If you built a custom home...

[countthestars]

Are you going to hire a builder/GC to run the build and you will be responsible for picking everything out, or will you be GCing the build yourself?

I would start looking at floor plans early and often. We looked at over 1000 plans and ended up using an architect to draw us exactly what we wanted and that process took us a couple of months (probably partly because we had the luxury of time). If you are going to buy things ahead of time, think about where you will store them and how it will affect warranties.

Since we GC'ed ourselves, we had to show the bank our estimated budget prior to starting for our construction loan. They had rough breakdowns (x% should be floors, x% should be painting). We did some research prior to starting because we knew that there would be places that our percentages didn't line up with theirs (driveway for example was more because ours is very long. Also Heating/AC because we knew we wanted a top of the line unit). Figuring out those costs ahead of time was extremely helpful but may not be necessary if you are working with a builder.

[countthestars]

Apr 24, 2014 11:18:18 GMT -5 rvan0905 said:

We haven't decided on how to proceed. My H's parents had a GC, but they were super hands on in all of the decisions. I would imagine that is how my H wants to do this. I think we are probably going to end up using an architect once we've come up with a general floor plan.

We saved a ton of money (probably $30-$40k) by GCing ourselves, but it was a LOT of time and stress so if that's not worth it to you, I'd recommend hiring a GC. Our timeline was also a bit longer because we were piecing subs together rather than just having a set process with the same subs every time like a GC would have.

I agree with PP that browsing now, taking pictures of what you like, prioritizing where you want to spend money will all be important. We wanted to spend more on the rooms we are in every day (hardwoods throughout the downstairs, nice kitchen and appliances) and the things that would be difficult or stupid to replace short term (we spent extra on the furnace, insulation, carpet upstairs). We deprioritized our bonus room - cheaper carpet, and our bathrooms upstairs - we didn't end up tiling our showers, bought lower grade vanities, because those would be easy to redo and weren't going to be seen by all guests all the time.

Good luck! We had soooo much fun building our house!

[lulu13]

We hired an architect and with our input he designed the floor plan. After that we bid if out to 6 contractors and chose the one we felt most comfortable with. Then the permit process got underway. I think we got permits in May '13. We moved out (we built on the lot we have been living on) on July 1st and back in in early March. It is just now getting all wrapped up. I did not hire a designer and our contractor had zero design input so that part has been interesting. He gave me a referral for a cabinet maker who I started working with right away. The rest (floors, doors , trim, fireplace etc) was selected by me and purchased by my contractor. All of the tile was chosen by me at a tile design center with the help of a designer there. It has been a long but fun process. I have truly been able to make it exactly what I want. I will say I had a healthy budget for lighting (chandeliers etc) and those are always one of the first positive comments I get on our home. People love lighting! LOL
Good luck!!

Oh and houzz.com is a life saver!

[buppy]

We are less than a month out from completion on our custom home. I don't even know where to start to begin to tell you things!

We started the process thinking we'd buy a plan online but we ended up hiring an architect and I am SO GLAD WE DID. What we originally thought were good floorplans pale in comparison to what we ended up building. Think about the way you live and how the house can function to make life easier. For us, we're DINKS and staying that way and we have dogs. A split floorplan with easy access to laundry from the master was important, as were built in dog crates and dog food slideouts, and an open concept with lots of storage. One of us wakes up well before the other, it varies as to who that is, but a secluded master suite laid out so that once you left it there was no reason to come back into it and possibly wake the other person was also important, as was the master being quiet at night when only one of us has gone to bed because we're the one getting up early the next day. So was a large covered patio off the master and an extremely functional kitchen. Start making a list of things you want in a floorplan. Wait until you've got land before designing the house because the land should also dictate the home you build. For example, taking advantage of any views you may have, or hiding bad views, or orienting it to be as energy efficient as possible.

When it came to choosing where to put our money, we knew from the very beginning we wanted to spend money to make good bones. We didn't have to, but we were more than willing to go with laminate counters over granite and butcher block to help make room in the budget for things like top of the line insulation and superior windows and doors. In fact, we did sacrifice hardwoods throughout to be able to afford those things. Instead we did stained concrete and we will add hardwoods in a few years. Doing that allows us to do what I previously mentioned and then some. Adding hardwoods is easy 5 years from now, spraying foam insulation is not.

As for resources, houzz was so instrumental for me. I never saw a photo and thought "I want EXACTLY that", nor could we afford to replicate the stuff you see on houzz in its entirety, but look at tons of photos and pieces of those photos will start to jump out at you. Also, the gardenweb forums, all of them from building a home to kitchens to windows to lighting were such an amazing wealth of information. Read them and then re-read them.

One thing to be aware of, it's much more challenging to obtain land and construction financing for a custom home, the requirements are much more stringent. We personally didn't have any problems whatsoever but it's a common problem.

Honestly, I absolutely dreaded the build process. I did not want to build a house. But it's really been such a breeze and a large part of that is due to the builder. Do your homework when selecting one!!!

[buppy]

Oh and another thing. Start learning about the different types of contracts. We had a lawyer review ours. Nobody expects something to go wrong with a builder otherwise you wouldn't choose them, but things do go wrong sometimes and then the contract is everything.

The more specific you can be in the contract as far as materials, the better. It leaves less room for surprise extra costs. We actually worked with allowances for our finishes because being newbs the thought of having everything picked out was so overwhelming. The only reason we were comfortable with that is because we had researched those allowances. Before signing we looked at what those allowances would get us, and we had specifically asked about budget when talking to previous builder clients.