For anyone who has built a house (wood floors, hotel)

[angiesu]

Anyone wish they did something different? We are trying to figure out anything electrical or structural to do so we don't have any regrets later. We already are relieved we opted for the garage bump out and a huge lot with no back neighbors. To keep in budget with those additions we opted for one of the standard elevations (which we like) and no wood floors (dining room we will do later). I actually prefer the tile anyways since we have had an elderly pet ruin a section of our wood floor in the past.

We are now thinking we should add a door from the garage to the back yard. Anyone not do that and kick themselves later? We are going to add some recessed lights in the game room and family room (otherwise just the ceiling fan light) and we are adding a few electrical outlets (one in the pantry, one by the top of the stairs so I can vacuum them, and one in the eave of the front porch.) We are pre plumbing for utility sink, and water softener. Upgrade carpet pad, standard carpet. Adding second oven. I also want to upgrade the fireplace to a raised hearth.

I am really curious to know what other families have done that they love and anything they didn't do and wish they did. We plan on living in this house until our kids leave the nest. This is the first time building. Thanks!

[huma281]

Gas line out to the rear patio. Extra outlets in garage, I have one on two walls and 2 on one wall (water softener/sprinkler side). Third car garage instead of bump if you can afford it. Pre plumb for rear patio in case you plan on a outdoor kitchen in the future. As much recessed lighting as possible, because it's a lot cheaper to do it now vs later. You could add water hose outlets to both sides of the home. This is starting to get popular, something I did four to five years ago, but a slightly wider driveway. About 1 foot and a half to two feet wider on each side. If you have a third car garage, probably not needed.

Other than that, you look like you really did your research. Good job and good luck on your home.

[hellpaso]

If there's no electrical outlet in your kitchen island, be sure to do that. It's really handy & a pain to retrofit.

We had extra reinforcements put in the walls where TVs could be mounted, as well as in the kitchen ceiling for a pot rack (along with appropriate wiring). The builder also installed elevated outlets/cable for the TVs.

I agree about the plumbing/gas to the backyard.

[ilikeme]

Add an outlet or two in the attic also if there are not any. They always come in handy for maintenance up there and for other things such as an alarm system. I also second the gas line to the patio idea. Also make sure you have coax and cat 6 cable running to each room. Run two coax and at least 3 cat 6 to the office and where electronics will be in the living room, den, game room, etc. You can never have enough of those.

[DSL_PWR]

These are all things I did.

Make sure to have cables run for outside security cameras.
Drain in the center of the garage floor (if possible). Some builders won't do this.
Eave outlets if you put up Xmas lights.
Water shut off in garage in addition to manifold in house.
Extra plug in,laundry room for freezer if you have room

I'll post more later.

[EasilyAmused]

Wash pit in the garage. Small area in the corner with a drain,tiled four feet up, with hot and cold water. Perfect for dog baths in the winter and washing out coolers or boots. Couldn't live without it now.

[Dopo]

I did all my research before buying my house
2 car garage
Water softener
Porch, we were told that you can't build a porch after the house is built
Downstairs bathroom
Radiant barriers on the roof
And I love the window in the bathroom (natural light)

If possible.... Try to get them to install your room lights in a way that they are ready to install ceiling fans in the future.
Should be a piece of cake for them to do it
That the only thing I forgot to get done.

Everything else I could do it myself later on

[haudi]

Extra outlets in the bathroom vanities for all the hair things and anything that needs charging.
Extra linen closets in otherwise dead space behind the walls
Plenty of exterior outlets
Add interior/garage outlets as necessary
Prewire for surround/ethernet/security cameras if cost isn't too much more than the going rate
Gas line in the back yard
Pre-wire for pendants in the kitchen
Pre-wire/Block and add recessed lights as necessary on patio/porch
Add recessed lights if they are cheap
Dedicated outlet in garage for freezer
[Personal Preference] Moved water heaters to garage
French doors on game room
Double Oven/Microwave in lieu of single oven/microwave combo - Wasn't too much more and we use the hell out of it.
Make use of dead space for storage - Some builders are very easy to work with on this.

[Qazulight]

Originally Posted by angiesu

Anyone wish they did something different? We are trying to figure out anything electrical or structural to do so we don't have any regrets later. We already are relieved we opted for the garage bump out and a huge lot with no back neighbors. To keep in budget with those additions we opted for one of the standard elevations (which we like) and no wood floors (dining room we will do later). I actually prefer the tile anyways since we have had an elderly pet ruin a section of our wood floor in the past.

We are now thinking we should add a door from the garage to the back yard. Anyone not do that and kick themselves later? We are going to add some recessed lights in the game room and family room (otherwise just the ceiling fan light) and we are adding a few electrical outlets (one in the pantry, one by the top of the stairs so I can vacuum them, and one in the eave of the front porch.) We are pre plumbing for utility sink, and water softener. Upgrade carpet pad, standard carpet. Adding second oven. I also want to upgrade the fireplace to a raised hearth.

I am really curious to know what other families have done that they love and anything they didn't do and wish they did. We plan on living in this house until our kids leave the nest. This is the first time building. Thanks!

I put foam insulation in the attic,and insulated the garage. Makes it nice.

I put in gas, for a gas dryer and a I put in a tankless gas water heater. It not only saves energy, gas is cheaper than electricity, I also got 4 square foot of house back.

I put in freeze proof outside water faucets, if I had it to over again, I would have not allowed any faucets on the house and would have put a separate line around the house with subterranean taps.

All outlets in the garage were installed at cabinet hight, if would have had my way, all out lets in the house would have been a couch hight, but I was overruled.

Pre-wire for Ethernet, and cable TV through out the house, forgo phone line wiring, and bring both Ethernet and cable to the corners of the house for future video systems, wireless systems will work but there is nothing like a wire.

No doors to any room should be less than 3 foot wide, also, be sure that this does not create door interference problems, if it does, do away with the door or change it to some other type of door.

I wish I had put in surface mount boxes with the electrical and communications in them together, in the way the plugs go in and you can push furniture up against the wall.

I put an outlet above the built in book case for the Chrismas pretties, it worked out nice when I ended up with the wireless speakers, (I still haven't used my pre-wired surround sound but I would wire inpt in again.)

I have vaulted ceiling in the front bedroom, I wish I had added an outlet up high.

My builder put in ceiling fans in every room and wired them in, way better to get him to do it, he gets the fans cheaper, and you get a proffesional job.

I have a large Jack and Jill bathroom, I like the house cool in the winter, but the bathroom warm, i wish I had put in some sort of heater in the bathroom to supplement the central unit. (I use gas heat.)

If you can, you might upgrade to triple pane windows, at least on the very large ones.

I did away with the fireplace and added a book case. Unless you have a local and steady source of firewood, the fireplace is good for a couple of romantic evenings, the money is better spent on a really nice hotel room for those evening and recover the,floor space, the same goes for the garden tub. We did away with the garden tub in the master bath and put in huge shower,(it is enjoyed every day, the space that would have been used for the smaller shower in the maser bath, we re-allocated to the second bedroom, it was then able to hold a queen sized bedroom suit. (It is tight, but doable.) The house ended up only being 1650 square feet, but plenty big for two adults and a miniature dachshund.

Oh and we put a door from the garage to the side drive,(long narrow lot with the garage in front of the house, so we added a drive around the side to make access to the back yard easier.) so yes, a back door from the garage is recommended.

[angiesu]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Wash pit in the garage. Small area in the corner with a drain,tiled four feet up, with hot and cold water. Perfect for dog baths in the winter and washing out coolers or boots. Couldn't live without it now.

Could not agree more. Told my husband that is a MUST. Got tired of washing muddy cleats and WORSE in the kitchen sink.

I think we covered most of the suggestions. We have to revisit the gas line out back though. We nixed that one. Husband is convinced we don't need it. We plan on building a wood burning fire pit sometime in the future and no plans of an outdoor kitchen but I wonder if we will regret that. We are definitely blocking for ceiling fans and the pendant lights. I'm glad to hear that adding additional recessed lights is a must there were moments I considered cutting them out.

The cabinet height outlet in the garage...GREAT IDEA! Husband has dreams of a workshop.

We want to make sure all the cable/ethernet prewire is the way we need it. We plan on doing Sat TV so we are not sure if we need anything different. Will have to really think through this week what rooms need what. We are going to ask about having the wall reinforced for TV mount (we are doing the in wall conduit in two rooms so it only makes sense to find out if the walls will support it). We had not thought about that.

Much appreciated.