Whatever it takes. Came here to post this. Do every upgrade the builder offers. Don't say to yourself "I'll just do that after closing" because you won't. And if you do, it will cost more. Cost of upgrades may seem like a lot, but when you divide it by 15 or 30 years, it's literally nothing. Get them all. Also, always be thinking of resale value. You're not going to live there forever, so begin with the end in mind.
This far into the thread and nobody's advice is "don't do it"? It's a huge pain in the ass and very expensive to do it right. I suppose the saving grace is op doesn't have a marriage to ruin by going through home build.
This is true. It is very expensive to build right now, so waiting a year or so may allow you to build cheaper. Keep in mind, however, while some costs may come down (lumber), other costs will continue to rise (Labor), so it may end up being a wash.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure I would build a house if I was single. Unless i planned on being single for the next 10 years at least.If you meet a woman and decided to get married, she's going to want a different house.
My father and I did this when I was in HS. It took us 18 months to do everything ourselves (he also worked full time) except the slab, drywall, and wiring the main breaker. The biggest regret we had while building was doing the roof trusses by hand instead of prebuilt. Took forever even though we made a jig, and didn't save much money. Wiring the breaker box is easy... making it neat and tidy is less so, and it needed to be inspected by a professional anyway so it wasn't much of an expense to just have it done. We ran all the lines and wired in the switches and outlets. We even ran Cat5 back in 1998. Zero regrets on paying for a pro on the drywall... would have taken too long to get good enough to pass the "wife/mom test" Was something like 3200sqft under roof, ~2700 living... vaulted ceilings, huge overhang front/rear porch. Biggest regret for me was not sound deadening inside walls... would have been a very minor expense. We treated the ground for termites before pouring the slab, had a pest contract to check for termites periodically... but whoever bought the place after it was sold either didn't keep that up, or it didn't matter, because the termites got it and it's gone now. Sad. We built that house like a tank. 2x6 exterior walls lined with a staggered double layer of treated 5/8 plywood. Big decking screws around the edges of the plywood. Every scrap piece of wood became a brace to hold one thing to another. Current home advice.... use a heat pump for a/c, heat, and water heater. Best insulation value I found when doing some daydreaming and napkin math (before the covid building materials price spike) was to do 1inch foam board and fill the of the wall cavity with cellulose fiber. Only fiber fill was cheaper but you get a nice boost in insulation by adding polyiso foam. Just foam board was too expensive for the difference in Rvalue as was spray foam. Real world, you will see nice reduction in outside airflow with *some* foam board that won't show up by just adding up R value numbers. Totally cutting off airflow with spray foam comes with it's own set of problems that I'd rather not have to deal with.
I just skimmed this thread and for the last year I've been trying to rebuild my house and haven't had much luck. As an architect I've drawn up a few different options for my house but am having a lot of problems getting a contractor and can't get a financing as the financier's I've talked to want a contractor to do the pricing. Pricing is very high right now with lumber particularly high. Many other materials are high as there are shortages and long lead times. I don't know about TX but for most of the US there is also a shortage of labor. Demand is also very high as during the pandemic with more people spending time in their homes there is a big demand to remodel houses. On a couple of specific things. I've redone premade homeplans and from what I've seen is that they aren't necessarily cost savers because no premade homeplan will meet the specifics of your site exactly. This goes against my own field but I wouldn't hire an architect unless either by regulation you had to or you really wanted something very specific. The best thing I think is to hire a homebuilder with their own design team and work with them on your home design and house construction. If you're going to be your own GC I hope you have experience in construction. Scheduling a construction project isn't simple even normally. It's much harder now with shortages.
Just by going by my house I would make the garage bigger than needed. That way when it fills up with junk you still have room for the car. add extra electrical sockets. lots of closets put big heavy duty drawers under kitchen cabinet. I have shelves. The older I get the more I hate having to get down and look for pots and pans put a big walk in shower on the ground level. My parents are making their house senior friendly and its something they've done at lest one gas jet outlet in case you get a weeks worth of snow and rolling electrical blackouts you can stay warm
im wanting to do some remodeling on my house, but going to wait out the craziness. hopefully 2022. labor is in short supply right now so youre going to have to wait a long time to get someone good or hire someone sh**y. the supply chain is f***ed too - factories havent been able to operate at full capacity due to covid, but even in normal times they would be struggling right now to keep up with all the construction. then the winter storms slowed things up and the suez canal blockage didnt help either. and things havent slowed down enough to allow the supply chain to catch up and correct itself. lumber is ridiculous. and like you said, theres shortages on lots of other things right now. new home construction is dealing with major shortages in everything from fixtures to windows to cabinets.
even when lumber goes down, i bet prices overall do not. capitalism dont work like that - haha! i do think the plus of waiting till 2022 would be that it wont be so competitive for buyers. you might not have to pay over the asking price to get a home. or you could hope for total economic collapse then swoop in and get a great deal! is the OP in houston? also, are you totally against getting a re-sale?
I’ve had two built via DR Horton. First had lots of extras to choose from and second was negligible in that area. Much more economical. First is really consider your floor plan. Formal dining areas look great but you never use them except maybe Thanksgiving. Consider what is really important to you. Larger kitchens, closets and master bathrooms are usually good bang for the buck. Get the largest master shower you can. Don’t scrimp on the niceties. Get all the upgrades you can afford because it’s much more expensive to do it later. Consider your lot. I always buy on a cul de sac because I hate cars flying up and down the road when my kids are outside and I have more room for parking for guests. People say don’t do anything too unique and that’s true to a point. But most people have 1 or 2 things they really love about their house. My first had massive sliding glass doors that opened onto the porch. They were really impressive and just cool looking. My current house has a covered porch with outdoor BBQ. Something about your house has to really jump at you. TANKLESS HOT WATER HEATER! It will change your life!
I would agree with all of these. Large dining room mostly went unused, large closets and bathrooms- golden. I would also note that if you have electric on demand hot water, you are probably SOL if the power goes out. You'd have to get crazy with a generator that would power one of those things... $10k or more.
If you're married or shacking up, get double closets in your master bedroom. This is our third house to live in since we were married and this is the first time I've had my own closet. Total game-changer!
If you do any entertaining, it won't matter how nice a setup you have elsewhere, over half the people there will want to be in your kitchen.
