Building a home

[self biased]

do either of you cook? if/when i get to the point to where i can have my dream kitchen, i'm getting a totally *****in' stove that has six burners, a flat top grill and a char broiler. even if y'all aren't into that sort of thing, make sure you get an exhaust hood that actually vents outside. many of the ones i encounter in the homes i work in only vent away from the stove in the same room, which seems to be counter-intuitive. failing that a good chest freezer and maybe a draft system if you're into that sort of thing.

[Flubber]

NW...we're building in Sage Hill.

We were also leaning towards Morrison Homes if only because I've heard nothing but good things. And they've won Builder of the Year 10 years in a row, top of the JD Powers survey, etc.

s

Our experience was very positive. It started with the sales guy-- He was completely up front about what the price included and what else we could expect to pay-- the best example is carpet where he told us that the allowance in the price could buy a certain underlay and type of carpet but he indicated it was "starter home quality and everyone upgrades"-- His estimate of what the range would be for this "upgrade" was dead on, as it was for everything else. We liked his honesty ( I think he had been selling for them for over a decade). ---With respect to deficiencies after move in, we heard horror stories from neighbors about their builders (lots of deficiencies and trades came all on different days and never were scheduled well so they never know when people would show up.) On our end the builder scheduled a deficiency day a few months after move in ( for some minor things) and all three trades showed up that day and dealt with the issues.

Since then, one of my best friends also built with Morrison and had a very similar experience. I believe they can be slightly more costly that some competing builders, but not by a great deal. I also wanted to say our supervisor from Morrison was top-notch. We would look at some of his deficiencies and appreciate how very very picky he was being. I remember they only had two crews doing all their framing in our neighborhood due to quality reasons (they said that less experienced crews did their smaller houses which were less complex)-- it meant their schedule was longer than some others (when we were signing up, other builders could have built faster) but I was happy to be a little later with good quality

[MikeH]

Just make sure it is Zombie Proof.

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/post/4956385434/the-first-zombie-proof-house

[OneFootInTheGrave]

if you build small, there is a lot less to maintain, cost a lot less too... and ultimately the "size" is mostly for guests/some days of the year, where you end up repairing almost as much as using... may be cheaper to buy them all rooms in local hotel for the rest of your life, as much as you are going to spend on extra house building costs and maintenance...

[SpencerH]

Yeah, we have very hard water here. As the home is being built, I'm planning to have them install at the same time central air conditioning, a water softener, and underground sprinklers in the yard.

Thats how they're built. You can put stuff in after but it means tearing the house to pieces. See Holmes. Think ahead, put in fiber optic cable throughout.

As for sprinklers, again think ahead. I just spent days dealing with a sprinkler head that the previous owners had planted virtually at the foot of a tree. Here's a fact, tree's (and their roots) grow. As the tree grows the roots **** up the underground pipes. Fixing that simple problem is a ****ing ***** requiring a lot of hard digging. Also watch the placement of the solenoids. Above ground can be ugly but below ground is more work to fix when they break (and they will). I have 7 underground for our garden (so 7 zones). They are jammed together, which makes for a fairly tidy group of two almost unseen boxes that the previous owners must have thought was nice. Fixing a leaking solenoid (which is fairly simple once you get to them) is, again, a ****ing ***** that requires a ****load of digging. Again, look for trees.

Make sure the bastards use pvc pipe throughout ie check what they're doing before they hide it. I found out have a few connections and pipes that are metal making any repairs 10 times the effort to fix. Try cutting a metal pipe 2 feet underground with regular home tools!

If you have a big yard, dont buy an electric lawnmower. The idea is nice but I swear at mine cos of the cord every time I use it. I'd like to try those robots but I have too many obstacles and parts of the front yard are too steep.

Spend money on mega insulation, best windows, energy efficient devices. It pays for itself in a very short while.

Live close to a Home Depot and become friends with power tools.

[Dinner]

I'm upside down on my house too so hopefully prices aren't about to go down after Asher buys his house. If you don't plan on moving though then I guess it really doesn't matter what the current market price is.

[Asher]

Thats how they're built. You can put stuff in after but it means tearing the house to pieces. See Holmes. Think ahead, put in fiber optic cable throughout.

Each room is wired with Cat6 right now. You think it's worth it to put fibre in?

As a sidenote, the home is built with Fibre to the Home installed.

As for sprinklers, again think ahead. I just spent days dealing with a sprinkler head that the previous owners had planted virtually at the foot of a tree. Here's a fact, tree's (and their roots) grow. As the tree grows the roots **** up the underground pipes. Fixing that simple problem is a ****ing ***** requiring a lot of hard digging. Also watch the placement of the solenoids. Above ground can be ugly but below ground is more work to fix when they break (and they will). I have 7 underground for our garden (so 7 zones). They are jammed together, which makes for a fairly tidy group of two almost unseen boxes that the previous owners must have thought was nice. Fixing a leaking solenoid (which is fairly simple once you get to them) is, again, a ****ing ***** that requires a ****load of digging. Again, look for trees.

Make sure the bastards use pvc pipe throughout ie check what they're doing before they hide it. I found out have a few connections and pipes that are metal making any repairs 10 times the effort to fix. Try cutting a metal pipe 2 feet underground with regular home tools!

If you have a big yard, dont buy an electric lawnmower. The idea is nice but I swear at mine cos of the cord every time I use it. I'd like to try those robots but I have too many obstacles and parts of the front yard are too steep.

Spend money on mega insulation, best windows, energy efficient devices. It pays for itself in a very short while.

Live close to a Home Depot and become friends with power tools.

Thanks

[Krill]

Might as well future proof it.

[SpencerH]

Each room is wired with Cat6 right now. You think it's worth it to put fibre in?

As a sidenote, the home is built with Fibre to the Home installed.


Thanks

You're more of a techie than I but if you have fibre to the house then I think it definitely makes sense.

[SpencerH]

Power stuff I've learned

You cant have a breaker for each power receptacle/outlet but the more the merrier.

Make sure the electrical circuits make sense.
The GFI in our master bathroom is the same circuit as the power to our TV/DVR etc in our TV room. On humid days my wife can blow the circuit with her hair dryer. Its not the end of the world, but it can be irritating to find your programs didnt record cos you didnt notice it.

Dont have circuits with mixed outside and inside outlets.
Until I spent days locating the problem and disconnected it, we had situations where an outside receptacle would blow the circuit in storms and with it the power to the garage door openers. Again, not the end of the world but time consuming to fix.

Think ahead.
Make sure the outside receptacles are not located in areas that could be flooded in the one year the snow melt is heavier than normal (where are the gutter downspouts located) or gradually buried with dirt (I have one like this that caused the garage door problem).

Make sure they put in a real copper ground for the house.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Anyone here built a house before? If so, any tips?

Get a canned laughter track ready, and play it every time you get told the budget.

No housebuilding project ever stays inside budget.

[SpencerH]

A basement sump pump and a drain system under the washing machine can literally save your house!

[onodera]

I'm not familiar with North American home building styles, but I heartily recommend Christopher Alexander if you haven't finalised your floor plan yet. People either hate him or understand what he's trying to say.

[Al B. Sure!]

3

I'm trying to figure out how the two of you would need 3 bathrooms, especially since you've made it clear you don't like kids and will not be adopting any. Two men in three bathrooms.

[Asher]

It's a 3-bedroom house, plus dining room, living room, family room, kitchen, nook, etc.

There's one bathroom on the main floor, one bathroom upstairs, and an ensuite in the master bedroom (with 2 sinks, an oversized shower, and a 6' jetted tub, and large walk-in-closet).