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After I expressed a desire to get out of our current home in a few years, my wife and I have had some minor discussion about what we'd be looking to do next. Nothing too detailed yet, just a rough idea that in 5-7 years, it might be nice to build a new house to suit our tastes.
Based on some serious budgeting, planning, and saving that we've begun this year, we'll be debt free and turning more of our income toward retirement savings in 3-5 years. Another consideration, if we have a second child in the next couple years, we'll be running out of space in our current home and will be needing more space. If we're going to go with new construction, I would like to research, plan and save for quite a while, so we know reality vs expectations.
The "blue-sky" vision of our home at this point:
2000-2300 sqft on a partially wooded hilly lot, 1-2 acres of land
4 bdrm, 2.5 bath "Ranch"(long and low) with 2nd story "master suite", walkout basement, elevated deck off of the back of main floor. Possibly an in-ground pool outside walkout basement
Craftsman/Prairie influence (but roof lines accounting for our snowloads...)
Thinking about the Boston-Colden area of Western New York
I would like to keep the house and construction as green and efficient as possible. Possibly use geothermal for heating/cooling and offset electric with solar? I know those are just sort of buzzwords right now, but you get what I'm going for.
So where should we begin with our planning? What pitfalls do we need to avoid?
Start looking for the land now. Buy the land that you want. It will be used as collateral later on especially if it's paid for and it certainly won't be cheaper later on, historically. Visit builders model home complexes and take a tape measure with you. If you see a bathroom you like, sketch it out on a piece of paper and put down the measurements. Later, use graph paper and draw it out to scale. Put it in a file. You can do the same with a kitchen. Take pics too and attach copies to the graph paper.Once you think you're ready to start the build process, take the pics and drawings to a designer, not an architect, and have him draw up the plans. If you know someone that teaches architecture, he can make the plans a classroom project. Plans do not have to be expensive. Get recommendations from friends about who to have build the house. Become friends with the builder and get busy.
I'll throw this in as it happens all too often. Home building can be a very dangerous thing to a marriage. I think it causes more divorces than cheating. Make sure you and the wife are on the same page before starting the process. There are some parts of the house she is going to want her way. Kitchens and bathrooms are usually the areas where the conflicts occur. When it comes to those areas, stand back and let her do her thing. Or you can skip the entire process and look for a new wife instead, LOL
Women tend to look at decor and emotional content, men focus on engineering and efficiency.
"Honey, let's build an autonomous house, that's disaster resistant, and won't catch fire. I like concrete."
"Concrete is ugly, I will never live in a concrete house."
End of discussion.
Thanks Trapper, that's a good idea. We have filled a few boring Sunday afternoons with trips to various open houses in the area just to see what's going on. Maybe we'll start looking around with purpose. Thankfully, we've got similar taste when it comes to kitchens and such. We were toying with the idea of remodeling our current one, but are now weighing the cost of the updates we were looking at, with the ROI they would give. Probably will repurpose our ideas for what we like for that rework into the finishes of a future project.
I need to get educated on what to look for when buying the property. I'd hate to purchase land, and down the line discover that the road setback or a septic perk test finds that we can't build where or what we are planning.
If you know that you will not relocate for whatever reason start looking for land and buy. Buy extra.
Check property records, hang out in zoning meetings, get to know the county representative. 2-3 acres can still be part of a planned neighborhood. Train tracks, planned infrastructure, flight patterns. Taxes! Which builders are active in that area?
Get to know your land. Sun patterns, rain/snow, road maintenance. Utilities and their little games. Who is your neighbor?
Been there but mostly hindsight and (knock on wood) a lot of good luck!
On the lighter side:
Why the Master on the second floor when you a) might have another Little Person b) it is easier to know where teenagers are when they have to trample or slide down stairs c) should it b your forever home - you will not get younger.
Gentlemen - women do suffer from common sense at least occasionally.
Set your windows and living spaces according to the sun. Passive solar and free of charge no warranty required.
There are MANY challenges one faces one considering building a new home on an unimproved site and the OP is right to be worried that if the land is not suitable for septic that can be a big negative. The OP would do well to reach out to experts in rural development for their insights into how their home state is dealing with some of the issues -- Welcome to the Center for Rural Massachusetts || A Project of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Write down every idea, dream, wish and desire.
Take photos of things you "like". Cut out pictures, rip out articles, collect brochures....once again, of anything/everything which suits your interest.
When you have a "concept" in mind, sit down with an architect and have him draw out some rough sketches. With each sketch that you like, add more detail, until you have something from which he can draw a set of plans. Maybe even make a mock-up of the house so you can see it in three dimensions.
His fee will be about 10% or so of the cost of the project, "depending"
Budget.....not sure abut cost of land out your way.....figure maybe $20,000 for a couple of decent acres which perc and are buildable. Figure for a well, a driveway in, and septic out. Maybe $30,000. And then the cost of a high quality "green" house...maybe $150 to $200 per square foot. So you better show up with $500,000 to build the house which you desire. Remember, a 4,000 square foot ranch is going to be more costly that a 4,000 square foot colonial. Not sure how you get a second floor master suite in my understanding of a ranch...but, in any event, your initial thoughts are quite lofty and will require substantial funding. Fine, just pointing out that "green" pays over time, but it costs a ton up front.
We built our last house. Expect it to be more than you budget and take at least 3 months longer. Keep on top of permits since you're the one on the hook. Be prepared to visit your building site every day - I mean that. Have a detailed time frame for completion. Be sure to consider likely delays, like weather, in your timeline.
And don't pay so much attention to the details in the beginning. Yeah, it's fun to look at countertops and appliances but you need to focus on the foundation, the materials used for framing, the logic of the locations for plumbing and electrical. It's very expensive to rip something out and move it because you didn't think of where the windows are and where you think your tv should go.
Don't be afraid to draw in chalk on the subfloor the layout, especially kitchen and bathroom, way before the plumbers start.
This doesn't require a lot of forethought- your concept is flawed. Between now, and the actual time you start to build will be at least one more house.
As previously mentioned, buy the land now and sit on it- pay it off. Then, when you're in that second house and another kid, you'll realize that the land you bought and paid for is no longer the "ideal" location for the dream house, the dream house has now changed in size and concept, and you get a grander idea of having a beach house instead.
Believe me, I've seen it. And/or the divorce thing, as previously mentioned.
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