Custom home input?

[wolfboy]

I'm assuming a handful of folks have built their own homes. Can you offer any insight on the process? Wife and I have a parcel free and clear we'd like to build on. Any positive or negative experiences with builders? Lenders? Any input is greatly appreciated.

[SunDeck]

Do you know anything about construction?
My parents' "custom" home and others in the same addition have had multiple problems relating to quality issues on sub work that should have been caught by the general contractor. Obviously, they weren't caught and they were the kinds of things the average homeowner doesn't think of or wouldn't know to address during a walk through.
So, if there is any advice, it's to know your contractor is working with quality sub contractors.

[Joseph]

I build for a living [commercial] and actually designed and oversaw construction on my first home. It all depends on what specifics you want to know, where you are in the country, etc. I can tell you construction prices are starting to creep up, but as a rule they've been down lately and you could still get a good deal.

First bit of advice I'd give you is to determine what kind of house you want and price that. There are builders out there who will ask you to tell them how much you can afford and they'll be sure you spend that much on a house under the guise of giving you all you can get for the money.

So if you have a designer/floor plan, I'd start there.

[alwaysawarrior]

Yep need a little more information. Are you going with a home builder where you walk in pick out one of their ten home plans and go or going to an architect and starting from scratch. I work in construction (not as a general contractor but as for a concrete subcontractor) and was familiar enough with the processes after doing research that we were our own general contractors and subbed everything out that we couldn't do ourselves. Biggest piece of advice I would give is once you decide something, even if somethings already finished and you want to change it, do it. Chances are you will be living there a long time so build how you want it.

[TRF]

This thread reminded me of something. My grandmother passed away several years ago. She owned her home outright, but my idiot uncle convinced her to get a mortgage. The house was foreclosed on and my childhood home is gone. I remembered today she owned another undeveloped property in Cincinnati. I don't believe she had a will, so I have no idea what I should do if anything.

eh... sorry for the thread hijack. if anyone has any thoughts feel free to pm me.

[wolfboy]

This thread reminded me of something. My grandmother passed away several years ago. She owned her home outright, but my idiot uncle convinced her to get a mortgage. The house was foreclosed on and my childhood home is gone. I remembered today she owned another undeveloped property in Cincinnati. I don't believe she had a will, so I have no idea what I should do if anything.

eh... sorry for the thread hijack. if anyone has any thoughts feel free to pm me.

If you know the address or the parcel ID number you can look it up on the Hamilton County Auditor's site. http://www.hamiltoncountyauditor.org/

[wolfboy]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm in Cincinnati. Lot is in Loveland. I am generally familiar with construction, but primarily in the commercial development context. I think my wife and I have identified a builder we'd like to use with one of their designs. We're going to arrange a meeting in the next few weeks. I may post some follow up after that. We don't want anything lavish. We have no interest in being house poor and with a roster of 3, we don't need a lot of house. Has anyone had good or bad experiences with the financing process or working with lenders on the draw process or have a lender they'd recommend?

[Red Raindog]

I've done two homes basically -- one from scratch and a cottage that we had to "play" with to avoid zoning rules -- but it was in essence a new home when we finished.

My advice is don't let $10,000 or $25,000 or an amount like that stop you from getting what you want unless there is very compelling $$$ reasons to draw a line to cut off spending.

Plus -- give in to the wife if at all possible but ignore her when it comes to wiring and hvac ---

[George Anderson]

If you are looking to cut corners, do not do it on things like fixure openings, receptacles or phone jacks. The family that built my house tried to save money by not putting lights in all the closets. Based on the cost at the time it saved them $25 per opening. When I moved in I realized the closets were badly in need of lights so it cost me alot more than $25 to go back and put in lights in each closet. The same with phone jacks. I know land lines are kinda going away but the people that built this house only put one phone jack in my entire upstairs. Again at the time it would of cost like $20 per outlet.

Also depending on how many stories you build, I would consider running like a 2" pvc sleeve from your basement to the attic. I cannot tell you how much easier it is to run wires in an open conduit from the basement to the attic as opposed to running them thru the walls.

[REDREAD]

I agree with George.. put a celling light in every room. When we moved into the house we are now (it was used), only 3 rooms had ceiling lights.. they had light switches for lamps in all the other rooms. The house was very dark. Huge pain to retrofit lights in all the rooms. If you like ceiling fans, go ahead and get the upgraded light boxes that can hold a fan safely.

Also, make sure you have enough outlets. I am not sure what the code rule is, but it's not very generous.

Make sure you get quality windows. When we moved in, we had aluminum windows that were very drafty. After replacing the bad windows, our heating bill went down 300/month (and our house is not that big).. Point is, spending more for windows pays off (assuming they are properly installed).

Make your driveway at least a little wider than the minimum required. It's such a pain when there's two cars in the driveway, it's raining/snowing, and you have to walk in the mud because there's not enough room to walk on the driveway..

Just my opinion, but most builders use the cheapest flooring possible. It doesn't seem worth it to pay for the upgrade. It just seems better to let them install the cheapest stuff and then replace it when it wears out in a few years.. I paid for upgraded carpet in one new build, it didn't seem any better than the standard stuff.
Although maybe some builders are more honest..

Basically, you need to walk through the house once a week while it is under construction (if possible) and check on things. If possible, bring a ladder and make sure the slope of your drain pipes is correct. Our inspectors didn't check that on the house we are in now.. It was a very time consuming and expensive to fix that. Sadly, you have to assume that the inspectors don't care, and the sub contractors don't either. I hope you have better luck than I do, but it really helps to check it weekly.
One new build I had, I was doing one of my weekly inspections and it was raining, I could clearly see several leaks in the roof.. It was helpful to mark on the subfloor with a sharpie where the water was leaking so they knew what parts to redo.. I have a feeling if I didn't do the walk through, those leaks would've never been caught.

[dougdirt]

Can't stress enough what Redread and George said about the lights. My friend doesn't have a ceiling light in his living room, and in the evening/night, it's incredibly dark in there. The TV is the only available light source in the room (you can get some light by turning on the dining room light), but it's not good and wasn't going to be cheap to get one installed either (so they still don't have one).

[bucksfan2]

We are actually embarking on this right now. My wife and I just bought a lot and are in the process of picking a builder.

My wife and I contacted a family friend realtor a few months ago because we were slowly outgrowing our house. It has been a great home, a great home to start a family in, but we are at the stage in our lives where we want things that the house does not provide. Anyway I wanted to get an idea as to any fixes that he suggested, ideas about how much we could list the home for, and a plan about where we wanted to move. Long story short, after meeting with the realtor we had the house listed quicker than expected. Although we did push it back until after the holidays.

When we started out we were looking at not only new construction but also for sale houses. There were several things that we wanted, one of the most important being a nice yard and place for our kids to play. As a suggestion by a realtor we decided to meet with Drees who was working on a nearby subdivision. At first we were really impressed with them, they had what looked like a very nice house, a little expensive, but that was to be expected. What ended up swaying us to go a different direction was the lack of "wow" factor with Drees. What they offered was nice, but at the price point nothing stood out. I also don't like how you are building based upon a model, for example, my wife and I will not have a tub in the master bath. We don't have one now, never used the one prior to our remodel, and wanted to focus the area in the bath on a nice shower. In the Drees model it called for a tub, but it also called for a $200 fee to remove the tub. The number of outlets was standard, and if you wanted more it was close to $100/outlet. What it really came down to was we wanted what we wanted, we were ok going with a custom builder that we knew was going to be a little more expensive, but it we would pay for what we wanted and not have to build something we did not want.

[REDREAD]

Good point by bucksfan2.. Some builders have a few set floor plans to chose from, but customization is almost impossible or extremely expensive.
They have detailed plans to make the whole building process idiot proof which saves the buyer money, but at the same time, you are either going to compromise or do a remodel after you move in. Only the buyer can decide if it's worth the compromise or not..

[wolfboy]

We are actually embarking on this right now. My wife and I just bought a lot and are in the process of picking a builder.

My wife and I contacted a family friend realtor a few months ago because we were slowly outgrowing our house. It has been a great home, a great home to start a family in, but we are at the stage in our lives where we want things that the house does not provide. Anyway I wanted to get an idea as to any fixes that he suggested, ideas about how much we could list the home for, and a plan about where we wanted to move. Long story short, after meeting with the realtor we had the house listed quicker than expected. Although we did push it back until after the holidays.

When we started out we were looking at not only new construction but also for sale houses. There were several things that we wanted, one of the most important being a nice yard and place for our kids to play. As a suggestion by a realtor we decided to meet with Drees who was working on a nearby subdivision. At first we were really impressed with them, they had what looked like a very nice house, a little expensive, but that was to be expected. What ended up swaying us to go a different direction was the lack of "wow" factor with Drees. What they offered was nice, but at the price point nothing stood out. I also don't like how you are building based upon a model, for example, my wife and I will not have a tub in the master bath. We don't have one now, never used the one prior to our remodel, and wanted to focus the area in the bath on a nice shower. In the Drees model it called for a tub, but it also called for a $200 fee to remove the tub. The number of outlets was standard, and if you wanted more it was close to $100/outlet. What it really came down to was we wanted what we wanted, we were ok going with a custom builder that we knew was going to be a little more expensive, but it we would pay for what we wanted and not have to build something we did not want.

Have you engaged lenders yet? We're going to stay away from the Drees of the world. As you mentioned, uninspiring to say the least.

- - - Updated - - -

If you are looking to cut corners, do not do it on things like fixure openings, receptacles or phone jacks. The family that built my house tried to save money by not putting lights in all the closets. Based on the cost at the time it saved them $25 per opening. When I moved in I realized the closets were badly in need of lights so it cost me alot more than $25 to go back and put in lights in each closet. The same with phone jacks. I know land lines are kinda going away but the people that built this house only put one phone jack in my entire upstairs. Again at the time it would of cost like $20 per outlet.

Also depending on how many stories you build, I would consider running like a 2" pvc sleeve from your basement to the attic. I cannot tell you how much easier it is to run wires in an open conduit from the basement to the attic as opposed to running them thru the walls.

I think I'm with you on everything but the phone jacks. I haven't used a land line in maybe 15 years.

[bucksfan2]

@wolfboy We have engaged lenders and pretty much got a pre-qualification letter. We were able to pay cash for the lot, have our house up for sale, and have yet to decide on a builder. Although I think my wife has decided!

@REDREAD A friend of a friend built a house with a big builder like Drees. They wouldn't allow them to customize the kitchen the way they wanted to so it was cheaper to build the house, then the second they got the keys they tore out the kitchen and built it they way they wanted.

My wife and I looked at a house yesterday with a custom builder and liked it but had different ideas about what to do and where. For example we want a large kitchen, large island, but no dining room. The builder was able to walk us through different options of what to do. We had a different idea about the entry way and how the staircase worked and he walked us through how we could change it. Granted it will be a little more expensive, but it will give us what we want.