Well, how many people do you plan to have living there? When you say total space, what are you including (basement, garage?) What will you use as an office space? What about utility rooms and closets and laundry? Some of these functions can be tucked away behind doors on hallways and large rooms. Which rooms open onto each other? Can you use a part of the great room for formal dining, or an eating area in the kitchen? I suggest you try to combine some of these uses into larger spaces so that your home feels like it has a more spacious layout if you have to go with lower square footage. A lot of walls will make you feel more closed in. Remember, most of us grew up in smaller homes -- it's how the space is used. And our expectations.

And as for cost, try to source for materials in unusual places to save on money, and consider which upgrades are really important. What is in right now will likely be out in a few years -- so do you really want to pay a lot money for it?

I designed my house to have comfortable proportions in the rooms we spend most of our time in and nixed areas, or shrank them, in areas where you just visit or once in awhile "live" in. The problem with bigger houses is they cost more to finance, heat and cool, repair. We nixed the formal dining..it just sits there and I don't want to air condition that space. We made the eating area off the kitchen and its ample enough. Company tends to gravitate to that area anyway. We shrank the bathrooms...how much time is spent in there? Cavernous baths with his and hers sides are so wasteful. Then there's the reality that alot of empty nesters get to....what do I do with this big house when just the two of us live here now? We designed the office small for the reasons stated but we end up in there alot more than anticipated . We do internet more and TV less. Oh well. Another development was we built a 1000 sf deck and that "living space" has altered our lifestyle.

Do you have a floor plan you can post? I am sure you will get a lot more responses that way.

With only the information you have posted and filling in the gaps with speculation, I would say too much stuff in too little space.

Go back to your original 3400 sqr ft big plan, and cut costs in finishes and in the kitchen. You'll redo the kitchen in 15 years anyways.

My two cents.

And insist on 2x6 walls.

I'd have to see a floor plan. That is a lot to fit into 2500 sf. My house is 4000+ and I have 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. You haven't told us anything about you (no kids? 4 kids?), so there is no way of knowing if that is a big enough house. Plus there are many who will say they have 4 kids in a 1500 sf house without issue because it is well designed (etc., etc.).

Thank for the feedack. I wish I could post a picture of it, but I am going to see if our house plan designer can send me a digital copy so that I can post it. A little about us...both of us in our late 20's one son 2.5 and my DH has a 9 yr old (the step son doesn't live with us, he only comes to visit sometimes). I am thinking that we'll probably have another child within the next 2 years. So this probably wont be the last house we purchase (or atleast I hope not). It has taken so long to get to this point. Also, did I mention, we are self contracting which adds to the stress because we both work full-time. The game plan is to start within the next 2-3 weeks. The goal is to be in by Thanksgiving, but some say impossible, but my best friend who finished her house in 2 months says its possible. So I don't know.

The house has a very open plan...one side of the foyer is open to the formal dining room. The kitchen is open with a bar to the den. DH didnt want a lot of walls. I am just so concerned that it will look to small.

when we bought our first home we thought it was enormous (3900 sq). a few years later and two babies, the house began to shrink with each passing day!

If you have a very open floor plan, I don't see why this square footage wouldn't work for you. When I designed our current house and built it, we had 2 teenagers at home, and 2 steps who visited frequently. The house has a very open floor plan with 4 spacious bedrooms, each with walk-in closets, 4 full baths, a den/TV room, an eat-in kitchen that's 16x22 and a combined formal dining/living area, foyer and laundry. The total square footage of the house is 2,380. Additionally, there are two large screened porches and one 8'x30' covered porch. We have a detached two car garage with greenhouse and workshop also on the property.

This size has been more than adequate for our family - it's a story and a half, with two bedrooms and the den upstairs, two bedrooms down. This type of design saved us considerably on initial building costs, and utilities throughout the years. No, it's not a MacMansion, but it's been a highly affordable home and one that didn't wipe out our budget and put us into debt we couldn't afford.

Only you know your family. Does the plan flow the way you expect it to? Where do you spend most of your time? Do you all hang out together or go to opposite sides of the house to unwind? Do you all have loud voices that carry or do you speak quietly? Are you organized or do you throw things in closets, only to unbury them years later? Do you tend to be more formal or relaxed with your gatherings and furnishings? All these things matter (to me, at least) when considering room size, layout, etc, etc.

We came from a home twice the size as the one we are building- except we really upped the finishes for this house. I'm 31 so I don't really fit the empty-nesters profile for going from large to smaller. We just made sure that we had a lot of closet space and knew where everything would go before we ok'd the plan.

For us, with an open floor plan we don't expect a ton of privacy- nor do we need it. We can go to our room or enjoy the property if we need the space.

Good luck- let us know which route you take!

Our plan is a ranch with a full basement that we may or may not finish immediately. The main floor is 3100 sq feet. We have 2 children (4 and 2) and don't plan to have any more (unless something unexpected happens! :)

We have 3 bedrooms, study, large mudroom, medium kitchen with walk in pantry, eating area off the kitchen and great room.

Approximate room sizes are:

kitchen 13x19
eat in area 16x11 (no formal dining room)
kid bedrooms 12x13
master bedroom 16x16
study 13x12
mudroom 8x10
laundry 8x9
pantry 6x7
half bath 5x6
kid bath 8x10
master bath 17x10
great room 18x18

Analyze how you expect to live, with 2 kids (think ahead). Are you casual or formal? Where do you spend most of your time. Basically, think of where you are living now and what size rooms you would like to have or if you would add or subtract any rooms.

Good luck!

If you are still uncertain about the size and think you are going to change it in the next 2-3 weeks before you start, you may be disappointed. I also would NEVER assume that because your girlfriend did it in two months, that you can too, especially if you are thinking change already. I might be worried about any house built so rapidly...

The only houses I have ever heard of being put up in two months, start to finish, were builder spec homes (experienced builders, no owners to bug them and change their mind mid-stream). Small capes with minimal finishes. It think there is almost no chance of two people working full time and self contracting (for the first time?) getting a house that size up and finished before Thanksgiving.

I think u are smart to think of your budget and decrease the size just a tad to make sure you get to enjoy all of your upgrades. In my opinion it's better to have a beautiful smaller home than a large boring plain home that you can't afford to decorate or furnish. Go with your gut. We are building right now a 2450 4 bedroom 2.5 bath home with an attached 3.5 car garage. If we went any bigger all the fancy upgrades that we can just afford would be out of the picture and our home with look very plain inside. It is very expensive to upgrade later on unless you made a ton of money. Do what you can afford and be happy with all the little frills you are able to put into right away. You did mention it was your 1st home and my first home was only 1100 sq feet. This is my 2nd and last home and I'm very happy with the size. We have 3 kids..

We are in the final stages of building our 2700 square foot home (2700 square feet in finished space...there is an additional 1900 in unfinished basement (will be partially finished in the future) and another 650 in garage space (3 car))...we close in 3 weeks. We signed our contract on 1/26 and will close on 8/13, so that is 6.5 - 7 months, with a builder and construction manager that have proved to be excellent and have stayed on the time line. I can't even fathom building in 2 months?? We signed 1/26 and getting the plans approved by the city took about a month, we finally broke ground on 3/4. So, even from ground breaking until possession, we're talking 5.5 months. And I feel like it's been going really fast. The foundation took maybe a month before we started framing as you have to let certain things cure before moving to the next part, and then there are several city inspections before moving on. Also at the framing/electrical/plumbing rough-in stage. I just don't see how 2 months is possible? I'd love to take a look at your time line to get it all done in that short of period! Have you already scheduled all of your subs? Our construction manager said that it is actually MORE difficult to build right now even though new construction is down...and that is due to the fact that the subs have had to lay off so many workers, they have fewer guys to work with...for example, the sub they use to do electrical rough-in used to have 35 employees doing rough-in...they're down to 7. So scheduling is really hard for the builders here right now. I would assume it would take 6-12 months doing it yourself (from the time you break ground), shorter if you were dealing with a builder in an established neighborhood. We've watched many spec houses go up, and they take the same amount of time, about 5-6 months. Anyway, just something to think about.

Our home is a 5 bedroom, 4 bath, 3 car garage house and we have a 3.5 year old and a baby on the way and that will complete our family. We plan for this to be our "forever house", barring any unforeseen circumstances. Only you know if that is enough space?

>>>>It is very expensive to upgrade later on But it's almost impossible to make small rooms bigger later on. You'll be upgrading your finishes 15 years from now anyways.

Build big now.

It is entirely possible to make small rooms bigger later on. There are a number of homes in my community where people have done just that. They built an addition and reconfigured the interior walls.

New home of 2,900 sf, start to finish in two-three months while the owner/contactors work on their full-time jobs.

No wonder after decades of doing this I feel so inadequate.

ditto what sue36 and worthy said on time.....maybe if it were a prefab....maybe.....with NO rain the whole time.....and 'everyone' showing up exactly when you need them. Hate to pop your bubble but you realllly need to be realistic.

Buy a copy of Susan Susanka's Not So Big House. 2300 sq ft is a nice size home - since it's not your forever home, don't break the bank. The fact that you have an open floor plan will keep the house from being too closed in.

A word of warning - houses look tiny when the slab is first poured. They grow when the walls go up. Also, Thanksgiving next year is a more reasonable target.

Thanks everyone for the input. It's amazing out different things suit different people. I don't think aiming for a 6 month time line is unreasonable. So I am hoping Christmas. We are getting some final bids this week and then we are ready to go. One of my friends said that she was so shocked that I had a house binder, but I have to be organized. So we are hoping to start within the next two weeks. I am going out of time, so that throws us off a week. I told my husband that I was going to try to document this process since it is the first home that we are building. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I slack on pictures. But I thought that it was neat how people documented their building process and to just look back at the pictures. I'll try to remember to upload some pictures on here. I guess I could start by taking a picture of the lot. It's already cleared and ready to build on - so that is one thing out of the way.

We cleared the last paperwork hurdle 4/30 of this year -- and then it rained, and rained, and rained. We have an excellent builder, with great subs, and if we are in by the end of October, I will be pleased and amazed.

Things go wrong. Weather happens. Materials aren't available. People get sick. Time marches on. Most custom builds around here take a year, sometimes more, and that's with experienced general contractors as builders. I doubt that it is much different elsewhere.

If you are both working, who is going to answer the subs' inevitable questions, make decisions, not to mention check on what is going on? If left to their own devices, the subs will do what they want, not what you want. When are you going to schedule subs and materials? The subs may take calls in the evening, but a lot of suppliers only work builder's hours.

Unless one or both of you work in one of the building trades, I think you are in over your head. Most of the comments in this thread have been cautionary. Please rethink how you plan to proceed.

Christmas is no more realistic than Thanksgiving. You are still getting bids? And omg - if you are GC'g this yourself, I hope you have a binder! I'm sorry to be negative, but you are setting yourself up for failure (and huge budget overruns) by not being realistic about the time line. If you haven't even hired subs, you have no idea when they'll be able to schedule your job, so how do you know if you'll "start within the next two weeks"? Wow. Good luck.

>>>>>>>It is entirely possible to make small rooms bigger later on. There are a number of homes in my community where people have done just that. They built an addition and reconfigured the interior walls.Raise your hand if you think the above is cheaper than redoing a kitchen and bathroom or two, fifteen years later.

I'm not trying to be contrary, but larger rooms are usually a bargain if done initialy. It's fancy cabinet's, custom counter tops, custom windows, high dollar appliances, etc, ... that tend to make for an expensive home.

Gutting a home, tying in a new addition, reconfiguring walls,... usually is more expensive. Not to mention, difficult to pull off. For instance, when you move walls around, how do you get the existing windows to rationalize with the newly sized rooms?

Frankenstein homes.

I am amazed of the responses that I have gotten. I noticed that a lot of people have doubts about me completing this project. I feel like if you don't have goals, then of course you can never expect to complete anything especially on time. Of course I have a time of 6 months, but if it is not finished then oh well. But I do have a goal. We have subs and back up subs in case something goes wrong. My Father In Law is a GC so he is assisting us with this project if needed - He is the over watching this project double checking everything. As far as size wise, we have finalized everything at this point and we will not be making any changes. We have came in under budget so that is good and we have allowed about $30K for price increases and little things that may happen such sub changes. I have what I call a low/med/high bid for everything. We have opted to go with the med, but if something happens we are prepared to make the changes as necessary. As far as increasing the space later, it probably will not happen, I am not really one to move walls and add on to things. I think someone above mentioned do I have a binder - yes, I do - I am very organized. I am not going into this blind sided, I expect things to happen. But thanks for the advice. All of my bids/subs are ready. We are getting some bids on some finish work things. Things that we can do, but it is easier to pay someone.

We are GC right now ourselves and I'm super organized and hate to say it but we are 3-4 weeks behind and I'm only in thd framing stage. I hope u can do it by Christmas, I know there could be ways to do it like having a HUGE crew working at all times. Good luck but try not to set yourself up for disappointment in the event that it takes a little bit longer.