Hi Debra, sorry for your loss but this could be a great opportunity for you. Its a great time to build because labor is as cheap as it gets right now and most in the industry are desperate for work. You should go for it but take your time to get it right in the design process. Lots of people in here to help out, so take advantage.

Not sure what you mean about having an architect redesign the inside but being scared to build. Are you just thinking of renovating or remodeling?

If you have the chance to build new, my advice is to build as energy efficiently as possible and provide fresh air introduction with an ERV/HRV. Find the right builder and energy rater and its possible to do this for no extra costs over typical construction. Lower energy costs, more comfort and value, and healthier indoor air quality will result.

Whatever you do, pleeeeease dont build another inefficient Mcmansion like some people on this site like to do.

Debra, sorry to hear of your loss. I can't imagine. I'm in the south - central Alabama to be exact. If you're in my area I'll be glad to give you names and numbers.

Are you going to be an owner builder or hire a GC? My best advice is ask around and around and around some more to find one you can trust, isn't going to go out of business during your build and will watch out for your bottom dollar.

We were building this time six years ago, so not much help on current cost.

If you can post your plan online you'll get more than enough advice. When it comes time to work on your kitchen, there are a lot of good folks in the Kitchen forum.

Allison

My understanding is that while loans are cheap, costs really are not necessarily so. I think it is a good idea to get a builder on board while you are designing the house, even if you have to pay a consultant fee, to give you some ideas on how to save money while designing your home. I have found architects (at least ours) to be clueless about that . . .

And I too am in the South - northeast Georgia :)

Hey All,

Here's where we are right now. I found a bungalow that I liked online. I loved the exterior but didn't like the interior because I wanted the Master to be down and just the bedrooms to be up and a bonus room over the garage. Allison..I am in North Alabama (War Eagle!) and we were hit in that big lightning storm in July. Survived the worst tornadoes in the history of Alabama, just to be destroyed by fire. The architect is almost done with the house plans, and it will be a total rebuild. Our house was a total loss and has been demolished, footings taken up and we are down to bare lot. I will bid out the plan and have been asking around about builders and doing my homework. I posted my kitchen on the kitchen forum and got some great advice and was able to make it much more efficient. My husband works for a energy company, so we are going to make this house super energy efficient. At first I could not even talk about this without crying, but now, I am ready to take this on and get back in a house we can make a home. :)

Ok, just have to say ROLL TIDE!

LOL!! I knew someone would sneak that in. :P

Well, if she hadn't, I would have - Go BAMA! Rammer Jammer! ;)

Not close enough to share numbers then. Too bad, because we had some great teams on our build. Good luck with yours. I'll have to find your kitchen threads. I rarely look at names when glancing.

Debra,

I am so sorry that this happened to you. Our first house in Atlanta was hit by lightning. It didn't burn, but it was terrifying and left scorch marks around all the outlets and welded the gate on the chain link fence shut. In our current house, we had a large oak tree in the yard get hit and it blew our invisible fence transformer 20 feet across the room. Our new house is on a ridge on one of the highest points in the city, so we put in lightning protection. It wasn't cheap but neither is replacing electronics or a whole house. It's something you might want to consider. It might help you sleep at night.

We used Chris Wolf at Wolf Lightning Protection in North Georgia. They do lightning protection all over the world. I'll include the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wold Lightning Protection

Thank you buckhead. Seriously, after you go through something like this, you think about having those sorts of things. Thankfully we were all awake (it happened about 7:30 pm). Had we been asleep..building a house would be the last thing on my mind right now. I will check it out.

I'm sorry for the loss of your house and so glad none of you were hurt.

In addition to interviewing builders, etc., also sit down with your banker. Even if none of this will be done with a loan, they should still be able to help with the payout process -- the builder gets paid by the bank based on certain milestones, etc. (I've heard so often of builders using down payments for new work to pay off expenses from previous builds, and someone always gets screwed.) Our bank handled all the payments for a major addition/remodel we did. It was more paperwork for the builders and they had to prove that the subs were paid, but they wanted the work.

Athens has some great advice that I would second. Using a builder in the design process can help keep the plan at budget.

You mention getting bids. This can be a good way to go for some but I am of the opinion that bidding is a practice better suited for commercial work or projects that have very detailed plans and specs.

Since energy performance is important to you, if you dont have the details outlined in your bidding material, chances are that you will not be getting the most appropriate builder or energy efficient product.

Find a builder with good results, get their input and pay them a fair price. You will get what you need and your project will go smoothly.

Debra,
Just wanted to chime in because I have a feeling we live near you. We are also in North Alabama and a church within walking distance of our house was destroyed by lightning in a July storm. My husband also works for an "energy company". We are currently trying to sell our house so we can build one and my husband also wants it to be super energy efficient (we're hoping to do ICF for efficiency and storm resistance).

Best of luck to you! Oh, and Roll Tide!

Hey khall10! I know the church you are speaking of. That one got hit after ours. This has really been one heck of a weather year hasn't it? I bet our husbands work for the same one, especially if you are out by the church. Good luck to you and please keep me updated when you sale your house. Maybe we can share some "energy company" ideas for making our houses energy efficient! :o)

Dnilsen, the weather's been crazy - first the tornadoes, then lightning like I've never seen. I wonder what winter is going to bring, a couple blizzards? It is the same company, BTW ;) Our land is about 15 miles east of here though. I'm going to have a blog to document the build and keep our families updated. I'll let you know once we sell and can get started. I hope your build goes smoothly (and quickly) in the meantime :)

does the utiltiy provider/energy company
have a new home program for efficiency?
here is the link for my provider's design one
new construction home. lots of good info.
http://slemco.com/pdf_folder/SLEMCO_Design_One_checklist-2010.pdf

best of luck

Hello energy_rater_la,

They do and we will be getting a lot of advice from them. Khall10, please let me know when you get started on your blog...I have started one also but have not been good with keeping it up. I have had so many people ask me to do it so that others might learn how to deal with situations such as this. I will be getting it up to date and ready to be faithfully updated and will let you know about that. Keep in touch..we might could share some information. Hope your house sells soon!
~D

Dnilsen,
I'm so sorry about the loss of your home.
I can empathize; ours burned early in 2010, and we are (just) now about to move into our new house. The emotional impact of the fire has been enormous, and tears still come.
But we're so thankful to be moving into a new home and getting ready for new memories, happy holidays, and yes, a more energy efficient home (with smoke detectors galore.)
We live in Tennessee. In our experience, the cost of materials was not cheap and has increased throughout the process, partly, we were told, due to the devastating tornadoes in Alabama and Missouri this year. And labor costs cannot be called cheap in our area; but maybe there IS a little more willingness to negotiate price.
However, interest rates ARE very good!
People will tell you to expect your house to cost more than you had planned; I think that's true. SOMETHING will likely come up that you had not expected, and it could be expensive.
The forums on this website have been THE BEST sources of information that I've found during our build.
Best wishes to your family!

Thank you melsouth. I am so sorry you had to go through that. I am telling you, the emotional impact hits every single day. Some days I think I am fine, then I see something, smell something, or remember something that brings it all back. I am so happy for you that you are moving into your new house!! I cannot wait to be at that point. We are pretty open minded about the whole process and know that things that are unexpected are going to come up. I am thankful interest rates are low, and dread getting the house plan priced out for building. I have a feeling it's going to be more than we thought. Our insurance will cover up to 25% over what they paid off on our house, so we will have a little bit of leeway, but I am sure that could be gone fast. Praying for you and let me know how it feels to be back in your home, making new memories and have a real home time holiday. :o)

Debra

dnilsen, shoot me an email (there's a link for email if you click on my username) and I'll send you the link to our blog. (I'm not sure that I'm ready to share it with everyone yet or I'd just post it here ;).