Building a new house- What would you have done differently?
 

Hello,

Wife is dreaming of building a new house. :eek:

The thought of that sounds daunting or nightmarish. I would rather buy a house that looks like it fits most of my criteria rather than getting an architect, designing the house, dealing with project bloat (read $$$), and then living with disappointment of what we overlooked.

That said, if we were to embark on that project, any advice? If you have BTDT, any things you would have done differently? Any tips on staying on budget?

I have seen the following threads
327670-what-most-cost-effective-way-build-house
579014-anyone-ever-build-your-own-house

I already foresee it becoming way more money than I want to spend, but I thought this could be fun thread nonetheless. To make matters worse, we would be looking to build in an established neighborhood, not a new community.

Thanks,
Neil

A few months back I read an article on msn-money, entitled, "5 Worst Ways to Spend your Money."

Guess what #1 was?

I don't build houses, but do extensive remodels and also own a cabinet shop. Have a wish list and scale back from there and be realistic. Most people spend a lot of money on the structure and build really big, but run out of money by the finish details. The finish details are the things you see and feel.

Our house was built (or rather, paid to be built) by a guy that worked for the local power co, and he hated the thought of paying his own salary in his utility bill. So we have

2x6 exterior walls - with insulation in them
all interior walls are also insulated
concrete slab is about 50% thicker than what code dictates today (much less 30 years ago)

Even with our AC on the fritz, our highest power bill in a summer was just over $200. When there are accidents up on our corner, we don't hear it - our neighbors another 100 yards back hear it. When we had a couple of hurricanes blow through, we didn't even notice 'em in the middle of the night.

So... over build on exterior walls, over insulate everywhere.

The one thing I would do different if I had to rebuild my house would be more cables everywhere - network (cat5), coax (for cable/satellite tv), phone, and power outlets. A few extra circuits, with a better layout as to which outlets are on which circuits.

Houses that have what I want in them don't exist. In my case, the wife demanded I buy a particular house she liked, then I got to spend 10 years (and at least three times the cost of the house) on changing everything to what we wanted. I'm still screwing with it. SO, maybe building a new one isn't the worst thing you could do.

Use a good architect.
Spend some time understanding where all the money goes, in a new house build.
Consider a design that doesn't require half the budget to be blown on gingerbread.
Make a really detailed list of your needs and your lifestyle. Spend weeks to compile this.
Find a good lot that doesn't have problems.
Build a quality house, not a huge one.
Find a builder with commercial construction experience. Around here, nost residential builders are idiots. Not true of all residential builders, but most.
Get all your ducks in a row, so when construction starts, it proceeds without delay.

JR

The best way to stay on budget for any construction project is to make all the decisions prior to the start of the project and build it 'once'.

Changes get expensive. Design every little detail and put it in the plans and specs. Most residential drawings lack details. It will be up to you to completely design the house down to the color of the switch plates on the wall, the architect will usually just give you a floor plan.

Given the exact same finished product, a project built without any change orders will be less expensive than the alternative.

Widest garage doors you can get especially on the single doors.
Don't skimp on size of driveway
Pasta spout at the stove
Insulate interior walls
Power, networking, coax in every room and at least two walls of every room
Dedicated HVAC zone for master bedroom
His and hers separate bathrooms
I have 30 foot ceilings in two areas of my house, what I would not give for lighting that can be accessed from the attic / back side to make changing bulbs easier

Invest in good windows. Marvin, Pella etc.

Get the kitchen and baths budget under control before building starts. That can get upwards of 100k.

You are in TX, so cooling would be a top priority.
Having a large roof overhang(without heavy tiles) and a light colored roof would dictate exterior design and colors.
Concrete is a good heat sink. There is a constant 60deg about 4ft below the surface to be utilized.
Berm, or semi-berm style keeps the place cool for free.
Embed big pipes for plenty of conduit.
Window design can keep summer glare to a minimum.

Flooding might also be a concern.
Having all the water on one side of the house with dual+ sump pumps to prevent water catastrophes and reduce install costs.
Put heating runs on the other side to avoid mixing the two.
Better yet, have radiant tubes installed even if you don't use them

A smaller front yard equals a larger back yard.

Build a bigger garage!

We did not build our house but the folks that did build it had great taste. It is a custom house and has features that are nice for resale but are just unused by us almost all the time. We have a big Jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom that I have never once used in the almost . The closet is silly big but my wife loves it. All of the women that get a house tour love it.

The only feature of the house I love is the oversize 3 car garage, with a bathroom in the garage. The bathroom is fitted with the same fixtures as the rest of the house and tied to the central heat & air. I can open the huge doors of my El Camino wide open and still have room to walk past without hitting the other cars. The workshop part just needs to be bigger!

One of the features that is handy is there are electrical outlets in the soffits every 15 to 20 feet all the way around the house. We have a switch on the wall right above the headboard of the bed in the bedrooms. Just reach up and hit the switch to kill the lights.

We plan to live there until we are wheeled out to the assisted living center many years from now.

When starting with a clean sheet of paper (new home to be built), one of the simplest but yet overlooked items can be lighting and the ease of access to control it.

Examples: Knowing we enter through the garage more than the front door, we put four-way switches on certain interior lights. Coming home late? Walk in, press the switch by garage/mudroom entry- we get two lights that illuminate the upstairs hallway. Going up to bed, one of the switches outside the bedroom shuts them off. Same switched lights at the other end of the house, outside the guest bedrooms.

Hear something outside at night? I put exterior flood lights next to the windows in the upstairs master bedroom. Not only can they be controlled from downstairs, I can flood the front and rear entrances by switches just a few feet from our bed.

The key being - think how you move through your home. Position lights and switches accordingly to save having to go back and turn off lights and then be in the dark till you reach the next switch.

Put the master bedroom on the OPPOSITE end of your kids/guest bedrooms. All parties like the relative seclusion that gives.

Everything said here is absolutely great advice. I built our house as the owner/builder after I retired. I worked in construction when I was a young guy & had some idea about how things should go, but not completely of course. When I was working, I worked with contracts, budgets, scheduling, hiring, etc. which helped out in the building process. We knew what style we wanted (Southwestern - we like it plus it offered lots of advantages for living in a high fire danger area like no overhangs from the roof, stucco exterior, etc.) We started with making a floor plan and a list of things we wanted included with the house. I didn't use an architect but a draftsman who had done lots of additions & houses. I was in on every detail of the plans & design and onsite every day of construction. That was an advantage since the subs & workers could ask me about things in real time without wasting time. I got most of my sub contractors, except for a few referrals from those subs. I used local workers & companies, so lots of them knew each other and had coordinated on jobs before. I also learned the importance of getting a minimum or 3 estimates. Most of the time I got 3 to 5. I ended up spending a lot of money (for me) but saved a huge amount in the process. To answer your question, since we did a lot of planning & used as much forethought as we could & listened to suggestions & ideas from others, there aren't many things at all I would have done differently or wish I'd done & didn't do. I would think there are lots of guys here who you could ask questions of before & during the process including me.

The last 10% of building a house, is where the majority of your money goes. Kitchen and bathrooms, floors, fixtures for lighting, plumbing and doors. But, if I had to do it over again, this may go against the grain, but i would have some separation between the den and the kitchen as opposed to the "Open floor plan". Why, when someone is cooking it can be hard to hear the TV. Lots of noise in a kitchen. It sucks when 2 or 3 women are cooking, and jaw jacking, and we are trying to watch a game.

Show up at the work site every day. You don't have to be there all the time or even say anything, but keep an eye on what's going on and let them know it.
I give +1000 to two things said here:
1. Make sure there is plenty of extra conduit in the walls etc for future needs
2. Think how you move through your home. Position lights and switches accordingly

I started a similar thread interested-building-my-own-home last year. Lots of good advice and reality checks.

We ended up buying an existing home and do a major remodel. Things to not skip (if building new)

- wider than normal hallways. Make the home feel so much more spacious
- good lighting
- lots of electrical outlets
- central vac
- a 1/2 bath near main living space
- 2x6 exterior walls and lots of insulation
- single level if at all possible (lack of noise and great to retire in)
- indoor/outdoor living concept

Lighting will make a huge difference in the outcome of a home. Talk to your architect or lighting designer about placement and do not allow the architect to "just put up some lights". Most will just satisfy code or have you work it out with your builder. This is especially true for recess lighting. Slightly dark areas are welcome in some places and allow light to bounce off the wall or accentuate an art object to create a certain mood.

Oh about the outdoor kitchens. Some are pretty serious and lots of money. Its the latest and the greatest in custom homes. We build a few of those in the past couple of years in older established neighborhoods

Yah. Nothing more fun than discovering that new couch or desk won't make it around a corner.
Use 36" instead of 30" doors.

There is a lot of great advice here. Here are mine, which do overlap with other comments:

1) Focus on quality space, as opposed to square footage.
2) Conduit in selected walls, so you can upgrade network, audio, communications as technology evolves.
2) Don't overlook insulation. Thick walls cost very little to implement, but energy savings can be immense. If your HVAC system will be in the attic, consider an unvented attic space.
3) As others have said, wider pathways and doorways. You may need the girth for a wheelchair at some point in the future.
4) Consider serviceability in the future. That second story looks great, but gutters are a pain to maintain, and painting becomes a real chore.
5) Hot water recirculation pump is easy to add during construction. You can trigger the pump on a 30 second to 2 minute timer via low voltage wiring to the bathrooms and kitchen.
6) Oversized garage to easily hold a full size vehicle plus toys and tools. Supplement with a real shop separate to the home.

To stay on budget, stick with your plan and don't underestimate the cost to finish the home. If the concrete guys do a lousy job on the slab, the tile guy will want more bucks to get your floors flat. Don't let poor management in the front stages lead to cost overruns later.

I've have recently finished a 5 house development with my brother so I can speak with some knowledge....

A lot of the posts above are about the details which are very important to the finished result but they miss some of the bigger picture. From our experience here is my advice;

- don't underestimate the stress this will temporarily add to your life. It is incredibly draining on your mental and emotional resources. If you are about embark on that journey then make sure the rest of your life is in order for the duration of the project i.e. don't contemplate simultaneously changing jobs or getting married or any other big life event. Put those on hold until the project is finished

- Make sure you have the funds or finance fully in place PRIOR to starting. It may sound like commonsense but as a poster above said, it is amazing how many people get 90% of the way through and run out of funds when the finish line is in sight. If you have a budget in mind or costs say from a Quantity Surveyor add 10-15% to that value and factor that into your finance to give you some "wiggle" room as there will inevitably be scope creep or unexpected surprises through the build.

- choose your builder wisely. Talk to the people that have used that builder and what their experiences were. An honest builder is worth a premium over a dishonest one (the last builder we engaged used unauthorised substituted cheaper products to those in the specification and we ended up taking him to abritration and winning a $220k settlement). Avoid getting into a situation where abritration is necessary - only use it as a last resort.

- seek a fixed price contract for the build with a fixed settlement date and liquidated damages per day beyond that date. There is no motivation like money to encourage a builder to stay focused on a project.

- above all remain committed to the project and stay focussed. There will be times when you will feel like giving up or wondering why you contemplated building. As long as your original premise is solid (e.g. to build an investment property, or build your dream home etc) and you have the above advice in place then the rest will fall together.

As the developer (or funder) all of your work is actually done prior to any earth being moved.

Good luck

I have a cookie cutter house in a new neighborhood. It was built for us, meaning we picked this model from the 3 offered. We picked the medium model so it's different than the more traditional bigger model on the rest of the street.

I wish the garage was bigger. I wish the mudroom was bigger and maybe as a part of the garage. The laundry room should have been twice as big. The kitchen touching the family room (all open) was a mistake...but the other model was no better. The formal living room and dining room is space I could have used for other rooms. We didn't know what we were doing...I'd do differently next time.

No matter how much effort you put into planning and managing, you will never build your perfect house. Much easier and cheaper to find one already built. And your taxes will be lower. I designed and built new construction for years. I have never lived in a new house.

Electric outlets in places you will use them for night lights and such, in bathrooms and stairways.

Basement doors open to outside, double steel doors to accommodate wide materials, items.

geothermal piping under the basement floor. Cheap to install before floor is poured, and provides a great future heating cooling option.

More bays of garage..... 3 anyway and if in cool climate, consider a standalone Modine propane heater for garage space.

Gen tran switch and outlet in garage. cheap to do during construction, same with data and speaker cable.

small (2 gallon) in line water heaters in every bathroom/kitchen/laundry room (in cabinet under sink) so no waiting for hot water.

Attic fan with thermostat switch and manual over ride.

These are the things I wish I had done when I built my place 15 years ago.

Plan for 20% overrun. Even with the tightest budgets, you will run into unknown expenses. If you won't use that 20%, use it for furniture.

As the the details:
- As stated, focus on the stuff that gets you the best ROI - kitchen and baths.
- Don't get something that will not add value to your home -- such as a sauna, cigar room, or wine cellar. It may be your dream home, but eventually you will sell it, and if the buyer doesn't want a sauna / cigar room / wine cellar, they'll pass.
- Kitchen - if you are a big hot tea drinker, invest in an instant hot/cold filtered water system. Insinkerator makes are great under-cabinet system for about $500.
- Kitchen - soft-close drawers are very nice.
- Kitchen - we put an electric outlet in one of the lower cabinets - and when we need to charge our devices, they go there instead of adding clutter to the counter-tops.
- If you can wire the whole house for sound, that is a nice touch. I wouldn't bother with running cat-5 / cat-6 cables everywhere since everything is wifi now.
- Garage - get a tall ceiling - you may not yet need/want a lift, but maybe in the future...
- Entry-way - we got a new entry door with vented side-lites. We aren't big AC people - and the breeze that comes through the house is fantastic.
- Try not to do the trendy stuff - stick with what you like, and timeless features. Granite will never go out of style, but stained concrete will, just like an avocado kitchen did.
- You can never have enough nooks and crannies for storage.
- A whole-house generator, especially if you have gaslines is a good addition, and is better to do when initially building the house.
- Consider solar panels - and a system that also has batteries in-line -- that way if the grid goes down, you can produce and use your own electricity. (May not even need a generator then)
- Biggest factor in a home is location -- find the right spot. A dream home in the less-desireable side of town means you compromised, and will have difficulties selling.
- Consider water management - rain and water management: gutters, french drains..etc.

Hope this helps,
-Z

If you have the time, get a cheap CAD program and design your home virtually.
Some are drag-n-drop simple, have materials estimation, and movie walk-through.
After making a couple layouts run them by others and get more ideas.
It's a good head start for the architect.

You should also research existing blueprints and look at other house features.
Make a list of things you need and things you want.

As mentioned, stay universal as much as possible to keep resale value.

BIG azz workshop and as much alternate power tech I could get.

I had a house built once. Wont do that again. I'd much rather be able to see what I'm buying and know what I'm getting into. Our builder hit water when digging the foundation. Had to add a bunch of mitigation equipment and raise the house 3'.

Our builder used cheap windows and faucet fixtures. Stuff started breaking at about the 5 year mark.

Central vac installed in the garage so it can double as a dry utility vac for garage projects/car cleaning.

I have installed whole house fans (central fans that exhaust through an attic area). Works on many days (in our area) without having to use a/c. May or may not be right for your area.

A house is part of its environment. Once you have an approximate layout, take it to the site and really look at the views you'll get from different windows. Also, look at how the house is situated regarding typical wind (are windows in the right place for good ventillation) and the sun (ideally your overhang will be adjusted so you get more sun in the winter and more shade in the summer). For sun, it's usually cheaper to control heat through awnings and overhangs than with blinds.

Is this an area that loses power? Get gas appliances and have a transfer switch wired into the main panel. (Probably less of a concern in southern climates.)

Think of where the most dirt will come from and see if you have containment strategies (e.g., mud rooms).

If you work on your own cars, think about including a lift in the design of the garage. Consider extra outlets and 220v outlets in the garage. Plan for good lighting and possibly insulation.

Think of how you entertain and imagine the flow of an evening through the house. Same way with visiting guests who stay for a week.

A new study shows more deaths by fire in open floor plan homes because there are fewer walls to slow and contain the fire. If you're doing that kind of design, consider residential fire sprinklers. They can be relatively subtle....not like the industrial kind....but may save the young or elderly.

Think about designing the home with features for the elderly. Walk-in showers. No stairs to key resources. Doorways wide enough for a wheelchair. Not only will you be able to stay in the home longer, but when one of you falls or is in an accident, you may be able to mend at home. (My wife thought my attention to this was a little overdone until she got thrown by her horse and decided that maybe it was a good idea.)

I agree with others about extensive wiring of the house for video and data.

In general, think about how water is going to move on your property with serious storms. Create natural channels to direct it where you want it. Sooner or later it will rain harder than you think.

If appropriate, think about the traffic on the street. Is your view getting out of the driveway going to be blocked? Room to turn around if possible?

It's easy to spend money on grand rooms that almost never get used. It's hard to have too much storage. Try to have extra, unusued capacity in your electrical panel(s).

A great adventure. Good luck.

If you and the wife are thinking about a stripper-pole, cheaper to install now rather than retrofit...

I would go even thicker on the walls. Also add "thermal mass" inside the house to keep the temperatures more even. Seal the exterior of the house using spray foam type insulation.

Use an air to air heat exchanger to help exchange air from the outside to the inside while reducing heat losses.

Ceiling fans in each room.

Divide up the electrical in the house to more circuits. Plan an "emergency" board with the most important circuit, with a generator feed.

Plan house with window overhangs/porches which shade the windows in the summer, but let direct light to come in, in the winter.

Low maintenance brick or stone exterior. Use non-porous material including a non-porous grout.

Plan both the roof and the electrical system for PV power. Purchase and install the materials at the time of construction. In this area, adding about 10% to the value of the house in PV plus batteries & controls, will generate enough power to run the house. If the house is well insulated and laid out to prevent summertime heating, the PV system may not need to be that large.

Along with the above system, add a long life, low maintenance generator which can run the whole house. If using the battery system above, you can minimize the generator size.

Tile in high traffic areas, hardwood and carpet in low traffic areas.

Run "conduits" for certain data cables, so that they can be easily replaced/upgraded later.

Extra interior wall and ceiling insulation to reduce room to room and floor to floor noise.

We bought a new house last year. Love oversized 3-car garage, love central vac (especially in garage to clean cars) and central intercom with CD/radio. If in the county, a gas emergency generator is good. Gas to fireplaces is good if you want to add gas logs later. Same for appliances. Prewire for alarm is great. We like expansion ability (unfinished basement or property large enough for additonal buildings). Stack your staircase one above another in case you want to add a elevator later when you are too old to climb stairs. make everything as lare as possible, but be sure to make it energ efficient enough to afford the extar space (zoned heat, etc). A laundry or garage sink is helpful.

Looking at the wireless security options that exist now that did not when we built a few years back, I wish I had a power option on my roof gables for cameras. Not so much worried about crime, but it'd be an easy way to keep an eye out on the little ones as they play in the driveway.

Talk to your architect about what is included and what isn't. Are there any visitation charges?

Same as your contractor. What is included and what type or brand. No fun if he thinks one thing and you are think of another that's more then twice as much.

Pullout shelves for lower cabinets and pantry.

Easy access to large storage space with ability to put large items in it. I had empty space above our garage that I filled up, but thought it would have been great to put in a lift system with a pulley instead of forcing it up those rickety pull-down stairs.

If this is for Dallas, make sure your back patio is shaded in the evening. Otherwise you won't be out there.

If you decorate for Christmas, outlets in the soffits.

Plant trees early.

If it's a two story I would suggest a ground floor bath and bedroom. At some point you will (probably) not be ale to navigate stairs, either due to injury or old age.

This is probably the best advise here.

Make sure the bathroom is at least a three fixture bath -- have at least a shower stall.

Regarding a bedroom on the first floor -- here in NJ, the definition of what a bedroom is varies from town to town. Some define it as a room with a door, while other towns require a closet. If in your area a bedroom must have a closet, then consider putting a den / office room without a closet on the first floor. If you plan on using the first floor bedroom only for emergencies or visitors, a den / office can double as a bedroom, and may save you some coin in property taxes, if your town's definition of a bedroom includes a closet.

-Z-man.

With an aging population I foresee a real shortage of bungalows some day. In my area all the 'new construction' and 'renovation' is two story houses.

That's a great layout while your knees and back work. But if you don't have an elevator the second story might be essentially inaccessible to you some day.

A couple of details:

1. install weeping tile around the foundations with redundant sump pumps

2. mouse proof all horizontal and vertical penetrations (i.e. where piping, ducting goes) with steel wool, or other mouse resistant material, while you can still get at them. For that matter, I'd have a detached garage, to reduce the risk of mice getting into the house.

3. if the house is situated in an area that has cold winters, have separate circuit breakers for each side of the plugs that are going to provide power to block heaters and vehicle interior heaters.

I can't add much to all the good ideas. I like all solid core doors for inside doors, geothermal, spray foam insulation. Build a safe room that will hold up to the worst kind of storm. My brother made his laundry room out of rebar & concrete.