Three times. GC'd all three and yes, most anything gets more efficient with repetition. Looking to do a fourth. I've found as an architect it's a whole lot different when I'm spending my own money...and it serves as a reminder to respect my clients money as well.

In our second. Managing better? Maybe. We are more financially secure, we are going 100% custom, and being our own GC. Smarter? Debatable...

Fourth and last time, just about to commence the build. I originally planned to be my own GC then decided to hire one instead, not enough time. Yes it gets better each time.

we've built two and there's no comparison, we were 25 when we built the first one and 61 when we built for the second time we were so lacking in knowledge when we built the first one....that and we had plenty of money to do the last one plus we'd lived in many houses in between the builds absolutely no way to compare the two builds or anything about them

Twice. We did manage better the second time; negotiating the process, negotiating the changes we wanted, and not panicking at delays.

But, in our experience, it was a billion decisions about everything made by people whose senses of the esthetic had very little in common -- and then life took big turns that had us leaving the houses anyway.

I'm just as happy now being largely binary about the other houses we've purchased: I like it/I don't like it; this is what we can (afford to) change/this is what we cannot.

I watched my parents do it twice when I was a child. Since I was an "only", I got hauled along to ALL the meetings with the architect and GC. Amazing what one picks up by osmosis all those years ago. I knew I NEVER wanted to build a house myself But what I learned has stood me in stead during multiple remodeling of two houses over the past 45+ years.

Our new house is our first, and hopefully last.

The houses I've lived in, in chronological order:

1st- 200 years old

2nd 125 years old

3rd 50 years old (notice a trend?)

4th 30 years old

5th Brand new.

We designed and built our new house, from the ground up, only hiring out the things I couldn't do, such as excavation. I should have done it many years ago, but I didn't have the funds, know-how, or experience then. It was (is) the adventure of a lifetime, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

It was our first and will be our last. Our market doesn't really allow for continuing new builds unless you're rolling in the money.

I can get an equivalent 15 year old home that is fully landscaped for $100K less and thats after putting $75K into upgrading finishes and some mechanical. After watching existing over the years we could never find something that had the right combination of land, school district, exterior and interior layout. Bottomline you better build right around here otherwise you'll burn through your equity quickly.

Its our 4th house so we knew what we wanted on the new build. Next place will be a small place in the PNW on lots of wooded land!

This is the one and done. Had we built another earlier we probably wouldn't still be married to build this one! Owner/builder in a new state without familiar resources takes a big toll physically, financially and emotionally. We'd done extensive remodeling of previous houses. Raised the roof on a 1-1/2 story to a true 2 story then on another added on a 2 story + full basement addition that doubled the house size. We lived in them during construction, I was pregnant with our first child in the roof raising and had 2 little boys for the second one and DH did the work on both. That was FAR easier than building.

Three.

First house we had built was a production builder. Beyond making some choices in finishes and selecting a lot, there was not a lot of involvement from us. We drove by frequently. My father probably visited as often as we did since he worked nearby.

Second house was semi-custom. The builder had a dozen or so floor plans available, but we had a new one drawn for us. We selected things like lighting, flooring, appliances, exterior finishes, and cabinets. Some items such as interior door styles, windows, and plumbing fixtures were specified in our contract. He probably would have let us change those, but we were happy with what was specified. We visited the site at least once per day.

Current house was more custom to some extent. We loved house #2 so rebuilt it in a different state on more land. We tweaked some things like changing the direction of the garage to a side load, extending the family room, and enlarging the mud room. We fixed what didn't work well for us. We also selected more of the details including interior trim, the stair spindles, interior doors, door handles, plumbing fixtures, and all the little details. This time we were 250 miles away so we visited every 2-3 weeks. Our general contractor spoke with us frequently and was very honest. We really lucked out with him. He even drove over the 20 minutes or so in the middle of the night one time when the house alarm went off. He arrived before the sheriff.

My favorite memory from this house is the day I showed up and an Amish craftsman was waiting for my arrival to "sell" me trim and doors. He had not been contacted by the builder--just showed up with his driver. At one time he had been a custom builder in the area. He was helping his son with his mill work business. We purchased the stairs, trim, and doors from his son. They invited me out to their shop. It was next to their home. Later I was told it was a little unusual for a woman to be invited out. I visited the week after 9/11. It was such a peaceful feeling in a time of a national stress to drive out there and be welcomed by them. I remember a young son and wife peeking out at me as I drove up to the shop. They were such a peaceful and gentle family. It was just what I needed at that time. The "old man" visited the week we closed on the house and gave me a hug. Great memory.

I've done it twice.

The first time I was so young and stupid it's amazing it turned out half way decent. Then again, I also had no money so it was a pretty simple little starter cape cod. I lived in that house for 14 years, kept improving it along the way, and I still to this day look at that house and smile. It was a happy little home.

The second time was about 4 or 5 years ago now. I actually made many more mistakes on this house than I did the first one. Bigger design so much more room for errors. The second house is the epitome of, "you don't know what you don't know."

My standard joke is now that, "3rd time is the charm." Ha ha. I honestly don't know if I'll ever build a new house again, but if I do......I've sure learned a lot from both this forum, and from that 2nd house build.

This last house was #3. We hired builders for the first 2 but this last one we did ourselves. It was an adventure and learning experience and a LOT of work. I wouldn't have done it differently though. I got the house I want . . the way I want it . . .without having to fight a builder along the way.

We are in a very hot market- never fell in the late 2000's, etc. First house we built and sold for 30K over our buy-price at 5 years (we were 22). Second house we are working on (at 30), and the land's already appreciated 5K in the last 10months of owning it; we plan to stay in this one long term, unless more children come along. It's cheaper here to buy land and built then buy an exsisting house due to the college expanding every year/people trying to get kids in certain school districts. If you can afford to wait, rent, build, it comes out ahead (bidding wars on exsisting homes).

Of course, we do plans, layout, etc with the architect, and our choices are usually to maximize space and functionality, thus most of our finishes are pretty builder-grade, as we can update them later on, and we want to keep our costs low.

At least this stuff is helping our LTV ratios!

It's crazy to think some of you had the opportunity to build that many times. I can't even find land after searching for 8 years.

First (hopefully) and last. Home design was never a big priority for me and I adapted just fine to the various homes I have l lived in. I was partial to the MCM design but the opportunity to purchase one never came up through the years. We saw a new home last year that elements of MCM and Modern that we fell in love with but it was not in the right location so knew that we had to go with a new custom build. We searched for over a year and finally found a close-in lot and had the designer modify the plans to fit the lot and our desires. We are about ready to sign the contract with the builder.

Amazing how this process teaches one patience! Like Cpartist said, I am getting too old for this. LOL

First was production 1999;

Second was full on custom 2008

Third (rental, vacation, basic) custom 2011

Fourth? - 2017. Teardown/custom.

Hard to go back after custom. Would like to fix mistakes (if you call them that) this time around. Expect there will still be a retirement house build 2030.

We built once, our current retirement home which we finished in August 2015.. A few things I would do differently, but overall never building before and knowing less than nothing on building a house, it turned out just fine.

Thanks for the interesting stories. I have to admit that I couldn't have predicted ahead of time who of you had built before and who had not. Funny the different paths we have all taken to get here.

Since all of you shared your stories, I guess I should tell mine. House #1 was just a few years old, but a total wreck! Dry rot all the way to the subfloor in many places, you could smell the house from the sidewalk 50 yards away if the door was open. Yuck! I have no idea what those people did to the house or how they mistreated it so badly in just a few years. However, I was young (22 years) and needed to get my foot in the door to home ownership. This house was being offered at fire sale pricing due to its horrible condition and the fact that the couple who owned it were divorcing and just wanted to get rid of it. So took on the challenge and put in a lot of sweat equity and patched the house back together again. Lived there for a few years, until the value rose substantially. Although it was a sweet little house in an okay neighborhood, it wasn't really where I wanted to be, so we sold it.

DH and I then purchased House #2, with plenty of money down due to the profit on the first house. House #2 was a new build, which we bought directly from the contractor. We were able to choose the flooring, and moved in just weeks before the birth of our first child. Lived there happily and added two more children to the mix. Then DH started getting restless.

We ended up building House #3, a custom home on a piece of land we purchased. Our kids finished growing up in this house, and we gradually realized it was much too big for us, looking into the future. Home values are increasing at a crazy level right now, so we figured we should build a smaller, one-level home which could be a home in which we could "age in place." After exploring what was on the market, we ended up, once again, buying a lot and building. This build was a little more stressful because we also decided we didn't want to move twice, so we waited until the new home was almost finished before putting House #2 on the market. Thankfully, it sold quickly and easily covered the cost of building House #3.

We were pretty happy with our custom built homes, and both met our expectations. We knew what our budgets were each time, and stayed within those budgets. There were a few issues along the way, but they were all settled to our satisfaction. I wouldn't say that there were problems with House #2 that we were determined to avoid in House #3, but there were things in House #2 that didn't suit our idea of a place suitable for "aging in place." We paid more attention to those details this time around. I do think this house (#3) benefited from our having a clear idea what worked well in the previous home and what could have been better. We wanted both form and function, but, if we had had to choose, we would have chosen function. As it is, I think we got a good mix of both. Probably the biggest challenge was the downsizing, but even that went well. I think we only brought a couple lamps and one chair with us that we ended up getting rid of. Everything else has fit into the new house with room to spare. I'm not sure whether #3 seemed to go so well because of previous building experience or because we're older now and have a clear idea what we want in a house going forward.

Anyway, thanks for sharing all your stories. It's nice to know some of the background for the homes you all have been working on.

Waiting to start third build for us.

1) The first was a disaster: (We were in the 20s) - followed concepts similar to "not so big house". Saving money on $30/sq ft space by using cute tricks and ended up with unpractical house. But used expensive wood windows. [should have done backwards]. Used PB plumbing that later leaked, did not drill well prior or tested the well water. So when we realized we need better water treatment - house had no adequate space. Timeless floorplan - CapeCode sucked big one [people who bought it - loved it, not us]. Some designs like a front door that faces the steep staircase should really be forgotten. Framers did not properly glued the flooring upstairs, narrow crawl opening, wrong gravel - in the crawl [try crawling], central footing sagged .5". Upstairs bath had 1/8" plastic walls, and I let well contractor talked me into good metal casings for the well.. and water turns out slightly acidic. Foolishly we tried to save every tree we could, ended up with some issues with septic and one way too close to the house.

2) Second 8 years later. Regrets subdivision lot, 8' ceiling upstairs, use of builder grade materials, large deck, hallways, not making upstairs laundry, not exciting floor plan, builder grade hvac. Also others love it, we could have done better.

3) The third build 14 years later - planing for spring 2017. Insanely large lot, excellent location, efficient structure [except two story family], insulation on outside, possibly metal roof, experienced crews for foundation / framing, massive pantry, high end appliances... Every finish is planned, hopefully now accurate takeoffs.

We've built 4 custom homes, and 1 tract home when young. Learned something each time. But each one was a different phase of our lives, and after 51 years of marriage, my favorite is the one we're in now.

Only this once. Frankly, this is enough.

Built three houses - each one when I was pregnant. Something about hubby having to build when I'm unable to fully participate. He buys the lot without me and builds it with the contractor.

Was in the hospital on bed rest for the last pregnancy, didn't even see the lot or the house we currently live in until 3 days after I gave birth. So much fun moving to a new house when your baby is 7 days old along with two other children to take care of!

So it's no surprise that I don't like the house I currently live in because I wasn't able to make any decisions in person. :(

I don't blame you lucky. Of course I always assumed marriages were partnerships.

Cpartist - apparently not my marriage! LOL! I think he's learned, though. He says he will never build another house with me stuck in bed pregnant. But then I'm 55 so I'm never going to be pregnant again anyway!

Lucky, that would make it difficult to really feel like it's your home. Especially after going through a scary high-risk pregnancy. Hope you've been able to put your stamp on at least some of the house that you can call your own.

Men, sheesh... I suspect he thought he was trying to "help" by handling this all so you didn't have to worry about it / add stress, etc. But - such a HUGE part of your life - I think I would have preferred he take care of meals and laundry instead... ;-)

I think I might be at the opposite end of the spectrum- hubby wants me involved in everything. every. thing. To be honest, I don't care one way or the other if we use Sherwin Williams macropoxy or some other coating as long as it lasts and it's white. Those are my criteria. HE's a detail guy. I just want the results.

Twice. Once 20 years ago when we were newly weds in our twenties...it was a production house but it was a fairly higher end builder that gave quite a few more choices than a typical production builder. Then 6 years ago we purchased a lot in our dream neighborhood and did a full-on custom build. I loved the process so much! (I know, crazy, right?!) I would love to do it again...I think I could make it absolutely perfect this time....but there is no way we are leaving this house. We love it and the location so much, and now the landscaping is maturing...it is becoming exactly how I pictured it in my mind. :)

oh well...maybe a vacation home? ;) A girl can dream!

I'll joke and say I've built 1.5 houses so far :) Working on #2.5

Built first custom house 10 years ago. Very stressful, did it alone, very tight budget, didn't realize how much I was getting myself into.

For the "1/2", a few years later I finished the entire basement (~850sqft) and that went a lot smoother. Less items to choose, and I was mentally prepared.

Fast forward to now, married with kid #1 and designing second larger house.

I think it gets easier every time, especially if you have similar needs/design. The hardest part is having to pick out every last thread/stick (interior design) and gambling to have it all come together.

Cpartist - apparently not my marriage! LOL! I think he's learned, though. He says he will never build another house with me stuck in bed pregnant. But then I'm 55 so I'm never going to be pregnant again anyway!

LOL! Well I think this time if you build, he should build a house that is exactly what YOU want! I think after building houses each time you were pregnant, YOU deserve it and deserve it the way you want.

We built the house we're in now 10 years ago. DH says it's custom, I say it's probably semi-custom, and I think most people don't care about the labels :-).

The house we'll build next year will be our last house. I did look to buy instead of build but we really just want what we want--and don't want to compromise as much as we'd have to if we buy and remodel.

The current house is a 5 bedroom 1.5 story with a full basement (about 1/2 finished) for about 4000 square feet. Our next house will be ~2500 sqft ranch with a full basement (probably partially finished).

I'm looking forward to doing it again and expect it to be less stressful--I know more of what I want and don't want. I've re-read my old building blog recently and don't think I'll have anywhere near as much angst this time!

The house we'll build next year will be our last house. I did look to buy instead of build but we really just want what we want--and don't want to compromise as much as we'd have to if we buy and remodel.

Completely agree ... we also looked for something existing that we might update a bit, but found that the non-negotiable items on our list just couldn't be found in an existing home. So glad we built. We've been in the house for almost 3 months now and we're really happy with how it turned out and how it works for us. There are always some bumps in the road, but knowing our budget and what our priorities were (plus a really good contractor) helped to make this build a fairly smooth process. Hope things go well for you. It seems the consensus here is previous experience does make a big difference.

This is our 3.5rd new build. The

.5 was our first home which was a spec home where all we choose were carpets and paint.