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Had my first meeting with my house builder this afternoon, went in with the plans and then.......he starts asking me questions that I have no clue of how to answer!
Real wood floors vs manufactured wood
Granite counter tops?
What kind of sink furnishings do you want?
About the only thing I could answer was that I didn't want carpeting.....just wood floors ...... to be covered by oriental rugs that I would provide.
Why didn't they tell me it would be like this? I didn't know I needed to study before this first meeting, no one told me that I needed these answers, are real people suppose to know about this?
Yep... you need to know about those, and many other things!
There will be hundreds of decisions that depend upon you answering questions like that.
Get used to it!
So you want wood floor....
Solid or engineered?
Site finished or factory finished?
What grade of wood?
What cut of wood?
What species of wood?
What color stain?
Handscraped?
What width(s)?
Any design elements?
etc..
And that is just for the wood floor.
Granite is the worst, IMHO. From picking the stone down to edges, it is a time-suck.
ETA: No, pulls and handles are the worst for me. WAY too many choices!
You are a LONG way from worrying about floors and countertops.
First comes foundation....block or poured?
Framing? 2X4 or 2X6?
Windows?
Sheathing?
Roof shingles...color/style?
Outside finish? Brick? Stone? Hardiplank? Wood?
And on and on.
Pull together every article, picture, book, clipping, picture etc. you can find which expresses what you are looking for.
Sit down the with the architect/builder/designer and start piecing it together. One step at a time.
Then, make sure ALL of it is in your contract. Every board, element, fastener, accoutrement, finish etc......right down to waste disposal, permits, outhouse and "no smoking" inside the house. Leave nothing to chance/choice or "well see when we get there".
It is daunting, but it all follows a logical process. You make decisions one at a time, and finally you end up driving around with a chunk of granite, a few paint chips, a piece of flooring, a few floor/shower tiles, a hunk of fireplace stone/brick and a cabinet door....and you get to make the final decisions that it all "goes" together.
It's all fun! Do only what you can sanely handle at each step, then take a deep breath (and a big cocktail!).
Had my first meeting with my house builder this afternoon, went in with the plans and then.......he starts asking me questions that I have no clue of how to answer!
Real wood floors vs manufactured wood
Granite counter tops?
What kind of sink furnishings do you want?
About the only thing I could answer was that I didn't want carpeting.....just wood floors ...... to be covered by oriental rugs that I would provide.
Why didn't they tell me it would be like this? I didn't know I needed to study before this first meeting, no one told me that I needed these answers, are real people suppose to know about this?
Yes, Tamara, you do need to think about these things. What did you think it would be like? You're building a home, and there are a hundreds of decisions coming your way. Prepare yourself.
How exciting! I will happily trade places with you. We built our home in ky and choosing the finishes was fun. But then, I'm the daughter of two realtors so I had a solid idea of what I wanted.
Make sure you have a copy of every choice, including pictures, because it's going to be months before you see those finishes. Keep on top of everything that goes in the house. It's too easy for something to be mixed up or ordered wrong.
Yes, Tamara, you do need to think about these things. What did you think it would be like? You're building a home, and there are a hundreds of decisions coming your way. Prepare yourself.
Exactly. This is the whole point of building your own home.
You get to choose all the finishes and make it yours.
Look through home magazines and find things you like to use as general reference.
Or hire an interior designer.
It's true. Building our home was probably the most stressful time in our marriage.
Your builder wants to give you a price, I expect, and so needs to know your choices. There's a huge price range in flooring, countertops, cabinetry, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, hardware... I'm sure you'll soon be overwhelmed with decisions, so by all means start right away thinking about your best case scenarios. Financial realities may rear their ugly heads and you may have to make some difficult compromises, but you will.
I'm here to tell you: house construction has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You'll reach the end and it will be worth it because you'll have a house that you love because the options are yours every step of the way.
Good luck! You got this, AND it ends!
Oh! I wanted to add: once you have a contract and price try not to change anything. Changes are very expensive because you have to pay for it to be done, to be undone, and to be re-done.
You'd better start doing your research....otherwise some things have to wait for your decisions and impact other things down the line. You'll get behind schedule very quickly. If you have a good contractor/builder they can tell you the order in which and when you need to decide stuff by. Start looking at magazines!
I mean, why are you building if you have no clear preferences? If you don't care, you "buy off the rack" like everyone else! It's soooo much easier! (Me, I love customizing!)
You'd better start doing your research....otherwise some things have to wait for your decisions and impact other things down the line. You'll get behind schedule very quickly. If you have a good contractor/builder they can tell you the order in which and when you need to decide stuff by. Start looking at magazines!
I mean, why are you building if you have no clear preferences? If you don't care, you "buy off the rack" like everyone else! It's soooo much easier! (Me, I love customizing!)
Yep. And if you get behind, it starts costing you more money.
If you have a trusted friend who is at least handy, they can help you understand some of the decisions you need to make.
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It's soooo much easier! (Me, I love customizing!)
