Building a home
 

My husband and I are looking at building a home once his house sells (we currently live in my townhome). We're looking at a Ryan or a Heartland (Heartland is a local builder). Know a little about both. Looking for feedback and experiences in building a home. For instance- what options/extras are worth it and which aren't? What's something you wish you would've known or done when building your home?

Thanks guys!

My dad is a general contractor/remodeler (on a small scale), but he built the house I grew up in; as a homeowner, I can only speak from experience as a home buyer who, the next time, will go with a brand new home.

1) Think about materials and such in terms of how you live and operate within the home. For example, when thinking about flooring, countertops, etc., think about working out some combination between style and practicality. In other words, whether you want no-fuss flooring and countertops, whether you mind something that will require more upkeep.

2) Think about the size of your family, and whether that's something that will change in the next few years. The last thing you want is to build a house that is big enough for x number of people, then end up having to add on in a couple of years.

3) Keep your own spreadsheet of costs, so that you know where your money is going. Even the best contractor can let costs get away from them at times, and you'll want to know where your money is going anyway.

That's all I can think of now, but I'll re-post if I think of anything else.

This may sound bizarre, but I would put a full laundry room on the 2nd floor with the bedrooms rather than in the basement or main floor. Laundry tends to generate in the bedroom area. You can have a drain pan installed in case there would ever be overflow.

Carpeting is less expensive but I would go with hardwood for durability and beauty. I would not have wood floors in the kitchen or bathrooms.

One thing you can't have too many of: electrical outlets. I added an extra one in the master bath, but we forgot to add extras to the basement and garage, where they only put one in each.

This isn't really about "features" but something I've heard more than one person say:

Make your very very careful and thought out decisions as to floor plans, etc, and then DON'T THINK ABOUT IT AGAIN UNTIL THE HOUSE IS DONE. If you keep thinking about it, you'll keep changing things...like when you have a big paper due and keep going back and looking at it and changing sentences until eventually you've rewritten the whole thing. Even if it is to your specifications, nothing is ever going to be perfect.

Actually that isn't crazy at all! My Aunt (when she and my Uncle were married and had their house built) put her washing machine/dryer on the second floor of the house! It is the best thing to do because that way, you don't have to go up and down the stairs traipsing clothing, dropping clothing, and find the "missing" sock that never made it downstairs!
Also, depending on where you live, if possible, get a wood stove! It really, really, really saves on the heating, and if the power goes down, yes you can cook on them babies! I know when my grandparents built their house, they put one in the den and it REALLY saves me when I'm unemployed (like now!)
Actually I prefer laminate flooring. It's easy to clean, and if you have dogs like I do, then it's easy to clean up their dog hair! Also, if possible, get get two bathrooms (one for the guests/kids and your own personal one!). It's much easier to keep up with.
And if you can avoid, do not DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get a ceiling with that popcorn crap! 30 years later, that crap will come down in pieces and be a friggen nightmare (trust me, I have it).

We built a house this year, an the one thing I really wish we had done different is more electrical outlets and cable outlets. I didn't even really think about it at the time.

Also-- think about how much time you want to spend on maintaining things vs. style. If you HATE to clean, you may not want stainless appliances or granite. (I have stainless and Corian Countertops and love both!) If you are going to put up ceiling fans, get the kind with remotes, and think about your room size and the size fan you will need.

We bought some great lighting fixtures, and I'm glad we spent the extra money to do so, it makes a big difference and gives our house character (literally-- my chandelier is a great Mickey Mouse chandelier) that other houses in our neighborhood don't have.

Our family blog (linked in my signature) details everything we went through with the building process.

FWIW, I've known quite a few contractors through my family, and none of them will touch Ryan homes. Haven't heard the same about Heartland. Spend a lot of time with non-Ryan/Heartland/whomever housing plans and see what you and your husband like & don't like. Some people like Great Rooms, others like the separate living room/dining room - things like that. Styles, wood shades, wood floors vs. standard floors, kitchen styles (even what type of faucet!), window styles, number of bedrooms/bathrooms/powder rooms, even landscaping - the more you know prior to making the leap, the better.

There are a lot of online sites with this type of information are sometimes overwhelming. Southern Living has a large number of house plans, plus how to go about planning. My brother & sil used their own plans, but Southern Living's information - it's good stuff.

ETA: Like everyone else says, you can never have too many cable connections or electricial outlets, and a sister of mine who sells real estate won't even touch a house without an upstairs or at least a kitchen area washer/dryer.

Picking up on what Summer said about outlets: remember the basement/attic/garage when it comes to outlet planning. We bought a new home but didn't build it ourselves. The first thing we did after moving in was contact an electrician to add more outlets to the basement and garage. Trust me, you won't regret adding as many outlets as you can in both areas!

If it were me, I'd not only put cable outlets and phone outlets in every room and possibly on more than one wall in each room, I'd also put networking cables. I know everybody has wireless now, but it's really not as secure as hardwired is and it's also not as stable. If I have a stationery computer or game system, I want it hardwired. Laptops are great for wireless though!

I'm not directly involved in buildings, just construction observation from the client's side. Obviously, I deal more with condos and co-ops than free-standing houses, but I've seen so many people who buy $2M apartments that become serious money traps because they were developed by fly-by-night building companies:

• Have an independent inspector go through the building. The builder will want to provide their "own," but pick someone you're comfortable with.
  
  Make sure that the roof is watertight. Make sure that the contractor is willing to have a 20-year No Dollar Limit warranty on the roof.
  
  Make sure that the windows, doors, and skylights are properly caulked, are installed properly, and have 5 to 10-year warranties and acceptable Energy Star ratings.
  
  How are the walls? Gypsum board is what's common, but a bad leak (see above) can require an entire re-plastering of the affected room.
  
  Have your own architect and engineer review the plans. The builders work for themselves, but the architect/engineer work for you. You'll want the house to keep you cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and dry year-round.
  

Good luck!

That would be the last thing I would do. One of my friends JUST had their washer flood their entire home b/c it was on the second floor. It flooded so quickly, the drain was overcome. They are now having to COMPLETELY GUT the entire house. It has been an absolute nightmare for them.

Yes!

And plan to spend more money than your original calculations. Even when building a new home, little, unexpected expenses can come about, and the last thing you want is to not be able to afford your new home.

Secondly, build your rooms around your lifestyle. If you love to cook and entertain, you'd obviously want a big kitchen. If you read a lot, or if you tend to take your work home with you, build a small library/study/office. If you frequently have family staying overnight, build a guest bedroom.. or two.

When it comes to outlets, have a lot of them, but also consider where you're putting them. My apartment has a good number of outlets, but the locations of some of them are weird. Think about where lamps, computers and televisions will probably go, and where you can place furniture to hide cords.

And if you're putting an island in your kitchen, think about whether you'd like an outlet on that, also.

When choosing colors... consider how clean you are (obsessive or laid-back), if you have, or plan to have children, if you have pets, etc.

Lastly, if you have the money, think about any added "bonuses" you'd like. For example, my mom and stepdad completely remodeled their house a few years ago. They have a central vacuum system. My mom (after watching MTV Cribs!!) decided that she wanted a small slit in the wall, adjacent to the floor, so that she could sweep, push the dust and dirt toward the hole, tap a button with her foot, and have the mess be sucked into the wall so that she'd never have to use a dustpan (it's the coolest thing!)