We actually did both things you mentioned: built a house and remodeled an existing home. The decision to build turned out to be a good one, not only because the house turned out very well but also because we now live on a lake, so our home is an incredible sanctuary for us. I will say, however, that our new 2500 sq ft house with some "bells and whistles" (i.e. beautiful wood flooring, multiple showroom bathrooms, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and 72 different species of plants in the landscape) is a lot more work than our previous house. My DW scoffs at idea of how various things were supposed to be "low maintenance." It takes the two of us four hours just to superficially clean this beast. Even though the process of building the home went well and brought the two of us closer as a result of the new-found respect we had for each other, it was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting (even though we had a contractor build it for us). And both of us were in our 40s. It would have been less stressful if I hadn't been the GC, but the additional cost would have been an even bigger stressor. Fortunately, our old house was only twenty minutes away - we didn't have to uproot ourselves from the community, learn a whole new city, re-establish ourselves, etc. I can't imagine what that would have been like. Remodeling, on the other hand, was a very unpleasant experience and caused a lot of arguments between us. You would think with our previous building experience that it would have gone smoothly, but remodeling is a whole different animal. You are constrained by the often dysfunctional floor plan of the original builder and are continually at the effect of shoddy materials, poor planning, or just outright stupidity. You have to put up with things you don't like because the cost of changing them, like a horribly colored fireplace, is prohibitive. And it is harder to control costs because you don't know what lies behind the next piece of crumbling floor board... or unyielding clipboard of the local county bureaucrat. We were mandated to put in sidewalks/gutters, widen the road, and put in $13K of landscaping just to bring the property in line with local statues. This was after a county planning meeting where we were told (prior to buying the property) that code compliance costs would be "minimal". In the end, I think the most important thing is to discover what is the essential, core experience you want to have in your retirement years. Is it new experiences, intimate time with each other and/or family, spiritual growth, or a unique combination of things? Once you find this "touchstone," it should be easier to decide if building a house really fits in with what is most important to you.

I'm in the Boston area and I have used it successfully. they have raised their prices. You can just try the one month trial, and get the names of three people to start, and if it works well for you and you need a lot of work, go for a year. The list is uneven, in that sometimes they have no/little info for what you are looking for or a company you want to use isn't there, but everyone I have used from there has been really good, so I continue to find it valuable. It also helps to fill out reports to make it better. However, I have not put in a VERY negative report of a company not listed because I was worried about them suing me, Angie's LIst doesn't protect you from that. I have used: Yard clean up painters chimney sweep/liner mechanic locksmith roofer all with excellent results.

If contemporary is your style, then, yes, go for it. Although I don't have a contemporary home, and my dining room light is not at varying heights, it did make me think of this light. Here is a link that might be useful:

I’d love to use an architect, but my husband wants me to come up with a plan and hire a draftsman so we can use that money in the house. [...] *or purchase a stock plan* ;) Okay, if you go this route, please please *please* look for skinny houses (either rectangles or letter-shaped, like L, T, U, C, H, E, etc.), where you maximize the north/south exposure and minimize the west/east exposure. And read as much as you can. CPartist has a great list of books. Also consider the possibility of a "design charrette" (search the forums here, ArchitectRunnerGuy ["ARG"] does many of these, heck he may even have coined the term, lol) -- where you receive very basic/affordable design ideas that could save you from costly mistakes. Have fun. :-)