We did not go over budget. I picked out almost everything - with the exception of light fixtures and kitchen cabinetry - before we broke ground. I bought a ton of things on the internet (all plumbing fixtures and faucets, light fixtures, cupola for examples) and priced door hardware online and locally. Found it for less locally. For the online purchased, I shopped online and bought during sales (holiday sales were really good - Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day) Be sure to buy/order things ahead of time so they are there and ready before needed - not after! My best advice it to have your plans perfected before breaking ground so there are no changes (only minor minor ones) during construction. Our GC was awesome and did not charge for changes. We built at cost plus his fee - set before we started based on bids. If we were under, his pay went down but if we went over, his did not go up. His idea! He looked after us, was always after the best bang for our buck and wasn't afraid to ask for a better price when an invoice came in he thought was too high (scaffolding rental, for example). He was quick to remind me it would cost what I made it cost. lol Ask yourself what do you have to have and what can you live without....or how can you still have what you want but cost less. Hope that makes sense! Stick with what you can afford and don't do "well, while we're building..." additions during construction. They will add up fast. Good luck!

@DE wrote, "riverrat1, now I want to know - why did it take 3 years for an architect to design a house. this grows more interesting by the minute" We used the services of the Architect to walk through the property to evaluate the lot. = 2 meetings to discover it is a buildable lot to build what we wanted in a house..that took an additional 4 weeks. Remember we were in no hurry and took our time. Another 6 months for her to come up with Schematic drawings of 5 different house drawings. We took our time reviewing those schematics of another 6 months to pick and choose parts from those schematics to come up with a plan that worked for us. Another year to tweak plans, engineering, lighting, design, picking finishes ( traveling to find antique cypress doors) and a few changes to the final drawing. At this point we brought on board a designer/ decorator and builder. Bringing on the designer/decorator and builder took another 5-6 months. Found changes, on plans, with the team, and took another 6 months to implement those changes. Attorney = 4-5 weeks. More engineering was involved at this point. Now we are up to about 2 years 8 months. and we will start soon n a few months. I'm so happy we took our time. Time well spent. Altogether about 3 years when we start. We have all finishes, windows, doors, countertops, moulding, cabinets, floors, lighting, roofing, appliances and a myriad of other things like house wrapping, insulation, drilled shafts, HVAC, etc. picked out already. It's been a wonderful project. I've had a lot of help and feel good about starting this build. When we decided to build I was going to make sure that all of our allowances had already been picked out and knew the cost of each item.

$360,000 to build + $200,000 for 40 acres with 330' lakeshore in MN. The cost to build includes about $30,000 for gravel driveway, $7,500 for underground electricity, well for $6,250 and $10,500 for septic. 4 BR/2.5 bath. 1,450 sq ft main finished, 1,100 2nd level finished, 1,450 basement unfinished, 780 bonus room unfinished. 2-car garage unfinished, 28'x28'=780 sq ft. Colonial variation with 6 dormers. 9' ceilings throughout including basement. Open floor plan two story great room/kitchen/dining room. Master BR and laundry on Main Floor. Split-faced block, Hardiboard siding. 8/12 pitch with architectural 40-yr shingles. Upper mid-level finishes. Large porcelain tile, BR-111 Amendoim wood floor, 48" stainless steel double oven stove with custom 48" range hood, maple stair treads and railings with white balusters, maple fireplace hearth surround, custom mudroom lockers, geothermal HVAC including radiant floor in basement plus desuperheater, garage and bathroom tile floors, closed cell sprayfoam insulation, quality vinyl argon-filled casement windows. Finished building August, 2009. Hopefully plan on never moving. I was nervous building in a severe market collapse because I didn't know what would happen if our appraisal was less than what it cost to build. Local lender really helped as well as one-time close construction to permanent loan as they had an incentive to get it closed. I was technically the GC although we had an experienced, quality builder. I did the tile, wood floors, built master shower, painting, basement waterproofing, interior and exterior drain tile, much of radiant tubing and below slab insulation, closet systems, pantry, low voltage wiring including Cat6 and coax to multiple locations in each room, security wiring, music system and speaker wiring, fireplace mantle, hearth and surround, etc. On-site every day after work and many days before work too and every weekend.

I put two Velux sun tunnels in my kitchen when we redid the roof. I think they were $300 each for the 14" diameter (to fit between 16" stick framed roof trusses). My dad and I put them in. We spent a couple hours up on the roof between cutting the holes and installing the base prior to roofing and then finishing up installing the plastic dome after the roof was done. Then we needed a little over an hour to finish up the inside work. They're really pretty easy to put in, but I can understand wanting to have a professional work on your roof!