Our GC had a wonderful exercise for us. His assignment even before we met was to have DH & me write out our top 20 items/ideas for the house (in order of importance). We did this seperarately w/o knowing each other's top 20. We then brought this list to GC on our first meeting. This enabled him to get the big picture. We also took these lists to the architect. Along with this list, was a photo of what we desired & a layout we thought we liked. As the process has developed, all of our smaller, nitpicky items have come out. GC has appreciated the thought process that I've put into it all. He said it has made everything move smoothly. In the end, I will have less daily choices to make. Although I did SO much research prior to all of our meetings, I have welcomed GC's ideas & knowledge, as well. Afterall, we are hiring him for his skills, knowledge, & expertise. He has been doing this 30+ years & I have only just recently begun this process. I definitely would not go into this seeming like a total know-it-all or you will make GC's life quite unpleasant. Also, in all honesty, about 90% of our desires for our home, GC had already planned for, so I would really be looking for the best GC you can find.

I really don't see how value range pricing helps in a buyer's market. I don't see why anyone would offer towards the top end. I don't think that the MLS in my area is even set up to accept this type of pricing. Rather than come up with a list price I could see MLS systems allowing homes to be listed in pre-selected ranges, such as $200 - $225, $225 - $250, etc. I don't think most people would go for it though, because everyone wants to know what the price per square foot is. If I could VRP our house, I might have an offer. This will allow me to show the low end and get people in as it would be a new price search category. I wouldn't price it as low as we'd go, which would give us room for negotiating. Thanks mumbles. We did write up a 2 page sheet with all of the features, we have lots of mechanical upgrades like 2 water heaters, hi-eff furnace, etc. that many people would not necessarily notice. We have lowered price to $349,900. We have so far had one nibble. It is discouraging. Would like to see nibble amount to something as people have seen the house 5 times. DH says pretty soon he'll start charging them rent! LOL! The one thing I see on your listing is double photos. You need to look through them, tell your agent to clean it up. I also disliked the slide viewer, the photos are so small. It would also be nice if they could label each photo. But it makes me feel better to have a lowball offer. We countered and I hope they counter back but sounds like they cannot afford our asking, their offer was about $45k less than asking...good for them but we are not desperate (just yet)... Good luck.

Grover - thank you! Just extending the curtain rod really makes a huge difference. I'll be changing the curtain, but I love how it softens the space and makes the slider look bigger. I think a snake plant would look great on the stool. Right now I just put what I have on hand. So excited about the new floor. Trust me, you'd never step on our dog - he's part Mexican Jumping Bean and still a puppy.

Things to consider in your stairs design: build by code or build by comfort? Read what the code says in your area for minimum rise and tread. Based on your ceiling height, the run and width of the stairs will be the minimum square feet. We built with 'aging in place' considerations so wanted our stairs to be easy to climb, that is, a slow rate of rise. This was listed as a requirement for our design when we started working with an architect. We did a rise less than code (we did 7.25") and a tread of 12". Our stairs are 4' wide and the run is 14'1" with 9 foot ceiling height between floors. They are very comfortable to climb. A friend has a 100+ year old house with a grand staircase and the rise is about 6 3/4". Interestingly, that rise feels too low. We used a rise of 7.25" for outdoor stairs, too - deck and garage to house. I kinda wished we had done a lower rise and wider tread on our deck stairs but we had to draw a line on costs since we were using composite decking material. This thread from 2002 has great information on stairs. (It is a little unsettling to me to realize I have been reading this forum since 2002!) Renovator8 has very helpful advice in the thread. Stair Math forum thread from 2002