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My wife and I are looking for a new home... we'll be staying in Frisco but moving to bigger digs... perhaps...
We've looked at different subdivisions around Frisco and found some nice lots at decent prices. However, we've never built a home from scratch. Any words of wisdom from you guys... especially you fellas already in the Grayhawk subdivision?!
Thanks!
Buy a hammer, and get some wood! :P
You wanting to swing the hammer Sparky? Or are we talking about having one built?
Yes, having one built... Bob Vila I am not!Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
Although I am good with a hammer... just put your toes out and I'll show ya!! :twisted: :twisted: :wink:
When we bought the Palatial POS Compound we had it built. It was one of the big builders but we got to pick the brick and all the stuff on the inside! Just don't get sucked in on the options, we added ones that we thought would make it more marketable when we ditch it for the next Palatial POS Compound. We added stuff like a big Jacuzzi tub, and upgraded the kitchen cabinet, other than that it was pretty much the standard house.
BTW. I snuck in during off hours and added all the wires for my surround sound, as well as several extra outlets (all this stuff the builder wanted extra mullah to do for me.)
I built a custom home about 8 years ago up in Anna...
The biggest advice I can give you is... if there is something that is important to you, make sure it's in writing. We ran in to a couple of issues where this saved us. For example, the counter top guy cut the wrong wholes for the sink faucets... Due to me having paperwork, he got to pay for fixing it.
Also, a case of cold bear in a cooler about quitting time (usually around 3:00pm) will get you a better built house... :wink:
:shock:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave04
Talk to someone who knows HVAC first! My uncle does this and you would be amazed how the slightest change of the way the house or roof sits will make in your effeciency. Also roof tiles, color of house, and windows will make a huge savings. Look into it, there is a science to it.
Kevin
I believe that Gary owns a HVAC company in his "other" life.Quote:
Originally Posted by nivek2002
What could be better than a whole house TrackDog system! :wink:
dunno how different it is way over there in Frisco, but I had mine built a year or so ago.. My roomate is in the process of doing that himself right now.. Neither are totaly custom or anything, just got to pick the plan, the lot and all the options and stuff..
It's really pretty straightforward.. They liek to make it easy for you to blow LOTS of money ;) Watch out in the "design center" where you pick out all of your "upgrades" it can get real expensive real quick. I think I spend a maita in there...
Whose your builder?
Oh, and the biggest thing when picking your lot.. Pay extra attention to the drainage and see if all the neighbors lots are going to make yours swampy :)
Never done this, but have friends with stories. The most important one relates to POS's written requirement.
One of my old bosses built a house. They had a top $, and the contractor kept offering upgrades - whole house vacuuming system, latest technology appliances, etc. Bob and Margie kept saying "Cool", and the contractor never said a word about the budget.
Long story short:
- Way over budget
- Contractor said it wasn't his fault
- Judge said contractor went over budget
- Contractor had to eat the house
- Bob and Margie missed out on a beautiful log home and had to scramble to find a place to live
Are you going custom? or are you picking a floor plan?
I've never built a home, I prefer to find them pre-built. There are two reasons for this: 1) I'm not much on designing things, I don't have the vision, so it's hard for me to see a house based on plans. 2) Everyone I know, including my brother, who has built a custom house of their dreams, has wished they would have done something different, shortly after completion. :?
I figure, it's just easier for me to adjust to my surroundings thsn for me to have my surroundings adjust to me.
It's definately easier on you, the builder, and your budget to pickout a track home and have it customized to suit you, that to start with a blank sheet of paper.
Good luck, let us know how it goes.
We're still in the planning stages... but it would be an existing plan customized by us...
For example, we're looking at a large footprint single story home with a three car garage...
We're met with the builder yesterday just to discuss prices, lots, elevations...
We'll see!
I appreciate all the good tips so far... keep 'em coming!
Make one of those garages have an extra high ceiling with a lift! 8)Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
Ewww Ahhhh, I gotta get me one of those :thumrigh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Treibenschnell
Mrs Ataim and I built a custom home a few years ago. Good times. When building a "tract" home and putting you touches on it I would recomend that you upgrade things that cannot be upgraded later. Cabinets, low e windows, stuff like that. The carpet that is stock is like having cheap tires. It may look nice in the beginning, but after a few years it will wear out and look like crap.
FOUNDATIONS!!!! make sure that you have the soil tested (not just surface, BORE samples) and a foundation designed for it. Our custom home had 26 peirs drilled 15-18 feet to rock, 4,600 bucks, but it will never have foundation problems. Make sure that the lot was not once a pond, creek or low area that has been filled. One web site to find new and old aerial photographs with contours is www.dfwmaps.com I visit this site almost daily. current photos are 6" reslolutions, and you can see lot details from years past.
On another note. Home owner dues?
And look at restrictions/covenants - Especially if you ever want to do anything like put up a satellite dish, wood fence, trampoline, kids playhouse, or an amateur radio antenna!
RJ
Have the contract reviewed by a competent attorney. A lot of builders use really nasty contracts. Watch out especially for binding arbitration clauses and warranty disclaimers for mold problems. Builders almost universally like to insert these clauses into their contracts, and each can cause you big problems down the road.
Linkie.
S.
....Blue cars in the yard....Quote:
Originally Posted by channelmaniac
In my 25 years of marriage to the current spouse (I had two previously) we have built 5 homes. (That's in addition to the 4 we bought that were not new) It doesn't matter how much you plan, there will always be something you failed to think of prior to construction. My list of stuff to think about include:
1) Location and lot size/corner lot, etc. Some have more limitations.
2) Side entry garage vs. front entry (I prefer side entry myself)
3) Home design, number of baths/half baths
4) Electrical outlets, especially in garage. Unfortunately, most builders install only a couple of outlets, and want to charge through the nose for extras. A minimum of one on each side wall, and two on the front wall is a must imho, plus, you need at least one 220 outlet.)
5) Driveway length/width. Be sure you get enough parking pad, even if it costs a thousand or so extra.
6) Don't compromise on carpet. Get good stuff, preferrably stain-free.
7) Ample wood and floor tile. Costs extra, but worth it on resale.
8) Make sure the neighborhood will support your investment, and check covenants thoroughly before deciding on a particular subdivision. For instance, you want to be sure you can have an out-building for lawn mowing equipment, etc...
9) Build the house to fit your lifestyle.
10) Get as much house as you can afford, then stretch to the next level. Most often, your financial situation will improve over time (age, job, education level dependant) and what you thought was out of reach is really not that bad, and you have more home with better resale. Think of it this way, If you pay 200K plus for a basic home financed over 15, or even 30, years, you have X amount of monthly payment. If you can get more home or amenities for an extra 20K financed over the same amount of time, you are only adding 150 to 200.00 to the payment, but your return on selling will generally be twice the extra amount invested...
Hope all this makes sense, and good luck on building. If your marriage survives building a home, you can pretty much count on going the distance... :)
FWIW, we had a pretty good experience, though I've heard of a lot both ways.
There's been a lot of good advice in this thread already. Personally, I think you're smart for not going full custom. IMHO, full custom is for people who can afford some serious work with an architect. Building "exactly what you want" isn't always smart -- there are people out there who spend half a lifetime putting together the skills to assure that spaces they design are livable. Lots of people I've known who "did their own" custom ended up with weird stuff that a) didn't always work out for them in the long run, b) didn't work for anyone other than them so didn't have any resale value, or c) ran into problems during the build.
In our shopping before buying we discovered that each of the builders looked at things a little differently. For example, Comapny A might "give" you a certain item while Company B charges for it. For some companies, these things wash. (I watched a lady leave the sales office screaming because they wanted $150 to paint her garage -- on a $200k+ house.) I guess the trick here is to look at the real pricing -- i.e. the pricing of what you want, with options and all, so you can compare apples to apples (as best you can).
Some companies do some pretty screwy stuff with options. A friend who's just building now was asked to put up half the total cost of his "options" up front. That struck me as strange as we had more than three times the "options" (cost-wise) in our house and were asked for only $1k up front and $4k on construction start. Go figure.
While they're right about looking for tough wording in contracts, there's really not a lot you can do about it short of saying "no." (Which, in many cases, is a good option!)
It seems like it's very possible to "bring a lot of the problems with you." For example, I met a guy who was just PISSED OFF because they wouldn't provide him with a "list of options" until after he signed his contract. Sure, he's right to be worried. (I'd have never signed the contract before we worked out the details.) But I discovered that there just really isn't a "list of options" for most houses. By asking over and over for a "list" he just sounded like he didn't know what he was doing. OTOH, they LOVE to sell upgrades, so by just asking a lot of questions you can find out what you need to know. (i.e. "Is this the only fireplace you offer?" "Can I have a wider door?" "Are there other elevations?")
Be sure and give consideration to market cost for upgrades. It seems (to me) that each builder has some things they like doing and some that they don't. For example, most of them don't want to do any serious fence work, so if ask for it they'll just quote you outrageous rates. My builder, for example, wanted WAY too much for hardwood flooring (considering the quality of their options) but had great options on granite countertops. This works both ways -- OzCop's advice on carpet is serious stuff. If it costs you another $2-$7k for great carpet DO IT. If you take the cheap stuff you'll be ponying up more than that 1.5-2 years later when it wears out. (Nothing like buying 3-4k sq. ft. of carpet...)
As far as electrical outlets and plumbing -- it's surprisingly cheap to add things when you're building new. Outlets were $25 each for us, and plumbing the garage for a sink was a whopping $125. Most building codes will require an outlet every so many feet anyway, so you'll probably get plenty, but OzCop's right -- get what you want. Remember when you're making those decisions to think about the future, too. Sure, you may already know that you're putting your TV on THAT wall, but why not put drops on the other walls, too, so the next people can put theirs wherever they want it.
Don't be afraid to ask your salesperson and even builder (at or before the redline meeting) what you might have missed. They've seen dozens (hunrdreds?) of builds including many good ideas and bad ones. I'm always surprised at how many people seem to end up in battles with their builders/salespeople. My salesperson recommended a number of options that saved me a ton and look great -- like the lighting in the media room, Bean -- and the builder suggested a number of things I'm glad I don't have to live without.
As far as I can tell, every build runs into problems. Lots of problems. At the simplest level workers will break or otherwise jack up other workers' work. Sometimes they're big mistakes, like mis-aligned plumbing in the foundation, etc. No company can promise no mistakes. I think what separates the good ones from the not-so-good ones are how they handle the problems. It seems like there's a group out there pissed off at every builder in the world. Take it all with a grain of salt. Do your own research, then establish a good relationship with the people you work with -- especially the builder building your house. Give him a certificate to take his wife to dinner, buy him a case of beer, etc. Let him know you really value his work and he'll look out for you. On our final walkthrough our builder found 10x the items we did...
One last thing (for now -- I remember more as I think about it): Many companies have more than one builder -- one for "bigger" houses one for "smaller." Buy big enough to deal with the big ones -- they're a lot easier to deal with and give you a lot less BS from what I hear.
Like I said, we'll have to sit down sometime and I'll spew all the other things I remember.
Chuck
There's been some good advice already, and I'll add my 2ยข:Well, those are my "words of wisdom", for what they are worth. :wink:
- Find a builder you trust -- this is the hardest part, since most are not completely trustworthy. My guess is you are looking at a sub-division (like Grayhawk) with several "big name" builders. Check them out. Look at the houses in progress in the neighborhood, and see the level of workmanship. Talk to people who own that builder's homes (I'll be glad to give you my impressions/opinions about Legacy/Meritage).
Find a location you like. You are going to live in this community a long time, make sure you like the area. The community's amenities. The community's covenants. The stores in the area. The traffic (no traffic in DFW is "good", but you'd better make sure the 5:00 rush hour is something you can live with). The schools (if you are planning to have children). This is stuff you can't change, so make sure your OK with it.
Pick a floorplan than is what you'll need... in 5 to 7 years. The last house I bought was perfect for us the day we move in, and it was twice as big as our previous place. We figured we'd never outgrow it. 2 years later, we were wishing we had bought something bigger. We ended up selling it -- for a small gain -- to buy our current house after having lived in it less than 5 years. We could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we had though ahead a little more. But the reverse can also be true. My boss spent 2 years building a custom designed, custom built 8,000 square foot house. He moved in 18 months ago, and it's now on the market... he says it's too much house for he and his wife.
Once you pick a floorplan, put in the options that you can't easily add later. Sure, wood floors are nice. But those can be put in without much trouble 5 years from now. But optioning that downstairs half-bath with a shower (to make it a full bath for your guests) would be much more expensive after the house is completed. $3,000 might sound like a lot of money to add 4 or 5 feet on to your garage's depth, but doing it now will be a lot cheaper than later. Save the carpet upgrades for later... they can wait.