building a new home

[Mike Zechman]

Hey fella's, i'm building a new home right now with a respected builder. The ground breakin starts Friday for the foundation. I've heard many stories good and bad when building, if you don't mind sharing some with me, i'd appreciate it. I'll take any advice on what to look for during this process, so i don't get jacked in the end.



Thanks,



Mike:wacko:

 

[mike chip]

make sure you have good drainage and waterproofing on your foundation. or you will be sorry.

 

[Marty Klein]

Your first decision is do you want to watch the construction as it occurs or wait and see the finished product? If you watch it as it is built prepare to be frustrated as you will invariably have a different opinion of how things should look than the builder. You must also watch every step so that problems can be corrected up front. If you wait until the end, then you will only be able to influence cosmetic fixes. Also know that you may ask for things to be different only to find out to late it costs extra. Ask about extra costs as you go along. War game everything you want before it is complete by the builder. That way the house won't be done only to have you ask yourself, what if ...

 

[JAMES MOORE]

Make absolutly sure that what you want is written into the contract. Verbal is not good enough. Also ensure that it's written into the contract that you pay a percentage of the agreed upon amount as the work is completed and that a 10% retaining fee is held until all work is completed to your satisfaction. Ummmm, seems working for an engineering firm has taught me some lessons.

 

[Jason L]

If you are married, then building a house together requires you knowing a good divorce attorney



My wife and I had the stupidest fights ever when we built our house... (one was over what color toilet was going in a spare bathroom)

 

[John Glover]

Mike: As simple as it may sound, I found it helped my last building effort by listing my requirements for each major tradesman, i.e., plumber, electrician, carpenter, mason., in writing, copies to the builder and each tradesman. For instance, you'll surprise yourself when you think about just the simple placement of 110v receptacles. I forgot to ask for one on the outside of the garage...you know, where you need one? Same for a water faucet just outside the garage door (if you wash your own car). ALL bathrooms need a window AND an exhaust fan. All water pipe lines must be copper. Under toilet and under sink. lavatory water feed lines need to be the flexible steel wrapped version... not rigid copper or worse, plastic. Specify the overhang around the house...in the South, it should be ample. Call for heavy duty hardware cloth doubled over any attic ventilators so birds and squirrels can't get in (they go right through the louvers and that screen wire). You want two lights in the attic....one at each end, turned on by one switch at the access door to the attic.

See what I mean?

Drives you crazy thinking of all these things, but it's worth it.

jag

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

If it is a stick built and you want quality you need to inspect the lumber and know what you are looking at. Bad lumber=Bad construction.



TOXIC

 

[chris acuff2]

Good post Mike,the wife and I are getting ready to build a new home and seperate shop for my boat. Great input from everyone, keep them coming. And good luck on your building project.

 

[Larry Harp]

I've worked with builders for years selling them carpet, countertops and now lighting and hardware. Let me tell ya, I could write a book. I knew one "respected" builder who built upper end homes that got busted for running a meth lab in his house. So much for the respected deal. I'm constantly challenged by builders who don't pay their bills or use the draw off the house two blocks over to buy materials for your house and then someday the whole thing comes crumbling down and he can't finish anything he's working on. Are you paying the bills as you go or is your builder giving you an allowence for items like floor covering, lighting, hardware, and plumbing fixtures? Is the allowence reasonable or do you seem to be going over on everything? That's how they get the cheapest price per sq ft. bid. Watch out too, some builders will make a profit on the customer choice items in addition to the profit he's making on the house. The best plan is cost plus say 10% for the builder. That way you're more in control of the bills but don't forget, every $1.00 you spend it really $1.10.



Several things I can think of right off the top of my head....



Spell out everything with the builder up front. What can be misunderstood WILL be misunderstood.



Be polite and speak to the trades but DO NOT stand around and talk to them or give them instructions or make changes without the builder present. I've seen serious cans of worms get opened by doing that. First of all, even though they will put up with your presense they really don't want the homeowner hanging around asking questions and chit chatting. There are some exceptions but most toolbelt guys just want to do their job and get home.



Changes are expensive. Especially things like moving plumbing and electrial and walls. Yes belive it or not I've seen houses where the buyer decided the garage wasn't big enough and had an exterior wall bumped out. Saw another not long ago where the lady decided she wanted the washing maching where the drier was wired and vented and vice/versa...I can't imagine how much it cost to flip/flop that. Same lady had the staircase re-done three times and then was pissed because the house ended up costing $200,000 more than the original estimate.



Think seriously about what you want to upgrade. Remember you're going to be paying intrest on that thicker carpet or solid brass lavatory faucet for a long long time. Do the math, do you really want to pay hundreds of dollars of intrest on a celing fan in a spare bedroom when it's very easy to come over to my store and buy a good one for $89. What ever you do, don't finance your kitchen appliances on your home mortgage....you'll be paying intrest on that microwave or refrigerator long after it's gone to the land fill.



Here's the best builder boo-boo I've ever seen. The picture below is a house that came in just under a million bucks (actually next door to the 200k overrun house). If you look closely you'll see a pin with a pink flag....that's the property line. I forget now exactly how far over it was but it seems like around 12 or 16 feet. That ended up being some pretty expensive land. The lady in the house next door is an attorney. All could have been avoided with a simple pin survey. He is a respected builder too. I do business with him now and he's a real good guy he just screwed up.

Hope I haven't scared you into apartment life.



Harpo

 

[Mike Newman]

My short and sweet comments. I built my home 3 years ago and still live in it today. I am happy with the house, but will NEVER build again for number of reasons that I won't go into now because you are already past that point. If you do not already have things in writing it will be a struggle to get them done after the fact without incurring extra costs. My biggest simple rule is don't nit pick all of the small stuff(and there will be plenty). Once the builder realizes what he is dealing with there are 1000's of areas in the building process they can re-coup lost profit and you will never know it. Be reasonable and honest as you want them to be to you and you will end up much better in the long run. I had a couple of medium issues pop up during the process that the builder agreed to take care of for free only because they knew I had been reasonable to them for some honest mistakes they had made earlier that in the end did not affect what I was going to get. Every once in awhile I had to remind them of a few of the items I cut them some slack on, but overall we had a decent relationship. I was on the job site everyday just to make sure that things were done right and subs were not cutting corners. I'm no builder, but somethings are obvious. For example when the concrete guys were doing the basement walls they over ran the forms and covered about 20 feet of foundation drain tile with concrete. If I had not been out there that evening to see that it would have been back filled and gone from sight only to re-appear as a basement leak somewhere inthe future. I called the project manager and he had it fixed early the next morning. One last thing I started that now the builder includes on all projects is I put a cheap spiral notebook in the house. Whenever I was out on the site and saw something that was not done right or just had a question I would add a note or question to this "log" book. What I found out is that when done constructively the crews/project manager actually liked the fact that the issues was noted while the sub crew was still on site so it could be fixed without having to try and get the sub crew back to the site after they have moved on to another job. My builder now includes that log as a part of the project paperwork for each house. Good luck and hope it goes reasonably well for you.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Here's a twist....

Have a bug company come out and treat it just as soon as the concrete is dry.

 

[Mad Kayaker]

Hey Mike - a few things outside of what everyone already listed that you might want to think about if you haven't already locked down the plans



1. Make sure if you have a basement, that they put in a hole at the lowest point for a sump pump even if you live on high ground



2. If you have a basement and are not finishing it, have the plumbing roughed out in the concrete so you don't have to drill out the floor later when you do plan on finishing it



2. If you can, make sure that you add additional outlets for every room. Also add a cable tv outlet for every room. When the cable guy comes after the home is finished, make sure they add an amp to boost the signal for the additional outlets. Yor family and guests will appreciate this



3. Add recessed lights to every room - I have two rooms I didn't do this to and am kicking myself



4. Elongated toilets for every bathroom - you are a guy - enough said



5. If it isn't too late and they are putting in overhead wiring from the street, see if you can have it buried undergorund to your house (one of the few things I didn't do and regret)



6. If you have an attic that you might want to finish later, see if they can leave some plywood sheets up there before they finish the ceilings and access otherwise you will have to cut up the plywood to bring through the access later (although some locations will not allow you to leave plywood in an unfinished attic because of fire hazard)



7. If possible - get the permission of the contractor to see the place after the wiring and plumbing is in and before they finish the walls, etc.... and take pictures so you know where the wiring is and locations off pipes so if you have to cut into walls later, you will have pice of mine.



8. Thinking about technology, either have them place conduits for wiring cat5, cat6 and/or speaker wiring along with electrical. Although these days, you can use a wireless antenna for computers. I hard wired my house with cat 6 for every room and then some and like that friends can come over and work by just plugging into my network



9. Think about the electrical switches - I used lutron switches and also had them wire in for a future ceiling fan for the master bedroom and family room so all I need to do is hang the fan and connect to the wiring when I want to install the fans in the future



10. Extra outdoor electrical outlers



11. Make sure if you live up north that they install frost prevention water spigots so they don't freeze over in the winter



12. Make sure when the house is done, the contractor shows you how to shut off the water, electricity, gas, oil, etc... in emergencies - also how your boiler works, etc...



13. Get the numbers for the contractors used for all utilities and put that someplace you can get access to in case of an emergency



14. If you like a nice lawn or are going to have a nice lawn, think about putting in an irrigation system now. If you have public sewer but can have a well and live in an area where there are conservation measures, check into adding a well if you put in an irrigation system



15. Along the lines of outdoor lighting, make sure to either install garage lighting with a sensor or replace whatever they put in with one with a sensor



16. The biggest regret - 3 or 4 car garage versus standard 2 car garage. My next house will have a 3 or 4 car garage for sure!!!



Well, those were just a few thoughts. I think I had a list of 60 things that I went through with the contractor before I hired him - from distance between the studs in the wall to grade of roofing shingles. He appreciated the fact that I wanted to make sure we were in sync up front and I wasn't going to bother him during construction and I appreciated that he kept everything on a punch list the entire time.



Hope this helps, Bill, the Mad Kayaker



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[Mike Zechman]

WOW guys, thanx, I didn't expect this much feedback!!! You guys are the Chit!! A few things I did on my end..........I have everything in writin contract, and signed. We picked how many, and where to put recepts, cable and phone jacks, lights ect. I forgot about the water hook ups outside, so thanx for that one fella's, i need to re-look my blueprints over.....anyway, I am in the field of maintenance, so i know how things work, I opted to get rid of copper(cuz we use CPVC at work now) and am using CPVC and PVC for all water and drain lines in the house, I also picked all the places for shut offs and unions for easy removal. Yes they put in the perforated 4" PVC around the foundation and piped to a sump, and the poured walls are water proofed inside and out(according to my prints). My land is already staked by a surveyor with boundries ect. No street light around me, no easements on my property,which is only .5 acre. I went with the over sized garage. Its 2 car, 20'6" X 26'8" inside dimensions. I am not a fan of recessed lighting, because they only look nice but don't light upo the room well, in my Rancher I live in now I have 6 recessed lights in the living room, and we still had to put table lamps in to be able to read at night. I only did recessed lights in the Kitchen. I have ceiling fans in elsewhere in the center of the rooms. I don't do extra's at this time as far as electrical, because I will do most by myself, since I have done electrical work for 9 years, so I'm saving money there, my basement will not be fisnished, I will do that myself also, i also do have a heatpump(trane) central air,(Trane, 13 sear) 200 amp service with 240 subpanel for welding only.....anyway, I hope I answered most of your questions, so you's know where I'm at, and thanx guys, this really helps, I'm not lookin forward to this until I can sit in my new house with a cold one!!!!!:lol:

 

[Steve Hutson]

Mike, Sounds like you have everything worked out and lord knows, you've recieved some great advice. I built a new house last year and everything came out great! We couldn't be happier. The only thing that I could add is that I was on site every day and checked everything. If I saw something that I didn't like or didn't understand, I asked. No one seemed to mind and all questions were answered.



Also, and this will sound crazy, but we were also building during the heat of the summer. My wife and I decided that we would keep two coolers full of cold water, gatorade and cokes for the subs and told them to help themselves. Sure it cost us some money, but it was something that we wanted to do. Several subs told us that they had never been treated so good by an owner. We never asked for anything in return, simply tried to be good Christians by treating others as we would like to be treated.



Steve

 

[Donnie Matney]

Mike maybe a couple more things I can add.



1. You may want to add a water outlet in your garage.

2. You may want to insulate your garage.

3. If you are going to add a porch swing have the framers mount a good piece of lumber so you can hang your swing from it. ( I used a 4x4)

4. If you have dogs you may want to add a dog room. We bought our house already built and the owners had a small 6x6 room that was insualted, had a a row of blocks around the room and a drain in the middle. They have a small lot outside thier doggy door so they can go out side also. It's almost like a small kennel, just some place they can sleep at night.



Donnie

 

[Donnie Matney]

One more thing I forgot to add was make sure you have extra places in your breaker box to add breakers. Mine is full and I wish I had a couple more for outdoor lights and stuff.



Donnie

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

Don't watch the Movie Money Pit with Tom Hanks!!, JK good luck.

 

[Mike Zechman]

Don Jovi, do you have a 200 amp box? They should not be near full, unless the electrical dude put every circuit on its own breaker!? Typically they put the bare minimum in a house unless you ask for more like i did, but even so, it takes a heck of alot of breakers to fill a 200AMP box, matter of fact I never saw a full one round here, and I've installed probly 20 or more of them myself...................Also my dog sleeps on my bed with me and the wife, he's a golden, and he runs the house during the day, he;s a good pup, so i don't worry about him ever doing anything, at least he hasn't yet!!!!!



Thanx guys, i'll give updates

 

[Donnie Matney]

Mike I just checked and it is a 200 amp. I am clueless when it comes to wiring but I thinking some of them could be consolidated. For example the range microwave has it's own breaker, and there is not even a range microwave. I know there were just planning ahead, but I think it could be put on with the kitchen GFI's.



Donnie

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Upgrade the wall and ceiling insulation. Top of the line windows.



Get top notch roofing.



I did sticky notes:lol: on my interior remodel and the GC loved it. I could go to work and come home to inspect. Didn't take any of their time.



Be flexible.



I did lunches/drinks etc., for the workers. They do the work and they did an extra fine job.



In my evening time, I also cleaned up and swept, they appreciated it.



Think ahead, if you are planning a Koi pond or anthing that requires extra lankscaping (any landscaping actually), have them do it during construction when they already have the heavy equipment there instead of renting the equipment later or doing it by hand or worse yet paying a landscaper to do it. This includes lot leveling and grading for drainage.



Leave access openings to get to hard to reach plumbing/electrical...behind tubs etc.



Have power and speaker wire run to your deck(s).





TOXIC

 

[Dan Sullivan]

I have to second what was said about the extras your builder may offer. They seriously jack up the prices on those. My builder offered a garage door opener for $900.00. :wacko: You would think that one might be included in a 400,000 house....nope. Sears had one in the day after I moved in for $300.00.



And other than the fact that my road and driveway don't have their finish coats after two years, everything

 

[Gene B]

Don, you can still add a sub-panel beside your service panel. I wouldn't start removing existing circuits from the house.



Mike, check out all the sub contractors. Talk to the local inspectors. (we may not be able to give recommendations on contractors, but we can usually get the point accross, if you know what I mean )



Gene

 

[Tim Jeffers]

Lien wavers every time you make an installment.



TJ