AMEN, live wire oak. when i compare the way we lived ten years ago to today i'm dumbfounded. our needs, as well as our wants are completely different. i'm sorry, this just seems like such a silly thread. trying to come up with how much something will cost to build in ten ...or even eight years from now is unrealistic at best. and no, we didn't just decide to build a home and then start construction three months later. from the time we decided to build to get to construction was about 2.5 years. much of that time was spent deciding what we wanted, how we wanted the house to function and how it could be designed to grow and accommodate our family as our children grew. i can tell you now that ten years ago i NEVER would have imagined myself with two children. yet, now we are a family of four. good luck with all your planning. just keep in mind the life you lead now and the one you will be living down the road will most likely bare no resemblance to what you have so diligently decided upon.

The key issue is whether you are trying to design the house or create construction documents - two very different goals. Many homeowners tend to think of the "design" of a house as a "plan" when, in reality, it is just one of many ways to help someone to visualize the actual design and it is not always a very good one for complex designs. Plans, elevations, details and schedules work well for builders because they aren't trying to evaluate the overall design, only build the house one piece at a time. IMHO nothing compares to SketchUp for preliminary design at any price (SketchUp basic is free, SketchUp Pro is $495, the Student version of Pro is $49/year and a trial version of Pro is free.) Since it is unlikely a homeowner will have the knowledge to draw a set of construction documents I would suggest sticking to preliminary design and hiring someone with the proper experience to do the rest. A SketchUp model can be easily looked at in plan view especially with the Section Tool shown in the link below. It doesn't take a skilled drafter much time to enter the information from a SketchUp model into a 2D CAD file because the drafter can use the tape measure tool to find all of the dimensions (if they are not already labeled in the model) and it is possible to import a 2D version into almost any CAD program (Pro has DXF export and the free version will need a plugin script that is available free online.) SketchUp may seem intuitive and for a grade school student it is but for a house designer it has so many valuable features that it requires taking a course at a school or online to be used effectively. You should study and experiment for a month before starting to design your house. There are books available at Amazon and online courses from SketchUp and from SketchUp for Dummies/aidanchopra.com. When I open a SketchUp model from 10 years ago I am surprised at how few of the features I was able to use. There is never an end to learning with any CAD program. Each new version of the software adds incredible features. SketchUp view inside model

when I was choosing my backsplash, I first narrowed down to what I thought would work for my space, color wise, level of splash! etc... then I used Autocad to layout the pattern I wanted. I find Autocad to be a huge hastle, couldn't figure out how to print it out (am new to it), and thus used Adobe Illustrator, which I have used for years and am very proficient in. I drew the space I wanted to tile (full size.. am able to do that in Illustrator just as you'd be able to in Autocad), then drew a rectangle to size of my tile, and then just started laying it out. this is how I figured out how much I'd need. I ordered the tile. When the tile guy came, I used my diagram to lay out the actual tiles in the pattern on my countertop so that there was no question what I wanted. It turned out exactly as I would have wanted (with the exception of it not having a tremendous amount of SPLASH!!.. but dh and i agreed that the more splash we went for, the more we may live to regret it/grow sick of it). here is a pic of the pattern I chose: For inspiration, I love Urban Archaeology's website. linked below: Here is a link that might be useful: awesome tile

My thanks to all - even those of you who have asked me to examine my contribution to the problem. Believe it or not, it is my nature to start from a position of equality - equal respect, equal understanding, equal expectations. I was raised to be fair-minded in the extreme (just ask my kids! or my parents, for that matter) and more often than not I am hurt by looking at others and thinking I am looking in a mirror, which may just be human nature, I don't know. I am far from perfect, but I do hold myself to high standards, the least of which are promptness, honesty, and clarity in what I can deliver professionally. I know every job suffers from unforeseen delays, mistakes, and errors in judgment. Sh*t happens. I was pretty understanding in the beginning. Maybe TOO understanding. I'm beginning to think MY mistake was not being tough enough. The problems with this job all resulted from sloppiness - failure to measure properly, to take time to level, to put down drop cloths or protect new appliances when sanding, to take careful notes or pictures with that phone you're busy checking your email on. I do believe those expectations are fairly entry-level, if you want to be a contractor. To everyone at GW - learn from my mistakes! When my island top came in without the overhang, or my granite counters were off-level, or the plumber insisted the water pressure was always weak (turns out he didn't flush the line), or the custom cabinet came in a foot too short - a foot! and this was the second try! - these were not examples of someone opening a wall in an old house and finding the wiring needed to be redone. When my contractor didn't think it was important to show up, as days became weeks, because he was at his closing or doing his walk through or visiting his other jobs, these didn't seem like 'common occurrances' that I should overlook. Maybe I should have been clearer at the top of the post, but I don't think 'well-managed' would be the way anyone would describe this job. Even, at this point, the contractor. And I do count my blessings. I know it could have been worse. But I'd hate to have my performance described in those terms.