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!

I am also in Ohio. We just started on the foundation. We closed our construction loan in August. My only advice is make sure your build and property appraise for what you need or close to what you need. The bank made us feel like this was no big deal until the first bank's appraisal came in thirty thousand dollars under what we needed. This would have resulted in us bringing way more than we wanted to closing. Be cautious about the appraisal process. It seems like your other questions have been answered with good advice from the previous responses. Good luck and enjoy the build.

Good information above. Here's some other and different questions for you.

--Who will design the house? Will you use an architect? Will you use a "designer" recommended by or on your builder's payroll? Will you use a design that your builder has built in the past, and perhaps edit it a bit? There's a lot of difference in the options.

--Do you have a list of mutually agreed "needs" versus "wants" Or are you simply looking at the bedroom count and how you like to cook/entertain? There's a lot of difference in the options.

--Will everything be specified and called out on the drawings? Will you have to depend on a wide range of allowances for items not selected or specified? There's a lot of difference in the options.

--What sort of construction contract will you use for the project? Fixed cost? Time and materials? Something else? There's a lot of difference in the options.

--Can you afford a 15% contingency budget for overages on allowances, unforeseen complications and things which go bump in the night? Do you expect the project to be completed for the builder's bid price? There's a lot of differences in the options.

--Will you withhold a retainage on progress payments and final payment until the punchlist is completed? Will you pay 100% of each progress payment? There's a lot of difference in the options.

You asked about help for the construction process, so perhaps you understand and have all the decisions made about the important issues that lead to and manage the construction process. If not, give some thought to some of these questions.

Good luck on your project!

IMHO you can always do better than rack rate. We got several concessions on our house. We negotiated with a couple builders before selecting one, but we were "build on your lot".

Actually after re-reading your post that's essentially what you're doing too. You're bearing the credit so you should get concessions from the builder since you're supporting the cost of capital. Mind you these aren't going to be huge, but I would think you could ask for a thicker carpet pad, granite upgrade, Wainscotting and a ceiling treatment. That's probably a total of 3-4K in build cost but would add substantially to your enjoyment of the home.

Make sure you are fully spec'd. Everything that is important to you. In your contract. We had all our selections made prior to closing.

Also so we are breaking ground in November, so no worries about the winter. And we're in Chicago. As long as they get the envelope closed before the snow you're fine. And even then as long as you don't have multiple days in a row below about 10 degrees they can still poor concrete.

We had a long needs list and a longer wants list. We were able to get most of it although we did increase our budget through the build process.

We negotiated a fixed cost build. Mitigating the risk was an important factor for us. Even with it we had asbestos in the tear down so we had to pay to remediate that. But we're very happy with what we negotiated and now we just need to build it.