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Thanks for all the details from your own experience, it was very helpful!
Oh, can you tell me how you got your deal on those Pella windows? My preferred plan calls for lots of windows.
One day I went to 84 lumber to check on prices. They had 5 Pella low-e windows returned because the exterior color was wrong. The customer ordered white, but 84 ordered brown.
Well we needed the brown, so I checked with our builder to see if he could use them, and he said he could modify some of the openings to fit these. So I went back and made a deal on the windows- I'd give him the rest of my window order if he cut a deep deal on those 'returns'. Plus we ordered our shingles from him as well.
Never know until you ask.
We had a really nice deep well cast iron kitchen sink in the house. Eljer brand. Saw it at Lowes, and my wife had her eye on it for months, but the sticker was a bit high.. One day we went in and she went down the aisle and her sink was gone from display. I asked the guy if they could order more and he said- "Nope-discontinued.. But I have the display in the back sitting on the floor"..
I asked "How much? My wife loves that sink." (My wife was there looking all sad..) He said "$75 bucks"....
Threerun- the house sure looks nice in the snow. Just wanted to point out that you seemed to have a railing on the stairs but a halfwall at you balcony and 'preachers' pulpit. The diference in finish cost between the two can add up/ so the half wall was a savings as well. Also tucking a second floor in the rafter is a good move because shingles are cheaper than siding in 9 out of 10 cases.
It never hurts to look for the upper end lines of a cheaper window to see how they compare to the base line of a higher end brand. If you can get what you want out of something like an Anderson 400 series there is no need to pay the extra for Marvin or Weathershield.
So far these are the things I've read but I'd like to hear the opinions and/or comments from builders out there.
1. Slab foundation
2. Less corners; basically a rectagular box floor plan
3. Interior chimney/Fp
4. Stock kitchen cabinets
5. Two story.. build up not out due to "footprint" costs
6. Open floor plans.. less wood?
7. Walled stairways vs. spindled open ones
and last but not least.. I understand that it's cheaper to build a larger house (based on cost per sf) than a smaller one . True?
From the design side of things I can give you some advice. Meet with the designers with a very very good idea of what you want. Keep interactions to a minimum. IE take pictures, notes, likes and dislikes and present them in the first meeting. All meetings after that should be kept short and to the point. Let the designer know what you like, and what you do not like. Doing a large series of changes early on will nickle and dime you. Keep the design simple, minimal corners, keep angled walls at a minimum as well. When your plans pass from Prelim to Working drawings, do not make changes. It is very easy during the initial phase of preliminary to do changes, the preliminary plans are going to essentially have basic elevations and basic floor plans nothing else. when you pass into working drawings that is where the fun begins. Dimensions, Full and Finished elevations, and preliminary framing will be added. This is also the time where height is calculated per what the jurisdiction governing the building is going to be done. Light / Ventilation for basements, basically all Code issues are going to be resolved during this time. the Permit phase is going to be done after all this stuff is put in the plans. This is the time to make absolutely NO changes. Once the city has the plans, they approve them, any changes that are significant will have to be re approved by the city. There might be fees for the city, and there will defiantly be fees from your designer to go through the plans. Many people think that because the plans are all done in CAD now adays that they are easy to make changes to. They are not, it can take 30 min. during the prelim phase, and later on it will be 2-8 hours worth of changes due to having to go through the whole house and make sure engineering is fine. After permits, you get construction documents if all goes well and the city does not require too many changes.
OH NO! You have to leave that beauty? I'd be just sick about it too
Had to. My wife was laid off from her p/t job, then my employer sold out and my job was up in the air. Got an offer at a very, very secure job with great pay and bennies 180 miles west of home, so we decided best to move.
Good news is that we had 3 offers on our house at the same time in November 07, and that was even though the market had really started to slide down at that point.
We lucked out. We doubled our investment in 7 years.
From the design side of things I can give you some advice. Meet with the designers with a very very good idea of what you want. Keep interactions to a minimum. IE take pictures, notes, likes and dislikes and present them in the first meeting. All meetings after that should be kept short and to the point. Let the designer know what you like, and what you do not like. Doing a large series of changes early on will nickle and dime you. Keep the design simple, minimal corners, keep angled walls at a minimum as well. When your plans pass from Prelim to Working drawings, do not make changes. It is very easy during the initial phase of preliminary to do changes, the preliminary plans are going to essentially have basic elevations and basic floor plans nothing else. when you pass into working drawings that is where the fun begins. Dimensions, Full and Finished elevations, and preliminary framing will be added. This is also the time where height is calculated per what the jurisdiction governing the building is going to be done. Light / Ventilation for basements, basically all Code issues are going to be resolved during this time. the Permit phase is going to be done after all this stuff is put in the plans. This is the time to make absolutely NO changes. Once the city has the plans, they approve them, any changes that are significant will have to be re approved by the city. There might be fees for the city, and there will defiantly be fees from your designer to go through the plans. Many people think that because the plans are all done in CAD now adays that they are easy to make changes to. They are not, it can take 30 min. during the prelim phase, and later on it will be 2-8 hours worth of changes due to having to go through the whole house and make sure engineering is fine. After permits, you get construction documents if all goes well and the city does not require too many changes.
I really like your idea of keeping design meetings to a minimum by being prepared with what you want ahead of time. I have been collecting photographs of all the things I want in a scrapbook. Hopefully this will help me to accurately explain to my builder what I am specifically looking for and want him to do for me.
That is interesting to know about the time involved in changing anything with CAD - I didn't realize it would be so time consuming. Thanks for your post!
I lost my reference to this thread and couldn't find my way back here. I noticed someone had edited my reputation and I clicked and found my way back to this thread.
Truthfully, I was totally amazed at these responses.
In answer to some posters.. No, I wasn't trying to cut corners with cheap materials and sub-standard work. I've lived in too many over priced houses with sub-standard work already. We're in our late 50's and lived in 12 different places and homes.. We've build 3 houses before. I was simply wanting information on how to keep the costs of construction down in these higher priced times.
"Nickel and dime it"... yes. I grocery shop the same way. Name brands are many times simply over-priced. Some are worth the costs, but many just aren't. I don't need Italian tile or Brazalian cherry floors, but I do love granite countertops and hip roof styles, lots of windows and big porches.
And I wouldn't want to hire a builder who wasn't willing to watch costs and warn me of them. Which is why I want my building plans to be set first and cemented in the contract. I don't intend to be changing things after the fact. Been there, done that.. learned not to.
Thanks to all of you who posted.
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Wow.. thanks for all the valuable info
