You should try building the house yourself, single-handed. The good news is that I'm too tired to worry about anything!

I worry that when it's done I'll have post construction depression. :)

Trust me.....all that time thinking about it before it's done now translates into unpacking, organizing, and keeping everything clean now that it is done. :) and I can tell you I have very little interest in home building now that we're done. Won't be going to any parade homes in the near future ;)

I did not have any let down after we were done. I'm very happy and excited to be here, really enjoying the spaces, the newness, the granite, quartz, etc.

Sorry about this, but... It will NEVER be done. You move in, and you will think, "what if we did this?" and "that," Could we just "move this over there?" and It's only money.............

Oh, desertdance, curse you! Lol!

Well, sorry to say but I am living proof of desertdance and Michelle's mention of 'post construction depression'. I didn't even know it was a 'thing' but I definitely felt a let down and then frustrated that I felt a let down... It could be though partly due to all the DIY and not truly being completely finished with anything when we moved in (and really not quite yet even 2 plus months post move in). Too much disarray to stop and say ahhhhhhhhhh. But I love living here at the same time. :D

I've been thinking I need a non-house related hobby. I do think about it way too much.

Hahaha! We were so long in the design phase that I started teasing my architect that the guest room was starting to look shabby, and we hadn't even put shovel to ground yet!

But we spent so much time in design that the home was built just as we wanted...no changes...and it was fabulous to see the place I had lived in in my mind for so long actually come to reality. It turned out exactly as I had imagined and that was wonderful.

There are a few aspects I will be tired of- for sure. And I think I will go through a small post-build depression because of vision of moving into a completely finished home by the time our lease expired, is not going to occur. There will be a lot of shoulda, woulda, coulda chats around the kitchen table between ourselves, but the reasons we built the house up there will soon occupy more of our creative energies. Golf, friends, musical and teaching opportunities await us, so the house is just a vessel towards those goals and not an end in itself. I will NOT miss some of the crew people that have thrown their empty sodas in my tubs and so forth. The day I wave goodbye to those guys will be one of the happiest days of my life.

musicgal, you've reminded me why bathtubs are wrapped in plastic until move in day. :P You're going to stick around and guide all us newbies, right?

we've only been in the actual building stage for 7.5 months and already i'm really getting tired of it
i love the house, area, idea of living there and planning gardens etc. but i am so ready to move in only 6 more weeks (hopefully)
how anybody deals with a build that lasts a couple of years is beyond me....

I am so ready to be done too. School has started again for me and the kids and I have so many other responsibilities and neglected hobbies I'm ready to get back to. I know we will also be plagued with the "coulda, shoulda, woulda's" , but as musicgal said so eloquently, our house is also a vessel for other, better things and a means to an end. We will have two gorgeous acres with woods and an awesome yard for the kids. And the best part of all is we are a five minute walk on a dirt road from the kids' school. I work from home and will be able to walk the kids home every day, often with friends who will be able to hang out at our house (where I can keep an eye on things!). The eight-year-old and I are already devising "blue prints" to build an RC track just past the backyard. Hubby has plans for a wooden playhouse nestled just inside the tree line.

We get stuck on all the imperfections and all the ways the house is not what we wanted or not what it should have been. These are all valid concerns, but at the end of the day, it is how we make that house a home and the memories that we build there, that really matters.

I haven't thought about the 'aftermath' of building our house yet. Our situation is much different, as right now, my full-time job is building the house. After 3 years of construction between the barn and the house, this is very much who I have become. The plan is that I will go back to work as a tool maker for another 5 years or so to build up the retirement nest egg. It will be weird returning to the 9-5 world after being in construction so long.

Since we already live on-site, there won't be the big surprise reveal, as it has been evolving right under our feet. At this point, it's more like living in a house being renovated.

Our new house is a means to an end, for sure, but it also was #1 on my bucket list for many years. It will be weird to no longer be under construction, and just live here. With 7 acres of untamed woods, I'm sure we'll never lack for something to do, though. There will be a lot of finishing touches after we get our CO, plus I have plans for a finished great room in the barn, and a free-standing screen porch, etc., etc. The only limits will be money (of course) and how long this aging body holds up.

Amen, musicgal and skyangel! When I start stressing about "this tile or that tile?" I look around and remind myself that I have 3.5 acres in a landlocked area and I'd be privileged to camp there let alone build a house.

Ha! YES. I even had the post-construction depression and let down. I was like I completed my dream.... now what?

Now it has sunk in and there is obviously more things to work towards... like landscaping.. decorating.

@ illinigirl - LOL, I used to love PBS & HGTV homebuilding build type shows, now thinking when this is over I will never watch one again. Also, think I don't ever want to walk in a Home Depot, Lowes or Menards. I think lightbulbs & screw type purchases will be via Amazon. You are very right, no Parade of Homes!

I have been thinking that perhaps now I can go the rest of my life without ever again setting foot in a tile showroom, lighting showroom, plumbing showroom, or paint store. And I'm good with that. I would like my normal life to resume. If I can remember what it is...

we've done really well with the decision making and i had the plan already
i chose the plan, we chose the lot, i chose the orientation, paint colors, and most of the flooring and he chose the rest (lighting, fans, mirrors hardware-everything...
it's just that i don't have much patience and i've been wanting to move from the lovely place where we are for over 10 yrs.........

The part that bugs me the most is talking to subs all the time. I'm the GC, so I have to gather the bids and work through them with the subs. Then once I pick one, I have to manage the timeline, pay them, call them, etc.. I'm sick of calling subs!

Its moving along nicely, but I can see what people mean- there is always more to do!

lori_inthenw - yes, it is like stepping out of your life for an entire year. Stepping back in when you are finished and exhausted is challenging. :D

kiwigem and skyangel-for sure keeping your eyes on the blessings amidst all of the craziness is a good thing! I like the way you both put that.

Same here with the frustration and depression to be moved in but not really "finished". And knowing that will actually take years since we did all the work ourselves and I'm totally burned out. And yet I've been doing this for a year now and I struggle to turn the "builder's brain" off.

That being said, the SO proposed this spring when we moved in, so I've swapped "builder's brain" for "marriage planning" and suddenly I have a whole new hobby to keep me busy. I of course, feared that I was replacing one obsession with another and post-wedding would likely find myself doubly-depressed...only to realize that we're gung-ho to start our family so we're pretty much going to never stop and just be bored again in our lives.

Which is kinda terrifying too.

congrats Awnmyown! And it's true, once the kiddos come you will certainly never be bored again. :-)

Awnmyown, congrats! I always said I would never have a big wedding again (it was actually small by many people's standards, about 50-60 people), but rather have a small gathering and then save the rest we didn't spend on a wedding for a house. At least you've got that covered!

Never! I visit my house almost every day. I don't even think of my current place as home anymore, even though I've lived in it and loved it for 10 years and know there are some things I'll missed. The new house is "home" in my mind now and it's just a waiting game.

Our new build will be done around May 2015.
Think of it daily but took the holidays off from it and it was refreshing.
We have lived in our current house for 42 years. I am trying to distance myself from thinking of it as home and transfer my "home" thoughts to the new build. Lots of memories, but I will take the memories with me and just leave the house:)

This post was edited by zorroslw on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 17:51

I am sooo ready for this to be done. I am tired of freaking stressing over EVERYTHING.

Before I started this build, I always wondered, why would someone buy an already build $500,000 house (SUPER nice in my area) when they could custom build their own?

Now I know why. They don't have to stress over the architect's drawings, finding the right builder, making sure everything is done right, picking the right fixtures, appliances, paint colors, stain on the walls and cabinets, and waiting months and months to move in while living in a rent house.

If you buy an already existing home that has been taken care of, you just get to move your stuff in and start living!