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Building Our Custom Home |
| TOP 10 HOME BUILDING TIPS Here are my current Top 10 Suggestions When Building a Custom Home. They come from our experience, from my readers and from what I have read. 1. Start the process well before you actually get serious. It is never too early to cut out magazine articles and pictures of things you love and put those and brochures and other info in your "dream house" file. 2. Take your time with the designing process. Re-visit the house plan dozens of times over several weeks (or months) until you are certain it is right. Changes after the plans are drawn up are costly. 3. Interview several builders and check out their references. Not all builders are alike and the builder can either make the experience hell or heaven (well, no builder can actually make it pure pleasure, but he sure can make it mostly pleasant). The cost can also be dramatically different as builders can charge anywhere from 8-25% commission. If the builder knows you are serious and are interviewing, they will be more competitive with their bids. 4. Educate yourself on the home building process via the internet, books and periodicals. It can save you money and a lot of headache if you know what is going on and how to make better decisions. One book I recommend Your New House by Alan & Denise Fields. 5. Celebrate every achievement. Athena and I bought 20 mini bottles of champagne and toasted every possible milestone starting with our plans being complete. We sipped bubbly when the permit was in, when the footings were complete, when the framing was done, etc. It gave us something positive to look forward to during the stressful process. 6. Realize that if you expect 100% perfection, you will be overly stressed and highly disappointed. There are some mistakes (yours or the builders) that you will just need to laugh off and issue forgiveness. A beautiful new home isn't worth it if you give yourself a heart attack by stressing too much. 7. Lots of outlets. So many people mentioned this point that there must be something to it. Outlets are cheap if you put them in at the right time. At least one per wall and don't forget the outside for holiday lights, power tools, fountains and other usages. The same goes for hose bibs. 8. Make sure the construction contract you sign protects you as the purchaser. Put in a reasonable completion date (don't rush them or they will do shoddy work) with a financial penalty for every day they go past that date. 9. Consider how long you will live in this house. If you will live in it 10 years or more, consider energy efficient ideas that will pay you back like a solar powered hot water heater or a more energy efficient heating/cooling system. All brick exterior will also pay you back in the long term. 10. Location, location, location. A dream house on a bad lot is a bad investment. Don't build a $500,000 home in a $300,000 neighborhood. If you are interested in resale value, also consider school districts and future growth in the surrounding neighborhood. **************
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