So, my wife said she wants to start building a house in 6 months... where do I start?

[ErinH]

She HATES the house we live in now and it truly shows. The house is small and it does actually "wear" us out. It's just kind of gloomy. So, she's wanting to build about 6 months before I had planned to do so. As a new home owner/builder, where do I start?

It seems there's a lot of interpolation (ie: chicken or egg first) going on. We have to have land, we have to get house plans that fit in our budget, but have to fit on the land, we have to be able to afford the load, etc. I'm sure there's much more to it than just this, too.

Luckily, my father-in-law is a contractor. We talked over a house plan today and came out at about $180k just to build our house (no appliances, lighting, land, etc). That's pretty rough to me.

We're laying out plans we like, appliances we like, paint colors, tile designs, cabinets, carpet, etc. We've spent the past couple days looking around.

So, what advice can you give to me for my research or just in general.


FWIW I've got a $6000 budget for my 20x15 media room. I'd say that's pretty reasonable since I'll most likely buy my receiver/speakers used.

 

[mtrycrafts]

She HATES the house we live in now and it truly shows. The house is small and it does actually "wear" us out. It's just kind of gloomy. So, she's wanting to build about 6 months before I had planned to do so. As a new home owner/builder, where do I start?

It seems there's a lot of interpolation (ie: chicken or egg first) going on. We have to have land, we have to get house plans that fit in our budget, but have to fit on the land, we have to be able to afford the load, etc. I'm sure there's much more to it than just this, too.

Luckily, my father-in-law is a contractor. We talked over a house plan today and came out at about $180k just to build our house (no appliances, lighting, land, etc). That's pretty rough to me.

We're laying out plans we like, appliances we like, paint colors, tile designs, cabinets, carpet, etc. We've spent the past couple days looking around.

So, what advice can you give to me for my research or just in general.


FWIW I've got a $6000 budget for my 20x15 media room. I'd say that's pretty reasonable since I'll most likely buy my receiver/speakers used.

Plan, plan and then plan some more.
I did this a number of years ago but built it all myself, or almost all anyhow, even most of the design, and just used a few laborers But that is not your case.

If you rush it, you will be remodeling soon and regretting. It may be tough on a marriage. Are you up for that?

Try to go green, super insulation, tight drywall approach to minimize air leakage. If your area has issues with power going out for a day or more, may want to consider a generator that can be added later but you need or should have a 240V switching box so i can accommodate that source., Cheap now to install such a box while planning, expensive to remodel, power is out and you know what then.

Walk through the plan, each wall, everything, your habits of doing things, pattern for turning on lights, 3 way and 4 way switches, high speed Internet access most everywhere, maybe even fiber? Hard line telephone?

 

[TLS Guy]

She HATES the house we live in now and it truly shows. The house is small and it does actually "wear" us out. It's just kind of gloomy. So, she's wanting to build about 6 months before I had planned to do so. As a new home owner/builder, where do I start?

It seems there's a lot of interpolation (ie: chicken or egg first) going on. We have to have land, we have to get house plans that fit in our budget, but have to fit on the land, we have to be able to afford the load, etc. I'm sure there's much more to it than just this, too.

Luckily, my father-in-law is a contractor. We talked over a house plan today and came out at about $180k just to build our house (no appliances, lighting, land, etc). That's pretty rough to me.

We're laying out plans we like, appliances we like, paint colors, tile designs, cabinets, carpet, etc. We've spent the past couple days looking around.

So, what advice can you give to me for my research or just in general.


FWIW I've got a $6000 budget for my 20x15 media room. I'd say that's pretty reasonable since I'll most likely buy my receiver/speakers used.

Think carefully about why you want to build now. Right now real estate is a depreciating asset, at least new construction. There must be tons of good used homes out there right now, at a good price. The prices are going to get better. Your new house is going to be valued in line with what is already out there.

The other issue is the banks don't have the money to lend right now, and they are currently scared away from Real Estate especially new construction.

I would have a really good look at what is out there now, and see if there is something you like. Remember you house is worth less than you think, and may be on the market a year or more. You say it is not a nice house and gloomy. Houses with problems just don't sell right now, so you may have to make it a rental for a considerable period. Unless you have a lot of ready cash, the banks won't likely advance you money until that house sells at this time. So then you will need temporary accommodation. It will be easier if you buy a nice house already built. If it is one a bank wants off their hands, you may well get a deal.

Unless things are very different your way, from the conditions in the mid west, now is a bad time to think of new construction.

 

[davo]

I'm currently building and can offer a little bit of advice.

1. Start of with a bare bones SMALL plan of the basic needs, then stretch the design to suit your own style and wants. This is much cheaper than a big house plan with a lot of stuff you don't actually use or need.
The tendency is most peoples' eyes are bigger than their wallet. Add the frustration of the current house and you end up with something over-complex and more importantly over priced.

2. Consider the real world uses for each area. E.g. do you need a formal dining and a meals area? Do you need a formal lounge room, family room, games room, rumpus room, as well as a media room?( the last one is an obvious yes).

It's easy to get carried away with what would be nice to have, but unless you have a critical means to achieve it, you have to keep it real. And try hard not to think of the Joneses as you go about it!!

It's better to live in a modest house you can afford than a palace you can't.

Keep us posted.

 

[Exit]

If you are planning a HT room, I would make a spreadsheet listing everything you plan to put in it. Review HTs done by other people on the internet and get ideas of what you want. The cable runs are particularly important before you put up drywall. These can inclued cable, satelite and antenna feeds as well as phone, eithernet and all the surround sound and projector feeds.There is probably more. I budgeted out a basement HT room with noise isolation and it came out to over $20K. Most of the articles I read people were coming out closer to $30K and up. If you are using a planned family room for HT and skip noise isolation, you may come out closer to $10K for equipment and wiring. It all depends on your equipment tastes. Thats why it is good to set up a spreadsheet and keep tuning it up as you go. Getting the wiring in place duriing construction can be a big savings and a lot less hassle.

 

[stratman]

BEFORE you do anything! Hire a good architect, ask around, if you see any homes that you like, go to the building department do a public records search and you can find who it was. Then get your self an interior designer, not the hacks you see on tv, those are decorators, huge difference, get a professional that knows how to work with architects. Real Interior Designers especialize in space planning, which entails getting the most use from your expensive square footage, they also design your built-ins (shop drawings/concepts) and if needed furniture in an odd size or configuration. With this team on the outset your project will run smoother be less expensive in the long run and the final product will be custom made to your taste and style.

 

[Alex2507]

One of the things that has really bugged me about the few residential jobs that I have worked on is the tendency of architects to try and put 10lbs of $h!t into a 5lb bag. First off I'll start ranting about doors. 2'4" wide for bathrooms and 2'6" for bedrooms is not wide enough. Next thing that gets me is when doors are not centered in their opening. For instance, let's say you have a closet at the end of a hallway. Center the door in that hallway. Lastly, leave enough room for the casings. I would probably cream myself if I found such a door at the end of a hallway and it actually had 2" from the casing to the adjacent walls. That way if the door and adjacent walls are not perfectly plumb and parallel, you won't be able to see the discrepancy as easily as you would if the margin was a 1/2" instead of 2".

Use liquid nails in between your floor and sub floor to prevent squeaks. Use screws instead of nails there as well as on the cross bracing of the floor joists to further prevent squeaks. Use 5/8" drywall instead of 1/2" as is typically used in residential construction.

Learn to use the word "okay" any time your wife suggests anything.

 

[stratman]

One of the things that has really bugged me about the few residential jobs that I have worked on is the tendency of architects to try and put 10lbs of $h!t into a 5lb bag. First off I'll start ranting about doors. 2'4" wide for bathrooms and 2'6" for bedrooms is not wide enough. Next thing that gets me is when doors are not centered in their opening. For instance, let's say you have a closet at the end of a hallway. Center the door in that hallway. Lastly, leave enough room for the casings. I would probably cream myself if I found such a door at the end of a hallway and it actually had 2" from the casing to the adjacent walls. That way if the door and adjacent walls are not perfectly plumb and parallel, you won't be able to see the discrepancy as easily as you would if the margin was a 1/2" instead of 2".

Use liquid nails in between your floor and sub floor to prevent squeaks. Use screws instead of nails there as well as on the cross bracing of the floor joists to further prevent squeaks. Use 5/8" drywall instead of 1/2" as is typically used in residential construction.

Learn to use the word "okay" any time your wife suggests anything.

That's why you'll want a professional Interior Designer working with you, issues with space planning, wall placement and small details skipped by 90% of architects are finished by a designer, most architects are more concerned with exterior aesthetics as opposed to interior space.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I have to agree with TLS on this one. Many, many houses are on the market right now that you can basically "steal". Take a good look before you build one.

 

[Alex2507]

Another thing that bugs me is when somebody, especially an architect, shows up and wants to borrow my tape measure. Construction etiquette demands that everybody bring there own tape measure.

Alright, I'll admit that I'm not a fan of the architect. Changing stuff around and bringing forward progress to a grinding halt. Why can't they get it right the first time or at least before it gets built?

I'm not allowed to talk at work anymore.

 

[ErinH]

Think carefully about why you want to build now. Right now real estate is a depreciating asset, at least new construction. There must be tons of good used homes out there right now, at a good price. The prices are going to get better. Your new house is going to be valued in line with what is already out there.

The other issue is the banks don't have the money to lend right now, and they are currently scared away from Real Estate especially new construction.

I would have a really good look at what is out there now, and see if there is something you like. Remember you house is worth less than you think, and may be on the market a year or more. You say it is not a nice house and gloomy. Houses with problems just don't sell right now, so you may have to make it a rental for a considerable period. Unless you have a lot of ready cash, the banks won't likely advance you money until that house sells at this time. So then you will need temporary accommodation. It will be easier if you buy a nice house already built. If it is one a bank wants off their hands, you may well get a deal.

Unless things are very different your way, from the conditions in the mid west, now is a bad time to think of new construction.

All good points. And we haven't completely ruled out buying vs. building yet.

Though, I would like to clear a few things up right quick:
The house we're in right now is a rent-free house. It's in my wife's family as a "starter" house so all we pay is our utitlities. That's allowing us to save up money.

Another thing is that her dad will be building the house. He won't make a dime off of us, and we'll be doing a lot of our own work (insulation, painting, wiring here and there, etc). Pretty much anything we can do, we will do. Additionally, her dad has made so many connections in the industry that alot of his subs will do jobs for dirt cheap for his family. Though they don't do this for the homes they build for others who are not part of his (our) family. That'll save us even more money.

It usually takes him about 4-5 months to complete a house for a family member. So, though we want to start in 6 months, we don't expect to be moved into a house until late, late in the year.

The big reason we want to build is mainly becasue we can. We have the opportunity to build the way we want for very cheap since her dad wont' be charging us his typical $30-40k contractor's fee. We haven't looked around enough to say what kind of $ difference we're looking at vs. buying a house, though.

 

[Mort Corey]

Wow...if I was living in a gloomy house rent free I'd go with some smiley face stickers ...see how cheery it is already?

Only thing I can advise with building most anything, is to take your maximum estimate and add 20% minimum. Another thing that might influence your decision to build vs buy ready made, would be building fees/permits etc. In my area the fees on a 2000 sq ft house are around $50K...that's before the first shovel goes into the ground.

Good luck on your project. My two cents....stay where you are and sock up some more money for another year. I think you'll find that existing home prices will be another 25% or more less expensive then.....then again, if you're going to build, prices for materials will probably (likely) be more expensive.

Mort

 

[TVJon]

Having gone through this process myself, I would add a couple of points:

1) Invest in structural elements which are impossible to change later. I decided I wanted 9-foot walls in my basement because I didn't want it to feel like a typical "watch your head" basement. Now I have a media room and enough height to have a tray ceiling and a projector that's not going to hit anyone in the head. All of the rooms have ceilings about 9 feet from the floor, instead of the more typical shorter ceilings. You can't imagine how much difference this one decision has made in how people feel when they walk downstairs. Typically they're surprised and impressed.

2) For the same reason (invest in important structural stuff), I added an extra daylight window for a basement bedroom I haven't built yet.

3) I also built a 3-stall garage rather than 2.

All of these decisions played to my desire to maximize the potential of my house rather than shortchanging the project to have it all finished immediately. If I ever build again, I will repeat these decisions. Planning and patience really do pay off.

Hope this helps.

TVJon