Has anyone built a house? What advice would you give? Do's & Don'ts. Lessons learned.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nichol on May 18, 2009 at 8:55am

Oh we built a home in 2001. It was a wonderful process of getting to pick and choose what you wanted in your home. From the colors, to the cabinets, countertops well EVERYTHING. I would recommend visiting your home daily! I mean daily. We didn't visit for 2 days. They messed up a wall. The top of the wall stuck out. I was fuious!! There wasn't anything we could do. They also tiled our livingroom which was suppose to be carpeted. That is my advice to you. Everything else went planned except on the few days I didn't visit. YOU are the one paying for your home. Not them. Take pictures! Its a great process. Good Luck and Congratulations.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Ford Berry on May 21, 2009 at 7:26am

GREAT Advice Nichol! Thank you!! How long did the whole process take you? Did you pick the contractor or was it part of a development? I can't believe they tiled your living room and it was suppose to be carpeted! Duh!!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Karie Herring on May 21, 2009 at 9:15am

Jennifer, my husband and I built our house in '99 and the whole process was so exciting because like Nichol said you get to pick out everything. We even got to pick out our floor plan, which is a big deal. Some developers and builders already have decided what size and type of house will be built on the lot if in a subdivision. If you are building a custom (you guys own your own land and plotting on there) then you have no worries about the size of your house. Nichol also suggested visiting daily....you can just to see the progress, but I would talk more to the General Contractor or the builder to see what stage they are in so you are not disappointed when you check in on the house to see NOTHING has been done because they are waiting on materials. I know when they built my house there was a lull in work because everything was sub-contracted out so they had to wait for materials and the subs to come in to do certain items.

If you are building from a contractor that you choose, choose wisely! Call everyone you know, check with the Registrar of Contractors for your state to be sure they are legit and have NO complaints. Also see if he will be the general for the ENTIRE building process or if he is going to sub out jobs as this can be more expensive in some cases. Take pictures and check every detail...I know my stucco cracked so I had them fix that right away, my paint needed touched up. Knit pick, its your NEW house and everything should be perfect so make it so.

Also my building process went pretty fast took about 4 months from the original ground breaking to doing the final walk on my house. Depending on the size of your home and or the contractor your building time may be longer so ask them to see what they think and tell them to be totally honest with you so you don't have any other high expectations. Make sure you get what you pay for.....in the end of the process you start to get tired and frustrated but stick to your guns! Make sure if you paid for premium you get premium and not what you paid for and if they screw up...make them PAY for the screw up, not you. Good luck, hope this info helps. I also know about the loan process too....which can also be tedious.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shellie on May 21, 2009 at 9:39am

Are you building a custom home, or are you building with a company like Lenar, MI, Dominion, Toll Brothers?

There is a huge difference between a builder and a custom builder and what to exspect. Builders give you options, and standard features. They dont move walls easily, and they have set floor plans you select, and they reuse the same plans through the neighborhood. There are also base, mid grade and upscale builders in this realm of building. If it isnt in writing, dont count on it being done or upheld in the end.

Builders also will start building the home and then you close on it as you are ready to move in. Custom builders close on the property before even the dirt has been moved. You own it from day one, have to insure it, and the sky is the limit on choices, size, wall placement ect.


I have built 2 homes, and worked for a builder. I am also in the middle of desiging our dream house to be built. It will take 8-12 months to finished once we finally close and break ground.

Let me know what type of builder you are using, so I can best answer your questions.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by KnitPurlGurl on May 21, 2009 at 10:00am

We built our house in 2004. I really enjoyed the initial process - the picking out colors, textures, et cetera. After that, it was alot of work. Some advice:

-When going to the builder's showroom, insist on taking carpet samples, flooring samples, cabinet samples, and trim samples to a room in their showroom with oodles of natural lighting. Have your preferred paint samples with you as well. Colors look COMPLETELY different in a darker showroom than they may in your finished house. Make sure you are looking at them in natural light.

-VISIT the homesite as OFTEN as possible. We found that the sub-contractors didn't always have the exact materials we asked for or the right ones. We had to intercede. For example - we had 9 foot ceilings put in and the builders started assuming 8' ceilings.

-PROVIDE a porta potty for your workers (at your expense) or else they will use the bathroom anywhere they can on your property. Also provide a dumpster from day one. And make sure they use it! We found the workers' lunch bags all over our property even though we had a dumpster on site.

-Don't let them cut corners to make their monthly quota. If they are close to being done, the company will push them to finish by the end of the month to fill the quota.

-Keep up on all of your warranties. Your house will settle and there will be cracks in the ceilings, walls, and concrete. Be sure to fill out your forms and have the builders repair as it happens.

-Splurge on things you can't update yourself. We splurged on the Energy Star components. We went with Geo-Thermal Heating, 2x6 walls, dbl insulated interior walls, and energy star windows, doors, and appliances. Our house is energy star certified and it is saving us TONS a month in bills.

-Once the carpet is laid (if you have carpet), be sure to put runners down or the sub-contractors will walk all over your new carpet with their dirty workboots.

-If your builder doesn't paint for you as a part of the pkg (most do now, but didn't when we built) - splurge and pay them to do it. It's really hard to get all of the priming, paint, staining, and ploy-uthethaning done on 2 weeks. Trust me!

-Check on your builder and subs constantly. If you aren't happy - COMPLAIN and make calls. Have them meet tyou at the house and show them EXACTLY what you're dissatisfied with. This is a huge investment and you don't want to spend all of that money only to have to do more work yourself later.

-Be sure the upgrades you choose for your house are profitable. No one wants to sell their dream house. I didn't. But we found ourselves in a situation where in order to get autism services for our son, we had to move and leave our newly built dream house and move away. :( You want to splurge on the kitchen, baths, and master suite where you'll get your investment back out of it.

-Don't buy more house than you need just because the model is gorgeous. You can customize the plans your builder has to suit your needs.

-Enjoy the process and take oodles of pictures. It seems like a long time to wait for your dream house, but it really goes by quickly.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Ford Berry on May 28, 2009 at 2:53pm

Jen,
Thank you SOOO much for taking the time to share all of that great information!! I really appreciate it. I will keep you posted :)
Jen

Karie Herring said:

Jennifer, my husband and I built our house in '99 and the whole process was so exciting because like Nichol said you get to pick out everything. We even got to pick out our floor plan, which is a big deal. Some developers and builders already have decided what size and type of house will be built on the lot if in a subdivision. If you are building a custom (you guys own your own land and plotting on there) then you have no worries about the size of your house. Nichol also suggested visiting daily....you can just to see the progress, but I would talk more to the General Contractor or the builder to see what stage they are in so you are not disappointed when you check in on the house to see NOTHING has been done because they are waiting on materials. I know when they built my house there was a lull in work because everything was sub-contracted out so they had to wait for materials and the subs to come in to do certain items.

If you are building from a contractor that you choose, choose wisely! Call everyone you know, check with the Registrar of Contractors for your state to be sure they are legit and have NO complaints. Also see if he will be the general for the ENTIRE building process or if he is going to sub out jobs as this can be more expensive in some cases. Take pictures and check every detail...I know my stucco cracked so I had them fix that right away, my paint needed touched up. Knit pick, its your NEW house and everything should be perfect so make it so.

Also my building process went pretty fast took about 4 months from the original ground breaking to doing the final walk on my house. Depending on the size of your home and or the contractor your building time may be longer so ask them to see what they think and tell them to be totally honest with you so you don't have any other high expectations. Make sure you get what you pay for.....in the end of the process you start to get tired and frustrated but stick to your guns! Make sure if you paid for premium you get premium and not what you paid for and if they screw up...make them PAY for the screw up, not you. Good luck, hope this info helps. I also know about the loan process too....which can also be tedious.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Ford Berry on May 28, 2009 at 2:56pm

Hi Shellie,
We are building a custom home. And actually I am blessed with a father who owns a contracting company and has been building for 35 years. So he will be our general contractor. We can build whatever type of home we want (that is in our budget :)

Do you have any tips on how you planned the style, shape, look, interior etc of your home BEFORE you started building?

Shellie said:

Are you building a custom home, or are you building with a company like Lenar, MI, Dominion, Toll Brothers?

There is a huge difference between a builder and a custom builder and what to exspect. Builders give you options, and standard features. They dont move walls easily, and they have set floor plans you select, and they reuse the same plans through the neighborhood. There are also base, mid grade and upscale builders in this realm of building. If it isnt in writing, dont count on it being done or upheld in the end.

Builders also will start building the home and then you close on it as you are ready to move in. Custom builders close on the property before even the dirt has been moved. You own it from day one, have to insure it, and the sky is the limit on choices, size, wall placement ect.


I have built 2 homes, and worked for a builder. I am also in the middle of desiging our dream house to be built. It will take 8-12 months to finished once we finally close and break ground.

Let me know what type of builder you are using, so I can best answer your questions.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Ford Berry on May 28, 2009 at 3:00pm

Great ideas about the porta potty and dumpster! I never thought of those.
I really loved hearing your story and all your advice. Thank you SO much! I know it will be tons and tons of details but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

KnitPurlGurl said:

We built our house in 2004. I really enjoyed the initial process - the picking out colors, textures, et cetera. After that, it was alot of work. Some advice:

-When going to the builder's showroom, insist on taking carpet samples, flooring samples, cabinet samples, and trim samples to a room in their showroom with oodles of natural lighting. Have your preferred paint samples with you as well. Colors look COMPLETELY different in a darker showroom than they may in your finished house. Make sure you are looking at them in natural light.

-VISIT the homesite as OFTEN as possible. We found that the sub-contractors didn't always have the exact materials we asked for or the right ones. We had to intercede. For example - we had 9 foot ceilings put in and the builders started assuming 8' ceilings.

-PROVIDE a porta potty for your workers (at your expense) or else they will use the bathroom anywhere they can on your property. Also provide a dumpster from day one. And make sure they use it! We found the workers' lunch bags all over our property even though we had a dumpster on site.

-Don't let them cut corners to make their monthly quota. If they are close to being done, the company will push them to finish by the end of the month to fill the quota.

-Keep up on all of your warranties. Your house will settle and there will be cracks in the ceilings, walls, and concrete. Be sure to fill out your forms and have the builders repair as it happens.

-Splurge on things you can't update yourself. We splurged on the Energy Star components. We went with Geo-Thermal Heating, 2x6 walls, dbl insulated interior walls, and energy star windows, doors, and appliances. Our house is energy star certified and it is saving us TONS a month in bills.

-Once the carpet is laid (if you have carpet), be sure to put runners down or the sub-contractors will walk all over your new carpet with their dirty workboots.

-If your builder doesn't paint for you as a part of the pkg (most do now, but didn't when we built) - splurge and pay them to do it. It's really hard to get all of the priming, paint, staining, and ploy-uthethaning done on 2 weeks. Trust me!

-Check on your builder and subs constantly. If you aren't happy - COMPLAIN and make calls. Have them meet tyou at the house and show them EXACTLY what you're dissatisfied with. This is a huge investment and you don't want to spend all of that money only to have to do more work yourself later.

-Be sure the upgrades you choose for your house are profitable. No one wants to sell their dream house. I didn't. But we found ourselves in a situation where in order to get autism services for our son, we had to move and leave our newly built dream house and move away. :( You want to splurge on the kitchen, baths, and master suite where you'll get your investment back out of it.

-Don't buy more house than you need just because the model is gorgeous. You can customize the plans your builder has to suit your needs.

-Enjoy the process and take oodles of pictures. It seems like a long time to wait for your dream house, but it really goes by quickly.

▶ Reply to This

▶ Reply to This