If you've built a house, what would you do differently next time?
What features are must haves? What tips do you have?

*Get absolutely everything (down to the last minute detail) in writing.

*Have a "punch list" at the end with everything they need to do and after the walk-through don't sign closing papers till everything is done *or* hold money back at closing as insurance.

*Have an attic fan and proper ventilation installed during construction.

*Verify insulation, window energy efficiency and the HVAC system efficiency; upgrade if needed.

*Make sure they leave you touch up paint *and* info on the paint brand and codes.

*Have conduit run under the driveway/sidewalks for ease of future automatic sprinkler installation (and make sure it happens!).

These are the major issues we've had with our house, so far. hth!

Everybody told us "have a budget and stick to it" but honestly, that's my one regret. We did almost everything we wanted to do, but we both regret not having vaulted ceilings put in our bedroom. In the grand scheme of the mortgage, it would have added what 10 bucks a month? But it would have put us over the budget we set for our upgrades so we didn't do it. The other things we chose not to do (ceramic tile in the bathrooms/laundry room and corian in the kitchen) are easily enough done in the future if we really want them, but the vaulted ceilings are pretty much gone forever. So I guess being more flexible would have been good for us. Otherwise we've been really happy with out house and how the whole process went!

j

with the first house we built, we regret not running sprinkler lines ahead of time, and speaker wire.

The second house we regret having a family member build (he is a builder) and not having everything finished, because we are family and we are supposed to understand that he is busy! argh!! Now I have sold the house and I am still trying to get him to finish odds n ends jobs.

The next house that is being built right now I am not allowed to do anything until we get the CO, so anything extra we want done we have to do after we move in.

The next house we have built -

we won't do any of the work ourselves - so many things still need to be finished still (painting mostly) and the time we spent doing it all, dh could have done extra work (at his 2nd job - realtor) and made the money to pay for it. But I :heart: my tile!

We won't set a date for moving until we close on the new house. With unpreventable delays (concrete shortage - changing financing at the last minute) we had to move out of our old place, and lived here (thank goodness our builder is a good friend) for a week before we closed.

Have more electrical outlets put in outside - for lighting and my pond, etc.


Things I"m glad we did and would do again -

upgrade the AC, windows and doors - everything is double insulated, and the AC is more energy effecient.

Tile everywhere - love the easy cleanup compared to carpet!

upgraded the appliances to what I wanted and just paid the difference from what the builder supplied.

Don't be afraid to ask for any changes - if they are possible, a good builder will do them without a problem - or he'll explain why or help come up with an alternative.



DO research in your area about the builders!!!! Mercedes Homes in our area is one of the shoddiest builders - but they have gorgeous looking houses. But everyone I know has had a ton of problems with their houses!!! ANd they are terrible about service calls and getting things fixed. But they we in the top 100 of builders in FL (productivity) and rarely will you find anything in print about them being bad, but if you talk to people, you'll hear lots. Even the title company will have info from what they've heard about different builders! I'm soooo glad our friend is an excellant businessman, and everything I've heard from other people (his subcontractors, the title company, people in houses he built) have had nothing but good to say about him.

light switches, cable hook ups, phone hook ups are in convenient places. I wish we had upgraded our kitchen tile and counter tops. Both are showing wear after 5 years.

Originally posted by Michele
*Get absolutely everything (down to the last minute detail) in writing.

*Have a "punch list" at the end with everything they need to do and after the walk-through don't sign closing papers till everything is done *or* hold money back at closing as insurance.

*Have an attic fan and proper ventilation installed during construction.

*Verify insulation, window energy efficiency and the HVAC system efficiency; upgrade if needed.

*Make sure they leave you touch up paint *and* info on the paint brand and codes.

*Have conduit run under the driveway/sidewalks for ease of future automatic sprinkler installation (and make sure it happens!).


Also, have a couple of extra intakes installed (one in each bedroom) for good air flow. Our house has rooms that get hotter than others, and this will alleviate our problems. Thing is, to do it after the fact is 100$ / room.

When the electrician was wiring our house, dh came in after hours and wired the entire house for sound. It saved a ton of money, and we got to pick the quality of wire.

One thing we wished we had done better is to have a clear breakdown of costs BEFORE construction started. That way, we could have figured our budget better (%'s we could use towards certain products). We also found most people go 7-10% above budget when building a home throughout the building process.

When we built our home, we knew we would do the landscaping, sprinklers and other odds and ends. However, we eneded up having the paint the exterior because the budget went over. Also, after being here not even 4 years, we have to repaint the interior and fix all the rounded corners because they were done incorrectly.