Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So a builder has agreed to build us a colonial style house in his development. we did not love the 2 models provided.
2550 sq ft
4 bedroom
Bonus room
Study
2.5 bath
Dining room
Kitchen, breakfast, great room all open
2 car garage
We are kind of lost. the architect is going to draw up some rough specs to see what we would like based on some ideas we gave him.
Just looking for some ideas on what features people would want if you were going to build a new house. I have a feeling once we are in we are going to say "we should have this or that"
We removed the standard jacuzzi tub for a larger more luxurious shower and moved the washer and dryer to the upstairs where the bedrooms are.
Building a house when you've never done it before is not easy. Here are some suggestions:
If you have a Realtor are using for your purchase give them a call and ask for their input on your plans. I'm sure they'll be happy to let you in on what buyers in your area are looking for in a home and the +/- of your floor plan. Alternatively, if you have a friend that's an interior designer or architect they are also good people to consult.
Go to some open houses. Look at homes in your area that are already built and see what you like and don't like.
Don't just think about what you like . . . think about what works and what will stand the test of time.
We did give them a floor plan we loved from another new model in the area but obviously he cant copy it. I am hoping he can mimic it with the least amount of alterations.
Don't take this the wrong way BUT I see some potential "red flags" here.
"Builder has agreed to build as a Colonial in his developement, we did not love the two models he had"
Uh, how many lots is this "development"? Is this "developer" experienced? Why two models? Are the other lots likely to just have variations on just two models? Why this developent? Builder has best price? Best location? Why are choosing this builder? Why not another? Why not existing house???
"Removed the jetted tub for a more luxurious shower and moved laundry upstairs" Nice showers are generally smart move. Getting rid of tub altogether might not be so wise both because YOU may decide down the road that you want someplace to soak and/or sellers at your price point / location may expect a "five piece" master bath. Similarly an upstairs laundry can be a good move BUT if that eliminates a "mudroom" from first floor and/or shrinks upstairs closests that could be move in the wrong direction...
"4 br 2.5 bath" "Study" "Bonus room" "2 car garage" -- I don't think I am going out on much of limb AT ALL to say that MANY buyers would be MUCH happier when looking at 4 br to have 3 or 3.5 baths, a garage with perhaps a configuration of 3 car interior / storage area and depending on where that "study" is the OPTION to have is attached to a full bath for a temporary (or longer term) "guest suite" and if the "bonus room" is really targeted to be a "media room / home theatre / kids play space" that is VERY different than just "extra storage area"...
"We gave architect a floor plan we loved from another new model..." Well way did you NOT decide to have THAT builder construct new home for you? Is that area less desirable? Too costly? I have seen LOTS of home buyers end up with the WRONG house in the WRONG area and when they get down to pricing things out they would have been MUCH better shopping harder / smarter and/or getting the assitance of some more experienced real estate pro...
"We are kinda lost." ... If you are serious about that (and not just a little overwhelmed for the moment...) than for GOODNESS SAKE, just STOP! Do NOT spend any money! Do not sign any agreements! JUST STOP! Regroup. Go shopping for EXISTING HOUSES. Ask local real estate professional to give you a heads up as to what is available / what has sold. Compare what you can do with your budget without entering into a CUSTOM BUILD!!! If you have never agonized over extended height ceilings, green lighting, energy star appliances, high end appliances, floor choices, window choices, roofing choices, electriical options, fire suspression systems, driveways, landscaping and the thousands of other choices that are needed when you "go custom" you stand a HUGE risk of NOT getting good value for what is built / paid for...
I would never buy a house from just floor plans. I'd have to see a sample. And I would never move things around without seeing them in person. I have friends who had a house built, and decided to flip the living room from front to back because that's where their "view" was. So it turns out the front of the house looks ridiculous because it has no large windows, just bedroom, bathroom and laundry room windows. I agree with the above poster who advised that you STOP until you really figure out what you want.
Good luck and there is do much that a homeowner can get lost adding more stuff to their newly constructd home.
We first met with the builder and his crew and discovered what can be added to and what must stay as is on the plans..We could have changed almost everything. We were limited to adding no more than 6' in depth and 4 ' to the width. We maxed out our width of our entire home to 4' wider. (cost us almost $36,000 that we had to pay up front but in payments as they built the home)
We had our last home built from plans and we expanded on several rooms including adding a 3 car garage, xtra lights and recepticles plus adding 2 outlets in every room for cable TV.etc. We also had the width of our home wider by 4' and that cost us $30k that we figured in on the not extras list. The pre construction is the very time to add on but it may cost you a lot more than you expect... You may want to consider under the counter lights and a separate one for each heavy draw electric appliance such as the refrigerator / freezer etc... Otherwise your lights may blink when the appliance turns on.
There is so much to consider and our upgrades ran us $41k for our 2,850 sf. (under air + 3,300sf total), 4bed, 3 bath single level home.. Don't forget outside circuits for lights or what ever may come you way...I also had the builder add a recepticle on every corner of our home and I installed motion lights on 2 of them and cameras on the other 2.....
The baths are big and spacious.. We have chandeliers in all 3, dual sinks in 2 of them and a jacuzzi with 5 jets in our master bath. Other xtras are higher rated and a larger central air unit, dual central/air and heating units (home initially caled for a 50k BTU A/C and enlarged it to 1 50k BTU unit and another rwon, at 36K btu for the 2 back bedrooms., Both are high efficiency units rated at 16...
It was a complete back breaking amount of work and it is really worth the extra money. We know that some of the extras we were charged way too much but considering if we wanted to improve them a few years later we did save a few bucks.
We did see 8 model homes and the one we chose had the garage on the left side and we have a lot that calls for garage right so everything was reversed. We also had the cable underground along witht the electricity. Plus get at least a 40 panel electric circuit box.
PS:
Lots of luck and you should have fun. Anyway our home cost us $415,000 rose to $615,000 in 3 years then dropped to under $300,000..We put down $225,000 and mortaged the rest...
We are not going anywhere and we love our home on the water. You will too.
For this size home, I would forego a "bonus" room anytime for an extra bedroom. Most bonus rooms I've seen are wasted space on the 2nd floor landing. And because people aren't quite sure how to use them, they wind up being either a cluttered collection of unrelated stuff or an empty open space. If the intended use is for an office/den/media room, then design the room that way. At a minimum, I'd make sure it has a door, window, and closet so it can be used as a bedroom.
I would also prefer a third full bath instead of just a half bath. JMHO
Last edited by TampaKaren; 01-27-2012 at 05:35 AM..
You could wait forever to find your dream home built out in a model. First, some questions to ask yourself.
How long do you expect to be in this home? Be honest with yourself. Is a long time, is there enough room for kids with their significant others.......and grandkids? If not enough room, could you add on? If you could be leaving before 7 - 10 years, you should build with an eye on resale.
If you are certain this is THE home, don't give a rat's ass about resale and build what you want. If you are satisfied with the builder's track record, view his other models, you could very well get a better deal building off plans. They've committed to a price, that would normally be adjusted as certain quirks are learned while building. Most of the new homes I finance can be found as model homes somewhere - maybe not in the same subdivision, but somewhere. The ones that buyers have found the builder on reputation, ie satisfied customers, and later build on floor plans (and modified plans) alone, usually have the most value on the appraisal. If you can touch it and feel it, builders charge a premium for it. You could very well be getting a very good deal.
Don't take this the wrong way BUT I see some potential "red flags" here.
"Builder has agreed to build as a Colonial in his developement, we did not love the two models he had"
Uh, how many lots is this "development"? Is this "developer" experienced? Why two models? Are the other lots likely to just have variations on just two models? Why this developent? Builder has best price? Best location? Why are choosing this builder? Why not another? Why not existing house???
"Removed the jetted tub for a more luxurious shower and moved laundry upstairs" Nice showers are generally smart move. Getting rid of tub altogether might not be so wise both because YOU may decide down the road that you want someplace to soak and/or sellers at your price point / location may expect a "five piece" master bath. Similarly an upstairs laundry can be a good move BUT if that eliminates a "mudroom" from first floor and/or shrinks upstairs closests that could be move in the wrong direction...
"4 br 2.5 bath" "Study" "Bonus room" "2 car garage" -- I don't think I am going out on much of limb AT ALL to say that MANY buyers would be MUCH happier when looking at 4 br to have 3 or 3.5 baths, a garage with perhaps a configuration of 3 car interior / storage area and depending on where that "study" is the OPTION to have is attached to a full bath for a temporary (or longer term) "guest suite" and if the "bonus room" is really targeted to be a "media room / home theatre / kids play space" that is VERY different than just "extra storage area"...
"We gave architect a floor plan we loved from another new model..." Well way did you NOT decide to have THAT builder construct new home for you? Is that area less desirable? Too costly? I have seen LOTS of home buyers end up with the WRONG house in the WRONG area and when they get down to pricing things out they would have been MUCH better shopping harder / smarter and/or getting the assitance of some more experienced real estate pro...
"We are kinda lost." ... If you are serious about that (and not just a little overwhelmed for the moment...) than for GOODNESS SAKE, just STOP! Do NOT spend any money! Do not sign any agreements! JUST STOP! Regroup. Go shopping for EXISTING HOUSES. Ask local real estate professional to give you a heads up as to what is available / what has sold. Compare what you can do with your budget without entering into a CUSTOM BUILD!!! If you have never agonized over extended height ceilings, green lighting, energy star appliances, high end appliances, floor choices, window choices, roofing choices, electriical options, fire suspression systems, driveways, landscaping and the thousands of other choices that are needed when you "go custom" you stand a HUGE risk of NOT getting good value for what is built / paid for...
Although some of Chets points are right on the money, some I think are more region specific. for instance, in my area 2.5 baths is, well, the norm on new construction in that 2500 sqft size range. new construction isn''t the norm either, most are existing houses are smaller with fewer baths.
3 car garage is great, but is there room etc for one? again in my area the "norm" is 1 car, 2 cars is great and a selling feature, 3 car garages I haven't seen unless you're really high end in my area in the 1-3M range mainly due to scarcity of land.
upgrade items that are "cool" to consider
1) Radiant heat in the floors. I did this in the kitchen and master bath, if I had the money and forthought i might have done it throughout the house, its fantastic
2) body sprays in the shower, somewhat of a novelty, but cool non the less.
3) gas fireplace- I've always lived iwth a fireplace, gas is very convienant. We did a larger clean faced gas model and a ledgestone face to the ceiling. looks really really cool
4) higher than "standard" ceilings in my area new construction and old construciton standard is 8'. we went with 8.5 which is actually hugely changes the feeling. 9 would be nice too. we did it on 1st and 2nd floor
we vaulted the ceiling in the master bedroom only, which is nice.
5) include an attic for storeage iwth a nice sized pull down that isn't in the closets
from the check writing to the subs (with you acting as the general contractor) to the tiniest materials used (nails / screw & bolt).
When in doubt with workmanship... try hiring the Amish.
Make sure that house is not build by some developer who have to make a profit off this house in order to satisfy his stock holders... to ensure that house is build just to satisfy *you*, like homes build in the old days.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
