Haven't done a whole house build, but did a large addition with a reno that touched almost every room (including gutting the kitchen and 4 bathrooms.) Wish I had done: picked out my counter slabs in person. Didn't realize that stone yards will name slabs whatever they want, and the slabs vary so much. (Now that seems obvious, but I didn't know what I didn't know.) Wish I had paid out of pocket to get the counters I really wanted instead of staying within our allowances. Wish I had been more on top of all the tiny details - case in point, the builders made an assumption and ordered doors with brass hinges rather than asking me, and the hinges don't match our levers/knobs. Don't regret using custom cabinets everywhere (taller to suit us), zoned HVAC, adding outdoor outlets, and 2nd laundry (ours are basement (original) and first floor.)

following will add my comments when on the laptop, with our new build experience

I would have put my trash pullout in my island.

I would have done my vent hood completely differently.....it's too narrow and doesn't look right.

I would have done sliding doors to our back patio and made them wider than our current 5' french door.

I should have put an outlet in our reach in pantry. I think I'd prefer having my toaster in there vs on my counter. It's my only small appliance we use almost daily, so it stays out. All my others like blender or coffee maker only get used occasionally so get put away after each use.

I would have picked a different dishwasher.

I would have picked a different ceiling fan/light in our bedroom. Ours is a light switch + remote and I'd like to eliminate the remote part and just have a switch by our bed.

Overall, I love my house and the way it functions and flows so no major regrets or changes!

In hindsight, we should have provided all bedrooms with ensuites to match competitive houses in the neighbourhood. (That's what you get for building an eight-year old design in a market fast moving up-scale.)

That’s interesting Worthy. People on here are very quick to tell posters NOT to do all en suites for various reasons, but in your case you are noting a real resale disadvantage to not having all en suites.

More windows and bigger windows and more windows.

Designing the basement upfront

9’ basement ceilings

Yes to trash pullout near prep - at least we got that one right

Wish I had a promotion earlier and saved more - so we could have gone custom with an architect.

At the time of building It comes down the budget. Design in flexibility where you can in case your needs or wants change.

I'm still early in the process - but if starting over I would go straight to an architect and not try to work with a builder/draftsman combo. I lost two months and $2k trying to create my own version of a floorplan, with a roof stuck on top of it, that was unworkable in so many ways. I'm just glad I realized the issues before we went under contract to build.

Not investing in an additional tankless water heater and separate heating and air-conditioning when we finished our lower level. It takes about a week for hot water to get to the kitchen sink and the lower level is always about 15 degrees cooler than the main level.

Not investing in an additional tankless water heater and separate heating and air-conditioning when we finished our lower level. It takes about a week for hot water to get to the kitchen sink and the lower level is always about 15 degrees cooler than the main level.

Ok I forgot about those two. Add me in for a second tankless.

And a separate AC unit for upstairs. I would have made downstairs 3 zone (master suite, living/dining/kitchen, and DH's office/friends' entry) and then a separate 1 zone unit for the two rooms upstairs.

Oh and buying a super cheap refrigerator when we could have had top of the line for pocket change on our mortgage.