Have you had the contract reviewed by an attorney who specializes in construction contracts??? You also need approval from the municipality and a permit. Reviewed by an engineer.
Are you sure that everything in the plan is as you want it? You will waste time and money if you decide to change anything down the road. Does the contract spell that out? Is there a finishing date deadline/penalty? Have you checked out your builder?
Forgive all the questions, but this is one of the biggest expenses you will make in your life.

Permits I am not concerned with, the builder will apply for those. And and Engineer? I don't know about that. Again, I think the GC is doing that.
As far as my question I was not concerned with all contract stuff, we have already been through all that.
I was just getting excited and, well, never mind.

It is exciting to finally be at the point of starting!

Seems like you have finalized on your house plan. Don't rush to sign you contract though. You have much to do before you sign the contract. For instance you should not sign the contract until the bank has approved you for the loan. The bank has rules it needs you to follow to approve the loan. The bank needs to appraise the proposed house value compared to the loan amount. The bank will also have specific rules about how they do the payments ... on this one the bank rules not what the contract states. Since the recent problems with defaults in mortgages the banks have really tightened their loan requirements making it more difficult to get a loan or in some cases the loan amount is not as high as they would have approved before. You want to know you are approved for the loan (and what amount) before you give a non-refundable deposit to contractor.

Nycefarms advice to have a real estate lawyer review the contract is SO IMPORTANT. The details like completion dates, how change orders are billed and done, payment terms and dates, getting signed lien releases for materials and subcontractors, written specifications for materials and written specs for how it is built (window flashing, tyvek, etc), how are disputes handled, is there a home warranty and what does it cover and for how long. If it's not specified in writing the builder does not have to do it even if they say that they will. This is the biggest investment of your life so get a real estate lawyer to review your contract.

An engineer will review your plan to determine if it is structurally stable for the long-term. He looks at the structural integrity of your foundation, floor joists, support columns, load-bearing walls, roofs, etc. The problems that he can prevent from happening are the ones that cost lots of money later to fix. You want your house to look as good in 10 years as it does the day you move in.

If you've been reading this forum for a while you are aware that at some point you will likely encounter a problem with the contractor. The decision on how that problem is settled goes back to what the contract says. No one who has a home with a major problem ever expected it would happen. I watched a neighbor's home being built with no tyvek and no window flashing. It may take a few years till they actually see the water damage but I can assure you it is happening. They are going to have thousands of dollars of damage to repair.

We are very excited for you. We're giving this advice to you so that you really do end up with the house of your dreams. There is alot to do between finding a builder and when you actually start building. Don't rush now. You spent months finding a lot, designing a home plan, choosing a builder ... follow through with that same thoroughness with a real estate lawyer, structural engineer, and your banker.

Thanks, like.

Well, actually....we were given the lot, it was family land. So we don't owe anything.
The house we want has already been built by this contractor several times, and he is only getting the plans REDRAWN. We are settled on what we want; we have been going over this for four years now. : )
The contractor we CHOSE because he has built houses for our family and friends, and we have talked with all of them and saw ALL their houses being built from the ground up.
Also, we don't have to give him a deposit. So no loss there.
The bank pretty much told us all they needed now was a signed contract and the blueprints.
Thanks for the atty advice, I will keep that in mind.
I pretty much just wanted to see what happens AFTER all that. I know you all are just looking out for my best interest, thanks so much. And I have read this SEVERAL times on this board, so don't worry, I understand the importance.

I guess maybe I was posing the question wrong, sorry about that.
So if anyone could just tell me what goes on AFTER the bank has our contract and blue prints, it would be great, thanks!

The first thing we did after all the boring paperwork was finally done was......break ground!!!! Woo hoo, you're right around the corner from the fun and chaos of actually building.

Liketolearn shared a lot of very important information. My experience differs in one way though. Our bank would not approve us for a loan without a signed contract. We were, of course, pre-approved, but they needed to know what the bottom line was before making anything more formal.

Okay, so this may be different depending on your area and your land, but for us this is what happened after our plans were finalized and our contract was signed... (we also own our lot and have a construction-perm loan.)

The bank did an appraisal of the property + estimated home value. Our contract was for much less than this amount for which we were given a pat on the back by the bank (they're a little cheesy, but their rates were good!). We then proceeded to closing the loan. I think that took place within a few weeks of the contract being signed...maybe a month. I'd have to review my documents to be sure. While we were waiting to close on our loan, our GC applied to the county for well-septic permit and for the building permit. In our area, you have to have the well drilled before a building permit can be issued.
Once we closed the loan and had the well-septic permits, we proceeded to clear the land. After that, we had the well drilled. Once that was finished, we were able to receive our building permit. Then the building started...they staked the ground, had it surveyed, poured the footers, laid the foundation block, started framing, and on and on... The structural engineer was involved several times during this whole process. If you don't have to drill a well, you can proceed straight to the land clearing as charliedawg mentioned.

Is this the info you're looking to receive? Good luck. Welcome to the crazy world of building a home!

i wouldn't get too excited until you've rec'd reports from the engineer. ours was out to take samples (with a bulldozer, not a spoon -silly me!) two months ago and we're still waiting for all the paperwork. of course we can't get town approval and permits without the engineers report so we wait ...and wait. a lot has to happen before anyone shows up to dig a hole in your yard. so my guess is you'll have plenty of time to familiarize yourself with all the proceedings. GL.

Dixie...that's EXACTLY what I was looking for! THANKS! Yeah, we are going to just do city water, but in our county to get the building permit you have to get an "improvement permit" for the septic. So we do have to wait on that.
By what you are saying it looks like we basically have to wait on the bank to do an appraisal...I forgot about that.Thanks again!

Kates...actually the "soil scientist" is out at our lot today taking soil samples for the septic. I was like you, I thought they just take a little bit of dirt and go analyze it. He mentioned a backhoe and an auger!!! AHH!
I am hoping this won't take too long, and I hope that you hear from yours soon!

I was on our lot the day they approved the land for the septic.

They used a backhole and dug about a 4-5 foot hole. Then they analyzed each level of dirt. It had about 5 different layers of colors. He analyzed right then and there. Wrote up the approval on the paper and gave it to us before he even left the lot. It took a total of about 15 minutes.

yep....its done, FIL called about an hour ago to tell me he approved it. The guy is going to turn in his report Monday morning and then another guy has to come out to tell us where to put the lines or something like that. But its always good to hear good news on Friday!

Gee, we never had to get any soil samples or any of that. I feel left out! LOL! I thought we needed a perk test (I guess that is a soil test.....feeling stupid) but because we are going with a aerobic system we didn't need it.

But, once we closed it was ground breaking day! That was fun, then they put up the forms for the foundation. No basement here, we are in Texas. The GC would have probably walked off the job it I said I wanted a basement! HEE HEE!

Good luck and post lots of pictures!

Yeah, no basement here either...no need. Plus I think basements are scary!! : )

charliedawg: 4-5 ft hole? LOL here!!! they showed up here with lots of heavy machinery and proceeded to dig up EIGHT 14' holes! it looked like they were digging mass graves. the neighbors are still wondering what's going on.