Building from the ground up? Come on in!

[Camdynlyn]

Welcome! If you are building a house please feel free to post updates on your property and include pictures.

A little about me. Hubby and I found a house in it's early building stages back in October of 2004. We bought it and moved in and couldn't have been happier... then, hubby got a new job that required us to move. We were back on the hunt, put the house on the market and it sold 2 days later. We are now building our new house.

The stats:
Sq. Ft:2711 sq. ft./2 stories
Estimated date of Closing:: Oct 10, 2005
1/3 of an acre on a corner lot

Drawing of house (ours will not be this color)
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5da39b3127cce911e54879f0300000016109AYuGjFk2am

Downstairs
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5da39b3127cce911e61ffdff900000016109AYuGjFk2am

Upstairs
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5da39b3127cce911e61e45ed200000016109AYuGjFk2am

[Camdynlyn]

Current photos:

We have just had our preconstruction walkthrough and discussed the fine details of the plans to make sure everyone is on the same page. We have our foundation poured and framing was supposed to start sometime this week. We are planning on riding down there either today or tomorrow to see what has happened, if anything. We have a tentative closing date of October 10 if the rain holds off. Keep your fingers crossed because I am going crazy in this 1 bedroom apartment for the temporary time!! :mad:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d838b3127cce920a841eaf9d00000016109AYuGjFk2amh ttp://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d838b3127cce920a84152ea600000016109AYuGjFk2am

[MrsWilson]

I wish I could join this thread, but alas we are still living in the barn...
I just wanted to say that I love the quote you have from "Will and Grace"! Love the show and that's one of my favorite quotes! Oh, and you tentative date is my 1 yr anniversary, so it isn't that bad! :) Good luck!

[Camdynlyn]

Thanks MrsWilson! I LOVE Will and Grace too!

[ManteoChik]

Hey Summer, I'm a new visitor over here. I have posted in your journal on the WC a few times, I'm a fellow NCer! I saw that you were coming over here and figured I'd join and check things out. I hate the new WC format.....I'm still a someday (been with my boyfriend for over 5 1/2 years) just a little sad there is no Someday Journal over here but I guess I can make one somewhere else. Anyway I just wanted to say hello and it looks like everything with the house is coming along!

[kmmommy]

Summer ~ I love the house you're building. I used to post in you WC journal once in a blue moon, but read along a lot! (Maybe I should be a pro reader too)! :p

[Camdynlyn]

Courtney: Do you live in the OBX? I can't remember if you have ever said or not. Also, there are going to be journals here but they won't (if it goes as everyone has said) be specified like Wedding, NW or Somedays. It will just be a journal.

Kelly: Why thank you, ma'am. Damn lurkers!!! :p You will HAVE to post now in my new journal when I get one. You ARE on the same level as me now with our Way too Cool!

****

I think Hubby and I are going to take a trip to see the house today. I am praying I see some type of wood/framing started. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!!

[kmmommy]

Fingers crossed!

[justHB]

I'm not building, but I love seeing the houses all you ladies are. I'll be here lurking.

[ManteoChik]

Summer Yes.

[mrsface]

Summer- I love your floor plan!!

I'm not actually the one building a house, but my mom is and I am very involved in the process with her. So, I am going to join this thread and live vicariously through her :o .

She found the builder and floor plan that she wants and just barely chose a lot- a corner right across the street from a park. It will be so fabulous! The home she chose is a brand new plan so the builders don't have it on their website yet. I'll scan in the floorplan as soon as I get a chance.

We were up until 2 am going over the pages and pages of options- could they make it any more confusing!!! I think we got a pretty good idea of what we'll do, though. The meeting with the options coordinator will be in (hopefully) 3 weeks. We are so excited!!!

Andrea

[kemaji]

We're not building now, but someday we want to design and build a craftsman style house, so I plan on lurking. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from everyone here.

[Camdynlyn]

Hello all! Well, NOTHING was done. No wood, no framing, NOTHING! Bugger!

Courtney: Daytona, you say? I had my Bachelorette party in Titusville near there. Fun fun!

Andrea: My parents are building. THey are trying to finalize their plans now and already have a lot. It is 2nd row from the Intercoastal waterway. You will be able to see the water from the top floor and the lookout at the top. I can't wait to see it!! I will have to post theirs as well along the way!

[alliannie]

Not buildng yet but will be doing that or buying within the next year so I will lurk here to get ideas. I would much rather build and get what I want though!

[Cohl]

Not building yet but will be within the next year or so. Hope I can learn the ins and outs from you girls.

Nicole

[Camdynlyn]

Bumping for Kam!

[Oakley]

Hi Everyone!
Summer- thanks for starting this!

My husband and I are in the process of building our house right now. We moved to this area end of March, signed our contract April 23rd and building began on June 14th!

Stats
Me: Kate
3 bedroom, 2 ½ bath
2000 sq foot
Corner lot with woods across that won’t be built on
Walkout basement (we think this is really cool because we moved from FL where there are no basements)
Estimated closing date: Middle of September

This is what our house will look like (except all siding instead of brick)
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5da07b3127cce9103455ef01d00000016109AauWLZq3ao

Floor plan
http://www.ryanhomes.com/homeimages/fSebastian2.gif
http://www.ryanhomes.com/homeimages/fSebastian3.gif
Day we signed our contract
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5da05b3127cce911bc2fa003c00000016109AauWLZq3ao
Tuesday 6/14
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d837b3127cce926e3d42e08100000026109AauWLZq3ao
Wednesday 6/15
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d837b3127cce926e337c618800000026109AauWLZq3ao

[Oakley]

Oops- too many pics for one post! :o

Saturday 6/18
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d801b3127cce921807526ab400000026109AauWLZq3ao
Friday 6/24 (the wall frames were removed)
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d809b3127cce92221304efdf00000026109AauWLZq3ao

And now that I've taken up WAYY too much room...
Summer- I hope you see some progress on your house when you visit!
Kamyour house is gorgeous!

I can't wait to see more houses!

[Camdynlyn]

Looking good girls! :) It is raining here (and rained yesterday afternoon) and is supposed to rain every afternoon this week so I am not sure how much will actually be done! :( Boo!

[Hangin'in]

DH and I are building a house right now. We were looking at another house by a different builder and just for kicks, we went through the house next door. We loved the layout, and we went back several times. We ran into the builder and he showed us which lots we could build that house on. Our property backs up to an apartment complex, but it is completely fenced. We intend to plant very fast growing trees to block the view!

Here are some pictures:
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3C%3B%3B%3A%3B23232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7% 3A%3D843%3DXROQDF%3E2323898%3C%3B%3C996ot1lsi
It's 1800 SF

Perfect for the 2 of us.

Our Lot:
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3C%3B%3B%3A%3B23232%7Ffp54%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7% 3A%3D843%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3B%3A%3A2%3C734ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3C%3B%3B%3A%3B23232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7% 3A%3D843%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3B%3A%3A2%3B674ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3C%3B%3B%3A%3B23232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7% 3A%3D843%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3B%3A%3A2%3C752ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3C%3B%3B%3A%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A 7%3A%3D843%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3B%3A%3A2%3B6%3A4ot1ls i

I have more pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet. We will be going down after work today... they might have poured the slab!

[Camdynlyn]

Hangin in: That floor plan looks a lot like my other house we just built. I loved the split floor plan.

[chandy]

We're building too! We'll probably close in mid August. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself :D

Here's a pic of our elevation
http://www.winkflash.com/photo/imagew2.aspx?i=18643684&c=570761&z=0&v=91ff41d0eb574b0a00ab47b68b5fbc61d4789e5b698d5270 078a2ffc4ea820c24dfa1e870cd218e5

and our floorplan
http://www.winkflash.com/photo/imagew2.aspx?i=18646949&c=570761&z=0&v=91ff41d0eb574b0a00ab47b68b5fbc61d4789e5b698d5270 078a2ffc4ea820c24dfa1e870cd218e5

Isn't it interesting to see how house styles vary in different parts of the country?

[Hangin'in]

We drove to our lot yesterday after work... they have poured the slab! Pretty soon we'll have walls! I can't believe how fast everything is moving!

[andrew&shannah]

Housing here is crazy expensive so we aren't building great SFHs like the rest but we are building a townhouse! We are scheduled to close on 7/26!

Some progress pictures...

The lot on the day we did our contract
http://images.snapfish.com/3443292%3B23232%7Ffp54%3Dot%3E2335%3D%3A6%3C%3D%3C 3%3C%3DXROQDF%3E2323764%3C46932ot1lsi

Foundation
http://images.snapfish.com/3443292%3B23232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E2335%3D%3A6%3C%3D%3C 3%3C%3DXROQDF%3E232378846%3B849ot1lsi

Framed view of the back
http://images.snapfish.com/3443292%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2335%3D%3A6%3C%3D% 3C3%3C%3DXROQDF%3E232379373523%3Aot1lsi

Front 2 weeks ago
http://images.snapfish.com/3443292%3B23232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2335%3D%3A6%3C%3D%3C 3%3C%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3B2%3A3%3B26%3Aot1lsi

[Oakley]

andrew&shannah - Gorgeous townhouse! When are they going to be finished?

[andrew&shannah]

Oakley
Thanks! We close on the 26th of July! I can't wait. We were there last night and they have put in the carpet, appliances, flooring and all the lighting. It is pretty much done from what I can see but I am sure there are some behind the scenes stuff to do.
Oh, they painted our door too...burgundy just as I had hoped :)

Your house is going to be awesome! I love the layout of your kitchen!!!

[Camdynlyn]

Looking good, Shannah!

[LuluGirl]

I'm so envious Shannah ! I'm just now starting construction on a new house in Oregon. I just moved here from AZ.

Here's the picture of the model of the house...hopefully this image shows up...

http://www.arborhomes.com/pics/elevations/wellington_3696_big.jpg

I just chose all my options for the house this week. I'm getting really excited now. :)

What options have you ladies chosen for you homes? I think I scared the designer at first with what I picked out, until I showed her pictures of my furniture. yes...I'm so anal, that I printed out pictures of my furniture, furniture I plan to buy, along with pics of the flooring and cabinets I wanted and put them all together in a photo album. LOL!

[kam]

What options have you ladies chosen for you homes?

I think we chose everything. We chose the outside colors, inside colors, the additions, the flooring for all rooms, whether or not we wanted Tyvek, the cabinetry, the hardware on the cabinets, the bathroom extras, the appliances (stainless....mrowr I love that so much), the location of the outlets (cable, phone and electric). Some of the things they offered were ridiculously expensive (garage door opener for $600? I don't think so when it can be done for $200).

The only regret we have was coming upon the house so late. We wanted a vaulted ceiling upstairs as well but we couldn't do this since the roof was already on. That was the only thing we couldn't change. We also had literally a day to make all these decisions.

Of course, because choices were made and we changed them all, there have been some mistakes along the way.

Our neighbor didn't have any decisions, so I guess we're lucky!

[LuluGirl]

We chose the outside colors, inside colors, the additions, the flooring for all rooms, whether or not we wanted Tyvek, the cabinetry, the hardware on the cabinets, the bathroom extras, the appliances (stainless....mrowr I love that so much),

Yes, that's what I got to choose too. :) I chose a laminate wood flooring called Aged Rum Cherry - it's a really dark cherry wood finish - that's to go throughout the bottom floor. I'll have white cabinets in the kitchen with a light-colored granite for the countertops. I chose to do the standard white appliances because they didn't offer the option to get the appliances I did want. For the fireplace, I'm going to have a white mantle and black granite (sounds weird, but I think it's going to look good).

For the top floor, I'm going to have white carpet (I'm single and live by myself so I'm not worried about it getting dirty) and I'll have the masterbathroom done in a aqua blue tile. I plan to put wainscotting (spelling?) in the bathroom and master bedroom and paint the top part of the wall a coordinating color.

I'm living in a real crap apartment right now, so the only thing pulling me through the next few months will be my plans for decorating this house. LOL

[Oakley]

andrew&shannah- Thank you! It will be nice when you can show us some inside pictures as well!

LuluGirl - I can't see your pictures. :( Sounds like you were VERY organized when picking out options- I think it's a good thing!

kam - At least you guys bought the house in time to make the options! How frustrating if you got in too late to do that.

We got a lot of the options as well. Our base prices of our house was super inexpensive (at least to us because we come from the crazy south Florida market) and the builder's incentive was 50% off $40,000 in options. Otherwise, we wouldn't have chosen as many! We got the morning room, hardwood everywhere except living room and family room downstairs, corian counters, upgraded carpet, extended the family room. There are tons more... :D

[Camdynlyn]

We tacked on a good $50,000 in upgrades/options because it pretty much came bare! We upgraded to elongated toilets, raised the cabinets in the bathrooms to normal level instead of midget, got 42" cabinets in kitchen, stainless appliances, 5' frameless shower, hardwoods, upgraded carpet, chair railing and crown molding, outside colors, paint colors, lighting, cabinets, appliances, fireplace, deciding where all cable/telephone would go, etc.

Kam: Who is building your house, since we are both near the same place?

[kam]

Summer - we're going with MI Homes. One of the reasons we went through them (other than perfect location for us) is because a lot of the "upgrades" for other places came standard with their homes (although I don't think I have enough kitchen stuff to fill 42" cabinets, at least I can try and don't have to think about asking for it; first-time homebuyers don't exactly know about what to upgrade). We liked the flat ceilings and the woods as our neighbors. Since the community is about to close, we thought it was a good time to get in since you'll know who your neighbors are and the value will go up more quickly (as most communities do, luckily!).

You're going through KB Homes, right? We liked their designs and stopped by the Brier Creek location but the staff was so rude to us (with my hair up, apparently I don't look like I'm old enough to afford a house) that we didn't even try to pursue it. We probably should've gone to the communities themselves but we had a bad taste from that experience. I'm looking forward to seeing your home being built because we loved the layouts of their homes!

The only downfall so far is the lead salesperson. We're not exactly loving him. He isn't a car salesman but he makes so much light small talk that we want to sometimes strangle him.

[Camdynlyn]

Kam I haven't heard of MI but your house looks like it is going to be beautiful. We did a lot of our upgrades in case we did decide to sell later on they would look good and help out. Thanks!

[andrew&shannah]

We were able to choose between 3 different fronts. Inside, we got to chose all of the flooring, changes to parts of the floor plan, fixtures, appliances, etc.

We upgraded all of the carpet and flooring. We also upgraded the appliances to GE Profile. We didn't upgrade any of the fixtures because you can get those so much cheaper from a home improvement store.
We did change our floor plan from 4 bedrooms to 3 to get a bigger master suite and master bath. Oh, and we upgraded to a whirlpool tub with a bigger hot water heater.

The house comes with some nice "extras" already so we only ended up adding about $22k in options after all was said and done. Things like 42" cabinets, marble countertops in the bathrooms, and tilt in/out windows come standard. :)

[Lindsan]

We are also building. I am very excited but building won't start until April of next year. Which means we won't be in the house until September 2006. I half expect the excitement to have worn off by then.

Our house is very different from the ones already posted since we have completely different building traditions and standards.
These are outside pictures of the model
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/Lindsan/DSC02305.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/Lindsan/DSC02308.jpg

It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a huge living/dining room that is open to the kitchen. One of the bedrooms will be used as our study and the smallest of them will be a whisky room (don't ask-the husband is obsessed). I love the layout. Our builder offers a great standard such as hardwood floors everywhere as well as completely tiled "wet" areas. The only upgrades we will be choosing are better appliances.

[mrsface]

Things with my mom's house are going so crazy fast!!! We found out that all the prices in the developement were going to jump on the 1st, so we really wanted to make sure we had everything lined up. We went out on the 30th to get things finalized. She chose her elevation and lot and scheduled the options meeting- for TOMORROW! There is so much to figure out and we are so excited!

[maplekitty]

Hi Ladies!

We just moved into our new home on eater weekend and we are finally all unpacked and settled in nicely before the wedding.

This is the website that Curt made. It shows the entire process throughout....from tearing down the old house, to laying the sod in our new home!
Take a look! (http://www.thewatts.ca/907construct.php)

It was a lot of stress and so much fun, all rolled into one!

[kam]

Good to see so many ground-uppers here ;)

Our drywall is done which they've sanded and sealed. The built the deck and while we were skeptical, we must admit that we're impressed with the workmanship (rounded edges, strudy as anything, etc).

The one thing I can't understand about these people is that some of the items are placed in areas that defy logic. First the spicket on the opposite side of the yard and in the back (when it should have been one on each side, but logic would have dictated that it would be on the side with the largest yard). Now it's the deck steps. Instead of being on the side of the large part of the yard, they put it on the side facing the neighbor and the woods. Yes, if I'm going to walk off of my deck, it will be to visit the squirrels. So we're having that changed, but I don't understand why make these decisions!

[Oakley]

I'm excited to announce that I have framing and windows!!! :D We drove to the lot (well, not a "lot" anymore) last night to find that they had the first floor complete. SO exciting. It was amazing that we got to walk through our house and see the views that we'll have from our windows. We're getting way too excited! I'm heading there again tonight to take pictures.

We also found out that we have an all Amish crew- which I think is great!

andrew&shannah- Sounds like some nice stuff came standard with your house. We have the tilt-in windows and I'm looking forward to the easy cleaning!

Lindsan- Very cool house! Will yours be brick also? I'm sure the excitement won't wear off! Or it will return before you build! :)

mrsface- That's great that your mom got in before the prices went up. Are you going to the options meeting with her?

maplekitty- That is SUCH a transformation!! Looks great.

kam- Was the deck included in the house price? If so that's really nice! Who knows how they decide some of the things- maybe they forget that people are actually going to be LIVING in the houses they build! :rolleyes: At least you noticed it and it's getting fixed.

[Lindsan]

Thanks, Oakley. Yeah our house will be brick too, but it will be yellow brick instead of red.

[Oakley]

Lindsan - Yellow brick sounds very cool! Do you have any pictures of what that will look like?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's our house!!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d926b3127cce92f1d0c75dd400000026109AauWLZq3ao
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d926b3127cce92f1e645dc7d00000016109AauWLZq3ao

We're not going to go visit again until Saturday, where I know we'll find a ton of progress. I spoke with my mom's boyfriend who lives in the area and he said he was there today and our second story is up! :D

[Oakley]

kam - How exciting!! When are you going to see it?

[suzubeane]

The one thing I can't understand about these people is that some of the items are placed in areas that defy logic. First the spicket on the opposite side of the yard and in the back (when it should have been one on each side, but logic would have dictated that it would be on the side with the largest yard). Now it's the deck steps. Instead of being on the side of the large part of the yard, they put it on the side facing the neighbor and the woods. Yes, if I'm going to walk off of my deck, it will be to visit the squirrels. So we're having that changed, but I don't understand why make these decisions!Sometimes things like this happen because different tradespeople are working in different areas of the house. The plumber who installed your spigot *should have* been thinking about what was going on outside with respect to the deck, but more than likely he was thinking about making a straight run from an existing cold water branch. Things like the size of your yard would not have crossed his mind. This is why these things are specified on the plans, and if they're not ... you're sort of at the mercy of the person doing the work.

Some of you may remember me from the last thread like this one. I'm not building, but I am an architect (now working in interior architecture, actually) who is remodeling at home, and just generally interested in the building process. Sometimes I chime in to answer random questions. Feel free to ignore me – that's what most posters did on the other site. ;).

[kam]

Sometimes things like this happen because different tradespeople are working in different areas of the house. The plumber who installed your spigot *should have* been thinking about what was going on outside with respect to the deck, but more than likely he was thinking about making a straight run from an existing cold water branch. Things like the size of your yard would not have crossed his mind. This is why these things are specified on the plans, and if they're not ... you're sort of at the mercy of the person doing the work.


Spigot. Never knew it was spelled like that (you learn something new every day)! I hear you on the tradespeople. Odd thing is - every other house in the entire community has two - one on each side - and we were told we would be getting the same. So even without logic, since every other house is the same and with assurance from our sales people we didn't even fathom they'd go against the grain on that one (which is why they were so willing to change it without a fight).

kam - How exciting!! When are you going to see it?


Went to see it yesterday. They put up the trim. Moving fast!

The knobs were in fact incorrect and they need to change them out. This is one of the downfalls of buying the house after the initial set of specs were laid out. We were told to rush in to make our decisions and we did. Apparently the new specs were shared with some but not others (according to our neighbors, what we're experiencing is an anomoly with the builder). I'm happy we live only 10 minutes away to make sure things are the way they should be!

[Sand]

If you girls dont mind, I'm going to follow along. My husband and I built our house (did most of it ourselves) last year and moved in Nov 1st. There are still little things that need to be done (like the mantle and the master bath) so I might chime in looking for advice still.

Oakley watched me build mine - I'm gonna sit back and watch her build hers now. ;)
I can show pictures if anyone is interested.

[Oakley]

kam- that's great that it's moving along so quickly! Good thing you live so close and can keep an eye on your house!

Sand- What do you have left to do in the master bath? I'm envious that you got to pick out every little thing for your house. We only had certain options. I know that was a big stressor, but now the house is EXACTLY as you want it!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our house is coming along nicely and we now have a ROOF!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d933b3127cce929534b72fb800000016109AauWLZq3ao
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d933b3127cce92954ae7aee700000016109AauWLZq3ao

[andrew&shannah]

We have landscaping and another coat of paint on the door! Our walk through is Monday (18th) so they are wrapping up the last little bit of stuff!
http://images.snapfish.com/344448%3B923232%7Ffp46%3Dot%3E2323%3D%3A53%3D558%3 D3232%3A53467359nu0mrj

[Camdynlyn]

I can't believe I forgot to post these. I posted them in my journal and forgot!

Alrighty. Finally back with pictures of the house. These were all taken today. (7-10-05) I am so thrilled with the progress already. From the looks of it, the upstairs will be finished framing earlier this week and hopefully a roof will come soon after! :D
Front:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/Camdynlyn/House/summer049.jpg
Left:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/Camdynlyn/House/summer050.jpg
Right:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/Camdynlyn/House/summer059.jpg

[Camdynlyn]

You can see how much side yard we have on the left and right of the house. Hubby is standing on our property line on the left side.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/Camdynlyn/House/summer051.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/Camdynlyn/House/summer060.jpg
Our stairs! :D
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/Camdynlyn/House/summer055.jpg

[kam]

Oakley and summer - you look like you're on the same building schedule!

You'll be SHOCKED at how much bigger it looks inside when the drywall is done. Just something to look forward to. ;)

[Hangin'in]

I forgot that I had posted in this thread... the last picture I posted was before they had poured the foundation, so they've made alot of progress in the last 2 weeks.
http://images.snapfish.com/34444%3A2723232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D8 43%3DXROQDF%3E23239547963%3B4ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/34444%3A2723232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E232395479923%3Aot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/34444%3A2723232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D8 43%3DXROQDF%3E2323954799447ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/34444%3A2723232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D3238%3E989%3E752%3EWS NRCG%3D3232%3A456%3A8585nu0mrj

[Hangin'in]

http://images.snapfish.com/34444%3A2723232%7Ffp7%3Enu%3D3238%3E989%3E752%3EWS NRCG%3D3232%3A494%3A9894nu0mrj

We have more, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

Yesterday, they had put in the shower for the master bath, and the tub/shower in the 2nd bath. They had also installed the fireplace.

Everyone's homes look so great!

[flygirl]

Hey guys! I moved this thread to the ATH Group section. Please let me know if you have any questions!

[Oakley]

andrew&shannah- wow, your place looks NICE! I bet you are so excited to get in there! I can't wait to see some pictures from the inside. Have you met your neighbors yet?

Summer- Looking good!! It's so exciting to see a house standing where nothing used to be! Your husband looks so tiny standing next to your big house! :)

kam- I can't wait for drywall! I'm excited now that you said it looks bigger! It's so weird how the size can be such an illusion. When they poured the basement walls it looked so tiny! Now that the frame is up it looks the right size!

Jen- I love seeing everyone's framing going up! This time is so exciting. And now I think I've used that word 20 times today!

Thanks flygirl!

[Camdynlyn]

Kate: Haha. I just saw that. He does look tiny!

[MLA]

KAM -- I see that you're building in Durham. DH and I are moving out there in the next few months and have thought about new construction. So much of it seems to be really far north, and we want to be south (near the Hope Valley Farms area). Do you mind saying what development you're building in? Your house looks just beautiful!

[Camdynlyn]

We just stopped by the house and we have windows, a door and our guest bathtub!:D

[Oakley]

Summer- Summer, our crews must be on the same schedule because we have the same stuff!! We also have our master bath- love it!! I posted some pics in my journal and I'll be back to post some in here.

[kam]

MLA - I'll PM you with the development name - it's actually in RTP (right near IBM) and is about 5 minutes from Brier Creek (a major developing area in Raleigh with movies, shopping, groceries, restaurants, etc) so it's definitely south Durham.

[Hangin'in]

This is cross posted from my journal...

Venting... Please feel free to disregard!
Up until now, all of the problems with the house have been fixed! This one can't be fixed, but I conceeded because the way it is going to be is the way DH wanted it to be... There is a support beam that runs the length of the house. In the plans it creates a soffit that hangs down from the ceiling 12" to 16" inches across the dining room and foyer area. Another soffit is framed creating a "T" for a column. It is shown below by the dotted lines.
http://images.snapfish.com/34448%3C3923232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323898%3C%3B%3C996ot1lsi

I doctored the image below... the red lines are what I was SUPPOSED to have, the yellow line was to be eliminated... but I will now have all three. Everytime I see it, I say to myself, "That's not supposed to be there".
http://images.snapfish.com/34448%3C3923232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323974%3A8%3B242ot1lsi

We went out to the house Friday after work, and the electricians had been there. We had alot of the lighting changed... recessed lighting instead of florescent lighting in the kitchen, the light over the dining nook in the kitchen centered on the window, instead of in the room, one recessed "eyeball" light highlighting the mantle, 4 additional recessed lights in the great room, 2 additional recessed lights in the master bedroom.... NONE of the additional lighting had been wired... none! They wired for the florescent light in the kitchen, they centered the dining nook light in the room, not on the window, they wired 2 eyeball lights for the mantle, no additional recessed lights in the great room or the master bedroom... it's going to be a major pain in the ass to change... but it can and will be changed, or I'm not buying the house.

We called our real estate agent Friday night to tell her, so she could call the builder. We went back out yesterday (Sunday)... the electricians had been out again, because they had wired for the stove, which wasn't there Friday, and nothing had been changed regarding the lighting. DH is calling the builder this morning.

[Sand]

Knock some heads Hangin In!! They need to get it right!!

[Oakley]

Jen- Are you sure they were finished with the electrical work? I would definitely schedule a meeting before drywall with the builder and go over everything to make sure it's all there. Thank goodness you noticed this now!!

[Hangin'in]

Oh no... they most definately are not finished. But they had already wired for most of the light fixtures... putting the supports in for the ceiling fans, and the boxes on the framework for the chandaliers, and the recessed part of the recessed lighting... They are going to have to undo and redo most of what they ALREADY DID on Friday, because the recessed lights they did wire are wrong... and I would think they would have to change alot of what they had already run through the studs to add what we are paying for.... change out the boxes for the light switches.... they are just going to have to redo alot of work!
And DH talked to the builder, he was already having it changed to the correct lighting plan... we will go out today after work and see if it's correct!

[suzubeane]

Hangin'in - FWIW, I like the soffit in your foyer. I think it needs the definition from the rest of the room. I'm actually working on some really high-end condos now, and they have a soffit all the way around the foyer with 8" crown moulding. It's a nice look if you have high ceilings.

However, if you don't like it, they can cut the beam, cut back the floor joists for the second floor a few inches, and replace the beam with steel to carry the joists. I can't be 100% sure without seeing a framing plan and the second floor plan. I doubt they'll want to do it because it's pricy and PITA. But it's not impossible.

Maybe you could get them to trim out the foyer ceiling with crown molding instead? That would cost them a hell of a lot less than making the ceiling flush with steel beam!

eta: Oh, duh – I just looked again and noticed that there is no upstairs. Doesn't change my opinion, though. Only the joists are ceiling joists instead of floor joists.

The only way it might not work is if there's a roof load on that beam, but from what I can tell I don't think so. Don't quote me, though, because those elevations that builders provide are notoriously out of scale.

[kam]

{I admit I had to google soffit in order to figure out what it is} - Jen, definitely make sure to stay on top of them. Our lighting was correct (recessed) but the outlets were not all right. Do you have a pre-drywall meeting to make sure they don't go further in the process without your sign off?

[Hangin'in]

suzubeane Thanks for info! The beam is a roof bearing beam. If DH truly wanted it the same way I did, I would make them change it. But he really likes the definition, which is why I didn't push the issue. I'm sure it will grow on me eventually (well, I hope it grows on me!). Our builder is going to put 8" crown moulding in both the foyer and the dining room, 6" in the great room... 8" in the master bedroom.

kam I checked the box locations for outlets and switches after I saw that the lighting was wrong... DH thought I was crazy! But, he would have been pizzed off if the wall we are going to put the TV on didn't have cable... as well as where the computer is going! He under stood when I put it in electronic terms!

[~queen~]

Hello ladies! I need some input and/or advice.

I was part of this thread on WC when it first started and DH and I have been living in our house for over about a year now. When we originally purchased, we were advised by family to keep the costs to a minimum and we limited our house choice and options to what we could afford on one salary with the thought we could always upgrade later. Well, that ended up being a big mistake. We nickled and dimed every single thing (toilets even! :( ) and the housing market skyrocketed. Our house now is worth almost $300k more than what we paid.

We are happy, yet sad because we could have extended our budget by $40k to get the largest model and would never have to deal with what we are faced with now - moving.

Here's where I need advice. We decided to take the equity and get our forever home. But we have no idea on how to go about setting a budget for this. Obviously the housing market is still crazy and not about to get any better, we are aware of this. The houses we are looking at will start out $100 - $150k lower than our house can sell, but will be much higher than our current mortgage. We will be looking to use some of the sale to purchase the new home, but we are not sure how far to extend our budget.

Can you guys give me some insight as to how you came up with the total price for your homes, and how you weighed the size of the model and the options? Were you willing to go a larger if you knew the house would gain in equity? We are on the list to be purchaser #5 in a new 200+ house community and the prices are going to go up with every 2nd house sold. Should that be taken into consideration as well? (meaning, be more willing to stretch a budget because you will be priced out later?)

I hope this wasn't too long of a read! TIA

[Oakley]

Jen- Keep us updated on the lighting!!

~queen~- Congrats on your house being worth so much more than you paid for it!! So you are moving out of your house because it's now too small? Here's my advice and a little about why we chose what we did:

Size/Model- I’d look at all models they’re offering. Tour the models if they have them. Decide which floorplans you like the best that way. Definitely get as many rooms as you need. Also figure in if you need a home office. We decided that 3 bedrooms was plenty for us because we wanted 1 guest room, 1 room that could be used as a nursery, and our room. We have a living room and family room, so we decided to use the living room as a den/office. In one of our houses, we had the office in one of the bedrooms and didn’t like having it upstairs- personal preference.

As far as square footage, that also depends on if you have children or plan to in the future. We’re only planning on having one (I’ll probably jinx myself and have twins!) so we don’t need a lot of space. Our house will be around 2000sq. feet and I think that will be perfect for us. More space would be awesome- don’t get me wrong, but we decided to get a smaller home but upgrade to all the options we wanted. There’s an expensive subdivision across town where the homes are all a minimum of 2500 sq. feet- but most people have no options inside. Sounds like last time you didn’t get the options you wanted- maybe you could ask to look at the options list in order to see how much that would add to the sale price?

Price- When deciding to build a home, we set a limit to how much we wanted our mortgage to be. That number was decided based on our current salaries and what would be comfortable for us. We want to be able to pay an extra payment a year and still be able to have fun, travel, etc. We had money to put down from the sale of our last home and we didn’t count that towards our mortgage price. Also, the community will be able to give you a rough estimate as to how much house you can afford and there are some really good calculators on bankrate.com.

If this is your forever home, I don’t think you want to put all your money from the sale of your house into it. I say this because if all of your money is in the house, the only way to get it out is to sell it (I’m thinking for retirement, etc.- not something you could use a home equity loan for). Have you thought about talking to a financial planner? It sounds like you will have a lot of money to play with and I’m sure they would be able to give you great advice how much you should put into a house and how much to invest or stock away. I also wouldn’t worry about what the housing market will be like in the future. You are buying this home for you guys to live in- not to flip- so it should be exactly how you want it. It’s great for you guys that the home prices will go up and the market will probably stay crazy though!

Options- As I said before, we really went crazy with options! Our builder had a great incentive program that allowed us to get more than we planned on. We pretty much upgraded everything we wanted. What we did was go through the options list and list everything we wanted. Then we looked at price and eliminated anything that seemed overpriced ($1400 for crown moulding in the dining room and living room??). Then we added that up to see what the price was.

That was long- hope it helped!! When are they starting to build? Do you know what the models will be? It will be exciting to see what you choose!

[~queen~]

Hi Kate! Thanks for replying! :)

They are just now starting to release the lots and accepting lot holds. They won't start the actual building until they get the permits, and in my area, that could take a while. For example, our current house was supposed to start in October, done by April - we didn't get the permits until April! We are debating between 3 models and that is where we are stuck - smaller house, more options vs. larger house, less options. My mom is disabled and we are considering moving her in with us (free childcare), so we may need room for that. She currently lives in a senior apartment, but we put out quite a bit of $$ for her every month that along with her social security, could come back into our house.

Our house now is not to small as its just the 2 of us and we have 4 br's. :o Lots of other reasons dictate the move, but space is not one of them (we like our seperate spaces). We definitely plan to have kids - if IVF works for us this time - crossing fingers!

Home offices are standard seperate rooms in my area (MD/DC/VA). Its rare to get a house without them. And our options list is at least 12 pages long. :eek: I don't want to get scared and make the same mistakes I did before.

Thanks for the advice and I'll definitely talk to a financial planner and see what they can come up with. I know I don't want to invest alot because we lost a bundle a few years back and don't want to go through that again. :mad:

[Oakley]

~queen~- I hope this time the permits don’t take as long- sounds frustrating!

Do you have the models that you can post? I’d love to see them!

With the options I think it’s personal preference. We wanted hardwood floors and nice counters, etc. We knew we’d have to get a smaller house to have everything we wanted. We are also not the type of people who upgrade later! Do you have a list of things you definitely want? Is a bigger house more important?

That’s awesome that your mom might be moving in! Do any of the floorplans have a bedroom on the first floor (if any are two story)? That might be a considering factor. Also deciding what else she’d need to have to help her out.

Do you have the options list? I’d start going through it now and making lists and eliminating things you know you don’t want. If you have specific questions- such as is this option better than this one?- we’re here to give you advice!

The financial planner could probably point you in a more secure direction- IRAs, etc.

Good luck with IVF!! :D

[~queen~]

Yes, there are pictures of the models. I'm a little hesitant to post them though cause they are kind of large. They are just starting to come down where 2000sf is now considered a starter home. A few years ago, 3500+sf was the starter size. I feel so guilty when I see the sizes of houses in CA.

The absolute *most* important thing to me is the lot. We are going to have to pay a lot premium to get the one we want. As for my mom being on the first floor - I wish! DH would never go for it - and neither would my mom. She is fighting for the entire basement being converted for her use. Ummm - nope!

Dang, I wish WC was up so that I could revisit some of the issues I had the first time. I stopped visiting the thread after I graduated.

[Oakley]

You could always post the link to the models. ??

Wow- 3500 sq. feet- I wouldn't even know what to do in a place that large! Not to mention all the new furniture I'd have to buy to fill it up. Wait- that might be fun. :D

Do they have the prices of the lot upgrades yet? I would start also listing options that you definitely need and those that you want.

[~queen~]

Kate: I meant to ask, don't you just love having 2 dogs? I have 2 Miniature Pinchers and I love to have them always playing with each other (instead of me all the time!). Its so fun to watch them play tug of war. They constantly look for each other and kiss all over each other - and occasionally fight - my female starts all the fights - she is a mess! But I wouldn't trade it for the world! :D

[Camdynlyn]

New house pictures as of Sunday (7-17-05) Notice the windows and door!:D
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d938b3127cce93537f40523000000016109AYuGjFk2am
The trey ceiling going up!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d938b3127cce93537f56522600000016109AYuGjFk2am
These are the views from our loft. Across the street (where you see all the brush) is where the pond is. They are redoing it right now so there is no water in it. There will be no house there, either!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d938b3127cce935ca3eb322200000016109AYuGjFk2am
This is the view of the neighborhood. We are in the back of the neighborhood.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d938b3127cce935ca3e9322000000016109AYuGjFk2am

[Camdynlyn]

Queen: Not sure if this is what you are asking but houses around here are going for $100/sq foot. We bought our house for about that price and then added about $50K of upgrades and didn't get everything we wanted. There are some things I really wished we would have added (we didn't not because of money but because of thinking we didn't want it at the time) and now I regret it. Oh well! :(

[~queen~]

Oh no! Am I a thread killer? :confused:

Camdynlyn: Love the tray ceiling! I hate the one I have in my house now, its at a really funky angle and I had to fight so hard to get it! :mad:

[Oakley]

~queen~- Sorry I didn't reply to you the other day- I got super busy at work! So no, you aren't a thread killer! ;)

I LOVE having two dogs! They play with each other, tire each other out, are friends and keep each other company. Plus mine are small also and I think they are probably about the same amount of work as one big dog!!

Summer- That's so nice that you won't have anyone behind you or across the street!

[BethS0103]

Can I join? DH and I didn't necessarily start from the ground, but we're still working our way "up". We chose a new construction condo that's already done being dry-walled so all we have to do is just make our cabinet, countertop and flooring choices and we'll be in our place in 60-90 days! We love this place so much. It's a 3 bed/2.5 bath townhouse with a two car garage and a basement! And believe it or not, this place is actually going for cheaper than some of the other condos in the area with a one car garage on a slab that have less square footage. So we are thrilled with this place.

Here are some pictures:

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B8788%3A9ot1lsi

Me walking into our condo
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp4%3Enu%3D3233%3E758%3E47%3A% 3EWSNRCG%3D323299%3C78%3B7%3B6nu0mrj

Us at the front door
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C7%3B5ot1lsi

Back exterior
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87889%3Aot1lsi

continued...

[BethS0103]

Pictures of the inside so far...

Front entrance (a pic you can tell was patched together in Photoshop :p)
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C7%3A5ot1lsi

Front entrance looking up at the loft
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C784ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C7%3B2ot1lsi

continued...

[BethS0103]

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp4%3Enu%3D3233%3E758%3E47%3A% 3EWSNRCG%3D323299%3C78%3B855nu0mrj

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C7%3A%3Bot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87887%3Aot1lsi

Looking at the kitchen, informal dining & laundry from the living room
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp46%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C7%3B4ot1lsi

Going up the stairs...
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp4%3Enu%3D3233%3E758%3E47%3A% 3EWSNRCG%3D323299%3C78%3B8%3A%3Anu0mrj

Continued...

[BethS0103]

Loft
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56% 3B%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C796ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56% 3B%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B878887ot1lsi

Master suite
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B878885ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56% 3B%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B878892ot1lsi

Looking into the master bath
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C7%3A7ot1lsi

Huuuuuge WIC
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56% 3B%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87888%3Bot1lsi

continued...

[BethS0103]

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B8788%3B4ot1lsi

Second bedroom cont...
http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp46%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C778ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B8788%3A5ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp46%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56%3B %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B87%3C7%3C2ot1lsi

And there you have it! Hopefully by mid-fall this will be our new home!

Oh, and just to give you a point of reference, here is what the floor plan looks like:

First floor:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/beths0103/Briarchase1stfloor.jpg

Second floor:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/beths0103/Briarchase2ndfloor.jpg
Don't know why there's two "bedroom #2s marked but oh well

[Oakley]

Beth- Your condo is going to be gorgeous!!! Not only is the floor plan nice, but I also love the very elegant entrance (look at that brick!) and the backyard. A deck will be perfect! The three back living room windows are so nice- you'll have an awesome view!

[suzubeane]

Beth – I am currently working on a remodel where I've added a closet to a front hall that didn't have one, and it's creating a condition exactly like what you have – a one level closet in a two level space. Lots of people use that area above for plants or pottery, but I wanted to let you know how easy it would be to extend your loft over your closet. It would be like having a landing over you closet that extended all the way to your bedroom; the line of it would be where the words "open to below" appear in the plan, and it would form a little balcony over-looking your foyer. The majority of your foyer will still be double height, but this would solve the problem of what to do with that "ledge" over your closet, since it will essentially become part of your second floor.

If you can't persuade your builder to put a platform with floor joists there, this would be easily accomplished after the fact. It amounts to adding a platform that would be affixed to the existing wall on the bedroom side, and bear weight on the closet wall on the stair side. The only problem with doing it later is that the finish floor (carpet?) on the second floor would have to be patched to extend out there. That's the dilemma I’m having right now with my project. The house was built several years ago, and the carpet is not new.

Anyway, your home is lovely the way it is, but I just wanted to let you know about this other option. A change like this is not always easy to make, but in your foyer, it would be.

[BethS0103]

Thanks Kate! We love how open the floor plan is. And the square footage is exactly what we want. We're just so elated about this place.

suzubeane - Hmmm... I never would've thought to extend the loft out past the closet. My thought is that they wouldn't do it if we asked though because it's not part of the "options and upgrades" list. I honestly don't mind the ledge there. But yeah, going to have to find some plants to fill that space for sure. :p

[suzubeane]

I never would've thought to extend the loft out past the closet. Well, not past the closet - on top of the closet. I think you probably get what I mean though. A former boss of mine (also an architect) did this to his house as well.

[BethS0103]

Yeah, you knew what I meant. I meant past the existing railing and on top of the closet, but you knew that already. :p

[suzubeane]

Honestly, I can never be sure; It's hard to describe spatial things without using your hands! I'm not always sure I do that good a job.

[BethS0103]

Actually, just got back from the condo and realized it wouldn't be possible to do what you said Suzubeane because where that would be extended is where the stairs begin right next to it, so you'd actually have to step up onto it and that wouldn't be practical for such a small space.

[suzubeane]

http://images.snapfish.com/343%3B8%3B7923232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2324%3D849%3D56% 3B%3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A%3B878887ot1lsi

In the photo above, it appears that the "roof" of the closet is flush with the second floor. If I'm seeing that right, it means in order to make the over-looking balcony, you'd just need to fill in the square area that in this photo appears to the left of the closet; just beyond the railing. (And obviously move the railing ;) .)

I didn't mean that the platform would literally be build *on top of* the existing closet (see, I told you it's hard to accurately describe space!) but that the existing walls of the closet would hold up the new platform. No step up required. Maybe the word "platform" is misleading, even thought that's what a builder would call it, it's really just an extension of your second floor. The height of the closet would be the same as any other room you have downstairs.

I guarantee there is already a sill holding up your bedroom floor; they would just hang joists between that and the closet. If the closet ceiling is made with something like 2x4s (likely, since it they weren't planning on having it hold any weight) they would either take them out, or attach new floor joists to them (it's called "sistering.") They'd probably just take them out - there's only a few in there making the ledge over the closet. The amount of wood and labor we're talking about is minimal.

If you already have plans for that ledge, then you're all set. But if the idea starts to grow on you, then when you're ready to build your deck, you can ask your carpenter to do this at the same time. Building the deck and building this little platform are pretty much the same thing with different wood types.

So did you get any new pictures today? How's it looking?

(I love the commentary and arrows on your photos, btw!)

[BethS0103]

That sounds entirely too complicated for my non-spatial thinking brain to comprehend. I think we'll just stick with putting plants on the ledge. :p

[suzubeane]

No, no – I'm not describing it well. It's very simple, and it's an easy alteration later, too. So if you ever walk out of your bedroom one day and glance off to the left before starting down the stairs and think "I wish I could walk out there instead of using it for display" then you'll know you can! ;).

BTW, I think big pots of cacti and other succulents would look great there. They don't need as much care as other plants, either, so they're great for decoration in out of the way areas.

[BethS0103]

BTW, I think big pots of cacti and other succulents would look
great there. They don't need as much care as other plants,
either, so they're great for decoration in out of the way areas.Oh, I'll be getting silk plants. I have such a brown thumb I'm sure I'd even kill a cactus. :p

[nya]

Wow, all your houses are gorgeous. We're also building from the ground up. We made a deposit on a lot which should be ready by mid august. We are still working on a house plan. We met with an architect last week and we hope we'll get a plan within the next few weeks. Here's what the exterior will sorta look like:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d905b3127cce9354a8c7d56100000026108AaOW7hk4cNB

Oh suzubeane, I totally get what you are saying.

:)

[Oakley]

We had our pre-drywall meeting to confirm all electric, plumbing, phone and cable. Our project manager gave us the rundown of the schedule until completion and said we're looking at 5-6 weeks until it's finished! That puts us moving in at the beginning of Sept. :D

We visited yesterday and our drywall has arrived! I think they're going to start on it today. It will be weird not to "see through" our house anymore (but I can't wait!).

nya- Your house is gorgeous!! I love the roofline. With the high roof do you have vaulted ceilings everywhere? I'd love to see the floorplan.

[suzubeane]

Hey, Nya – I'm curious about your architect. How'd you find him/her? Is it someone who works out of his/her house? Or a small office?

The reason I ask is because there are so few architecture firms that will take on a residential job these days. I recently switched from architecture to interior architecture, and am now getting to a lot more residential stuff, but I'm thinking of freelancing at home with both interiors and residential architecture. So I'm just curious how you found your designer, and how it's working out..

TIA!

[Camdynlyn]

Nya: Your house looks a lot like the exterior of our first house! Can't wait to see a floorplan!

Oakley: Dang! We are right behind you! We have our pre-drywall meeting Tuesday, Aug 2. I hope they give us an estimation of completion but I still think we will be coming in in Oct. I would love for him to say the end of Sept.

[kam]

Summer - we're in the middle of September. Apparently the city inspectors are ROUGH when it comes to new builds. I'll take it but still...sigh. I'm envious of you Oakley! ;)

[nya]

Oakley: No we aren't planning on having any vaulted ceilings. We'll also only have one big roof instead of the two in the picture.

suzubeane: Maybe I used the wrong term, and the guy isn't really an architect? I'm not sure. :confused: We met him at a local Home Show. He works from his home, and here's what his business card says:
Technical Services
-House Plans
-Project Consulting
-AutoCAD Design
-Construction Estimating
Hope this helps.

Camdynlyn: Hey, I'd love to see a picture of your first house. :)

About the floorplans, I will post a picture as soon as I get them. Right now, I just have a draft I did on paper.

[isign]

We found the subdivision & floorplan!! I'm so excited. I'll post a pic later when I get it scanned.

[Sarah051504]

Hi girls, I was a random poster of this thread on the other site and I thought it was time to join this one.

Me: Sarah 28
DH: Jason 28
Married: May 15, 2004
House: 1625 sq ft ranch
3 beds 2 finished full baths and one unfinished full bath (plumbing
roughed in)
Lot: 1.83 acres neighbors on both sides
Location: Leslie Michigan

They just started framing today. Here are just a few pictures, there's more in my journal, jump on over if you want to see more.

bath downstairs The wall there is where the stairs are going to go.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d906b3127cce9342042b3daa00000025138AcOGrZmzZNb

The lookout windows on the side of the house
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d906b3127cce9342042f3dae00000016108AcOGrZmzZNb

The beam that supports the floor and poles in the basement
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d906b3127cce93420416bca700000016108AcOGrZmzZNb

The garage side of the house
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d906b3127cce934205ed7df400000016108AcOGrZmzZNb

The other side of the house
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d906b3127cce934205eb7df200000016108AcOGrZmzZNb

I'm finally getting excited. I love to see progress. I've got a question for you girls: How often do you go see your house?

Our house is on the way home form work for me so I'm thinking I'm going to stop every day and take pictures of the progress but I'm worried that the workers are going to think I'm a freak.

[Hangin'in]

Our new house is 5 minutes away from where DH and I work... so we are pretty much there everyday... we are trying to cut back since our builder told us he was going to *start charging admission*! Yesterday was the first day I had been oout since last week. Our builder is on vacation, and he told us that we probably wouldn't see much activity until he got back!

[suzubeane]

suzubeane: Maybe I used the wrong term, and the guy isn't really an architect? I'm not sure. :confused: We met him at a local Home Show. He works from his home, and here's what his business card says:
Technical Services
-House Plans
-Project Consulting
-AutoCAD Design
-Construction Estimating
Hope this helps. Sounds like he might be a former contractor, given the estimating and consulting. Also, AutoCAD is a drafting tool - a very complicated program and the industry standard, so it's good that he knows it - but the term "AutoCAD design" is odd. AutoCAD does not design - If someone is a designer, he or she can use it to draw. Simply putting plans on paper is not design.

I don't mean to sound like a snob, because I think that many builders CAN and DO design, and know more about building technologies than a lot of designers. I depend a lot on builders. I would just make sure you're getting everything you think you're getting with you set of plans. People who use architects or who buy a complete set of plans don't have to pay as much attention to detail as you might if you contract with someone to put your ideas on paper. I'm not talking so much about the structural stuff, but about the fussy details like where lighting goes, finish details, etc.

Good luck! Can't wait to see your plans - why not post your sketch?

[Camdynlyn]

Nya: Okay, maybe not as close as I thought. I relooked at yours and my door was in a different place but here is the house!!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4ce32b3127cce9bae3ae7209c00000036109AYuGjFk2am

[nya]

suzubeane: I really don't know much about his background, we didn't really ask much questions. :o I remember he said he used to work for the government and now he has contracts with them. My guess is he does interior design for them. He had a binder full of exemples of house plans he did for previous clients, so it looked like he had enough experience. But what do I know? ;) Do you think of any specific questions I should ask him?

I know having a custom plan made up is a lot more work, but hopefully it will be worth it! We just couldn't find a plan we liked. Since you asked, here's my draft:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d905b3127cce9354972c950d00000035108AaOW7hk4cNB
As you can see I'm not an expert at drawing plans. :o
And here's what I based it on:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d905b3127cce935497dc95fd00000055108AaOW7hk4cNB

Camdynlyn: I like your old house! But I love even more the treed yard! I wished we had lots of trees on our lot. :( Thanks for posting the picture.

[Oakley]

We have drywall!! Well, most anyway.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d909b3127cce9348410e323200000016109AauWLZq3ao
We also have our front step.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d909b3127cce9348413fb33300000016109AauWLZq3ao
SO exciting!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Camdynlyn- We do seem to be on a similar schedule! I hope you guys are in in Sept.!

kam- Sept. will be here before you know it!

nya- Nice plans, the house looks like it will be very nice. It must be so fun to get EXACTLY what you want!

isign- Woo hoo! Can't wait to see it. :)

Sarah- Welcome! How exciting for framing- that was probably the most exciting part (so far). We've been going to the house every other day or so- less or more depending on what's going on. So far I've never seen a person working, mainly because we stop by after they've finished for the day. We try not to go by when they are working since our builder's policy is that if we're there all work must stop for insurance reasons.

[trm98]

Can I join?

Me: TL, 29
DH: D, 28
Married: June 21, 2002
House: 1400 sq. ft
Lot: 1 acre neighbors on both sides
Location: Canada


Everyone's houses are so nice! I get so depressed when I look at housing prices here compared to where I grew up. It is crazy cheap there! But, we will live.

We are signing the papers on the land (a one acre lot in the country about 5 minutes to town) today!! DH is going to be building it himself (all but the electrical, plumbing, and duct work). He is a contractor though, so that helps. Now we just have to get our plan, put in a culvert, and start filling the land. Then we can build!! DH wants to have it finished by February. We have our first little one coming at the very beginning of March. He will be so busy trying to get the house "in the dry" (meaning roof, walls, insulation, and vapor barrier up) before the winter. Then he will do all the other stuff during the winter. We will finally finish up with the exterior (stucco and stone) next May/June. That is when the weather finally gets nice up here again to complete that stuff. I can hardly wait!!

The house will be a little over 1,400 sq. feet with an attached two car garage. It has three bedrooms/two baths, kitchen, breakfast nook, family room, and dining room (which will be turned into DH's office). Then, we will have a workout room, a huge packing closet, another bedroom and bath, and another family room/play room in the full basement. So, with the basement the house is plenty big (almost 2,800 sq. feet). We already know where we want tile, hardwood and carpet. Now we just have to pick everything out.

Very fun, but very stressful as well.

[Camdynlyn]

Hey girls! I went to the house yesterday! Thought I would drop off some pictures. I am cross posting with my journal.

Here are some of the house from yesterday. I am not sure if I posted this in here but there is a pipe coming upstairs into the loft. You can see in this picture there is a 'box' built in the corner where it is supposed to be. It is the hot water heater gas pipe or something. I called and complained becuase it shouldn't be in the middle of the room. THey are going to do a direct vent outside from the downstairs but it was still there yesterday. It is going all the way to the roof and out. Oh well.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d910b3127cce9310248a263c00000015109AYuGjFk2amh ttp://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d910b3127cce93103b61664000000015109AYuGjFk2am
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d910b3127cce931024cc267a00000016109AYuGjFk2am
Here is the view from the breakfast nook to the family room. You can barely see the fireplace in the corner. We have drywall delivered!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d910b3127cce9310249fa71900000016109AYuGjFk2am

[suzubeane]

You can see in this picture there is a 'box' built in the corner where it is supposed to be. It is the hot water heater gas pipe or something. I called and complained because it shouldn't be in the middle of the room. They are going to do a direct vent outside from the downstairs but it was still there yesterday. It is going all the way to the roof and out. Oh well.Summer, I went to your journal and looked at your floor plan - the chase for this duct (it's the vent for your hot water tank) even shows on the diagrammatic plan from your builder.

Looking at the first floor plan, I cannot see why they put this thing going into your garage, unless they moved where the hot water tank will go! You can see the tank really clearly on the first floor plan, and it's not in the middle of your garage. I also don't understand why it can't go directly ouside from the first floor, unless it's a code thing for your area, which it could very well be.

If they continue to say they can't move it (i.e. something changed about your first floor plan, so it has to stay where it is) maybe you could get them to make it look intentional. Have them box in an identical piece to the right of the left-hand window, and plan to put shelving between the two. It will be like a built-in, and you can even have them power up the wall in the middle for electronics. If you get really organized, you can even run speaker wire before they close up the wall!

But if there's no reason for the position of the duct, and you really don't like it, then I'd make 'em change it. Duct is cheap, cheap, cheap, and they can re-use a lot of what they've installed there.

[kam]

From a layman's perspective, you can pretty much get them to change anything that isn't a major structural change. As you may recall, we had them change the stairs to the deck (after they said it would be expensive to change and not what we had requested), had the flooring colors changed when it was obvious that either we picked the wrong numbers or they had written the wrong numbers down (blue and pink tile for the kitchen? I don't think so!) and changed out the appliances (they tried to push back, but it was apparent they didn't order them yet).

Also, you probably have to ask more than once to make sure it finally trickles down to the right people.

If you don't like it and if it doesn't seem logical, make sure to push back a little.

[Camdynlyn]

Suzubean and Kam: I found the plans in the kitchen and when I looked, it didn't show it there. That's when I called. I told them that wall is where the TV is going and Hubby about had a hissy fit about it. They called back and said they would do a direct vent out. Let's hope! We meet tomorrow for our pre-drywall and I will let them know what I think! ;)

[Sarah051504]

Our framers are working like little bees. All the interior walls are up and they are starting on the trusses. I'm heading there after work to take some more pictures. I feel kind of weird going to the house all the time. I don't want to feel like a pest but it is my house I mean we've already closed on it so why shouldn't I go there all the time. Plus the crew pretty much just ignore me. I don't know what's it like when DH goes over there but when I go they don't even look at me let alone say hi. But Jason knows a lot of the crew since it is his uncle that's our builder and most of these same guys buit DHs first house. I just want them to think that I'm checking up on them casue I'm not I'm just excited and impatient.

[Camdynlyn]

Sarah: I feel odd about going all the time, too, but then again, I wouldn't have noticed the random pipe coming up through the loft.

[Sarah051504]

And we won't have noticed that our shower surround was cracked. So I guess it's a good thing to go all the time.

[Oakley]

We stopped by our house on Friday and the drywall is up, but it hasn't been spackled or taped yet. Hopefully this week!

trm98- Welcome! How cool that you guys are doing the house yourselves!! I bet it will really make the winter go by quickly! :D I can't wait to see a floorplan!

Summer- Wow, look how spacious your place is! I really hope that everything is worked out with the pipe and they can remove it!

Sarah- Can't wait to see pictures! What time do the workers stop? Maybe it would make you more comfortable to go after they finish for the day? If you can't do that then I wouldn't worry about stopping by often.

[trm98]

sarah and cam- Don't feel weird going to the site. Dh sees many of the clients at work sites all the time. They do have to stop work when they are there, but they don't mind them coming for a look. I mean it is a big investment and it is better to catch mistakes before it is too late and a big headache for all involved to change.

oakley- Congrats on getting the drywall up. The plaster will be up before you know it! Also thanks for the welcome.


It was a holiday here yesterday, so DH had the day off. We went out to the land. OH, I forgot, we signed off on it on Friday. It is officially ours. So, we went out to the land and measured off and planted stakes where the driveway will be and how far back we want to build the house. We also went to a few home stores. DH seems to think that our plan is going to cost a lot b/c of the trusses, but I am hoping he is wrong. If we end up not being able to afford it, we will just sell it. But, I love this house and with a new baby, I know I will not want to be moving. So, I hope that it is cheaper than he thinks. Here is a picture of a similar plan. It is the closest that I can find.
http://www.dreamhomesource.com/images/Plans/Large/FE/fb05024.gif

Floor Plan
http://www.dreamhomesource.com/images/Plans/Large/1FP/fb05024.gif

We will be making the dining room into an offfice. It will be stucco and stone(on the part that juts out by the door and up half way on the sides of the garage).

[Sarah051504]

trm98 ~ I love that house plan, it is actually very similar to the original plans we had picked out. We didn't end up going with it sadly becasue of cost.

Kate ~ Pictures? you said you wanted to see pictures? Well that's one thing I have many of. I'll most just a couple below, there's a lot more in my journal. I don't know what time the workers stop, I always go on my home way from work, usually there about 4:30, and they are still working away. I'm thinking they are there till 5 or 6.

I don't know how to explain how I feel about going so much. They don't stop working when I'm there, they just ignore me. It's not just the fact that I go there everyday, Jason also goes everyday but at a different time then me, plus when I got there yesterday the ILs were just leaving but that's ok casue MIL is the one who signs their checks (she works in the builders office) so I don't care if she goes all the time.

Yesterday on my daily photo session they had all the interior walls framed and the tursses up. They were working on putting the playwood on the trusses and I'm pretty sure they got that finished either last night or this morning. For some reason the picture I got of the front of the house from accross the street is pretty dark, I'll get a new one today but for now here's a few.

Front of the house
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d620b3127cce9379a77a192000000016108AcOGrZmzZNb

Left Side
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d620b3127cce93799552982100000016108AcOGrZmzZNb

Right Side
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d620b3127cce9379940759dc00000016108AcOGrZmzZNb

Back
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d620b3127cce9379942d59f600000016108AcOGrZmzZNb

Becasue we are working with family, I have a totally different experience then most of you. I learn new things about the house everyday, yesterday I learned that the wall between the kitchen and the laundry room is only an 8 ft wall while the ceilings are vaulted. Not really sure how I feel about that one, kind of worried about the noise from the washer and drier. This past weekend I learned that our basement ceilings are 9ft. That's not normally the standard height is it? Then last night I had to sort out the mess with the plumbing fixtures, it turns out that I have one list of fixtures, the plumber has a different list and the guy at the builders who's placing the orders has a completly different list. :rolleyes: MIL brought them home last night and I had to sort things out.

[kam]

Sarah,

We go all the time too. Don't feel badly about it. They are used to it, I'm sure. We go every 2-3 days at least. I don't know how anyone from out-of-state would build brand new. No way I could put that much trust in others!

Yesterday, we went and saw they put the hardwoods, carpeting and stone on the garage up. A few issues:

1) the stone is MUCH darker than what we chose and darker than any other stone in the neighborhood. I'm talking 3-4 shades darker. I'm sure I'll get in a fight about this because they'll blame the "quarry", but am I right to think that we would get something similar to everyone else in the neighborhood? It's like asking for dark grey and getting black.

2) we paid for omalon (sp?) padding. It doesn't feel like they put it in. If we call and ask, I suspect they'll say "oh yes! it's in!". In going into the house next door, we found remnants of the padding and it is the lowest grade - it feels EXACTLY the same. All the carpeting is down. Do I question them or pull it up and check myself?

[Camdynlyn]

Kam: I would call them about the padding (we paid extra too so I am sure we will cross that when we come to it) and ask if you can see proof because it doesn't feel right.

THis is cross posted from my journal. Sidenote: We got a call yesterday that we now are estimated to close on Sept 25th instead of October 10th... which is awesome!! :) I can't wait for the inside stuff to start!

So let me vent really quick before posting this picture. The color scheme we picked out was not really what I had in mind. The house I saw with that color scheme had accenting vinyl but because we have stone, we dont get the accented color. I was really dissapointment because I didn't like the color of the house. We wont' get the stone until after the sheetrock is done. But, when I went back up the house today, I kinda liked it. I looked at other's in the neighborhood that were similar and they looked fine. I know that once we have a yard and plants it will really spruce things up. THis picture does nothing for the outside of the house but it will do for now. I can't wait to get the pictures of the inside walls up. It makes is really come together.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d630b3127cce932905d190ed00000016109AYuGjFk2am

Here is a picture of the family room from the kitchen area. This is the insulation.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d630b3127cce932905de11d200000016109AYuGjFk2am

[Oakley]

trm98- Congrats on owning the land! Are you still planning on going with the house plan you posted?

Sarah- Great pictures!! Wow, that must be totally different working with family! It sounds really cool that you're learning so much about your house. :) Our basement ceilings are 8 ft, but I don't know what is considered standard.

kam- How exciting that your flooring is in!!! :D I would also call about the padding. I hope they wouldn't lie to you!

How is the stone looking- still as dark? I bet even though it's darker it looks awesome!

Summer - I posted this in your journal also, but your house looks gorgeous!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our siding has been completed! I don't have pictures yet, but hopefully Friday when we go visit again. The drywall has been taped and spackled, but not sprayed yet. Last time we visited we saw them putting in our furnace. :)

[kam]

Summer - I'm sure it'll be fine. Let everything be put up and make a decision then. You could always paint the siding if you still don't like it.

Oakley and Summer - I actually called about the padding in a roundabout way. I called "just to make sure the color and padding were correct". I got a call that the color was correct with no mention of the padding. Low and behold, we went back and saw a lot more carpet fibers. And there was obviously padding in (we think they tore it up and put it down). Summer - you'll know if you have the padding or not - I'm never one to notice these things and even I noticed right away.

The stone - everyone (the builder, the home office) agrees the stone is too dark. They are having the manufacturer come out and replace it as it is a manufacturing error (as they are saying it's one color but it's not). We figure they have two choices: 1) give us the stone we ordered 2) give us the stone we ordered. ;)

Can't wait to see the siding, Oakley!

[suzubeane]

Summer - I went to your journal to see if you'd posted anything about the water heater vent, but I didn't see anything. Did they move it? It looks like the stack is still coming out the roof ...

[Camdynlyn]

Suzubean: That pic was taken the 9th and it was still there. It is now gone and they have wired it to the outside to vent it. Thank goodness. I even called to make sure they didn't just 'patch' it up but actually fixed it like it had never been there. I will post new pictures tomorrow, hopefully. It isn't there. Thanks for noticing! :)

[Oakley]

kam- That's great that everything is going to be fixed. I'm glad you didn't have to make the decision alone about the stone!


Here's a picture of our completed siding!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d632b3127cce933f9b7c60ca00000026109AauWLZq3ao
Our cabinets were installed and I LOVE them. There are more pics in my journal as well.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d632b3127cce933f9b79e1ff00000015109AauWLZq3ao
We found a stack of our tile in the garage so I'm hoping that is going in this week. I won't be able to visit until Friday so I'm hoping to see a ton of progress!

[kam]

I love your cabinets! And I know this is a small thing, but I love the entryway to the house. It reminds me of the cape I grew up in.

[Hangin'in]

Wow, I haven't been in here for a while. Everyone's homes are just great!

I had to go back to page 6 to see the last picture of our house.... this is the last picture I posted in here!
http://images.snapfish.com/34444%3A2723232%7Ffp7%3Enu%3D3238%3E989%3E752%3EWS NRCG%3D3232%3A494%3A9894nu0mrj

I'll quickly take you throught the high points.... so much has been done since then!
http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E232396%3B89%3B%3B87ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E232396%3B89%3B%3B99ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp54%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E23239%3B7%3A%3A8553ot1lsi

[Hangin'in]

Drywall being delivered!
http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp46%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E23239%3B7%3A%3A8%3A9%3Aot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E23239%3B7%3A%3A9%3B5%3Bot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp54%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A44%3C%3B5%3A73ot1lsi

great shot of that beam I STILL DO NOT LIKE! The part in the foyer wasn't supposed to be there.
http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A44%3C%3B5%3A75ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp47%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A44%3C%3B5%3A7%3Bot1lsi

[Hangin'in]

Siding has begun!
http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D8 43%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A44%3C%3B5%3A%3A9ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A44%3C%3B%3A457ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D8 43%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A45323776ot1lsi

Brick beginning...
http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A44%3C%3B%3A447ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp47%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A45323767ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D8 43%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A45326%3B%3C9ot1lsi

[Hangin'in]

Really, all they have left to do on the brick is the arch, and the trim at the bottom of the windows.
http://images.snapfish.com/3447972%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D8 43%3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A45327253ot1lsi

They have finished the drywall, and the primer coat has been done....

We think trim will be next indoors.

[kam]

Just bumping this thread back up. I find an immense sense of guilt, nothing I can control really, in building a brand new house while others have lost their homes, posessions, family and friends. It's odd to be so happy to build this home but so sad for others who lost theirs.

We had our 2nd inspection with the builder yesterday. We were pleasantly surprised that we have more land than we thought and it will all be landscaped (in the fall, since it would be asking for trouble planting sod in the middle of August in NC!), not just around the perimeter of the home. There are small things, little dings here, nicks there, but those will all be resolved by our final inspection (morning of the closing). The stone is still wrong (they took it down, put new stone up, and apparently the manufacturer changed the colors since we picked them up). We need to pick out new stone but I'm not sure when that will happen. Also, the trees they planted are beyond dead and they will be replanted.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/nala2051/House_Front.jpg

[sparkle&shine]

I find an immense sense of guilt, nothing I can control really, in building a brand new house while others have lost their homes, posessions, family and friends. It's odd to be so happy to build this home but so sad for others who lost theirs.

I have the same feelings.

I am so happy to be able to join this thread although feeling a bit guilty. We go on Sat. to sign the contract to build our new home. As long as financing goes through just fine we will be living in our dream house in about 9 months!
Here it is:
The elevation we hope to get
http://www.pulte.com/assets/images/COMM/2052_CopperBasinTheTerraCollection/tanzanite_el_2.jpg
The floorplan
http://www.pulte.com/assets/images/COMM/2052_CopperBasinTheTerraCollection/Tanzanite_fp_1.gif

We will be going with the optional bedroom 5 with the full bath downstairs!
I am so excited to go sign all the paperwork on Sat! Our market here is so crazy there are waiting lists, lotteries, and drawings to be able to purchase a house. We were lucky enough to get in now while we can still afford it. It took a month of waiting but we got the call on Wed!

[Oakley]

I find an immense sense of guilt, nothing I can control really, in building a brand new house while others have lost their homes, posessions, family and friends. It's odd to be so happy to build this home but so sad for others who lost theirs.

I was just thinking this yesterday as well. I feel SO fortunate for what I have when others now have nothing.

Jen- Your house is coming along SO nicely! I can't wait to see more from the inside. :)

kam- WOW, gorgeous house! :D When is move in?

sparkle&shine- Welcome! Your house is going to be gorgeous- and huge!! I'm glad that you are able to build- the lottery system is so crazy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's a more recent picture of our house:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d607b3127cce93fb76a1c3a900000026109AauWLZq3ao

We had our final walk-through today and are VERY pleased at how the house came out. We're closing next Thursday and moving in Saturday and are so excited!! The process for us was very stress-free and we couldn't be happier with our builder.

[Camdynlyn]

Kam and Kate: They look beautiful!!

[lml41981]

Just joining the thread! We put down earnest money to build today. We're going with a David Weekley home in a master planned community. Has anybody else here built with them? We're really excited and slightly nervous because we have to have an offer on our home by the time our new home hits sheetrock stage. That won't be a problem because we are in a prime location, but we're worried about where we'll live if we sell and close well before our new house is done.

Here's the floorplan (without dimensions) for our house. We're going with the master bath that has the shower and tub, plus we added a second sink in the master bath. We also are going with the optional back porch. We are not doing a fireplace because it took up nice wall space and the chimney was ugly.

Floorplan (http://www.davidweekley.com/images/planpdfs/2330d2.pdf)

I'm so excited because I will have a great kitchen! Also, our floorplan is really open, so I'll be able to watch the baby no matter where I am. Plus, all our upgrades were free, so we're getting a lot of instant equity...and then with each price increase (we're in the first phase of the neighborhood, so the prices are lowest right now and will only go up) our value will increase. And the best part is that we'll have a backyard that has more grass than concrete!!! Our house will face a cul-de-sac and playground area that has a neighborhood pool, so it should be a relatively quiet street...save for the kids playing, but that's ok. Overall we're eager and thrilled!

[kam]

Hey ladies! Welcome lml. We're closing this Wednesday! EEK! YAY! EEK! I'll post pictures after we're in (it's supposed to rain, so after then). As an update, they dumped about 20 truckloads of soil so our land is the envy of the entire neighborhood (we had about 10 neighbors stop by and say "If we had known, we would've gone with this...."). The stone was still wrong so they've stopped accepting that stone from the manufacturer. Our new stone is the only one like it in the neighborhood and is beautiful.

YAY! EEK! YAY!

[Hangin'in]

lml41981 How exciting... Are you close enough to your current home to make frequent trips to your building site? It becomes addictive, having to see the day to day progress!

kam I bet you are excited to be closing soon!

We have made a little progress since the last time I posted. They finished the arch over the front door. The painters should probably be finished today (except for the cabinet in the 2nd bath and the column which had not arrived on Firday).

(ignore gimpy me!)
http://images.snapfish.com/3449787523232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843%3 DXROQDF%3E2323%3A%3A7859883ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3449787523232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843%3 DXROQDF%3E2323%3A%3A7859856ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3449787523232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A%3A786%3C895ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3449787523232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843%3 DXROQDF%3E2323%3A%3A786%3C897ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/3449787523232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A7%3A%3D843 %3DXROQDF%3E2323%3A%3A786%3C898ot1lsi

I have some pictures of the red bedroom, but they don't look good, because there has only been 1 coat put on the walls.

[sparkle&shine]

We went yesterday to the design center to pick our flooring and cabinets. It was a lot of fun but now I am second guessing the counter :( Dang it.... I am worried now that it is going to be too light of a color. I think that I let the design consultant talk me into the lighter color although I did love it while we were there. I am just so confused now. I am hoping that it will be fine and I will love it - it is just so differnent than what we have now.
Here is the one I picked:
http://images.formica.com/assets/chip_images/large/h3526d.jpg


This is the one that I am thinking that I should have gone with but I think it is too late to change:
http://images.formica.com/assets/chip_images/large/h3687d.jpg


Here is the color for the cabinets:
http://www.merillat.com/images/products/wood/paprikaveneer-panel.jpg

We are doing wood floor in the kitchen. The bathrooms and laundry room will have tile that looks very similar to this:
http://images.formica.com/assets/chip_images/large/h7266d.jpg

And the carpet is close to this color:
http://images.cardomain.net/products/sti/STISMMOAK_1.jpg

[Hangin'in]

I love the darker one.... but, most people don't like dark tile, wood or counters.

Call them... see if you can change it. All they can do is say no!

[lml41981]

Sparkle,
We've already done our color selections and went with maple cabinets in that color as well...we did light countertops and light tile so that it wouldn't make the kitchen too dark. Do you have a lot of natural light in your kitchen? I'll have a lot of natural light, but I still like a very bright kitchen. I think your color selections will be great, but if you don't like it then it can't hurt to see if you can switch.

hangin'in,
I'll be on maternity leave for the majority of the time that the house is being built, so even though it is about 45 minutes from my house right now I will probably be able to get out there fairly often. Especially if we have a lot of showings for our current home.

[sparkle&shine]

Well I decided to stay with the Travertine. I do have a lot of light in the kitchen but I don't want it to look too dark. I told DH that if I get tired of it I will just have to get new countertops in a few years! I know that it looks good but I have a darker counter right now and so it is really different to be going so light for me. I think it will just be a bit too dark with the dark floors dark cabinets and dark counter and that the lighter one will brighten it up.

So now we just have to wait....they don't even break ground until Dec. 21. They haven't even put the streets in yet.

[Oakley]

We've closed and we are in! I have some pictures in my journal, but everything's really not organized yet. :) It's SO nice being in the new house. I still want to stick around here though to see everyone's houses built!

lml41981- Congrats! Love the floorplan!

kam- Congrats on closing! How is it going? Isn't it nice to be in? :D

Jen - I posted in your journal, but everything looks SO nice!! Can't wait to see more progress!

sparkle&shine- I second guessed a LOT of stuff- but it all came out looking nice. So did you stick with the lighter color? I think they both would look really good with your other choices.

[kam]

Hey all -

Closing took 45 minutes. The painters spent 14 hour days here and completed in 2.5 days. The movers were fabulous but still we've been in moving hell since then - the biggest problem is there are some things at the apt, we keep forgetting to pick up essentials at Lowes, etc.

Just wanted to drop off pictures. You wanted them, right? ;)

Front of house (sod needs to be put down in Oct):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/nala2051/frontland2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/nala2051/frontofhouse.jpg

Living room (columns are the same beige - just flash washed them out and slipcovers need to be changed to the non-faded ones):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/nala2051/mantle.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/nala2051/livingroom3.jpg

[Hangin'in]

Everything looks so great! Glad your closing went well! Looks like the fur baby's are adjusting well!

[sparkle&shine]

Congrats Kam! It looks great and looks like the furbabies are happy exploring the new digs!


So we had our Pre-Construction meeting on Mon. where they mostly just kissed our butts and made us feel good for choosing them to build our home ;) They are going to be great to work with though. We found out that we are the second house that is going to be built and that they have actually moved up the ground breaking to Dec. 2 and they gave us a very estimated close date of May 16. I hope that we end up with great neighbors and that we get to meet them as we all come out to check on the progress of our homes. I took pictures of our dirt but they are pretty boring :)

[SweetRed]

Hello Ladies!

I'm hoping to join your ranks as a new home builder in a few months. Right now, we're at the very early stage of finalizing a floor plan and a builder. Exciting, but not much action for now.

My questions are about the time commitment and/or stress levels you've felt as you built your new home. DH and I plan to have a GC do most of the work for us, but we hope to be able to cut a few costs by doing some finishing work ourselves. We'll also be building a modular home, so our experience won't be quite the same, but I'm sure many of the same challenges exist.

What was your most stressful and/or time-consuming part of the whole process? How much time were you spending on your home construction on a weekly or monthly basis? Would you do it the same way all over again?

The reason I ask these questions is because I am going through a major crisis in my current job, and right now, I can't imagine making it another year there while we wait for our home to be built. But I wonder about the stress of being displaced from our current home (we're tearing down our current house, so we'll be in a temporary apartment during construction), building a new home, and starting a new job all at the same time. I wasn't even considering this option until this week when a friend of mine explained that as long as my new job was relatively close to what I currently do (especially in income!) the bank refinancing our mortgage typically wouldn't have a problem with it.

Thoughts? Words of wisdom? I'm at my wits end here, but want a new home SO badly! :D

~ Kay

[Camdynlyn]

I will post pictures later but we finally closed on our house this past Thursday. THe process was great (just a few minor things went wrong) but all in all, we were so happy!! We painted yesterday and I am headed there now and then we move in on Tuesday. Thanks for letting me share my proces with you!

[LuluGirl]

Woo hooo!!! I'm closing on my house this Friday. Planning on going in and painting this weekend with the professional movers coming on Monday. It'll be a full week - I've got cable/phone installation, the fridge being delivered and ADT security being installed all next week, plus I have to clean up my apartment. And then I go to Vegas next weekend. WTH was I thinking?!

But I can't wait. My house is absolutely beautiful - I love it. I'm looking forward to my final walk-through on Friday. Not only do I get the keys, but the warranty guy that I'll be meeting with is a hottie! LOL!

[Hangin'in]

We have a "loose" closing date of October 31... I don't think we will actually close that day... but it's nice to actually have a date! ;)

[Hangin'in]

We closed today! :D

[Camdynlyn]

We closed today!

CONGRATS!

**

Things are coming along with us. We have more furniture done that we will pick up on Friday.

Some pics X posted from my journal:

Here are pictures! :D

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce9513898e588200000016109AYuGjFk2am
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce951385cc58c600000016109AYuGjFk2am
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce951385b658bc00000016109AYuGjFk2am

You can see the window treatments, here. I can't wait until our new pillows come in that will match them so we can get rid of the old blueish ones.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce951381ba58b200000016109AYuGjFk2am
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce9513c32ad93300000016109AYuGjFk2am

[Camdynlyn]

Kitchen:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce951389cc58c000000016109AYuGjFk2am
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce9513826a99cb00000016109AYuGjFk2am
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce95138dc1d9ff00000016109AYuGjFk2am
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce9513c306d91f00000016109AYuGjFk2am

Nothing much has changed here:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce95138dcbd9f500000016109AYuGjFk2am

[Camdynlyn]

Breakfast table:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce9513c3ef58c600000016109AYuGjFk2am
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5cf27b3127cce9513c3f8d9e100000016109AYuGjFk2am

[Little Angel '77]

Can someone PM me? I have questions regarding building from the ground up.

I'd love to talk to anyone that can offer some knowledge.

Thanks!

[Camdynlyn]

Can someone PM me? I have questions regarding building from the ground up.

I'd love to talk to anyone that can offer some knowledge.

Thanks!

If you can give me a little more info about what kind of questions you have, I will PM you to help.

[lml41981]

This is what my house looks like as of the 30th.

http://www.mydwhome.com/images/homes2/174000362211302005.jpg

Here is what it should look like.
http://www.davidweekleyhomes.com/images/plans/2330dal-d.gif

I'm a bit nervous because the artist's rendition shows full length shutters on the top window, which I like. We got shutters, as well, but we saw another house with the same floorplan and the shutters for the small window were too short. I think they ought to go the length of the window and am worried we'll get short shutters that look stupid.

[Little Angel '77]

Camdlyn,
You have PM :)

[Camdynlyn]

Camdlyn,
You have PM :)

Ditto! :)

[tgray99]

I haven't had a chance to read all the way through this thread to see if my question has already been answered so I'll go ahead and ask anyway.

When you start this whole process, are you making payments while they're building the house or do you start paying when you move in? Do you just give them the earnest money and sign a contract and the builder starts on your house or what is the process? I'm really confused and would like some info so I can know if building is even plausible for us.

TIA!

[lml41981]

When you start this whole process, are you making payments while they're building the house or do you start paying when you move in? Do you just give them the earnest money and sign a contract and the builder starts on your house or what is the process? I'm really confused and would like some info so I can know if building is even plausible for us.
Depends. If you do a completely custom built home then you may be making payments as you're building. If you select a home from a variety of floorplans in pre-existing community then the home will probably belong to the builder until closing. In the second case, you are not likely able to make changes outside what they offer...for example they probably won't paint your kitchen blue because it is tailored too much to your tastes and if you don't buy it, then it may be difficult to sell to someone else.

[tgray99]

I'd be looking at a builder in a community (Pulte Homes, does anyone have any thoughts one way or another on this builder?)

Thanks, lml, for all the great info!

So, based on this info, we'd go in, select a floorplan, pick out a lot and they start building? I really need something like "building a new house for dummies." Can anyone give me a rough timeline of the process?

TIA!

[lml41981]

tgray, Pulte is one of the best. I think they were first on JD Power & Associates top 10 builders list for Houston.

The timeline is going to vary. It depends on weather and other things. If the community builds down the line and you choose a lot way down the line from where they're currently building, then it will take longer for your house to get started. If they aren't a builder that goes down the line, but instead will build wherever they have a lot sold, then you won't have to wait as long for it to be started. Once they start, it goes pretty quickly, though (pending fair weather). FWIW, they didn't break ground on our house until the very end of October and we already have a roof. They expect to finish our house by mid-January.

[lml41981]

We have shingles! I don't have a picture, but our roof is totally done. They're going to start bricking and doing insulation and dry wall this week. That should all be done by the middle of next week. The builder's estimation is that we'll be in the house in 45 days, pending weather. Of course, our house is under contract and we are supposed to close by the end of the month. So, we'll have about 30 days of living in a hotel. Fun stuff. :cool:

Poor dogs are going to go out of their minds in a small hotel room (we're getting an extended stay place, so it will be a little bigger than a regular room, but still much smaller than what they're used to). I predict frequent trips to the dog park to run off energy as long as it isn't too cold to have Natalie out there, too.

[Wrighty26]

I'd be looking at a builder in a community (Pulte Homes, does anyone have any thoughts one way or another on this builder?)

We're building with Pulte and so far everything has gone ridiculously smoothly! We were expecting so much drama, but the house has come together so nicely, it's been a pleasant surprise :)

What we did was talk to a sales agent--we were on some VIP list because it's insane finding new construction in Orlando right now. She showed us the floorplans-- none of the models they are building in my neighborhood existed before now, as they were all new floorplans-- so we just had to guess what the house would end up looking like. After deciding what we wanted, we picked out our lot, wrote them a big fat deposit check, signed a ton of paperwork, and let the waiting game begin. We are in phase I of our neighborhood-- so we waited from April until August when Orange county finally released the permits to start building.

Before they went to frame we met the building super and our customer service rep-- went over all of our options to confirm everything, and talked about timeline. A little less than 2 months ago we met at the house and did a pre-drywall inspection with the building super/customer service rep to make sure that all of the wiring was done correctly and that everything was solid.

We are now scheduled to close on the 27th-- our walk-thru is on the 20th! We stopped by the house on Sunday and it is completely finished-- landscaping and all.

The great thing I found about Pulte was that all of the "extras" you generally have to pay for (like nice lighting fixtures, recessed lighting, tile in the kitchen/bathrooms, etc...) is already included. We did very little upgrading (the biggest upgrade was the cabinets and they are well worth it!). Although that may be different where you live!

I will try to come by and post some pictures after our walk-thru on Monday... I'm so excited!

[Hangin'in]

lml... that is very exciting about your house! It does suck about the timeline, and having to live out of a hotel for a month! I had to live in an extended stay hotel in an unfamiliar town with a job promotion/relocation for 2 months... I can't imagine having to do that with a husband, child and pets! Good luck to you and your family! Will you still be on maternity leave during this *extended stay*, or will you also be juggling work outside the home with all of this too?

[Lindsan]

I posted at the beginning of this thread when we had just decided on building. Due to logistics, we won't break ground until April. This means that we are just now getting ready to make interior choices and upgrades. We have been out twice to look at tiles, paint, kitchen cabinets etc. (no design center, we have different vendors to choose from). I find it totally overwhelming and frustrating. I am normally quite sure of my tastes but knowing I have to decide for virtually our whole home stresses me out. I was wondering how you guys have done this? What should we think about? Are there certain obvious things that people normally forget about and then kick themselves for later? Does anyone have any general tips? Thanks so much!

[Hangin'in]

Lindsan I *forgot* to make sure that there is a phone jack, cable jack and power outlet very close together in every room you might want to have a TV. We are now having to install phone jacks in the correct places because our satellite has to connect to a phone jack, and most cable boxes do to (IIRC). Right now the phone jacks are on opposite walls from where they need to be!

As far as picking out everything, first I would figure out what type of flooring will be in each room, and what will be visible from where. For example, we put laminate in the foyer and dining room, carpet in the living room, and tile in the kitchen. You can see all of this flooring from all the rooms mentioned, so, for me, it had to be cohesive.

From there, if thinking about the whole house is overwhelming, then pick 1 room, and start with that, from ceiling to floor. If you are buying new furniture for the room, make sure you have a picture of what you are buying, if not buying, then make sure you take pictures of what you have.

When you go to pick out items, make sure you either get a sample, or take a really good, up close picture of what you are getting. I had an expandable folder. Each room had a pocket, and every design choice made (or considered, until made) went into that pocket. Take the entire folder with you everytime you go out to look at stuff, that way if you need to refer to a room you will have everything. Always write down the model number, color, manufactorer's number, item number... what ever the supplier might need to know should they misplace your order, and have to try and figure out what you had decided on. ( I had this nightmare happen when the flooring company changed reps on me, and lost my order in the process. They tried to make it up, and they got most of it wrong. I would not have known until installation if some of our tile had not been discontinued, and we had to go back in and decide on something else.)

At first, my builder and DH made comments about my *anal folder* (my DH's words), but it saved time and money for both of us many times.....

Good luck!

[Lindsan]

Thanks Jen for the tips. I will definitely do the anal folder, lol. That is a really good trick.

I like the tip of concentrating on one room at a time instead of thinking of everything at the same time.

I guess the main things to get right are floors, tile and so on. Paint and wallpaper can easily be changed if we end up not liking it after living in it for a while.

[Hangin'in]

Lindsan said

Thanks Jen for the tips. I will definitely do the anal folder, lol. That is a really good trick.

I like the tip of concentrating on one room at a time instead of thinking of everything at the same time.

I guess the main things to get right are floors, tile and so on. Paint and wallpaper can easily be changed if we end up not liking it after living in it for a while.

You're welcome... it really will make a big difference, especially since you have to go out to the different suppliers. Alot of builders have a showroom with everything in 1 place, but we did not!

Also.... get your fixtures right! They are expensive to change too!

[sarahh]

My DH and I are thinking building a home in the Houston area in the next year or so. There are so many builders to chose from. Has anyone had an experience with any of the following...
*KB Homes
* Pulte
* Perry
* Morrison Homes
* Centex
* Ryland

Thanks in advance! :D

[Camdynlyn]

We built a KB Home and really enjoyed our process. It was really easy and our beautiful house was built within 6 months. I am not sure of the houseplans your area has but here in NC, our house is in the Augusta collection and is called the Dearborn. It's 2711 sq. foot. We couldn't be more happy.

[Wrighty26]

Sarah - My house is a Pulte and we love it! Everyone told us that we would have the "hardest time" building a new house and nothing has been further than the truth! From start to finish, everything has gone great.

What I truly liked with Pulte is that, at least with Pulte's newer homes in FL, there weren't a lot of "upgrades" because everything came standard. You want an island in your kitchen? It's already there-- same with brushed nickel light fixtures, tile in our kitchen/foyer/bathrooms/laundry room, etc...

Before making any decisions I would check out each builder and find out "what's included" with the price of the house, how much each upgrade costs, how long the warranties are for (short-term and extended), and if you can get any discounts or closing costs covered if you choose to go with the builder's mortgage company. Also, try to a "premium" lot if it's not too expensive. It is SO nice not having to look into anyone's house from our back porch!

Good luck :)

[JillyBean]

Bump! DH and I are considering building, and I'd love to read more stories :)

[WestieMomma]

My DH and I are thinking building a home in the Houston area in the next year or so. There are so many builders to chose from. Has anyone had an experience with any of the following...
*KB Homes
* Pulte
* Perry
* Morrison Homes
* Centex
* Ryland

Thanks in advance! :D

We live in Ft Worth and have a Pulte home and we have been very pleased with the company! We didn't build this home though..it was a spec home they had for sale. We've been here for 3 years now and have it for sale now to move into something bigger and better but we have not had any problems with this house. Their company has great service. FWIW...KB homes doesn't have the best reputation at least in the DFW area, I would do your research.

[lml41981]

sarah, we had a miserable experience with Ryland in 2004. I'm not going to post publicly what happened, but it was bad enough that when we backed out of our deal, they refunded our earnest money.

JD Power & Associates ranks Pulte, KB Homes and David Weekley as their top 3 for Houston. Pulte and Centex rank as top two in the country with Pulte taking 16 of 30 markets and Centex taking 10. That said, though it wasn't in your list, we built with David Weekley in Dallas and loved our experience.

[pouncermom]

We are building (John Leach homes) in Joliet, Illinois.
Here are some pictures of the start:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33061305@N00/117674236/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33061305@N00/117674237/

[JillyBean]

Bumping again to ask a question. DH and I have been looking alot at new construction, and I'm starting to get overwhelmed with all the upgrade options. I'd love to get the opinions of those who've already built. What kinds of upgrades did you get? Is there anything you upgraded that you couldn't live without? Anything you wish you had upgraded? Anything you could have done without?

[vjel]

JillyBean, for us, the most important upgrades were structural ones. Those are things that likely cannot be done after you move in. Some of the structural options we got were a 4ft extension in the family room, a loft area on the 2nd floor, a 3rd bathroom in the guestroom. There might've been a couple more but I can't remember right now. These things we're definitely glad we got, with the 3rd bath being the best option for us.

Some things that we wished we had gotten but didn't b/c we had already gone WAY over budget: a sunroom (didn't need it but it would've been nice to have another room, the extension would've gone done to the basement area), 9 ft. ceilings in our unfinished basement (couldn't justify spending over 5k for something that we weren't going to utilize for another 5 years or so), a floor to ceiling stone fireplace (can be done later but it would be a mess), a gourmet kitchen (don't like cooktops but in hindsight would've dealt with it to have a double oven), for $900 we could've gotten a nicer backsplash for our kitchen but we opted for just plain ones (big regret of mine b/c what's 900 when you're already over budget! ;) ), stainless steel appliances.

Again, I think structural options are more important to consider first, then cosmetic things. Quite a few of our neighbors just got laminate countertops from the builder but have since upgraded to granite/corian. Same with upgrading to hardwoods, ceramic, backsplashes. Think about what you can save money on and do yourself, think about what you really need and can't have done later or would cost more to do later. HTH a little!

[Camdynlyn]

Bumping again to ask a question. DH and I have been looking alot at new construction, and I'm starting to get overwhelmed with all the upgrade options. I'd love to get the opinions of those who've already built. What kinds of upgrades did you get? Is there anything you upgraded that you couldn't live without? Anything you wish you had upgraded? Anything you could have done without?

Hubby and I were just talking about this this week. If your upgrades go into your morgage, that's the best. We got a lot of upgrades but the ones we COULDN'T live without are:

-wiring done in all bedrooms for ceiling fans (as well as living room and loft)
-upgraded to berber carpet (this is the one we just talked about after seeing some scraps on the side of the road from an unfinished house)
-lighting choices (we got SOME but wish we would have spent the extra money and had it tacked on to our morgage because it was a pain to shell out all that money at once. We would have gone and gotten all the ones we wanted instead of price comparing with Lowes)
-Kitchen (we went all out on our kitchen and we are glad we did. It's the focus of the house)
-Garage door opener (electric)-- may come with some houses but ours didnt and glad we didn't have to go and buy it later on
-Fireplace

I hope some of these helped.

[suzubeane]

Speaking as someone with experience in the building trades, but who has not worked with the kind of builders others here have ...

If I were going into a contract in a builder's development, the thing I would always have in mind is *the builder's* bottom line. The builder has already figured out the most cost efficient way to build the homes they offer. Besides the repetition, much of what makes the homes cost efficient is that the building company has contracts with manufacturers, suppliers and/or sub-contractors whose products and services they use. But even when they offer an upgrade - whether it's additional space or higher grade finishes - they are still offering what is most cost efficient for them for the very same reasons.

If you're at the point where you're still deciding whom to contract with, I would just look at each upgrade with a very critical eye. I'd try to find a homeplan and a homebuilder whose standards best meet my needs. Even things that are dubbed "upgrades" by the builder are likely not costing them that much more. But building companies have already figured out which things most homeowners are likely to want to add if not standard, and what pricepoint they can charge for them - regardless of their actual cost.

For anyone at the point of choosing upgrades, I would just keep in mind that the choices you have are limited by what is easy for the builder to construct or or inexpensive to procure due to contracts they have with other companies. (Appliances, cabinets, finishes, etc.) I would try to figure out what *the builder* is getting out of offering it as an upgrade rather than standard, and - especially if it's a finish and not change to the built space - see if you can do better on your own. If you plan to add the cost of finishes to your mortgage, remember that once you tac on the interest, you'll be paying much more for something that builders are getting inexpensively. While it may be worth it to you for your own time in the house, it might not be a cost you can plan to recoup on resale.

My 2 cents.

[JillyBean]

Wow, thanks for all the replies :D We're hopefully going to meet with our first choice for builders this week, so I'm planning to get a list of available upgrades and go through and decide what things we really want and what things we could do without. Then I think we'll make the decision from there.

One other question. Did you go through your builder's mortgage company (if they had one)? Did you get a better deal by using their company than you would have through a bank or other lender? TIA :)

[Wrighty26]

One other question. Did you go through your builder's mortgage company (if they had one)? Did you get a better deal by using their company than you would have through a bank or other lender? TIA :)

We when through out builder's mortgage company because it offered better incentives and a decent mortgage rate.

If we had gone with another mortgage company we would have had to put 10% down for the lot up front. Because we went with the builder we put down less than half of that. They also paid for $6000 in closing costs.

I do suggest doing your research and calling up other mortgage companies to see if they can give you as good or a better deal that your builder :D

Good luck at your meeting this week!

[Camdynlyn]

We also went through our company's morgage company and got better rates.

[savannahgrl]

We went through our own mortgage company.

As far as upgrades, we had...
-stainless appliances
-ceramic tile in all wet areas
-granite countertops
-upgraded lighting throughout the house
-fireplace

I'm happy with all of our upgrades. We just moved in though, so right now we do not have any regrets.

[lml41981]

We went for structural or functional upgrades over cosmetic, for the most part. We added a covered back patio, an upgraded master bathroom, pre-wiring and blocking for ceiling fans in all the bedrooms and DH's office, pre-wiring for a speaker system, gutters and a sprinkler system. Of course, we also upgraded to stainless appliances in the kitchen, upgraded cabinetry throughout the house and we put vinyl in the bathrooms instead of carpet. We upgraded to French doors to the office and to the backyard, shutters on two of the windows, and a garage door opener. We probably would have skipped some of our upgrades, but our builder was offering $15,000 in "free upgrades." What that really means is they bumped up the price of the house $15,000 to cover their incentive, but the wording of it helped us because we could stand to buy a house for xxx,xxx and not spend anything in upgrades. We would have never paid an additional 15,000 on upgrades that we'd have to finance, though. The diction worked on us. ;)

As for our financing...we went with a friend who is a broker. He cut us a really good deal that couldn't be beat. The builder made us pay the title policy, but had we gone with the builder, the points we would have been charged cost more than the title policy did. We saved about $1000 by going through a friend.

[MrsT]

Well we just signed a contract to build our first, so I don't have firsthand experience, but this is our plan based on advice we've collected...

like others, we're upgrading things that are structural to the house/hard or PITA to replace later:
- extension on garage (we're losing a 3rd car tandem to make a study so we added 3 ft to garage)
- extended covered patio with blocks for lights/fans
- stone exterior
- gas line to the island (cooktop has to go there) and upgraded range top
- upgraded carpet pad and upgraded carpet (pad makes it last longer and we like the upgraded carpet better)
- wood floors in the entry/formal living/dining

Some things that are standard in our house, but we would have upgraded for resale:
- granite counters in kitchen and master bath
- crown moulding
- ceramic tile on floors/backsplash
- ceramic tiled shower walls/tub surround
- surround sound wiring in common areas (game/media/family, etc.)

We aren't upgrading things like fixtures because I'd rather wait and see what I want once I am in/decorating the house and those suckers are expensive! We also aren't having the builder put in ceiling fans where they don't come standard (extra bedrooms/patio) because we can get them cheaper and install them ourselves.

[Lindsan]

We chose a house from a company we knew would have a great standard and that had a plan that we loved. This helped us because we didn't have to make any structural upgrades. The only thing we did do that would be considered structural upgrade was to have extra insulation in the inner walls. This to prevent sounds from travelling from room to room. Our approach to upgrades was simple: what will be difficult/expensive as hell to do ourselves? The answer to this was kitchen and bathroom. So we chose a more expensive tile in all the wet areas and went for stainless appliances and better cabinet doors.

We want a few rooms to have expensive wallpaper on some of the walls but we can do that ourselves so we just went with basic paint. We are also planning on building a patio/deck with the help of BIL. This is saving us quite a lot of money.

One thing I would think about is electrical upgrades if they are possible. That would be a pain to change once the house is completed. Is everything where you want it to be?

[Mickey&B]

Subscribing. . . .

We are just getting ready to start meeting with architiects/builders to start on our home hopefully after summer so I am hoping to get advice from all of you that have gone through or are going through the process.

When you go to pick out items, make sure you either get a sample, or take a really good, up close picture of what you are getting. I had an expandable folder. Each room had a pocket, and every design choice made (or considered, until made) went into that pocket. Take the entire folder with you everytime you go out to look at stuff, that way if you need to refer to a room you will have everything. Always write down the model number, color, manufactorer's number, item number... what ever the supplier might need to know should they misplace your order, and have to try and figure out what you had decided on. ( I had this nightmare happen when the flooring company changed reps on me, and lost my order in the process. They tried to make it up, and they got most of it wrong. I would not have known until installation if some of our tile had not been discontinued, and we had to go back in and decide on something else.)

This is such a wonderful idea thanks for sharing!!

[eponymous]

Is everyone's house already finished? :) This thread has been quiet for a long time...

Bumping because we're starting to think about doing this - fairly unexpectedly! We like our house perfectly fine, but we found a new (just starting the first houses) neigborhood with a floor plan that is absolutely incredibly perfect for us. We intend to live in it for the next 40ish years, and I really believe that the layout especially would be fabulous, with the nicer quality something that we would appreciate. However, it will be financial stretch for a while (I'm in graduate school and have a miniscule income, which obviously will change, but I have no idea to what!). In addition, there's some time pressure, because the builder is offering $15,000 in upgrades allowance, and the prices of all the floorplans will increase $15,000 in three months. When either happens, we would priced out of the neighborhood and end up having to live in our current house forever.

Does anyone have any suggestions of questions that we should ask the builder? Is it possible to ask to visit their design center before signing a contract just to see what's there? Will this be worth doing? Will we live through the process? :D

Any advice on the first steps of deciding to build would be appreciated... (FWIW, we can only build in this neighborhood with this builder, so we can't really compare - we're choosing between staying in our current house or moving to this neighborhood.)

[~queen~]

My new home is not finished so I'll resurrect this thread with you :) We have our pre-drywall meeting tommorrow (Friday). This is our second new construction home in 3 years, so I hope I am finally getting the hang of it! ;)

For the Incentives/Allowances, make sure that prices in your entire area are still going up. Builders only offer incentives/allowances when the sales have slowed down, so I'm a little hesitant to say if they will be raising the price that much so soon, especially since we are in a buyers market. My suggestion is to not let those items pressure you before you are ready.

Instead, I would focus on the lot. Back to the old adage, location, location, location. Find the absolute best lot that you want to have (i.e, flat, backs to trees, etc) and use that as your determining factor. Some builders have lot releases and the lot you want may not be available at that time. In our case, we had to wait out 3 (minor) price upgrades for our lot, but we didn't have to pay a lot premium so it worked out in the end. We wouldn't have been happy with a smaller lot because we like space!

The first step is to arm yourself with everything that is available. Because you plan to make this your forever home, do not go into it with regrets and oh - we 'should' have. Be prepared to go over budget because honestly, it costs less (on some things, not all) to have the builder do it than to deal with the headaches of removal and the reinstallation. Next, look at ALL the floor plans and weigh the pros/cons of each. You will find that a $5 - $10k difference now can make huge differences later (hence our current situation where a house that cost $25k more than ours then has appreciated to over $250k more 2 years later - OUCH!) Keep an eye on the future by comparing room sizes, general layouts and elevations.

Compare the options list for the house above and below your chosen model. Some things that they say are not available actually are - if you complain to the corporate office.:p So, when it comes to selecting your options, don't immediately take the first no as your answer if it is something you really want. I have my builders corporate office on speed dial. :p

Oh, as for the design center. Nah, let that be and right now focus more on your structural upgrades. Those are the hardest and most expensive things to change. The design center is all FUN!

HTH!

[philnikki]

Thanks for bumping this thread! We close tomorrow :eek: on our land and our home loan! We start excavating next week!!!

[eponymous]

This is our second new construction home in 3 years, so I hope I am finally getting the hang of it! ;)

Wow! *bows to the expertise*

Builders only offer incentives/allowances when the sales have slowed down, so I'm a little hesitant to say if they will be raising the price that much so soon, especially since we are in a buyers market. My suggestion is to not let those items pressure you before you are ready.

That's really good advice, and something that I'm a bit concerned about. There are several other factors, however, rushing us into this: they will be retiring our favorite floorplan in the next couple of months as they introduce new ones (which have already appeared on their website), without that floorplan we would not build, and we can't move from our current town, so we'd be in our current house forever. They're offering us incentives to sign a contract before the end of the month; there is only one lot left in Phase 1 that we like, and it will be next year before Phase 2 starts, and we don't like anything there either.

Instead, I would focus on the lot. Back to the old adage, location, location, location. Find the absolute best lot that you want to have (i.e, flat, backs to trees, etc) and use that as your determining factor.

This is our biggest problem, because we're not thrilled with either lot that we are picking between. One is next to a forest reserve that will remain green space. However, there are major electrical lines with huge tie-downs that would be right next to our house, plus there's swamp in the forest, and I'm afraid of mosquitoes.

The other lot is across the street; it's a corner lot, so we could side-load the garage (a HUGE plus for us), and have a larger back-yard that some houses, but not too large. However, there's only one house (not built yet) between that lot and a fairly busy road. Plus, we would face the enterance to the subdivision. (Good: great landscaping! Bad: Noise). Plus, the house gets early morning light in the bedrooms (bad), and sets over the garage. In addition, the back of the house, with the kitchen and family room, would be northern facing, and I really, really wanted the sun in those rooms. However, unless we wait for the lot next to the model house to open (in years, and at a significant cost upgrade, plus our floorplan would be gone), there isn't an ideal lot.

Woah, sorry - that was long! Those are all of the thoughts drifting around my head, and I'd love any feedback that anyone would be willing to give. I trust the experience and insight of the CC women so much.

Good luck with your meeting Queen, and happy closing philnikki!

[cgmom313]

Ok I'll play...

We are building a new larger home. We built the home we are in now. It is a great starter home 3 bed 2 baths about 1700 square feet. We are in Fl now. We are relocating to NC. We should be doing pre-dry wall inspection next week. Well not us our realtor up there. Our new house will be 2800 square feet 4 bed/2.5 bath. This is our deam home and we are really excited.

On a downer note. Our current house is on the Market and has been for about 45 days and no offers. As soon as we put our house on the market, I swear in our area the market died. It is a true Buyers Market. We have to sell this house in order to get our new house. So it is a bit frustrating for us.

It is hard not to get excited because we may loose our new house and the money they have in earnest. Lovely huh?

So I will follow along and hope to play with all of you.

Good Luck to Everyone. I thinking building you new house is so exciting.

[~queen~]

CGMOM We are in the same boat! I'm at 75 days and no offer yet, and we also need as much $$ as we can for our new house. Stop by the 'Selling in a Buyers Market' thread and we can commiserate together!

Kitlyn Again, tough call. It depends on what are the most important factors to you, but for me, lot location is the #1 thing. Anything else can be changed. The lot, never. Why are you guys so set on the particular floorplan? Are the newer ones that different? Can they be willing to make some allowances with the placements to get you closer to something you can live with?


*****
As for me, had pre-drywall meeting. Totally a BUST! There are quite a few things wrong with the house still remaining. #1, the brick has major cracks and fizzures in it. Builder tried to tell us that it was supposed to be that way :rolleyes: He even went so far to tell us to look at the other houses to see if it was the same as ours. :rolleyes: My attitude was like, I'm not going to base these issues on other houses around me, cause all they do is show me that your bricklayer is a f*ck up all the way around! Showing me other houses have cracks as well doesn't make it better!

*sigh* Anyway, other larger issues loom with the master bedroom, so it seems as if they won't even begin drywalling until the architectural plans can be redraw, and then resubmitted to the county for approval. :(

[eponymous]

Kitlyn Again, tough call. It depends on what are the most important factors to you, but for me, lot location is the #1 thing. Anything else can be changed. The lot, never. Why are you guys so set on the particular floorplan? Are the newer ones that different? Can they be willing to make some allowances with the placements to get you closer to something you can live with?

The floorplan is the only one-floor plan in the community, and if we want to "upgrade" our house, this community is our only option. We don't plan to have children, and our two floor 1800 sq ft house is mostly wasted space right now. The new house is a dream - absolutely and completely ideal for our lifestyle - and I will regret it forever if I don't get it! DH will get a music room for his piano (bedroom #2), our master bath and bedroom are a perfect use of space with fantastic windows, bedroom #3 is also a good size and we hope that my 90 year old grandmother will agree to move in with us once we get rid of that pesky staircase in our current house. Plus, the dining room, living room, kitchen are all open to each other. DH and I, as it turns out but we didn't know when we bought this house (right before we got married) tend to spend all of our time in the same room, working seperately, and the fact that all of the living space in the home is open is amazingly, miraculous perfect for us. If I could custom-design a house, I wouldn't change a thing about it. (Hmmm, wait: there's no room for a pantry in the kitchen, and I'm giving up cabinet space as it is, but that's my only concern.)

Lot: WE FOUND OUR PERFECT LOT! It faces the direction that I want (sun in the living space in the afternoon/evening) and backs up to a wooded reserve. My original concern about it (and why we crossed it off our list) is that the neighborhood plan shows a little path to the side that our builder-rep said was to connect the "open space" (that turns out to be wooded...) with the street, and we didn't want the traffic. Turns out it's an easement to get back to the wooded space and utilities behind our neighbor. So we're very, very excited about that. (It's also on a cul-de-sac, which is not a plus for us, but good for resale.)


As for me, had pre-drywall meeting. Totally a BUST! There are quite a few things wrong with the house still remaining. #1, the brick has major cracks and fizzures in it. Builder tried to tell us that it was supposed to be that way :rolleyes: He even went so far to tell us to look at the other houses to see if it was the same as ours. :rolleyes:

Yeah, 'cause if everyone else's is wrong too, then it must be right! What a pain - I'm worried about the stress of trying to keep on top of all of the stuff that can go wrong (little and big). DH is not good about stuff like that, and moreover, he thinks that kind of concern is overplaced on my part.

It looks like we might be signing a contract tomorrow - yikes!

[pride&prejudice]

Oh wow, I cannot believe I didn't find this thread till now. DH and I are in the process of buying (well almost finished) a new construction home. Hopefully we'll close on Aug 25. The original buyers fell through, so its considered a spec home but we still got to choose a bunch of things, so not too bad.

However, I've got to call the builders, since our friends are getting the house next to us and were supposed to close on Friday, but they forgot to tell them until the day before, while they were doing the walk through, that they couldn't get them the certificate of occupancy because the final inspection on the grading had not been done.

The market does seem to be turning. We were lucky enough to get a buyer on our house 7 hours after putting it on the market.

[Lindsan]

Our house isn't finished yet. Final inspection is set for October 6. The builders have come quite far; we have brick and inside the floors are down and all the painting is done. Basically we are lacking a kitchen, tile in the entry, laundry and bathrooms and then all fixtures in the bathrooms and laundry room. When we stopped by last we noticed they had installed all the inside doors. Even the smallest things can make you jump around like a madman. It's almost ridiculous. :)

[pride&prejudice]

Even the smallest things can make you jump around like a madman. It's almost ridiculous. :)

I know what you mean. I was estatic when they installed this light on the porch. Apparently they had before we stopped by one day but someone broke it, and they never replaced it until last week. :)

[~queen~]

Alright! Since this thread is now moving once again, lets get some visuals going! How about some PICTURES of the progress, and some things about the layout. Show off your new house!!! :D

[~queen~]

Okay, I'll start. :D

Here is the layout of my new construction home:

http://images1.snapfish.com/34775%3B3%3B2%7Ffp355%3Enu%3D323%3A%3E36%3A%3E%3B% 3B4%3EWSNRCG%3D32339%3A%3B%3A8%3B653nu0mrj

http://images1.snapfish.com/34775%3B3%3B2%7Ffp357%3Enu%3D323%3A%3E36%3A%3E%3B% 3B4%3EWSNRCG%3D32339%3A%3B%3A5269%3Bnu0mrj

http://images1.snapfish.com/34775%3B3%3B2%7Ffp34%3B%3Enu%3D323%3A%3E36%3A%3E%3 B%3B4%3EWSNRCG%3D32339%3A%3B%3A8%3B654nu0mrj

I have NO idea on the overall square footage. I can't seem to get a straight answer from the Sales person or the Foreman. I guess I'll have to wait until we get the appraisal. BTW, this is my FOREVER home and we will be moving my Mom in with us - hence all the extra space. Still, having her move in with us, this house just doesn't seem big enough! :o

The downside to this house is that it doesn't have a Linen Closet in the Master! :mad: I'm going to have to come up with a creative use of space to store the mbr sheets and towels.

[jajacobsen]

Can you add a door from the Master bedroom into the back of the closet for bedroom 4? You could then store master bedroom linens in there. I also say this because it seems bedroom 4 might be a nursery, and you could use the walk in closet as a pass through into the nursery - and possibly keep those doors open at night. Not necesarily you - but as in one could do this.

Also, you might think about making a door in Bedroom 2 that goes directly into one of the bathrooms without having to go into the hall. Just an idea.

Otherwise - GORGEOUS HOUSE! Huge! I would say at least 4000 square feet.

[cgmom313]

Queen - Great floor plan. Love all the extra storage areas. Ya know it never matters how small/big your house is. It always happens that you run out of space. When my DH an I moved into our current home 6 years age we said Wow it will take us a while to grow out of the house. Even before DD came along 18mths ago we were squeezed out of the house within 2 years. :rolleyes:

Ok I tried to post a floor plan and it didnt work. I will see if I can play around and get it to post.

BBL

[risa00]

I'm potentially looking into this option and was curious about pricing. Did you notice that the cost of buying the land, permits, and building the house was cheaper than building pre-built, the same, or more? I know it depends on a variety of items, but I was curious how it ends up. Also, how would you break down the % of total budget.. % land, % builder, % permit, % etc. Thanks!

[Foley42]

Queen I love your floorplan :) You have TONS of room! I like how the Master bathroom sinks are separated instead of side by side like they traditionally are.

[~queen~]

Thanks ladies. :) Now if we can just get our house to SELL, we'd be getting somewhere.

Also, I'm starting to get worried about the market. The builder is already offering incentives that total less than we originally signed for on our house - I'm cool with that- for now. However, if the market tanks this fall (as some experts suggest) - I absolutely don't want to go into a mortgage that is hugely upside down! I keep telling DH that if prices drop by $100k or more, it would be better to loose our deposit ($40k) than to sign for a house well below market value. He disagrees, so we are at a standstill and watching the market. Right now, our builder is offering $55k worth of extras & incentives. Ouch!

risa00 I'm in a tract home subdivision, so sorry, can't answer your question.

[Lindsan]

Wow queen, that floorplan is great. Very big! Do you have any pics of hte outside?

This is the floorplan of our house:
http://www.myresjohus.se/Archive/Bilder/Kontor/Malmö/Tomtbilder/Krist_Back_plan1_540.jpg

And this is the latest pic I have of the outside. The brick is completed now. This is the front of the house:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/Lindsan/184001-1.jpg

[philnikki]

Ok, since we are all closed now, I guess I will put some pictures out there for y'all!


The front of the house (we are adding a porch). That little window on the far right is a single window now with shutters and its centered on that side.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/philnikki/HouseFrontPlans.jpg

Our Floor Plan (semi final version)!

Main Floor:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/philnikki/HousePlansMainFloorFINAL-1.jpg

Second Floor:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/philnikki/HousePlans2ndFloorFINAL-1.jpg

We are also finishing 800 Sq feet in our basement. Total sq footage is around 3700 sq feet not including the garage!

The road to our new home
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/philnikki/100_5386.jpg

And the trees we are trying to sell (you can see where its already been surveyed)
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/philnikki/100_5403.jpg

We have chosen the siding and trim. This house is just a model from the site, so not my house, but it gives you a good idea of what everything is going to look like! We went with Cape Cod Grey siding, white trim, and black shutters!

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/philnikki/SidingtrimandShutters.jpg

So far that is where we are at! We are hoping to get our trees sold by the end of this week and removed by the middle of next week. Our estimated completion date is on or about Thanksgiving at the moment!

[Sandie78]

Nice houses everyone. I love looking at floor plans.
We are building too. This is the second house we are building. We recently moved several hundred miles to be closer to family. We closed on our old house this week and now I really feel like this is real. Our new house will be done at the end of next month.

[cgmom313]

riso00- Sorry, cant help you. Our first home we built was in a small subdivision. Our new home is in a master planned community. So basicly when you pick a house you get a price. They add on to the price the type of lot you get. Cul de sacs, preserve lot, corner lot, have higher lot prices. The tag the lot price onto the price of the house and then you buy any extras for the inside and they tag that on.

Lindsan - Nice house... Like the brick!

Philnikki - Wow that is a whole lotta house... Lots of room to grow! Hope the building process goes smoothly for you. Look forward to seeing the progress.

Sandie78 - Congrats!!! Enjoy your new home.

So tomorrow our realtor will be going through the pre-dry wall inspection. She said she was going to send us pics so that should be good.

[mamax2]

Did you notice that the cost of buying the land, permits, and building the house was cheaper than building pre-built, the same, or more? I know it depends on a variety of items, but I was curious how it ends up. Also, how would you break down the % of total budget.. % land, % builder, % permit, % etc. Thanks!
This is REALLY hard to answer because it depends on so many different factors - most specifically, location and what type of home you're building. In our case, our home has been custom built. I won't say this was the cheapest way to go, but it enabled us to upgrade the things that were important to us and gave us a lot of creative control. We could have had a comparable sq. ft. in planned/tract home community for less money, but we would have been limited to whatever they had going on at the design center. In my case, my Dad was our general contractor and he made no profit so that saved us substantially. We couldn't have built the house we did if we'd had to pay a builder too. As for budget, our land was about 1/3 of the total. Permitting was a drop in the bucket, pretty miniscule really. Architectural drawings could have been significant, but we found a basic plan we liked, bought the rights to it and paid an arch. to make modifications instead, so that ended up being like 1-1.5% of the budget. For the general population w/out a Dad as a builder ;) I'd say a pre-built or spec type home is cheaper. The nature of contracting a builder kind of sets you in the realm of doing more custom stuff and that runs higher, in general.

We move in next Tuesday - yipee!!!

[philnikki]

Did you notice that the cost of buying the land, permits, and building the house was cheaper than building pre-built, the same, or more? I know it depends on a variety of items, but I was curious how it ends up. Also, how would you break down the % of total budget.. % land, % builder, % permit, % etc. Thanks!

I will tell you that from our experience, we are saving money by going with a high end custom modular home. Modulars are generally cheaper because of the timing is so much shorter. In our case, we are having the main floor of the house built at the exact same time as our foundation is being dug, etc. so that way, you save a TON of money in interest costs on your construction loan. We were able to pick EVERYTHING. We just did a search on www.homeplans.com and came up with some plans that were easily adpatable to a modular. Our builder did have some common plans that are similar to the big developers plans, but we were excited when he told us we could come up with whatever we wanted! Its nice to do this, because, to me, if you are going to spend 20-30 years in a home, you want it to be done with your needs and wants in mind, ya know? We are having a lot of other site built items (our second floor, garage, and those two bay areas are all site builds), but all in all we are saving a lot of money! And the even cooler part is that we are starting out with almost $70,000 in equity based on our appraisal :D Not too shabby :)

[eponymous]

Wow - I love seeing everyone's floor plans. I'm away from home this week, but I'm going to try to figure out how to post ours when I get back.

Good luck to everyone this week!

[suzubeane]

Nikki, are you guys buying one of those homes that are pre-fabricated in an climate controlled factory and brought to the site? Friends of my in-laws did this recently, and they also said that they could get pretty much whatever they wanted, too.

If your builder is the only set of eyes looking at your plans, you might consider hiring an architect/residential designer to look at them, too. Can't hurt. In the end, there are so many things that need to come together.

I know you said your plan was the "semi-final" version, I just wanted to make sure you're aware that it does not correspond with the elevation you show. (beyond the one window you pointed out, I mean.) Feel free to PM me, and I'll point out a couple things I noticed.

Mamax, you got a great deal on your plans! Working in the building trades, it's not lost on me that most people cannot afford to work with an architect. But if you can purchase a set of plans without changing them too much, that's really a great way to go, especially if you have experienced help the way you did. The problem arises for most people when they don't realize what changes are minor, and what changes would ripple through the plan and become major.

That said, I do think that sites like eplans.com and homeplans.com are really valuable resources, even for just getting idea and information beyond just the plans.

[philnikki]

Suz Yeah, its done in a climate controlled factory. This one is in central PA. Aside from the cost savings, we are pretty thrilled with the energy efficiency too, due to the way that the can do the insulation because of being indoors. This is the website of the factory we are usingL

http://www.pro-builthomes.com/

As far as the plans go, our builder helped us modify the plans with their cad software and then they send them to the artichects/engineers at the factory who basically take those and redo them in their software. So we do have a few other eyes :)

And as far as the elevation goes, let me wait until I get the final versions and have you look at those. I have about a billion different versions of these plans and I am not totally sure if the pictures I posted are all from the same meeting or not. I just posted to give you guys an idea of what we are building. Thanks for offering!!!

[suzubeane]

As far as the plans go, our builder helped us modify the plans with their cad software and then they send them to the architects/engineers at the factory who basically take those and redo them in their software. So we do have a few other eyes :) I meant a set of eyes not affiliated with your builder. CAD software is a tool for drawing. It will not find discrepancies - the person using it has to find them.

How can I put this? It's not in the best interest of the builder that their own architects/engineers flesh out and detail a set of plans. This goes for all of you who are building directly with a builder with no designer or architect going to bat for you. The less detail on a plan, the more that is left up to the discretion of the builder, and the builder wants to make a profit.

Perhaps someone who has already been though the construction process can comment on this.

I think that for anyone working directly with the builder, consulting with someone (another builder, designer, architect or construction manager) who is accustomed to reading construction documents would be money well-spent.

[mamax2]

The less detail on a plan, the more that is left up to the discretion of the builder, and the builder wants to make a profit.

Perhaps someone who has already been though the construction process can comment on this.

I think that for anyone working directly with the builder, consulting with someone (another builder, designer, architect or construction manager) who is accustomed to reading construction documents would be money well-spent.

I've found this to be true as well. You really need someone who's good going through everything w/a fine tooth comb. That being said though, while the builder may want to make a profit, the architect typically bills hourly, wants to design things that are 'cool' (translation = not necessarily the best functionality), and isn't always in tune with current building costs and may overdesign your home and cause it to go over-budget.

In my particular circumstances, we purchased a plan and basically dictated to the architect what we wanted and he found a way to make most of them happen. Some of these included: adding a screened porch, removing a staircase, adding a pantry and coat closet, bumping out two rooms, bumping out a niche in the dining room to 'recess' our hutch. There are many more things that were caught in the field by my Dad (builder) that we had to go back and change, for instance, the staircase to the attic didn't have enough clearance for a door, so we had to relocate that and redesign our master bath and closet. In our case, the architect was not really doing anything besides our specific requests which was good in terms of cost-savings, but not so good in terms of value-added services. If I had it to do over, I can't say I would have changed the general process at all, but I probably would have spent a bit more on an architect or RD and just gone through some of the functionality stuff. For instance, I would have loved for someone to look at my girls' bathroom and say, 'hey, when you open this door, it's going to cover this doorway and be really clumsy' or 'btw, you might want to consider stairs w/a landing b/c with 10' ceilings, this is one long ass straight drop!' It's just hard to see everything yourself.

[philnikki]

Suz - The factory is "technically" independent of my builder, but I see what you are saying. Unfortunately, we have alreday sent off the plans to the factory and they charge an arm and a leg to change at this point. I did have my dad look at everything a few months ago (my dad is a contractor) and he told me that everything looked good, so I am going to go with that opinion I guess. It may come back to bite me later (let's hope not), but I guess I feel comfortable enough with everything at the moment that I am not too worried. We also have a 10 year warranty on the house, so if something was really wrong, they would be liable to correct it.

Thanks for weighing in though. I appreciate your thoughts.

[philnikki]

Oh! And on the whole builder making a profit thing, we are doing an "owner-builder" program. Our builder serves as a "manager" on the project, and his fee is set in stone. We already know what we are paying him and the factory, and those amounts had to be approved by our lender and cannot be anything more than what they requested. So, I guess they really don't have any incentive to cheap out on things, because at the end of the day, they are still getting the same fee regardless, kwim?

[suzubeane]

That being said though, while the builder may want to make a profit, the architect typically bills hourly, wants to design things that are 'cool' (translation = not necessarily the best functionality), and isn't always in tune with current building costs and may overdesign your home and cause it to go over-budget. I know you used to help market an architecture firm (a commercial one, IIRC, not residential) but I've been working in different areas of the building trades for 22 years, and I don't find this to be true. It is a gross and unfair generalization.

Architects for the most part, don't work hourly. They *bill* hourly, but the fee is based on a percentage of the total cost of the project. The client dictates the budget *before* the contract is signed. So why would the architect design something cool and not functional if he's not likely to get paid for the time spent doing it? Or if it will have to be "value engineered" because it is too expensive to build? A good architect will want to get it right the first time.

I'm the last person who will say that an architect is a necessity on every project - that's why I wrote earlier that plans could be reviewed by a number of different building professionals. But to state as though it's fact that an architect will design something that's "not the best funtionally" is damaging to anyone considering using one; that is the opposite of what an architect is charged with doing.

There are plenty of people who have posted here (and on WC) who worked directly with builders and got just what they were expecting. Others worked directly with builders and got a few surprises. Optimally, working with a designer or architect minimizes those surprises.

Nikki, It sounds like your builder will be on the same page as you, so that's good. Sorry that I misunderstood his role. When things are finalized, PM me - I think you can get a larger vanity in your master bath, and change up the closet a bit. I'm also interested in how they're resolving your roofline now that you're adding a porch. But if your Dad the contractor gave his blessing, rest assured they're probably not missing any specs or important details.

[mamax2]

suzubeane ~ WOW! Good memory on my previous career. It looks like you're trying to pick a fight with what I wrote and I'm not really sure why since my opening comment on your post was:
I've found this to be true as well. You really need someone who's good going through everything w/a fine tooth comb.
I was actually agreeing with you that the services of an architect can be valuable. I certainly wouldn't have built a house without one.

I certainly don't think I stated anything about the architectural profession 'as fact', but rather gave a viewpoint counter to your own. It's no different than your suggestion that when things are left to the builder's discretion he's only concerned with profit. I'm sure you don't mean that every builder is only looking out for their bottom line and not providing a level of quality and service in doing so, right?

But, IME (and besides working in commercial architecture, I have grown up in a family owned construction company virtually my entire life), I have noticed that there have been many design choices that have either lacked functionality or increased costs significantly. Case in point, my ILs have a garage bay they can't even use. Of course, they have a really nice curved porch, but there's no way for a car to make the turn necessary to actually use the garage. I know of several cases where clients gave architects their overall budget and the design came back with features that simply could not be implemented within that budget. These are real scenarios and aren't meant to sway anyone against the services of an architect, but rather they are questions to ask or things to consider in this process. I guess I thought that was the purpose of this thread.

[suzubeane]

edited: nevermind

I'll just say that Development and (in some cases) Pre-Fab Builders are not acting as Owner's Rep. Their interest in the bottom line is not opinion - it's simply one facet of the how the industry works. Cautioning people about that is TOTALLY different than presenting anecdotes about "what architects want to do" or how they "add cost" and diminish "functionality" as quantifiable fact.

Carry on ...

[mamax2]

suzubeane ~ This entire thread is about people presenting anecdotes of their experiences in the building process. I thought it was abundantly clear that my experiences were just that, *my experiences*. Using an architect can add to a project's costs, specifically if you're going with a completely custom design. I believe there were some questions posted re: budget concerns. I was simply offering a counter-point to the general sentiment of your post (which I felt was: "Your builder is out to screw you"). In my situation, my architect definitely did not act as my representative and didn't value-add anything that I didn't specifically request. That was frustrating for me. In my ILs house and my parents house and countless other's I've seen, there have been some design features that while very pleasing on paper, they were difficult and wildly expensive to actually build. I think those things deserve mentioning so that as people here make their choices, they can consider those factors.

This absolutely should not be a drama-laden thread so I'll excuse myself now and apologize to the other posters for this slight de-railment.

[~queen~]

mamax2: Know that *I* value your opinions! Purchasing/building a house is the most expensive - and one of the most stressful times that people face. All opinions are welcome because there is good and bad in everything so feel free to post your experiences!

******

New topic: If the housing market tanks before you close on your new construction, what (if anything) are you considering to do?

[~queen~]

For us, we are considering first asking for a reduction in price! I'm very concerned that our appraised value may not meet the loan value that we signed for 8 months ago. Since our builder is no where close to being finished, we are really concerned about what can happen.

In our contract, it states that we should pay the difference between the sales price and appraised value. Ummm, if it drops alot more than our deposit - NOPE! We will cancel the contract and walk away from our significant deposit. :(

[eponymous]

I find it unlikely that the housing market is our area will tank that much, because it was never overinflated. We're in a rural area that's growing very quickly, and since there's always been so much land available, prices were never that overinflated. We feel that we're getting a great value for our new house, and knowing how much it would cost "back home" (in Boston) certainly comforts us! As long as we can sell our current house for no-loss, I think that we'll be fine.

But maybe I'm totally delusional. :)

[philnikki]

I don't think that our house is too far off base with respect to the housing market where we are building. Our appraisal even gave us the price of a comparable house on our same street that was sold in the past 6 months. (and it actually sold for more than our appraisal, which tells me my appraiser was actually pretty conservative!). I don't plan on leaving this house any time soon, so hopefully this is a moot issue for us (or if you are a Friends fan, a "moo" issue hehehehe).


That said, where our current townhome is, we are having all kinds of trouble. When we bought it 3 years ago, the homes were turning over almost daily, and we knew we wanted to buy something that would turn over quickly because it was always our intent to sell it in a few years. Now, with the way the market is, we are really struggling to even book showings. I am starting a mild freak out at this point since its been on the market for 2 months now and barely any showings have happened. My RE agent keeps telling me that its because of the summer, but I think that its because of the market. I keep praying we get a buyer by Ocotber 1st. That is the date we are putting it up for rent and waiting out this market slump. I hope we can even rent it! :eek:

[cgmom313]

Well we have to sell out house first or the new house will be no go. I think kitlyn the area we are moving to was not over inflated like Florida, Calif, Az,etc so I do not think the appraisal will out way what we bought. I just noticed on the builders website that they just raised the going rate on our floor plan by $4400. Of course we are locked in at the old rate because of our contract.

Queen - It sound like a good approach or thought process you are taking on the situation. Do you think if they the builder is having trouble selling houses they would work with you on a price? We just had a development in FL basically give away spec homes. They gave a price of just the house and pretty much gave away all the upgrades. The builder justed wanted to get rid of spec homes because there were so much on the market.

Philnikki - Um you can join me and queen in the sellers thread to commiserate. Our house has been on the market for 60 days and no offers. We have dropped our price to rock bottom just because we need to sell. Good Luck!

[Lindsan]

We sold our current home with a profit a few weeks ago and we have been fortunate enough to find a bank that was willing to give us fixed interest (we chose to divide the loan into three; one with a two year fixed interest, one with three and one with five). So with that in mind I think we are going to be ok no matter what happens on the market. The interest rates are going up here in Sweden right now and the market has slowed down. I do realize that we are very lucky to have been able to sell within a week and a half of putting our home on the market.

[doublej]

Subscribing!

[~queen~]

Welcome DoubleJ! And large house (or larger house ;) ), feel free to openly share in your ups/downs here on building your beautiful home.

[doublej]

It will be a year or more before we start on a house. I just wanted to join so I could get some ideas. I will need all the help that I can get!

[eponymous]

Being able to build one's home is an incredible privledge, and I am honored to be able to do it - but man, it's so stressful! We have our second "decorator" appointment tomorrow to finalize our choices of cabinet, flooring, trim, tile, applicances, etc. Essentially, it's our last chance to make any changes to the upgrades of the house, as well as choosing from among the "standard" options.

Things we're still stressing about:
ceramic backsplash: we picked a fabulous tile that has four variations, one of which is the same color as our cabinets. It could look fabulous, but the decorator warned that if the applier doesn't put any effort into it, it could end up looking like a checker board.

painting the bedrooms: we have the option to paint the bedrooms, but we have absolutely no idea what colors to pick. I think that I'll leave our bedroom the white-ish color that the rest of the house will be, but I'd love to paint the second bedroom and the piano room, but NO idea what colors to pick, and DH is no help!

appliances: I'm still drooling over the double oven/ gas cooktop option, but it also includes a top-of-the-line fridge and dishwasher, which we don't need, and I absolutely hate to pay what they're asking. BUT, I'm concerned about resale, I think it could be useful (although I could live without it). OTOH, I the gas burners are really large - they look like spiders - and it's so expensive.

Decisions, decisions!

[~queen~]

Kitlyn: Yes, building a house is stressful, but it is also FUN! :D
Painting is HARD to decide on at the early stages. For me, the amount of light, furniture and coordination all plays a role. It takes me a few good months to find that *perfect* color of paint, so I'd personally say wait on it. But I have also seen some people do it right away with great results! For the appliances, yup, in resale it makes a HUGE difference! Especially the wall ovens and Gas cooking.

Our house is s-l-o-w-l-y inching along. We are now only officially 3 months behind schedule :rolleyes: I have some photos!

Well, I WILL have some photos as soon as Snapfish is back working!

[L&D Nurse]

Our house was scheduled to be finished Aug 20th, now it looks like it will actually be Aug 24th and closing will be Aug 28th! Yeah!

The granite countertops in the kitchen were just installed, here is a pic:

http://static.flickr.com/81/215972713_c03b6651a6.jpg

[~queen~]

Ooh, is that Black Galaxy granite? I love that with the lighter color cabinets!

We are getting the granite from an outside source after we settle. The builder only had the typical standard and I wanted something a bit more busy. I saw the Verde Jade and fell in love, then Home Expo stopped selling it. :mad: Now, I have to find a fabricator who may have it.
Snapfish is playing nicely today!! BBL w/my photos.

[mamax2]

We moved in last week! Of course there are already things I would do differently, but on the whole we're very pleased. Still need to get shower doors in our MBA, backsplash in our kitchen, then of course all the decorating, but it'll get there.

kitlyn ~ I'm not sure how much input you have with your builder or their sub-contractors, but does the store providing the tile have their own designers? If so, you need to meet with a designer there and have him/her sketch a plan for the installers.

And, regarding paint, I'm sooooo glad I had most of the rooms painted before we moved in. I left our bedroom/bathroom, guest room and bonus room all the same color, but everything else was painted differently and it instantly makes the house feel more put together. Plus, not having to think about moving furniture and drop clothes, etc. is so nice too. Don't get me wrong, I agonized over colors. Seriously, I probably spent several weeks with it, but I love every single color and it gives the house a more lived in/less new construction look.

queen ~ I'm sure you can find the granite you like elsewhere. It's not like the world just ran out of that color, kwim? :p Just beware that HD/Expo re-name their products so you can't compare. You're going to need to physically go look at other samples to find the match because name won't work. You're in MD, right? Check Badolato Granite in Baltimore. Huge in-stock selection and they can special order pretty much anything under the sun.

[MrsBeckyLP]

I've been lurking here and there in this thread for months now, and I thought it was about time to post!

DH and I own a 1,300 sq. ft. home and also a lot on a golf course. We plan on building next spring/summer, but recently found floorplans we absolutely love - we just need to make a few modifications. I can't wait to build!

[L&D Nurse]

Thank you, queen! I am not sure if it is Black Galaxy - is that a color or a brand? When we picked the color, it was called "Absolute Black," same with the granite around our fireplace. Here's a closer-up pic:

http://static.flickr.com/96/215972714_0434fc1643.jpg

[katmg]

Absolute Black and Black Galaxy are two common names for granites. They are different - black galaxy has small gold flecks throughout, absolute black does not have any gold in it.

...back to lurking...

[k&b05]

I'll join in. :D

My DH and I *finally* signed the contract to build our house! It's been a long process already.

Our house is a custom home, so we've been in the design phase of the house since March! We signed and reserved the lot in February.

We went and looked at brick about a month ago and selected two options that we really liked. My DH called yesterday and our first choice is available, so brick is officially ordered!!!!! :D

We're in the process of making an appointment with the interior designer to pick out stuff. I'm not even sure what all that will entail. I do know it will probably be overwhelming! We hope to meet with her on 8/28. We'll find out later today hopefully of our appointment time.

I'll have to put our floorplan out on one of the photo websites and post pictures.

We're building in a small subdivision where all the lots are 1 acre lots. We have a corner lot (WE LOVE IT!!!), so our lot is a little bit bigger. It's 1.3663 acres. Our lot backs up to 2 horse farms (we're in Texas). There aren't a lot of horses at either one, but a few. Once three horses were right at our back fence and it was soooo neat. We're big horse lovers and would love to have our own horse(s).

We did make a few changes on our design plan on Monday, so that will slow things down a little bit here in the beginning. Hopefully the architect will get those designs done and then we can have the lot surveyed as well as the 4 corners of the house and we can pick out exactly where the house will go and/or what trees will stay. Luckily all the really big mature trees are in the back and perimeter of the lot, so we won't be losing much, but some young trees.

I'll be back to post pictures and updates. :)

[L&D Nurse]

katmg~ thanks for the explanation! Our granite definitely has some flecks in it, but they look more dark gray or platimnum-ish (is that a word???).

k&b05~ congrats! We found our house after it was already framed, I can't imagine having to make all of those painstaking decisions like where eactly to place the home, which trees to keep/remove, laying out the floor plan, etc. Good luck!

[MrsBeckyLP]

OK, so I have a question.

Since DH and I found the plans we love online, we need to make a few modifications. Of course we don't want to order the blueprints from the Web site since we need to make changes. Here they are. It's 2,149 sq. ft. above ground:

http://images1.snapfish.com/347898%3A46%7Ffp343%3Enu%3D3278%3E799%3E5%3C4%3EWS NRCG%3D32338%3A%3A366936nu0mrj

http://images1.snapfish.com/347898%3A46%7Ffp33%3B%3Enu%3D3278%3E799%3E5%3C4%3E WSNRCG%3D32338%3A%3A3677%3B7nu0mrj

Changes we want to make:

1. We want a walkout lower level basement, and these plans don't show the basement unless you buy them from the site. So we need plans for the basement drawn up.

2. We also want to add stairs from the garage into the basement.

3. We'll need to add stairs from the main floor into the basement. This will probably be done somewhere around the front of the great room/kitchen open area (kind of by the 1/2 bath and laundry room).

4. We want to make the master bedroom a bit bigger (by about a foot or so) by making the great room a bit smaller.

5. We also want to add a deck off the master bedroom/great room. Since our lot is on a golf course and we plan to look out at it all the time, this is a must!

6. We think we'll take about half off the dining area, so it doesn't stick out so far. It will be more of a dinette anyway, so we just won't need it to be that large.

7. We're taking out the skylight - they're nothing but trouble!

8. I'm sure the colors/textures of the exterior will change, but that's not something we have to worry about at this minute.

I can't think of anything else right now...but I'm sure there's more!

Since neither of us have any idea what to do next, I thought I'd ask you very knowledgeable and experienced ladies!

Where do we go from here? Who makes these modifications for us, and how do we find them? When should we contact builders (we actually have a family friend in mind, but of course we'll get a few bids)? How many bids should we seek out?

I welcome all answers, suggestions and comments!

Thanks!

(I use a lot of exclamation points...I guess I'm excited or something!!!)

[k&b05]

futuremrslp - I know when we went through our process we found a few plans we liked online as well and we showed them to an architect who then drew up our house plan. Our architect was actually provided to us through our builder, so we didn't have to go the route of finding one on our own. Some friends of ours did the same thing and their builder is also an architect, so he's doing it all.

I think you should print out what you like, the list of changes you'll want. Then, go out and look at some builders and talk to them. Find a builder you like first. That's the most important thing. I wouldn't even really mention that you have a plan in mind, but just get to know a few builders maybe. Definitely shop around. Maybe ask the family friend how he goes about it. Does he have an architect that he uses? I'm sure he knows of quite a few.

We did a custom home, which it sounds like you want to do as well. I would just talk to a couple different builders and see who you like. We didn't even talk pricing or anything with multiple builders. We just talked to them and got a feel for their personality and who we felt we trusted the best. When doing custom, the pricing is so variable depending a lot on your choices of "stuff" you put in the house (granite, tile, travertine, marble, etc. etc.)

I hope that helps. Good luck!!

[suzubeane]

futuremrslp - Find an architect or residential designer first. He or she will provide you with a set of plans which you can shop around to builders to get the best price. Although price is not everything - as k&b suggested you need to feel comfortable with your builder and get good references. But in your shoes, I would not lock myself into a builder without a set of plans first (unless it was a design/build firm.)

FWIW, the dining area in that plan is not that large; it's deceiving because of the 45 degree angles, but I would not make it smaller - you'd end up feeling like you've put a dinette table in the space behind a bay window. I always tell people who are making hard decisions about space to stake out the room dimensions in their yards to try to fully appreciate it. You can also stake out the size of the table you'd put in it!

Good luck.

[MrsBeckyLP]

I know the dining area isn't too big, and that isn't a final decision we've made. I don't think I'd mind having the table stick out into the living area a bit, and that was actually my intention. Since it's such an open floorplan, I didn't think it would be a huge deal. We think we want to cut the square footage back a bit, and that was just one place we thought we could do it. I'll definitely stake it out in the yard before we make any decisions though - great idea!

[MrsBeckyLP]

I'm so confused!

Where we live, I don't believe it's common for people who plan to build to hire an architect to draw up the plans for them. This actually isn't really much of an option for us, because I would imagine it being very costly, is that correct? I mentioned this to DH, and he said he didn't think hiring an architect would be the way to go for us either. What's the differenct between an architect and a draftsman, if there is one? SIL's fiance said he has a friend who is a draftsman, and he'd get us his contact info. Then again, my FSIL is an architect. (Maybe I should just ask her about this stuff, because she's familiar with how people usually handle this in our area!)

One more question - if we want to build next spring, when should we get the ball rolling?

[mamax2]

Where do we go from here? Who makes these modifications for us, and how do we find them? When should we contact builders (we actually have a family friend in mind, but of course we'll get a few bids)? How many bids should we seek out?

futuremrslp ~ First of all, congratulations! Isn't it exciting to find a plan you love (mostly)?! I'll try to help answer some of your questions as well...

1) I'm not from TX, so now aware of the laws there, but you are going to need a set of plans and they will need to meet your local building codes. You may need a locally (as in state) registered architect to 'seal' your drawing to verify they meet code. Ask your FSIL, she'll be able to guide you on this.

2) As for who to find first, the builder vs. the architect. It's sort of like the chicken and the egg. Since you have a basic plan and know what modifications you intend to make, you could meet with builders now and they could refer you to an architect to modify your plans (unless your FSIL can help you, which would be ideal!) You could of course meet with an architect first and go from there. In my area, that's more common when people are doing completely custom homes, as in, they go to the architect and say I want this, this and this - create something. In your case, you're part way there already. FWIW, I did essentially the same thing you're doing - found a set of plans online, purchased a reproducible set with rights which allowed me to own the prints, have my architect make any changes and have the prints copied without running into copyright issues. This is probably a good idea for you as well.

3) Again, this could be regional, but in my area, residential builders don't typically bid work. They bid commercial work, but not residential. Basically, what it comes down to, in large part, is their fee structure. Is it cost plus (meaning cost to build the home, plus builder's profit & overhead at either a certain percentage or a flat rate) or is it square footage with allowances (you pay $X per sq. ft. which includes a list of basic features and gives you either an allowance to spend on other areas or a list of upgrades, etc.) Your home isn't huge, but I don't know what you plan on putting in it, so that's the trick in getting accurate price estimates on custom homes.

4) If you want to break ground next spring, start now! I obviously don't know the permitting procedures for your area, but I can tell you that we bought our plans and started working with the architect about last June and broke ground in January and moved in last week.

[MrsBeckyLP]

I'm not from TX, so now aware of the laws there, but you are going to need a set of plans and they will need to meet your local building codes. You may need a locally (as in state) registered architect to 'seal' your drawing to verify they meet code. Ask your FSIL, she'll be able to guide you on this.

I actually live in Wisconsin! I did know this much. I'm a newspaper reporter, so I know a lot about development because that is one of the areas I cover. I know about the developer's process, but not the home/land owners'! I guess FSIL isn't a registered architect. She has her master's, but for some reason isn't able to provide people with a "seal" or stamp of approval. Actually, she's marrying my brother on Saturday, so that's why I'm here asking all these questions! I don't want to bug her, but I want to get going on this! I should probably just wait until they come back from their honeymoon to get the ball rolling. She probably will be a nice asset for us, but they live 1 1/2 hours away, so she won't be too convenient!

I did essentially the same thing you're doing - found a set of plans online, purchased a reproducible set with rights which allowed me to own the prints, have my architect make any changes and have the prints copied without running into copyright issues. This is probably a good idea for you as well.

I noticed yesterday on the Web site I found the plans on that this was a possibility, and it's a definite option I will look into! If you wouldn't mind sharing, how costly was that? I know there's a one-time purchase price for those prints, but how much did you have to pay an architect to make those changes? It is also a possibility that FSIL makes the modifications for us and then has someone in her office stamp them certified (or whatever you call it).

Again, this could be regional, but in my area, residential builders don't typically bid work.

I should have used the word "estimate" instead of "bid." I must have been in reporter mode when I wrote that. I'm so used to saying "bid." What I meant is that obviously we're going to talk to a few different builders to get estimates. I can't see us picking a builder just because we like them and agree on a price - I'd want to see what else is out there. Did you checkk out a few different builders, or how did you handle that situation?

I'm sorry for all the questions - I may sound a little dumb here, but we've obviously never done this before! I worry about stuff like this! I don't want to start making phone calls before I know more about how the process typically goes.

[katmg]

I guess FSIL isn't a registered architect. She has her master's, but for some reason isn't able to provide people with a "seal" or stamp of approval.

You have to take a registration exam in order to sign and seal drawings and to call yourself a registered Architect. Actually no one can call themselves an Architect or what they practice, Architecture unless they are registered - it's against the law.

HTH!

[mamax2]

futuremrslp ~ Sorry about the TX snafu - I have no idea where that came from. I must have been looking at someone else's little profile spot when I was typing to you. At any rate, same info. applies, but looks like you already knew that.

Let me see if I can answer some of your other questions...

Cost of plans: I want to say this was around $1300
Cost of modifications with a RA: about $2500. However, if you read in my earlier posts, you'll see that this was ONLY for specific modifications we requested, the RA (registered architect) did NOT value-add, make add'l suggestions, meet with us to go over functional aspects, etc. In retrospect, I wish we'd spent a little more for an architect who would have given us some insight and opinion and maybe pointed out a few things. You truly get what you pay for though.

As far as selecting a builder, my step-father is a general contractor, so I pretty much had that one in the bag. Were that not the case, I probably couldn't have afforded to build a custom home. I would have had to go with a planned neighborhood situation where there's one builder providing a set # of plans, options, upgrades, etc. Then again, I may not even have gone that route so it's hard to say. I guess if my Dad weren't a builder and I had the $$$, I would have met with 2-3 builders who came under recommendation, asked them about their building process/philosophy, fee structure and how they handle: change orders, payment/draws/deposits and I would have checked references to see how other clients ranked their follow-through in the long-term.

I do want to re-emphasize that it could be *really* difficult to get accurate price estimates unless you go into this knowing what you want (i.e.: type of flooring, cabinets, countertop materials, mechanical systems, etc.) There's a lot of research to be done and there are so many choices. I'm not trying to scare you, but that's the nature of building a custom home. Maintaing a financial balance and staying on budget was by far the hardest part, because the sky truly is the limit when you're selecting everything yourself! Good luck!