For my husband and I we started looking at older homes in the area last Sept., took only a few weeks to realize we wanted to build new, another few months to figure out that we're not the type that can just go with the typical spec home. We chose a design-build firm in November, met with an architect in December to modify a plan that we sort of liked, and closed on a lot in Jan. Then we made all our tentative selections for allowance items and had them priced out, which added about $30k to the contract price.It took about 3 months to get enough of an idea of allowances that we felt comfortable signing our contract (during this time I also redesigned the front elevation and the kitchen layout). That said, I probably spent 40 hrs a week doing research and planning our house during that time. Most of this was finding the things we had in our heads, trying to find/draw pictures for subs, and doing historical research, as we wanted to give the house a fairly authentic early 1800's feel, while not losing all of the things we love about new builds, and keeping the project remotely affordable. I've done pretty much all the design work since we just went with a design/build firm. They're one of the more detail-oriented in the area, but not enough so for us. Next time we would probably just hire an architect to manage the entire project. It would be a lot less stressful. We've also changed quite a bit as the build has progressed, and we get a more coherent vision of the house, and a better idea of standard specs in the midwest (we're not from around here and that has made things interesting). That added another $30k or so to the project, but we easily could have added another $100+. Most of these changes were on non-allowance items, like mouldings...actually pretty much all of them were architectural details. That seems to be the expensive stuff: detail and anything not made of plastic or mdf. Combine a love of well-proportioned details and natural material, and costs jump up pretty quickly. Be prepared. I found that a lot of our subs didn't want to get into much detail with us until there was a hole in the ground. And I think with good reason. There are some things you just can't fully plan until you're almost ready for them to go in. And some things, no matter how much planning you do, won't go the way you want. Word of advice: don't feel bad about changing your mind! After all, you're the one funding the project. One of the most helpful questions for our subs was "If we do it this way, how hard is it to change it to another way in the future, and how will doing it this way limit our choices?" We were really surprised sometimes at how easy some things were to add or change later, and what things really needed to happen at build time for them to be worth doing. We're in the home stretch now as flooring is in and cabinets are being installed. Just picked out our slabs of marble for our countertops today. We don't really expect anything new from here on out. We also are leaving a few things to do later on, like finishing landscaping and closet shelving, so we have a better idea of what we want. Now I stop by the house a few times a week, just to see how things are going, but mostly to just jump up and down and be excited. All this being said, I'm the kind of monster that will spend an entire day drafting 15 scale drawings of potential kitchen cabinet layouts so my husband and I can choose one when he gets home from work and send it to our carpenter. We're also really decisive people who already had a pretty clear idea of what we like, how we live, and our priorities. The hardest part was finding what we wanted given our resources. I think for most people, if you really want to be able to specify all the little details and don't have an architect that can do that for you, you'll want to give yourself a lot of time and really think hard about how you live, and how you want your home to feel. On the other hand, if you don't really care about the little things, you might not need much time to plan things out at all. Like your friend, you could make all your choices for finishings in a week and be done with it. It took us over a month just to find tile that we liked. Either way, do go into it having thought about your home enough that you know where you fall on that spectrum.

Well, here we sit again....cabinets delayed another week. Have e-mailed Lowe's store manager on 2 weeks ago, again 3 days later re-forwarded the e-mail saying I thought he may have missed it over the 4th holiday and then again one week ago. ZERO RESPONSE. Z-E-R-O! Can't believe how unprofessional this is! I get it people are busy but to just not respond to a customer who has spent $30,000 in your store! And my contract said all work would be done by early April! It is now mid-July and this part of the installation MAYBE will be complete next week, then after countertops are installed (another company) there has to be more measuring for some decorative panels that they suggested we don't measure for until after countertops are in. After a call to Lowe's corporate in which they "escalate" the situation and said the store manager will get this "Urgent Customer Care" email and he must respond within 24 hours....still NO response! UNBELIEVABLE! So have put in another call to Customer Service and now they escalate to the District Manager and I am supposed to hear from him within 24 hours. And by the way, Lowe's Credit Card (Synchrony) said that it just takes a call from a Store Manager and they can push this final payment out and extend the promo (6 months same as cash) on out beyond the original 6 months. I have pretty much done EVERYTHING else myself since I placed the order with no communication from their "install manager" or kitchen designer. I communicate with the installer directly now since the install manager also can't seem to return a phone call or place or follow up on the incorrect orders that keep getting placed. I communicate directly with Schuler (their Customer Service has been phenomenal!) to correct orders that are placed incorrectly---even after going over it several times and putting it in e-mails. Cabinets ordered the wrong size by and inch (at least 5 times), finished ends ordered on the wrong side of the cabinet, etc. Hopefully there is a district manager who can straighten this out and get these people to get this project finished!

Since it should be obvious that nail-fin windows cannot be replaced after brick cladding has been installed over the fins, the only issue here is whether to accept the white windows or wait for the almond windows, therefore the subject of this thread has always been whether almond is worth the wait so it has always been about color preference. If you had shown us the design and actual colors we could have had a reasonable discussion but you didn't do that preferring to discuss who was at fault and the hardships this has caused you. In the end it appears you are dong beige on beige but no one will ever know for sure. Thank all of the members who responded and let it go.

a1eventing - What were your thoughts on why to buy the extended warrantees? We ordered appliances from Ferguson on 12/10/20 for a new build. As last I heard, they had not come in. We will not need until probably July. Hopeful that they will have arrived by then. I have not heard about all of our plumbing fixtures, but we did have a slight delay getting a shower pan. Our cabinets had no delay, but they are made in the U.S.A. We had no delays on brick (as some have.) Our 1st choice on roofing had to be nixed because there was not enough product. Chose 2nd choice and now regret it. :-( We are currently waiting on garage doors (8 weeks from the time we ordered) and metal for roofing, soffit, guttering, and fascia (looking at end of April.) We had slight delays in exterior doors. Interior have not been ordered. I think this week for that. Hope we do not see a delay! Sheetrock starts this week.