Sunday, September 25, 2011

Building a house

My husband and I started the adventure of building a new home in April 2011
At the same time we each had homes that we put on the market to not only help
pay for this new home, free us from the question of what would need to be updated next,
and create a home for our newly blended family.

We've learned alot in 5 months and here's a run down of the ones that
stick out in my mind.

1.  Always ask "How much extra will this cost?" when the builder asks you if you 
want to add something to your house.  This is how people go way over budget
from the original predicted house cost.  You have the power to say "yes" or "no"
to their suggestion.  

2.  Decide where you want your home to have the upgrades and allow the rest of
the house to be average.  Usually this would be the main level and we decided to
focus ours on where we would spend the most time; master bedroom and bath, kitchen
and living room. 

3.  Ask questions about why some siding is done and other parts of the house is not,
or why the mortar between stones is not even. Sometimes you'll get an understandable
answer, other times, you will to say, "Well that's not going to work for me and it needs
to get fixed."

4.  Recognize the people who actually build your home.  Some will be laborers who do 
all the foundational work others will be craftsmen, such as the trim and woodwork and the 
tile layers. We took iced water bottles and Gatorade during the summer and recently
took donuts to the men laying the tile.

5.  If my husband hadn't known alot about electrical, plumbing, dry wall, carpeting, 
etc., etc., etc., I don't know what we would have done.  Have someone that knows
about stuff like that.

6.  When you aren't happy with something, tell them.  You are the customer and
you are signing your life away for 15, 20, or 30 years to pay for this purchase.
Get it the way you want.

7. Realize that sometimes houses don't sell like you think they will. My husband's
house was a great home in a great location in a small town 30 minutes away from 
here, but the realtor was worried how long it would take to sell because houses
weren't selling quickly there.  My house was also in a good location, great
neighborhood and a sweet house. It was predicted to sell within 60-90 days. 
His house sold in 1 1/2 months and mine is still on the market.

8.  With building and selling a home, keep in contact with your realtor, builder, contractor
often.  As the house got to the stage where more detail was happening, we went to the
house every day. We would "drop in" during the day at the construction site and we 
would go after everyone had left so that we could look at how things were done.

The good news is that the decisions we are now talking about are landscaping ones. 
We've lived through the paint, carpet, lights, faucets, counter tops, cabinets, and stain 
color choices. WE are now getting to see how our choices are fitting together and we
get to think about plants and lawn maintenance, which is almost a welcome relief from
 all the decision making before.

The best part about all of this? I will still get to live in a home with my husband, and our
 children will have more room to stay with us when they are in town.  
That's really all that matters.