I'm in a similar situation and was told that I would need to get a county official to provide me with a letter stating that certificates of occupancy are not issued in my area. The IRS could not tell me just which county official to go to but, after checking around a bit, I found out that the septic permitting office in my county was providing "no certificate of occupancy" letters. So if you had to get a septic permit (or any other sort of permit), I would check with that permitting office first. If that doesn't work, try your county commissioners. As for "proof" of when you actually move in, the IRS can't tell you what evidence they will actually accept - but they will tell you that the "burden of proof" is on the taxpayer. Apparently, whichever IRS agent reviews your tax filing just gets to decide whether the evidence you present seems convincing enough to him/her. But if the agent decides against you and denies your claim for the credit, you CAN appeal the denial so there is at least some hope you won't be denied willy-nilly. Still, it seems likely that the more proof you provide of your move-in date, the more likely it is that the IRS agent will be satisified. So: 1) File a change of address with the post office and provide copies of the change of address forms. 2) Officially (in writing) notifiy your employers of your new address and keep a copy of your letter. 3) Change your voter registration. 4) If you had been claiming your house in town as your homestead, contact the taxing office and officially relinquish it. Than claim your new home as your new homestead as of your move-in date. Even if you live in a state where homestead exemption is automatic, you can still file an affidavit in the county land records stating that you are claiming such-and-such an address as your homestead. And you can send a letter to the taxing authorities for both your old home and your new home stating that you are changing your homestead. 5) Change your home and automobile insurance policies. Automobile policy rates are usually set, at least in part, on where your car is "garaged" so changing that address will be further proof of your move-in date. 6) Since you need water and electricity to build, you've probably had most of the utilities hooked up and in your name just about forever. But if you were planning to get cable service or DSL or a land line telephone or anything like that, go ahead and get it hooked up before the 30th and keep the records. 7) Start having the local newspaper delivered to your new address... even if you only sign up for a three month subscription. Nobody has a newspaper delivered to an address where they aren't yet living! 8) Hire a moving van - or at least rent a U-Haul - to move your belongings. And keep the records. 9) Arrange for weekly trash pick up at your new home. 10) If you still have a portajohn on the premises, contact the portapotty people and have them pick it up and send you a final bill. (Nobody keeps a portapotty after they've moved in!) 11) If you still have a dumpster on your property for construction debris, get it hauled away and get your final bill. The IRS is not going to believe you have moved in if you still have a dumpster sitting in the yard! 12) Throw yourself a housewarming party and invite everybody by email. Be sure to indicate on the invitation that you are celebrating the fact that you have FINALLY MOVED IN to your new home. Keep copies of your invitations and the guest list. Every guest is a potential witness for you in the event you wind up having to appeal a denial of the credit. Think also in terms of providing evidence that you have MOVED OUT of your old home. Eg., If you were planning to sell (or rent) your old home, start advertizing that it is available as of May 1. And keep records of your efforts to sell or rent the old place. Or, if a family member is going to live in the old house once you move out, have them sign a dated rental agreement even if you only charge them $10 per year in rent. And have them change all the utilities at the old house over to their name immediately. Or, if the old house will sit empty for awhile (like us, you may be planning to spruce up the old house a bit before putting it on the market), have the utilities shut off until you are ready to start working on it. That will help prove you are no longer living at the old address. Besides, why pay for utility services you're not using. And, keep calling the IRS to ask about this issue. The more calls they get to their help-line asking questions about this specific issue, the more likely it is that the IRS will develop guidelines to give their agents so that there will be some consistency in how agents deal with those of us making a claim for the credit under our somewhat unusual circumstances.

No, all of the energy star tax credits do not apply to new home construction EXCEPT for the geothermal HVAC and the solar hot water credits. I highly recommend taking advantage of the geothermal credit. It is 30% of the total cost including all duct work and equipment. There is also no $1500 cap. For example, the quote for a high efficiency heat pump and all ducting installed for my house was $9000. The quote for a top of the line geo unit installed with ducting and vertical geo loop was $16000. I got back $4500 in tax credits on that $16000. The net difference was only $1500.

Get a release from your subs, so they can't put contractors leins on your home. Our story....we did a substantial addition to our home about fifteen years ago. (That long?!!!) The day before we were supposed to close on our construction loan, our loan officer called and said our GC was in bankruptcy, and that they would not approve the loan if we used him, unless he could provide some kind of collateral info from his bank. When I called him to ask, he went mental on me. Our second choice scrambled to get a formal estimate put together within hours for the bank, and we were able to close as scheduled. Boy, was I ever grateful that #1 had poor credit, and that our loan officer was watching out for us. Our addition went smooth as silk, our contractor was an absolute pleasure to work with, the addition is wonderful,he actually saved our home from burning down when he came back to install one last lightswitch cover, and discovered a bag of trash I had leaned against the garage was smouldering.

I am in the middle of a whole house remodel - no existing room is the same, we added two additions, and replaced the entire garage. I would add: 1. Try using a software for at least general concepts. We used Punch and found it very helpful. The architect couldn't get as specific as we wanted. (unless we spent a huge amount of time with him) For example, what would a double door look like vs single for the master bedroom? We have a late 50's side-to-side split, and had never seen one remodelled to look different. Punch really helped. 2. Have some general concepts of the colors, wood, and overall look. We decided to keep our brick on the outside of the house. It is creamish color which dictated a cream or brown window, and every other outside material. It eliminated a lot of choices. We wanted a fiberglass front door which had to be brown to go with the brick, etc. The interior side of the door is also brown, so that directed some of the look of the new front entry. Similar situation in our kitchen - we kept a table and hutch which dictated a certain style, wood, and color of cabinets which also meant that the stairway would be the same wood, etc. This spilled to the style of interior door and trim. 3. Plan ahead for clothes, etc. DH and I are living in the bedroom and bathroom. I planned on 6 months and it has been a year and still going. My clothes, tax stuff, etc are not convenient. Label boxes, etc so that you can find things, and remember that you will not have electric sometimes - and not in the right rooms. 4. Buy lots of tarps, etc. It really helped keep our stuff clean. I actually bought Christmas tree diposal bags which are really big. After Christmas they only cost .25 and made wonderful covers for stuff. We put tarps under and over furniture, and to close off rooms. The contractor would do some of this too, but by doing it ourselves, we controlled the situation better (like how the tarp was hung). If you have specific questions, I'd be glad to help. A whole house remodel is really different from just a couple rooms!