I would have made the garage (20 x 20) and powder room (3 x 7) bigger. I didn't have either in my other home so I didn't put much thought into them.

I would have fired the bad subs sooner - the job would have gone faster and been cheaper and had waaay less heartache.

Started 10 years earlier!!

Checked the details a bit better. My front door swings out and my master bedroom closet door swings in. My dresser is four inches too long for the wall it was supposed to go on (so I am buying a chest of drawers) and the vanity in one of the kids bathrooms is really too big for the space.

It's all little stuff though and I am pretty good at letting those roll off. I still can't believe sometimes that I am going to live in such a nice house on a beautiful piece of property.

Sold our current house before we started the build. We are six months out from completion but need our equity to finish. So it may be put on hold indefinitely. DH is the one who didn't want to move twice. Now not only will we move twice (when our house does sell) it has lost value which we were counting on. But, we'll get thru it!

Checked references oh so more carefully... tile installers were brutal and we are now paying the price for their poor workmanship. If you trust your builder, trust his/her subs to be the best. The only area we researched and used our "own" was flooring and this was our biggest and pretty much only regret. Live and learn

Some of us need to start posting on the "Remodeling" forum!

We wish we'd woken up 10 years earlier, too, and stopped "putting lipstick on the pig" (renovating our old home). SO happy in our new location and 100% new home. There wasn't anything terribly WRONG with the old place, but wow, this is SO much nicer! What were we thinking? (This is why I hate that quote about living BELOW your means!)

Have fun! Don't stress over every little thing 24/7.

Pick out everything you can before the build starts so you'll have time to think during construction. There's always more to decide on during the build.

We've been in a full week now. I honestly could not find too much I would do different.

It is funny how we sweated every detail 24/7, but after the keys exchanged hands, we have let all the small stuff go.

I'll have to second the comments about not believing the house is ours. I feel like we've finally arrived at the house that I envisioned being "home"! Glad we bit the bullet and did it while still in our 30's.

Picked out everything before. Of course, that is much easier now that I've gone through a build. Now we have a much better idea of what we like and don't and what works and doesn't. I also would have had a larger laundry room and would not have a long stair balcony.

I would never have paid the tile guy in full, in advance, because he said his wife needed an operation and needed to make house payments, etc. He disappeared without finishing the job, put nails through the tubes in our radiant floor heating, and put drywall all the way to the fireplace firebox so that all that is now being repaired.

We would have made one of the upstairs guest baths a full bath instead of a 3/4's bath with just a shower. there was plenty of room in the walk-in closet adjacent to the bathroom. we could have bumped it out. But we didn't think about it until after the plumbing was installed during framing and we decided to leave it as is.

Also, our foyer has a loft area above it and the loft area should have extended out just about six more inches to give room for the door trim and the loft railing. Instead, the loft railing trim cuts into the door trim. If the loft area had just been pushed out a little, all of the trim would have been intact.

But those are just little things, nothing that keeps us up at night. Overall, we love our house and love living in it.

If new construction, make sure phone and cable lines are tied to the service before your landscaping is done.
Time warner came out for my neighbor after my landscaping was done and tore up my front yard sod to lay their line in.
Then Bell south came to put phone service in, and cut the time warner cable line.
Glad I spent 5k on sod!!

Also - get a bigger laundry room if yours isn't monster sized.
We built a 4500 sq ft home and the laundry looked like it would be perfect - but it is toooo small.

allison0704 has it right. relax.

Don't worry about the room size during construction. It'll al work out. Don't worry about the interior paint until it has dried for a week. Don't worry about all of your 2000 choices.

Here is a list of things to consider

http://housebuy.blogspot.com/2007/02/decision-day.html

Just do what you can and relax. There are many bad builds but you never hear about the good ones. Like planes landing and crashing - you never read about the landers, only the crashers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rod and DJ's House Building Adventure

We would have abandoned ship on the whole custom home thing and sold our lot. Then bought a failry new existing home.

Don't get me wrong - the house we are building will be great - once it is finsihed. But I never ever expected the kind of stress and agony that we have been experiencing with this project - and we have a really good builder who has great subs. DW has been terrific and letting me build the dream. But had I known in advance what it was going to be like - I would have never have put her through it.

I never thought about what a huge risk we are are taking. The largest single investment we will ever make is in the hands of the builder. Lot's of stuff can go wrong that you would never think of. Think very hard about what you are getting into before you embark on a custom home project. Ask a lot of "what if" questions (what if builder goes belly up, what if builder dies, what if we hit lots of rock, what if we can't find water, what if ....). Even if some of these things are remote possibilities - you better have a backup plan if they become a reality.

Make sure DH and DW are on the same sheet of music and both want the dream as badly as the other. And have plenty of money (at least 20% of the total cost) in reserve. From the very beginning of the proejct - keep your own log of costs and watch it very closely. Attack every cost item and look for the very best deals. Don't trust that the builder vendor buddies are going to give you the best deal. We found many deals on our own (granite, appliances, stainless sinks) that were much lower than the vendor provided by the builder. Saved thousands by asking a lot of questions and checking everything.

The allowances that the builder says are fine probably aren't. He doesn't know your taste and what your priorities are. So he will put in his standard - and more than likely that won't meet your expectations. Before you sign a contract - pay paticular attention to the change order process and what defines a change. No matter what you think and how much you plan - there will be changes once the house starts to go up.

You should do the best you can to pick out the big allowance items (like cabinets, lighting, tops, etc) and get bids to tighten the allowances. We did this and increasesd many of the allownaces before we signed the contract - and still had budget issues in other areas we could not control. There are some allowances (excavation, well, septic, site development, county permit issues, etc.) that are very hard to predict before the project starts - and they can be huge cost drivers.

Use the GW - ask a lot of questions. This forum has saved us many times.

Best of luck.

I am so very thankful for the words of wisdom that I am getting from you all. How very glad I am that I found this website! I am sure that many other newbies will be interested in hearing whatever comments that you could give in this regard. So please keep your comments coming!

BIGGEST ADVICE (unless you are independently wealthy)!! Say that the house you will be building is quoted by your builder at $300,000.00. NOW - deduct 10% of that amount ($30,000) and reduce your home by that much. If that means doing less sq. ft. or going with less extravagant items that can easily be changed later, or whatever it is to get you down to that 90%. Still have your builder hold true to the full 100% for the bank, because trust me...you will go over!! We went over about 9% whcih can equate very quickly for many things. Ours was DIRT! We needed aton more than we had thoguht. We also did a concrete stamped colored patio, for it was cheaper and more convenient why they were already there (that was not in org. budget). Our driveway was about $2500.00 more than anticipated (we placed it with some curves and further to the south...more sq ft = more concrete= more $$$).

Good luck and HAVE FUN! I would build again in a heartbeat! It was fun and a great learing experience!

HA = that's funny "buildinghome". We had zero problems, not one tiny hitch. Yet the home started off at $240K and we kept adding little things. Ended up at $253K.

Little things add up.

Double the size of the deck, better appliances, better furnace (make sure you get a good furnace and not cheap builders furnace).

Upgrade from a cheap Lennox gas fireplace (a true builders box - run away if you can) to a Mendota.

Make sure the water heater is not sitting on the floor (rust).

Make sure you have a regular door in the garage so you will not have to open the big door all the time.

12x14 foot deck is too small for real use, we doubled the size and because we face south we used wood and not composite with gets REAL hot in summer.

If you can get an extra foot of overhang do it. Good for shade and run off.

If you are on a hill make sure the garage is on the downhill side of the house.

Make sure you have windows on all four sides. I'm surprised to see so many spec homes with no windows in the sides!

Wash tub in the laundry room is a must!

Outdoor faucets, put them higher up so you do not have to crawl on the ground to hook up the hose.

If you are on a budget, get the expensive lights for the living areas and go cheap in the bathrooms and other areas. Then once you get back on your feet buy the good lights for the bathrooms.

Paint everything neutral until you see how the light falls in the house. Don't go fancy YET!

We would also build in a heartbeat . . . . . if we had too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Rod & DJs House Building Adventure

A good friend of ours who is a builder says most of his clients run 15% over budget. That is a lot of money! I wish we had known that before we built because we were one of the ones that were over. Plan in advance for that possibility. It's a true numbers cruncher that can come in at or under budget. It's easy to get caught up in the "it's only a few dollars more for that" and find that those dollars really add up.

Man I wish I could edit on this forum. The garage has to be on the UP hill side - not downhill side for better drainage.

Now that I'm almost done, I wish I would have...
* Placed a few more windows in the basement

* Had concrete jacks placed against my foundation, so as to avoid the sinking of a future decorative concrete patio. Builder did this for driveway and walks, but I did not know what they were until it was too late.

* Sold my existing home prior to contracting for the build. The financial stress takes away from the joy of the build. Additionally, you will know where you are financially, so you can make those upgrades with confidence and cash.

Good Luck

Plan on 10-20% more than you've budgeted due to two things - #1 unexpected problems, such as excavation and, #2 choosing higher priced items than you originally thought you'd choose. Even though our GC had generous allowances, I blew through most of them.

Totally agree with others who suggest you do tons of research on appliances, lighting fixtures, ceramic tile, plumbing fixtures, cabinets and oh, don't even get me started on the whole landscaping budget! Yikes!

Totally agree with those who said have EVERYTHING picked out before you start. We would have finished two months earlier if we had done this.

I couldn't make my mind up on the cabinet colored, struggled with the color of the flooring, took weeks deciding which tile to use, lighting fixtures - let's do even go there!! :o) I have a husband who said, "Whatever you want, it doesn't matter to me!" God, how I wanted someone to give me a second opinion!!

Bumpity bump

1) I'd have spent much longer time in the planning/designing stage. We were in such a hurry to get started that I overlookoed some things.

2) I'd have budgeted a "contingency" fund of about 15% of the estimated cost.

3) I'd have mentally added 50% to what ever time frame I was given. I'd also have mentally added about 10% to whatever $$ estimate I was given.

4) I'd have discovered this forum BEFORE not AFTER we started building.... (you're ahead here)

5) I would NOT have stressed so much about every little detail. I WOULD have realized and accepted the fact that the house we were building was not going to be perfect after all.

Not let the painters paint in the dark :-) Yes indeedy, the light fixtures weren't installed yet-- and it was not a pretty sight when they finally came on.

I love pretty much everything but I know it's due to having to wait 4 years until actually getting to start. Very frustrating at the time but it gave us time to REALLY think how we'd be living,etc. and of course make several changes. The only thing I don't like are our toilets. They look nice but the design doesn't support 'clean flushage' if you know what I mean. I basically just picked out what I liked at the showroom without doing any research whatsoever on toilets which is crazy because I researched absolutely everything else. I mistakenly thought if it's Kohler and a recent model it must be right. Wrong. Oh well. If that's the worst, life ain't too bad.
One other thing on a relationship level is to realize that BOTH of you will become VERY stressed and if you can both step back and realize that is what is going on and give each other a break your relationship will survive. You are both handling different 'aspects' of the build and each is important and has its own stress, don't fall into the 'my part is so much more stressful than..'
One thing I absolutely never regret is finding this forum as I can truly say we built a nicer, well thought out house than if I hadn't found this wonderful group.