saphire, I'm going to disagree here a bit. In my experience as having hundreds of builders for clients they most certainly do get emotionally attached to their properties. The smaller the builder, as in those building less than a half-dozen homes/year, the more likely he/she has emotional involvement come time to sell. To the small builder, the homes they build are often dream homes in their minds. They put their heart & soul into some of these properties. They bring their 'dream' to me sketched on the back of an envelope & squabble about why I 'need' plans & specs before granting them the construction loan. Their response is almost universally, "Why? Can't you SEE this house is worth every penny of the loan amount I need?!" They are builders not business people. I've teased many a builder...sitting in front of my desk wanting to know if they should accept an offer...that they are too proud of their "erection" & need to take a couple steps backwards. :) To hear you or another potential buyer comment that you don't like something they've chosen to put in the house is insulting to them because you aren't seeing 'their' dream. It takes small builders longer to come around to changed market conditions than it does lenders. Eventually, his lender will give him a hard nudge towards seeing the 'light' & refuse to grant another construction loan until he sells something... Since the builder wants nothing more than to get moving with his next dream...that is the point at which a potential buyer finds negotiating with these guys the easiest. Small builders uniformly, in my experience, lose interest in a project at about the 65% complete stage &, in fact, pushing them to reach 100% is like pulling teeth with a string & a doorknob! They've got another sketch they want me to look at..... Market conditions now should be such that even these small builders are ready to negotiate. Oh, another reason they lose interest is because even though they're not supposed to...they live on their construction loans. They draw out profit as the build progresses. One way, or another...they ALL manage to sneak their cable bill into the draws! By the time they reach the point in construction you're describing they have little motivation because they've already pulled out most of the profit they expected anyway. They don't have the same enthusiasm for their lender getting their money back as they do for building their dream & getting those draws. I love small builders. They have hearts of gold & are 'salt of the earth' type of people, usually. That's the biggest reason I love construction lending...the builders themselves are just great/fun people. But, don't kid yourself...they DO get emotionally involved. /tricia

We're building our forever home in Michigan so I can offer personal information on some of your questions. There are pros or repeats here that will be able to chime in on a lot of your concerns. Do we need anyone to represent us in the loan/closing process? i.e. do we need to hire someone? Unless you have a complicated financial situation (all assets in trust) you don't really need anyone to represent you on the loan and closing process. Just read up on what's involved and be familiar with all the loan terms. Don't be afraid to ask questions. You may want to find a real estate lawyer to look over the building contract. Pay special attention to milestone dates, draw dates and numbers, penalties for missing milestones and certificate of occupancy, budget overages, and change request procedures. Our bank suggested to close on the land and loan at the same time to avoid extra closing costs, is this valid? We purchased our property outright with cash and used it for equity for the construction loan. If it's all being handled by the same bank and title company, I can't think of any reason to split up the process. I think there are fees associated with title transfers, but if you're buying the land in full, I'm not sure why there would be closing costs. Do we need to hire anyone during the build other than the builder? i.e. an inspector/agent? The builder will bring all their own subcontractors. Certain stages of the build will likely need to be inspected and approved before moving on, but it's not a bad idea to have a home inspector in your pocket if you don't know what you're looking at. Visit the site as much as you can and take as many pictures as you can of everything. This will help you in the future to know what's behind the walls, and also capture any quality issues with the build, even if you don't see them at first. If you know workers will be on site, take coffee/donuts when you visit. It makes you more than a faceless name their building a house for. What things are negotiable in the price of a home? i.e. what can we ask the builder to lower a price on? There's probably not much you can negotiate on price unless you change the quality /quantity of the product. It's a spec house with a large scale builder in a large neighborhood project. It's in his best interest to build quickly and move on, so any deviation from the standard will cost more money. They purchase materials in bulk to realize more savings so if you want to have that super special back splash tile, You might be able to ask for a credit, and purchase it yourself for installation. It all depends on the builder. Is there any concerns we should have about building during winter? I think the only concern would be for any concrete pouring. Winter mixes need hot water and insulating/heated blankets for curing, so there's a little extra cost incurred for a winter pour. It's not as much a concern until deep winter in Jan/Feb since you have to be careful of multiple sub freezing temps without day time thaws. Once the house is sealed up (windows, doors, and roof) temporary heat will be needed on the inside for work to progress. They won't use the final heating and ducts during the construction process because the dust would destroy the furnace. Might be some more cost because of this. What concerns or problems should we be ready for as buyers? My only experience is with a smaller builder and non-spec house so your mileage may vary (hopefully). We needed to keep a good "war chest" of cash around to advance payments on the bank draw. Accounts are kept on a monthly basis so if the lumber is purchased at the beginning of the month and a bank draw milestone isn't reached, the lumber yard might be breathing down the builders neck to settle the account. Ideally, building will progress quick enough that draws will be made in a timely manner but you might want to be prepared to cut a check for some stuff and get paid back on the bank draw. Also, figure an additional 10%-15% for cost overages and small upgrades. Don't be afraid to ask for a cash penalty for not meeting the move in date. $50-$150/week is a good starting point. See if the builder uses project planning software and ask to privy to the information. If you're getting a basement, use best practices for waterproofing. It's a huge pain in the butt to fix later. What are some asks we should bring to the builder for the home? i.e. what are things that you love in your home, or wish were included originally? If the builder is flexible, you might be able to request upgrades or additional features. Depending on if this is your final house or just a home for the next 10 years will determine if it's worth your money. Think about improved insulation/windows, structure wiring for data/av/security. Hard surfaces can be upgraded in the future, but are more difficult than cabinets and carpets. Unless you're building with a luxury home builder, every aspect of the house will be as close to bare minimum code as possible. For example, interior doors will be present a look nice new, but will be hollow core. Carpet looks nice when new, but it's builders grade and will mat down within 5 years. Insulation will be minimum code. Sockets will be spaced for minimum code, but might not be convenient or plentiful enough. Be aware of these things and see if you're allowed to request upgrades on the "bones" of the house. Structure, electrical, plumbing/gas, lighting, HVAC. Everything else can be changed with more relative ease later. Good luck!

if the plan was for 2,000 square feet and the final was 1,500 square feet, I would imagine the OP would have an easy time getting the remaining deposit back, even though they signed off already. I respectfully disagree. It is exceedingly unlikely that the OP could overcome the settlement and even more unlikely that it would make financial sense to try. We should understand that in most states you risk more than your deposit when you breach a contract. The deposit is given as reasonable insurance you will not breach, but it is rare that any contract maker will limit their recourse to surrender of deposited funds. The builder could sue for specific performance, in other words he could make you buy it. He might also sue for losses associated with your breach. When you agree to a partial refund, you are agreeing that you will not sue him for problems during construction and he will not sue you for further damages or specific performance. A settlement is essentially a new contract. The only way the OP would reasonably get around that, and still probably not cheaply, is if he could prove that the builder regularly did this as a profit generator. I once saw a landlord, who had low rent rates on a great property, get in trouble for taking excessive applications, and associated fees, for each apartment he rented. Whenever he needed money he would just accept applications even if he didn't have a vacancy, at $75 per application he was making a mint off of them and he would just put people on a waiting list, sometimes for years. He lost a case and ended up having to sell the complex.

@Patricia Colwell Consulting, it is becoming increasingly common for production builders to provide too short driveways and narrow driveways so that the driveway is not functional at all. I see it regularly. In my area those extremely short driveways are referred to as " driveway aprons" and some are so small that not even one vehicle can't fit on it. They are suppose to force the homeowner to park inside the garage and not outside on the non-existent driveway. They are horrible. Usually seen in HOA communities and big fines follow if the HO parks on the driveway! I agree with the consensus here though for the OP. Since you were willing to pay the builder at one time for the expanded driveway, it is your responsibility to fix this at your expense. Take it as an opportunity to get it right rather than having to work with the builders patch.