Well, that may be how it used to be done and nothing says it can't be done that way now, but in today's building economy, I might err on the side of caution. Alot of builders are hurting & some are behind in payments on other projects. You are going to want to do everything you can to protect yourself & your $$$. As far as the construction loan goes, if I'm not mistaken, you and the builder would get roughly the same rate on the construction loan so there's no savings to be had there. The "savings" he is likely talking about comes from the fact that he is making the monthly interest only payments & you're not having to front that every month as the house is built. But trust me, he will get that money back with interest--so there's really no savings at all and it will probably end up costing you more. If you get the loan yourself, you will be responsible for paying the monthly payments. (Average construction interest in my area = 5%. To figure your payment-which will change monthly-you take the total amount drawn off the construction loan to date, multiply by the interest rate & divide by 12. It's not until you get toward the end of the build that the payments really get up there, but remember you are still only paying interest-no PMI, taxes, or prinicpal). As far as that 15% downpayment goes, depending on the type of contruction loan you get, you may have to front that 15% to the bank and they would make those funds available during the draw process. This helps protect you & the bank as the builder doesn't have direct access to the funds anytime he wants it--the bank will have to come out & make sure the work has been done to a certain level/percentage of completion and only then can the funds be released. There are typically 4-6 draws on an average construction loan. From the builders' point of view, if he gets the loan & you front him the 15%, he knows he has funds readily available so he can pay subs and stay ahead of the game and not have to wait on the bank. It may also allow him to get discounts from the subs on labor costs if he pays them in cash from your 15% as the job is done or on a weekly basis. My question here would be--will those savings be passed on to me as the buyer? What type of building contract are you going with--cost plus, fixed price, etc? If I was putting my 15% up front then I would want control over it--I get a copy of the invoice (sent US Mail) & I cut the check to the sub directly. As you submit receipts to the bank, those funds get "replenished". There have been too many cases where the builder uses the funds for something else and subs don't get paid in a timely fashion or even at all resulting in a lien against your house. Now I'm not saying your builder would fall into this category, afterall I don't know him. But it just makes sense to be cautious expecially in today's climate. I would be very curious to know why he "wants to move super quick to get things started (something about a permit possibly expiring)". Does he own the lot the house will be built on? If not, what permits has he already pulled on a build he doesn't have a signed contract for yet? This doesn't make sense to me. If he doesn't own the lot, he may just be trying to rush you into a decision. My advice is don't rush into anything. Make sure your attorney reviews any & all contracts the builder wants you to sign. Make sure your attorney and his attormey are not one & the same--you need your own to protect your interests. Make an appointment to talk to some different lenders in your area about your loan options and their requirements-don't let anyone pull your credit report until you know you're set & ready to pull the trigger-no sense in dropping the credit score prematurely which can adversely affect your interest rate. While you're talking with the lenders, ask if they have dealt with this builder before or have had clients who used this builder and what their experience was with him. (I didn't know this one until the other day when my lender said he was going to ask around his banking friends about our builder to see if he tends to run over budget on his builds--sign of lowballing the bid to get the contract then springing the real cost on you at the end when it's way too late, differences of opinion on what is owed him, any complaints from subs not getting paid, etc). You may also want to do a search on GW about building contracts--there is alot of great information on here with specifics on how you can help protect yourself & your pocketbook. Make use of your banker & attorney to help protect your interests as well. Good luck to you & congratulations on starting a new house!

NOPE, they are feeding you a line of bull. Bamboo actually darkens a little with exposure, but not much. The new(different production run) will never match, or catch up when your talking about outsourced bamboo.

I don't know for sure, but the Reserves fund seems rather low for the size of the overall budget. The deficit is more than half of the entire reserve fund. In my area the association is required to have a reserve fund that is equal to a certain percentage of the overall budget. The other thing you will want to know is the percentage of owner occupied vs. absentee landlord rental units. I lived in an association that was chronically underfunded and in the 17 years I owned there, I paid about $10,000 in special assessments. Some people had to take out second mortgages to pay their assesments. One very large unit had about $20,000 in assessments. If you are not paying into a reserve fund you could suddenly be asked to cough up X amount of money if something needs to be replaced. In my building the entire air conditioning system failed to the tune of $250K or something. Another association had to do a window replacement program, and the special assessments in that associate went all the way up to $40,000 in some unit. That was enough for a number of owners to go into mortgage default. If I buy into a condo association ever again, it will be one that is very financially sound, large enough that individual unit owners don't take a huge hit if there is an unexpected expense, and new enough that some major systems failure isn't on the horizon.

Call a roofer have them come out and check. If everything is OK, put insulation back and close that up and keep an eye on it.