Tell me your new home build regrets

[UnderProtest]

This isn't leading at all.

My parents built a home from scratch (found land, picked an architect, no built in builder) and it was a lovely home and suited them perfectly. I think my mom still regrets moving away from it, even 30 years later.

I've only done renovations, but the one on my previous house was pretty extensive. We did go over due to labor costs (one of his guys was later fired) and we had to have some hard conversations with the contractor. Open communication with the builder is key for me.

Do put in an allowance for overages and check with the builder about if he allows you to purchase materials, such as tile, cabinets, etc, directly so that you have your perfect choice and the best deal you can find. That will be more work on you, but could save money.

[minionkevin]

I think someone had a post about this on H&G recently.

[minionkevin]

pandce.proboards.com/thread/583143/hidden-costs-new-build
pandce.proboards.com/thread/583141/build

[scm1011]

I don't have any experience or advice, but I'm excited for you! Are you returning to your former town?

[countthestars]

Not sure if you are heading towards Central MA, but let me know if so!

[liveintheville]

Sept 13, 2017 13:19:39 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Sept 13, 2017 12:55:01 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I don't have any experience or advice, but I'm excited for you! Are you returning to your former town?

Sadly, no. It's not in metro west at all

Oh no!
My parents built and chose the floor plan and upgrade options. There were a ton of upgrade options and if you wanted many of them it was a significant chunk of change. But the construction costs didn't go over.

[puppylove64]

Keep a close eye on the builder. We had a terrible one who messed up stuff often, luckily Dh is a commercial GC and was able to spot most issues before it was too late. Also make sure you do a very thorough walk through before closing and require all issues to be fixed before you sign the dotted line.

Be prepared for overages and upgrades. Have cash at closing in case the appraisal comes back low.
Really invest time in picking out the best floor plan and don't be afraid to ask if there is a slight change you want to make.

[noodleoo]

Sept 13, 2017 13:19:39 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Sept 13, 2017 12:55:01 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I don't have any experience or advice, but I'm excited for you! Are you returning to your former town?

Sadly, no. It's not in metro west at all

I'm super curious where you are looking but I will try not to be nosy! 

We bought a new construction home that was already half way done.  We bought from the builder and the outside of the house was finished but the inside wasn't when we put the offer in.  It was nice because we got to choose a lot of the finishes, but the cost was fixed because we didn't buy it until it was done.  There were allowances for things like granite, tile, carpet, lighting, appliances so we were either able to choose within the allowance or pay the difference to upgrade.  For things like lighting an appliances, we purchased our own and they installed them and they gave us back the allowance at closing.  I'm not sure normal this is, but it worked out well for us.

The only regret I have is that we were so scared of the cost, that I wish we hadn't cheaped out on certain things.  Like lighting, we the allowance was pretty low and even though we bought our own, I still went pretty cheap.  Luckily those things are easy to change, even though 7 years later we still haven't gotten around to it.  So I guess my advice would be to think carefully about what things are important and hard to change and don't cheap out on those if you can afford it.  Like think carefully about what things have to be done during the build (like adding a big bay window, which we did 1 year after buying) vs. later (landscaping, deck, irrigation, etc).

I'm not sure if this is helpful at all!  

[ssmjlm]

We did a custom build in a small community (9 lots) with a builder. He already owned the lot, but we picked everything from the plan up. Some finishes were already included in the price.

We had to carry the construction loan and that was probably the most stressful part. We ended up switching lenders after a bad appraisal. With a construction loan we had to put at least 20% down and then it converted to a mortgage after the COO from county came in.

I know I posted in the other thread with some of our stuff. It's not a regret for us as we picked the perfect floorplan for our family and really enjoyed the process.

[halfpint]

We found it was really easy to go over budget in the planning phase. Like the initial quote was one thing, but then you realized that maybe meant a cheaper finish someplace. We did a lot of upgrades, added a lot of custom touches that weren't part of any of the packages, and then made some compromises when we found ourselves over budget.

I think in hindsight, my only regret is that we made the compromises. There are things now that we want to upgrade, and it will be more expensive to change now than it would have been to just do it with the build. They also had a deal at the time where they'd finish our basement for like half the price. We passed at the time, and ended up spending $40k like 5 years later to finish it. We could have saved a big chunk of change.

Once the budget was set, though, the builder carried the loan, and that was it - there was no "going over", we agreed to a house, they built it, and we closed on the purchase once it was complete.

[VillainV]

I've never built, but I have purchased new construction a few times.

Window coverings -- their coat probably doesn't include blinds, shades, etc. This can easily cost $1-3k depending on the number of windows you have and what you choose. Plantation shutters are more like $10k. Budget for it.

Landscaping -- can be ridiculously expensive and probably isn't included in your builder's quote (or if it is, it's just a base level of landscaping). Also, you probably don't want your builder using his own guy for quality reasons. Quotes will vary widely, so you might want to start talking to landscape design companies and getting quotes. This can be $10-20k depending on size of your lot, materials, design, whether you want sprinklers, your neighborhood design guidelines, etc. You will definitely want to budget for it. If your neighborhood has covenants, they may require new builds have landscaping installed within a certain timeline from closing (some even hold a deposit that you don't get back until your landscaping is completed).

[noodleoo]

Sept 16, 2017 7:23:38 GMT -5 VillainV said:

I've never built, but I have purchased new construction a few times.

Window coverings -- their coat probably doesn't include blinds, shades, etc. This can easily cost $1-3k depending on the number of windows you have and what you choose. Plantation shutters are more like $10k. Budget for it.

Landscaping -- can be ridiculously expensive and probably isn't included in your builder's quote (or if it is, it's just a base level of landscaping). Also, you probably don't want your builder using his own guy for quality reasons. Quotes will vary widely, so you might want to start talking to landscape design companies and getting quotes. This can be $10-20k depending on size of your lot, materials, design, whether you want sprinklers, your neighborhood design guidelines, etc. You will definitely want to budget for it. If your neighborhood has covenants, they may require new builds have landscaping installed within a certain timeline from closing (some even hold a deposit that you don't get back until your landscaping is completed).

oh yes, I forgot about this! Very true, we spent a ton on the cheapest blinds from HD right after we moved in.  It was a lot and our house isn't that big. They also don't include things like towel rods and toilet paper holders so we had to go buy and install those ourselves after we moved in. Small $ each, but it all adds up. 

[georgeglass]

See if you can walk through a house with your chosen floor plan. We built once and something that looked cool/normal on the floor plan was awful in real life. Also, I have terrible spatial relation skills, so I needed to tape out room measurements to understand how big or small things actually were.

We had hardwood downstairs and our realtor recommended doing the hardwood stairs and hardwood in the upstairs hallway and carpet in the bedrooms. The hallway wood looked really nice and she said it would be easier to replace/change flooring in a bedroom versus the entire upstairs.

Last bit for us was that when they built the house next to us, the neighborhood sloped into our backyard and it flooded whenever it rained. We had a swampy lake. The fine print on our contract said they weren't liable for standing water, so it was a massive fight.

We weren't in that house long, but that's all I can remember.

Oh - and they offered a "christmas light" package where they put outlets under every front window. That was nice (and super typical for our area).

[liveintheville]

Will there be a piano room

[liveintheville]

Sept 16, 2017 16:44:10 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Sept 16, 2017 16:28:21 GMT -5 liveintheville said:

Will there be a piano room

I can't tell you how many places we didn't even consider because there's no room for the piano!  I'm sure it's crazy to some to plan a house purchase around something like that, but that's our reality.

Pretty sure H just wants to move into your place, by the way

That guest suite is all yours

[liveintheville]

If you want to mount the tv have them put in the outlet and box. Personally I also wanted some new furniture as you noticed. Because I needed that 10' blue velvet sofa

[liveintheville]

Oh and check bathroom configurations. Last place the wanted to put the shower where the window was. We made them move the shower.
Rugs if you need more and I wish I had a pantry. And see if they'll let you choose paint colors. And we use nest thermostats. I wish I could have had them put in while building. I also would have chosen all my light fixtures. I hate the ones we have. Oh and bathroom mirrors, again hate the and would have bought different ones.

[egeiger]

RockNVoll, We built new last year, and used a semi-custom home builder. You start with one of their plans, but can modify anything you want, essentially. These are all the things that I came across - hopefully something is useful to you.

We only had 2 big "misses" in the process (which aren't earth shattering): 1. We widened the garage so that we weren't hitting car doors against each other, but they didn't change the door placement, so the only additional width is on the outside instead of between cars. (I would have hoped the builder would have caught that, not us as not-building-minded people). 2. When looking at the floor plan, the two stories are on different pages, obvi, so knowing how the upstairs lined up over the downstairs was not obvious. At the top of the stairs, we have a totally useless plant ledge that I would have done away with by extending the room above it out another foot. Its just a dust catcher.

The only building trouble I had - I had to closely babysit to make sure that anything that wasnt standard on the floorplan they use was actually implemented. Changes got lost in the work orders. For example, we paid to upgrade to attic trusses, so we could have walk in storage. The builder missed it and ordered regular trusses, so it was a huge PIA for them to have to remove them and replace with the correct trusses. It never would have been caught if I hadn't been checking in on things one day during the build. (They didn't complain and did fix it - I just had to be the one to notice it or they wouldn't have.)

Regarding outlets, get them all and then some. Like, double what you need. We put them high up on walls that we considered having a TV on, 2 walls to a room, and hung pictures over the ones not in use. That allows me to easily be able to rearrange furniture if I want. We put a few in the back of cabinets in the kitchen and we hide our router and modem in one.

If you raise the ceilings, consider where your kitchen cabinets will hang. We went with 9' ceilings and added a row of cabinets at the top so it went to the ceiling. They are mostly unused but make a great place to hide Christmas gifts.

If you want a pool table in a basement, consider raising the ceiling and using a steel beam for reinforcement instead of several poles along the length of the room. (You have to raise the ceiling b/c the beam is 1' tall, and you would run into it / hit it playing)

Pay attention to the layout of switches - if something is dual wired, where do you want to be able to turn the lights on/off from. What order should the switches in the bathroom appear - first main light, then fan, then tub accent light? Or Light, light, fan? Etc

Think about the sunrise / sunset as you angle the house on the lot, and if sun through the window at night will effect TV watching, for example.

Think about whether you entertain in the front or back of the house, and position the home on the lot accordingly. You don't have to be centered.

We moved the laundry to the second floor and eliminated a bedroom, using the additional bedroom space to make the master closet bigger. Then, in the empty laundry space on the first floor, I tripled the size of the pantry, so my crockpots and other kitchen devices are all in their own walk in closet.

Our attic is over the garage, and we access it through a small door in the back of a closet, so we can walk in/out and not have to use the pull down ladder.