Ditto above. My wife picked out an online plan and we made many changes.Then had them re-drawn and engineered to our county's requirements. Cost $3064.00 and he was a wealth of information and advise as well! If you go this route, you only need one set of the online plans as they will be re-drawn anyhow. Then get your multiple sets, at least 10. I made the mistake of assuming that we could draw up supplementals concerning structural, changes, counties requirements, etc., so i ordered 5 sets of online plans that are worthless. Out here, the plan drawer/engineer is licensed by the state and you have to go through them for submission to the county, so make sure you know your area's requirements.

Austin, TX Aug 2021. Quotes for a 300sf room mini-split not incl electric which I would guesstimate to add $500-800: 1) $4900, 2) $5000, 3) starting at $4800. The only more reasonable one was 4) $3400 which I MIGHT give up and just take, meaning paying about $4000. The thing is I would be HAPPY as hell to get the 2nd floor central AC to be exactly like our first floor central AC system and pay $5-7000 for it. The 1st floor's Sept 2020-installed 2-ton HVAC, despite being a single-stage, actually cools at 47 dB directly at the intake, 39dB 10 feet away, most of the time. Then it's like 63dB when it has to cool things down multiple degrees but that's not for very long. The 2nd floor's furnace was installed at the same time and is the same exact unit as the 1st floor's but the 2.5 ton outside is not same brand and not the same coils. When I asked the AC co. this summer to just make the 2nd floor like the first floor - replacing the coils and condenser, he hemmed and hawed and said I can't guarantee you the same situation and static pressure, blah blah blah. He couldn't explain why the 1st floor unit had two fan speeds. Isn't there a way to kind of estimate how the thing would work? Funny thing is the 2nd floor furnace is loud as hell all the time when running - I think 67dB with vibrating noises - and will cycle on and off A LOT at night - literally on for 5 minutes then off for 5, then on again for 5 minutes for part of the night, driving me crazy. It's louder than the previous 30-year system which ironically still worked. The first mini-split estimator to come to the house (the rest I just got ballparks on the phone to not waste anybody's time) - they mostly do full HVACs - when I asked about the 2nd floor, he stared at the grate and said "you need more duct board." Hilarious. Didn't even mention the fact that the intake is too small which I found out on my own but I still doubt that would help because pulling the grate off does nothing except maybe make it louder still. So I don't feel like these HVAC people know much about systems either. One of my installer AC's folks said it's the thermostat - you mean the fancy Honeywell? I called Honeywell without much luck. And when I called the manufacturer to supposedly find a compatible thermostat, the guy said X and it was their $800 thermostat. Um, why? I'm definitely looking at the Mr. Cool unit. Not crazy about learning yet a new skill and taking forever figuring things out which is how I am - I'm good, just slow but willing. I may also just install a Midea u-shaped inverter window AC - I bought my daughter one and it's remarkably quiet - crazy quiet. Luckily the window in question is on the side of the house far from the front. But I can't believe I have to resort to a window AC. $500 window AC vs $4000-$5000 Euro-style system vs $5-7000 new HVAC compressor and coils which may not do what I want and the guy really doesn't want to sell me. Geez.

So sorry Raehelen!!!! It looks like it's not such a great week after all....for both of us. Today, the change order was brought to me to sign and guess what...they want me to pay an additional $371 for the 6" pullouts w/filler overlay (the cost over the 9" cabinets). I refused to sign it and called my KD. Her stance is that I'm getting more functional cabinets so I should be willing to pay the difference and that my only other alternative is non-functional fillers. Needless to say, we are steaming! I reminded her of our conversation last week when she stated that she would talk to her management about "marking down" the pullouts w/the overlay so they would be the same as the cabinets, but she seems pretty insistent that the best I will be able to do is MAYBE split the difference. None of these alternatives are acceptable at this point. She insisted that I have to sign the change order before she can order the products and that we can't get moving until that is done. She said we could work it out later at the end of the project. HOWEVER, the change order specifically says that we agree to pay the difference so I refuse to sign it b/c I know it will come back to haunt us in the end! Next, she tells me that the contractor thinks the Message Center niche in the pantry wall won't work b/c there won't be anything to attach the inside pantry shelves to. First of all, they aren't putting in the shelves, we are...so that's not their problem. Secondly, I explained to her that we already know how we're going to handle the shelves and they will be more than strong enough. So now she says she has to talk to the contractor again. So, with all this happening today, I got on the phone to call the Customer Rep who was supposed to be at our meeting last week but was too ill to attend. It turns out our KD told her that we had agreed to pay the difference...I told her that was definitely NOT the case and that we had said we did not want to pay another cent for our cabinets. I also explained that we have now lost 21" in base cabinetry plus our Message Center, and that b/c our pantry is now smaller in the one direction that we now have a smaller FR doorway than was planned or wanted. I pretty much unloaded all the problems we had. She now wants to talk to our KD and KD's manager and plans to come out Friday AM w/the contractor to see what's up. She told me she thought we only had two minor measuring problems. BTW...it turns out the Customer Rep is actually the Zone Manager. I'm hoping that my refusal to sign the c/o will give me some leverage since it appears it is holding up the project. They REALLY want to get moving. I have had it now...and I am now on the warpath (so to speak)...no more "Mr. Nice Guy" (my DH's words!)

Sell first. We recently put money down towards a new build out of state. Our home is on the market. But the market is slow. The good news is we have a year to sell bc our builder will not be available to us until next May 2014. He only builds one home at a time. In order to book him, we had to put money down towards a new home on our lot. (we bought the lot in 2004 and it is oficially paid for) In the meantime, we are flexible and can move out as soon as the buyer wants and rent a home near where ours will be built or we perhaps we can rent this one back from the buyer. One way or the other, we felt it was better to sell first, but we have already laid out money towards the build and the clock is ticking!