the hallway door. Muddy dog paws would be force to run from the backyard to the tiled hall instead of straight into a carpeted bedroom. Things like that are where I am right now in planning. But I would also like to be informed about little things like "this ended up to be cheaper and we like it better" sorta things.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

The one thing we saved a bundle on was our porcelain bathroom wall tile because we found a tile at HD that looks just as good as a high end porcelain. Because we needed so much of it for the master bath, we saved about $500 going with a "cheapo" tile with expensive trim rather than expensive tile and expensive trim. LOL We didn't care for the HD trim because it was a bit too large so we went to a local flooring store to purchase the trim pieces.

I actually borrowed the idea from someone who was posting on the bathroom forum, showing photo's of their gorgeous bath that looked like it cost a fortune and it was done in all inexpensive tile from HD. The trim and accents made it look so much more expensive than it actually was.

Try to have the house built where it will be easy to add the features (when you have the money later) you are cutting out now.

The biggest budget save is to spec EVERYTHING out in advance and don't change a thing. Change orders are where overages start to mount up.

And, do NOT start this build unless you can really deal with the final estimated number plus 20-25% overage. You do not want to be in that position, and in fact, no bank wants you to be in that position either and financing may be an issue if you're cutting things that close.

My advice w/ budget is to go ahead and budget in a sprinkler, gutters, and some landscaping. Those things are often not inlcuded in a big from a contractor.

We saved a lot on flooring b/c we stained all our concrete (slab floor) and did it all ourselves. It took some work but ultimately wasn't that horrible, I think we'd do it again if we ever needed to.

Also, put your money in your impact areas. I LOVED a certain light fixture and wanted it for our master bath, which needed 2-3 light fixtures, & 2 sconces, instead I used cheaper fixtures there and put the awesome light in the powder bath, which only needed 1- 2 light fixture. I figured our guests would see our powder bath not the master bath (at least not after thier first visit and tour. LOL )

Only specify openable windows where you absolutely have to. A better solution is to install a whole house fan and then you'll only need to open a few strategically placed windows to allow air to be pulled into the house. Fixed windows are less expensive to buy and save you energy once you move in because they don't leak air.

Bob

my marble/granite fabricator is able to get us stone/porcelain/glass wall and floor tile for a fraction of the cost. i'm trying to buy as much from each supplier as possible for greater savings. we also save on delivery this way. the supplier appreciates the business and is letting me have all the remnants i need (for secondary baths, etc...) as well as a slab for my laundry, free.

I love this subject!!!
Maybe you already know this but just in case, I want to put my 2 cents. Some time ago we buit a house and found out that:
-Is cheaper and faster to get everything standar colors - not special orders. Example: white windows and siding are cheaper.

-if you are to get white windows you can go to the store and get the stock windows for most of the rooms and order just the special sizes that they do not stock.

-We had about 1000 s.f of porcelain tile. you can find tile from about &1.50 to $5 (some are more expensive) the difference of just 1 dolar per s.f. saved me $1000. I selected a tile with a reduced price that was actually the one that I liked the most ( am embarrased to admit that sometimes I just like the expensive stuff, silly me)

-For the spare bathrooms most people use cultured marble. Yesterday I went to the lumber store and they have standard sizes of vanity countertop in marble and granite for about the same price of the cultured marble. They are in stock ready to go.

-Try to get a good deal on the insulation - but please, use a good insulation, in the long run you are going to save and feels good to be nice with the environment.

- Painting the interior doors is cheaper than staining them. My first house had stained doors and my second, painted doors. I prefer the painted ones now because you have less problems with when combining the furniture colors.

-Use chrome finish for your plumbing fixtures. Is cheaper and according with the experts, is the only one that does not go out of style. Some colors that are trendy now, will look outdated in a few years

-If you select painted cabinests could be cheaper that stained. I am noticing that there are 2 trends in kitchen cabinet colors: white/beige (paint, maybe with glace) or dark stain (like cherry wood).

Good luck!!!

Several other things came to mind, things directly within your control that require no sacrifice in aesthetics or functionality.

1. Time is money. Tell your builder you can't afford to let the schedule to slip even a day. Get a schedule with specific benchmarks and at the beginning of each week, ask what will be accomplished by the end of that week. Be on his case IMMEDIATELY to find out what he's going to do to get things back on track if there are ANY slips. You need to be prepared to be confrontive, something that most people find uncomfortable to do. But it's the only way your house will be completed on time and the only way you'll avoid paying for a construction loan longer than you've planned to do so. There's lots of unemployment now in the construction trade; your builder shouldn't accept ANY delays due to schedule conflicts by his subs.

2. Make all your decisions IMMEDIATELY, e.g., be prepared to give your builder the make, model number, finish, style of every door knob, every cabinet handle, every appliance, etc. BEFORE you start construction. Many items need to be ordered months in advance and your inability to specify what you want when your builder needs that info will result in delays. Did I mention that time is money?

3. Don't make any changes to your plans once construction has started. ANYTHING that you change has the potential for costing you both time AND money...ironically even some money-saving things intended to cut the cost of construction. One way to ensure that you don't regret the house specified by your plans is to have as many people throw rocks at that plan as possible...BEFORE construction begins. Ask people to be brutally frank about what they dislike about your plan, what they would do to improve it, what they think is unnecessary, etc.

Your final cost of construction will typically run between 20 and 50% more than your initial budget. The things I mentioned above aren't going to prevent budget over-runs but they should reduce them substantially.

Best of luck,

Bob

To me I would choose to put the money into things that are harder to change later, not the fun stuff, but good construction and quality materials and good mechanicals. I would then save on the fun stuff (we did) and the stuff that is easier to switch out later.

- Use cheaper, but good quality cabinets - no need to have top of the line. In the laundry we are using IKEA which is great quality, but very affordable.

- Use laminate countertops or tile instead of granite or quartz - this is generally a huge savings too. Or use standard sized granite pre-fabed that can generally save a lot too (we did this).

- Use carpet instead of wood floors or other flooring as it is easy to replace with whatever you want later when you could afford it. Not hard to tear out at all and doesn't cause damage. Laminate flooring is another one in that category or any floating floor, but more expensive than carpet. We did go ahead and get the floors we wanted Pecan wood floors as we managed to save enough on other things.

- Light fixtures - go with the cheaper stuff from stores such as Lowe's and Home Depot and replace later with fancier ones as you find them. Changing this out is very simple. We spent under $800 for light fixtures in our whole house and I actually like all of them so even though I now can afford to we haven't felt the need to change them out.

- Use standard size vanity cabinets so you can buy standard size countertops.

- Minimize the number of paint colors (wall, trim, ceiling). It will cost extra for multiple colors. It really isn't that hard to paint walls yourself later.

- Shop around for Hardware online - ebay is a great place to get good prices on knobs, handles, and cabinet pulls.

- See what you can cut out in the plan that can be added later, but plan for it now. For example we are building a shop and we are putting in plumbing in the slab, but won't hook it up to the septic or build the bath yet.

Anyone have a Bach faucet? If so are you happy with it?

thanks!

Many have mentioned it in passing, but I think it's worthwhile to spell it out: The more you plan for and use standardized items, the more you will save.

The difference between a standard 72" counter and having to have one custom-made to [say] 70" can be a couple hundred dollars. Mass-manufacturing is far less expensive than having individually-made items; and quite often the mass-made is better quality because they literally can't afford to make a mistake a thousand times, which would have to be corrected later.

BTW, the same idea applies to windows, in that it can be considerably less expensive to use standard sizes than to have custom-made. Also, it's less expensive to buy standard-sized drapes/shutters/blinds/whatever; and when you multiply even a small $100 savings times 20 or 30 windows, it's no longer a small savings.

Custom does not mean you must have whatever is bruited to be "top-of-the-line" or fancy brand-names. It does means you should use the best quality in things where quality matters [which is anything that cannot be replaced by a handyman], and they should be in a designed floorplan that is comfortable for you, not for some nebulous future owner. Have you noticed that future owners inevitably make changes? Plan for yourself and enjoy the plans. Future owners can do whatever they'll do anyhow.