Depending on what is available in your area, check to be sure that your land can have a septic system if your lot is not already on municipal waste disposal -- I once owned a 12-acre lot which had 1 [one] place that passed perc... nearly 1,000 feet from where we had wanted to site the house. Our present 15-acre lot has only two areas that passed perc, and we were advised that it was a limited pass (no more than 2 bathrooms, no dishwasher). Also, if there is no municipal water, get the well drilled before building! A) It's likely to be a major expense and B) construction will need water available. And C), you'll find out if you need additional equipment to make the water potable. Before you firm-set your house site, rent an RV and spend a couple weeks living at that orientation. it's much easier to move a RV from north to east than it is to guess that you'll like your kitchen window facing a particular direction. Check with close-by, long-term neighbors as well as the meteorological services for that area. We discovered that although local meteorologists considered storm winds to be primarily from the northwest, neighbors [and our experience since then] warned that the severest summer storms come from southeast and milder ones from due west, while winter storms come from due south. This can matter, not only for planting, but for considering window size and orientation, and whether your front door and garage doors will be blasted by rain and snow. As soon as you choose your probable house plans, start selecting and getting the actual prices of fixtures, cabinets, and flooring. Keep a spreadsheet that details how much [X] cost on what date. Add 5% to the cost for each year in advance of the expected building date to allow for inflation. You'll save yourself a lot of last-minute stress if you've already determined that you like a particular type of light fixture, bathtub, kitchen cabinet, floor tile, and so on. Yes, manufacturers will change styles but not all that often, and your choice will usually be available within a 5-year timeframe. One thing I do [and it doesn't seem to be a common practice], is to make a scale model of the house plans. The operative word is *scale*! I use balsawood, styrofoam and cardboard of various thickness, measure carefully thrice before cutting, and put together with glue and tape. I discovered that -for me- a fifteen foot hallway is dreary, trotting around kitchen islands is weary, and I don't like it if the refrig door gets in the way of carrying a dish to the counter. While pretending everyday activities, my scale model of *me* discovered that many doors are too narrow to manage when on crutches [or in a wheelchair]; some designing-idjits put the bathroom sink too close to something else so that you can't walk past if the cabinet door beneath is open -- a different design had the TP holder four feet from the toilet... ; those same design-idjits apparently think everybody can reach both the top shelf in the kitchen (6 feet up) and the back of the base cabinet. If I need a ladder or to get on my knees, I don't count it as usable storage! And speaking of storage, do consider what you may need, especially if you have hobbies or special interests that may take special spaces. Try to imagine living there during a snowstorm, hurricane, icestorm, and flooding rains. Also imagine carrrying groceries in and garbage out during those conditions -- I don't like attached garages, but my future house definitely will have a portico so I can get the groceries to the kitchen without slippery steps.

dreamywhite - sounds good, have you considered vinyl (don't know if Hardie makes trim) or something that doesn't need painting? We did all vinyl (Certainteed) on this house after having cedar clapboards and shingles (with apparently *unprimed* pine trim) on the last house. Fascia boards in particular can be subject to a lot of moisture and are really hard to paint after the gutters are hung. superchick - I sure hope you're right b/c now more than 2 yrs after setting the house on the foundation, we're finding more things that were done half-@$$ed. Latest - just trying to get trim up around sliding glass door. Top piece cut too short (OK, I've got plenty left from the door casings that were cut too short in the kitchen that I had to replace). My carpenter (cousin) cut new piece(s) (recut legs as well since he didn't trust modular factory's miters), joined them up and was looking at door, noticed casing won't lie flat over right corner b/c wall & jamb aren't flush, then asked "Who put this door in?" I told him the factory, he pointed out there was a 2x6 (or multiples) right over the door instead of open header like all the windows have. No big deal, I said, though I noticed that too when I was putting in foam insulation, you can just cut out the drywall behind the casing like you did with the bathroom door and other window casings upstairs. Yes big deal he says, there IS no drywall over this 2x6, they just skimmed joint compound right over the wood! He asked why they did that, my answer is I don't know why the did anything the way(s) they did in this house, but best we could figure, they cut the opening for the door too tall (maybe same height as windows), drywalled, then went to install the door and had to fill the gap so nailed/screwed (?) 2x6(s?) in to fill the gap then just mudded over it(them). "Builder" (dealer) who of course earns his living from the factory had fixed a big crack over the door for me a few months after set, never noticed or at least never mentioned this to me, even though he told me about all the high/low studs (and one joint taped on back with duct tape instead of front with mesh tape) when he was fixing other cracks. It hasn't cracked again in almost 18 months, so I'm leaving it. (Sigh) so I told my cousin if he can just route out the wood (there's a 1/4" overlap in worst place) so that the casing lies flat, and put up the casing the same day so DH doesn't see it, let's just do that. I'm not into exploratory surgery, demo, drywall work and who knows what else right now. If we ever decide to build a breakast nook/sunroom off the back where a double window is now near the kitchen, we'll rip out the whole back wall of the FR and do things the right way then. I'm not even telling DH - he's even more sick of this house than I am (if that's possible). At this point, the less he knows about the screwy construction and the work-arounds my cousin and are are coming up with, the better (cousin has already replaced 1 window jamb and is working on a continuous bay window stool as soon as he figures out joints in corners since they aren't symmetrical, and the center bay wall is thicker on one side than the other, which is why I noticed the stool was narrower than the others originally).

Hi Stephanie, some perhaps more detailed answers to your questions based on my experience (civil engineer from Ontario living in Maryland with a coastal place we built in Delaware). 1) eliminate two windows to allow for built-in entertainment centre near fireplace - probably can change but I'm a big fan of having *all* the changes you can think of shown on the drawings. Avoids surprises and extras - and you'll have plenty of those! 2) make main floor sliding patio doors wider - definitely needs to be shown on approved plans as it affects the structure (extreme example: change from a 3' door to a 10' door, what keeps it from sagging in the middle?) 3) modify the layout of the kitchen cabinets - if you mean replace two 24" cabinets with a 48" cabinet, nah, no big deal! If you mean move the sink and/or stove and/or fridge, yes, definitely. Affects plumbing and electrical and other codes (possibly minimum side clearance to stove, for example) 4) move the laundry to the basement - definitely needs to be on approved plans. [Aside: plans I saw on line spoke of a two story and didn't show a basement level, let alone foundation details etc. Questions: 1) Do these small changes have to be reflected on the drawings that gets "stamped" for municipal approval? or can it just be noted? See above. 2) If the drawing does not have a BCIN# (which another commenter says is required for Canada), what is the process for getting that on drawings ordered from a site like eplans.com BCIN (building code identification number) is an Ontario thing - designers need to pass an exam to prove that they're aware of the Ontario Building Code and was passed because the municipalities were tired of dealing with too much generic crap and incomplete designs. Not sure about NB's reqirements - I don't think they have such a thing. That said, you *will* need someone that knows the local codes - for our place in DE we had to add hurricane proof windows and detailed huricane tiedown straps at specific locations in the house. Odds are that the plans from eplans are based on US codes which are similar but not the same as Canadian codes. 3) Are we better off taking the review drawings to a local architect and having them re-draw the plans with our changes and to meet local code? Definitely start the conversation with the review drawings and ask the designer (note that you don't always need an architect, there are designers that can do the job. Ask your contractors for references - they've worked with numerous ones and can surely point you in the right direction.) You might find that the 'local code' changes are much more substantial than you'd think (foundations based on soil conditions on your site, wind loads, snow loads, etc., etc.) Also to save anything, the drawings need to be in an editable format (not just reproducible) for them to be of any use to the designer as a base. Otherwise if they're simply 'reproducible' mylars (a fancy form of plastic for blueprints), they are often a pain to work with other than for very minor changes and end up getting re-done anyway. (Another example would be if, say, the local municipality wants metric drawings instead of imperial drawings - for a relatively simple design such as the one you've chosen, it would probably be faster to re-do than to change all the dimensions.) Good luck!

SECTION P2705 INSTALLATION P2705.1 General. The installation of fixtures shall conform to the following: 3. Where fixtures come in contact with walls and floors, the contact area shall be water tight. This requirement has not changed since the first edition of the IRC in 2000 and was also in the predecessor code (CABO 1 & 2 Family Dwelling Code) since the early 80's. There may be other ways to make the joint water tight but a backsplash is the easiest and most effective method since counters and cabinets move and shift over time. The code appears to be concerned with water running down the wall and causing deterioration of the wall and perhaps even the structure. Local codes can vary so much from county to county, you might try calling your local building inspections department and actually TALK with an inspector about it. Function of the backslash is to protect the drywall from mold. Whereever counters with water touches walls some type of waterproof barrier is required. Another option is tile.