Didn't see it mentioned but an exterior hot water tap comes in handy.

More thoughts for outside the house:

Plant good, quality shade trees immediately. Space them no closer than 30' to each other & keep them 15-20' away from the house. Don't go crazy planting to many either. A completely shaded yard has its own set of problems (see all the threads about getting grass to grow)

If you are buying a lot with existing trees, have an arborist come check them prior to starting. You should set up tree protection around the critical root zone to protect it. Nothing sucks like paying a lot premium for trees only to have them wrecked by contractors.

Make sure your foundation isn't too low. I've seen hundreds of houses built with slabs 6" above grade. They saved money on concrete, but created a permanent drainage problem with ponding around the house or dirt too high on the foundation. Identify where your lot drainage is going & any potential problems with runoff coming into your lot that will need to be dealt with.

Spend the money on quality soil instead of sandy loam. Will do wonders for your lawn for years to come.

Install 2" & 4" sleeves under every sidewalk & driveway area. Pipe is cheap. Boring under concrete is not.

Get a quality landscape plan from a reputable designer if you want to do it yourself. Same with irrigation.

8' garage doors -- and don't forget that you lose some height at the garage door to minimize water intrusion, so when you see 84" for the 7' door and 81" for a potential F350 or 3500 4x4 truck listed in truck catalogs, don't think "you're good" with a 7' door.

Ask me how I know that one --- and that's with a beautifully considered 26' deep garage specifically designed to pull said future vehicle into it and park...



Now, maybe I will be "fine," but any sort of future lift is out the door, and now I have to worry about stupid fins for satellite radio that fill in the remaining spot...

Better yet, no garage doors. Detached carport FTW

My 200k house just cleared the 1 million mark with all these upgrades.

GrimesCoAg95 said:

---

Why bother? You can always find them when you build a trellis to hide the air conditioner.

---

I hate you.

A few other thoughts:

1. Really consider the lot moreso than anything else. I'm trying to sell a beautiful house right now, and it's not getting done in large part because of where the lot is in the subdivision (and stupid COVID).

2. Consider other items within the lot and plan your space to maximize the benefits of the lot (prevailing winds, afternoon shade, etc.).

3. Watch for things like where the electrical is going to come into the house (I wound up with a huge dispute and griped my way out of a change order when the builder wanted to put the main electrical panel in a bedroom (or even on the home exterior) rather than in the garage because of where power came in from the utility). Make sure the main breaker box location is shown on your drawings.

4. Make bedrooms bigger than you would think -- consider if you want seating areas, desk areas, etc. For sure make closets bigger. I'd do 3'3" depth at a minimum on even small closets (ours at 3' seems to small).

5. 8' doors throughout. Even if pocket doors -- don't let them convince you that 8' is too long or not needed. Even on 2nd floor with lower ceilings. Once you have 8' doors everywhere, anything else seems ridiculously small.

6. Do make an oversize pantry as others have suggested -- big enough for a fridge -- and consider putting a direct door from garage into pantry. Include plugs in the pantry to run appliances.

7. Make patio bigger than you think -- even if you think it's big enough, make it bigger.

8. Don't let the builder convince you to save $3,500 by reducing the outside plate height -- it will haunt you later on when the drafter screws up a future drawing iteration and idiotically reduces ceiling height in several other places...and then your garage gets built a foot lower than you wanted...and the whole construction process grinds more slowly because a bunch of ceiling heights have to be adjusted.

9. When locating your laundry room and your kitchen/vent, consider where the vent piping is going to go -- it's better to reduce the length of those things, so I'd recommend an exterior laundry room.

10. Put your laundry room immediately next to where most laundry is generated (for me right now, that's still the master -- our laundry room directly connects to my master closet)

11. Consider where seating is going to be in the main living area -- do you want people to see you from your front door?

12. Highly recommend pre-selecting some major items (brick/stone, flooring, appliances, granite upgrades?, etc.) so the pricing is built in before you hit a showroom floor.

13. Increase your lighting and electrical/plug allowance above the standard. I guarantee you will go over -- no sense in being frustrated when you get that $800+ CO.

14. Price in hurricane strapping and heavy anchors. The geotech/structural designed slab is a good one. I'll say this though -- we didn't and I went through a period of regret. But, I'm also an engineer and was able to determine that our slab is likely overdesigned for the worst case of shrink/swell clay that you'd have in BCS.

15. I put in multiple hot water hose bibs. I also put in 4 HVAC zones (master, upstairs; main living, other bedrooms). We'll see if it makes a difference, but I'm certainly excited to see that.

16. As others have said, get your contract right before signing. Make sure the plans are exactly right, and review the spec list with fine detail.

17. The superintendent (the guy who is actually out there coordinating subs and checking the daily progress) is the most critical team member. Get a read on that person (decide if they are good, honest, and trustworthy) and then act accordingly throughout the build. If you have a good super, then rest easier and know they'll get it right. If you have a bad super, then ride them hard and be a thorn in their side.



No matter how many of these types of suggestions you read, you're not going to get them all included -- there's going to still be things that wind up messed up -- and don't sweat that. I have a lot of gripes, but that's because the painful things stick in my mind easier. So much is right/great about the house we're building, and it has been a fun process.

Also, pick good toilets before writing the contract and price them in. We have Vortens in our old house and they have been a huge pain. We wound up with a $750+ CO when we realized we were about to get the same crappy toilets again.

I'm just here to remind the OP that he should decide early on if he wants random people wandering through his house as it's being built.

If not I'd recommend plenty of No Trespassing signs because we now know lots of people help themselves to walking around the job site.

Despite the name, the obligatory big ass tub is not obligatory.

I would also argue that a fireplace is stupid.

Come on DogDoc, it was in good fun. I did see the laughing icon.

Humor doesn't translate well on here. I ain't even mad.

I believe there is a thread on this from 5 plus years ago.

When putting outlets in the eaves, for holiday lights, put a switch for them in the front coat closet.

For any outdoor space you intend to have a table make it a minimum of 12' in any direction so people can get by once the table chairs are out enough for people to sit in them. A 54-60" round table with chairs out enough for people to sit in them is close to 9' of space being used.

Go ahead and roll the upgrades into the mortgage, especially at today's rates, instead of spending all your money later on doing the things you opted out of in the beginning over cost. Besides most of us won't be in that house 10 years later. The mortgage interest is deductible, not as much as it used to be, and later out of pocket for the same upgrades isn't.

There are some excellent suggestions on here. Go through your plans over and over and over ad nauseaum. You want the house you want but put the effort into planning. Change orders are very inefficient and will eat your budget.

This might be more minutia than you are asking for but check out BuildingScience.com. We built about ten years ago and I read a lot of their publications. The wifey is an interior designer but my focus was on functionality, efficiency and indoor air quality.

Also, I'm a perfectionist at heart. I got worked up over some pretty insignificant stuff. Some of the best advice I got was, "don't worry about it. In 3 months you won't even remember this". While good advice, it shouldn't have come from a former friend, the builder.

Good luck!

Think about if you want to capture rain water. The things to know are fairly obvious. Also, in the bath/shower areas, consider putting in grab bars. Falling in either one could create problems you don't want.

Soffit plugs on a switch.

I haven't seen this advice yet so let ma say it. Don't pay the contractor until the work is done. And if it is not done to your satisfaction make them do it again. Also I would hold out a sizable amount of money until the job is totally complete. You'd be surprised how hard it can be to get someone to come finish something minor if there is not much money involved. I've built a few houses and an office building. One of the contractors was great but even that one left a few minor things unfinished. Be a hard ass and make them do it right! Maybe even hire an independent inspector to make sure the contractor is building the house properly.

docb said:

---

I haven't seen this advice yet so let ma say it. Don't pay the contractor until the work is done. And if it is not done to your satisfaction make them do it again. Also I would hold out a sizable amount of money until the job is totally complete. You'd be surprised how hard it can be to get someone to come finish something minor if there is not much money involved. I've built a few houses and an office building. One of the contractors was great but even that one left a few minor things unfinished. Be a hard ass and make them do it right! Maybe even hire an independent inspector to make sure the contractor is building the house properly.

---

I build houses for a national builder. The comment above should be taken with a grain of salt. Home inspectors should be selected like a homebuilder. Some of them don't know what the hell they're doing. I kid you not, some homeowners' inspectors will pick out stuff just to make the inspection report have content on it. Things such as a valve on the gas line behind the range not being present. Pull out the range and there it is. Or things like "garbage disposal inoperable. Recommend replacement" when you just need to hit the reset button.

Some home inspectors are good, but some are very very dumb. We all are humans and make mistakes, but do your own research and don't take the inspector's word or the builder's word as Gospel.

I have seen a couple of people mention floor drains. I am curious why? My garage has a slope towards the door if I needed it to drain. I also saw them as mentioned for laundry and even for a kitchen. Do people plan to hose down the kitchen?

I really am just looking for info on why people suggest this. If you don't use it often enough, the p-trap beneath it will dry out and you will get sewer gas, so you have to use it every so often. I am not saying it is wrong, but I am just curious why I saw it a couple of times.

I saw someone mention building science as a place to learn, and I agree. You must look at the house as a system of all the parts especially for HVAC, insulation, and air quality.

Decide where the building envelope is and design to that. There are two options here.

Option 1: The ceiling is the building envelope. If this is the case, you probably have fiberglass insulation on the ceiling.
- You need to seal the ceiling openings very well.
- Recessed (can) lights are not your friend.
- Think about the attic access door because it is now an opening in the envelope. (Keep it away from the hvac return.)
- Try to bring mechanical and ducts into the envelope. You can use a chase and lower the hallway ceiling.
- You will be cooling and heating less air as the attic is not conditioned.

Option 2: The rook decking is the envelope. This is the case when you spray foam on the roof deck.
- Let the ceiling leak because it doesn't matter. In fact, you need air exchange between the attic and house to control humidity in the attic.
- Run ducts wherever.
- Make sure the attic doesn't get too humid.
- Design for humidity control. This means a variable speed compressor or dehumidifier.

Do an extensive background check of the contractor, and don't ask for references because more than likely they are BS. I did a search on ours before the process started and didn't notice anything unusual his reviews were great and people I talked with that he built for didn't have anything negative to say. Got to see pictures of his work from other houses.

Fast forward... My wife and I are currently in a legal battle with our contractor who built our house, we are now finally officially going to court with a substantial amount of evidence.

After some extensive digging around on the internet (days) I paid for a service that I was able to see that this piece of crap filed for bankruptcy in two other states 18 years ago for the same crap he pulled on us. After the back and forth of mediations he ended the talks with maybe I'll just file bankruptcy which got me thinking and that's how I found out.

God I hope something good comes of this because it's been hell

Milwaukees Best Light said:

---

Despite the name, the obligatory big ass tub is not obligatory.

I would also argue that a fireplace is stupid.

---

Definitely not necessary for anything other than aesthetics, but I enjoy my fireplace. I like having a fire going on the nights in the winter when it is cool enough - if anything for the fact that I enjoy the flames and smell it produces.

Oh, a couple of more things that I didn't put in my original post:

1. DO NOT PUT A WATER HEATER, EVEN A TANKLESS, IN THE ATTIC. FULL STOP. DON'T DO IT! All water systems leak, most leak at the heaters. Put it in the garage or have a closet built in the house or wherever that is accessbile. Because when a leak happens, it will be on day 2 of a two week long vacation, without fail, 100% of the time.

2. Don't let your HVAC guy run nothing but flexible duct for your system. They do it because it's faster, cheaper and easier. Rigid insulated ducts for the main runs, flex duct for the connections to the registers. Your system will run more efficiently, your attic space will be more beneficially used and you won't have a fuggin spider web of flex hose and hangars in every square inch of your attic.

GrimesCoAg95 said:

---

I have seen a couple of people mention floor drains. I am curious why? My garage has a slope towards the door if I needed it to drain. I also saw them as mentioned for laundry and even for a kitchen. Do people plan to hose down the kitchen?

I really am just looking for info on why people suggest this. If you don't use it often enough, the p-trap beneath it will dry out and you will get sewer gas, so you have to use it every so often. I am not saying it is wrong, but I am just curious why I saw it a couple of times.

---

I live in a place where it gets cold in the winter and having the drains in garage is really nice when you pull your car in and it's covered in frozen slop. When that stuff drains towards the garage door and is closed the gasket on the bottom of the garage door freezes your garage door gets frozen shut. I can't tell you how many times I've almost ripped the garage door opener out of the ceiling Not knowing it frozen and trying to open the door. I have to remember to spray it with wd-40 every once in a while.

I also have drains in our mud room and utility room that were put in with the house (not original owner). I can say those have never been used.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is putting a hose bib in the garage on the back wall. It's pretty common here and comes in handy. As I mentioned we are in a place that gets cold and has cold groundwater all year long so that hose bib has a hot and cold water knob which makes it nice when bathing the dog in the driveway.

chaca5151 said:

---

Do an extensive background check of the contractor, and don't ask for references because more than likely they are BS. I did a search on ours before the process started and didn't notice anything unusual his reviews were great and people I talked with that he built for didn't have anything negative to say. Got to see pictures of his work from other houses.

Fast forward... My wife and I are currently in a legal battle with our contractor who built our house, we are now finally officially going to court with a substantial amount of evidence.

After some extensive digging around on the internet (days) I paid for a service that I was able to see that this piece of crap filed for bankruptcy in two other states 18 years ago for the same crap he pulled on us. After the back and forth of mediations he ended the talks with maybe I'll just file bankruptcy which got me thinking and that's how I found out.

God I hope something good comes of this because it's been hell

---

Man, I hope this works out for you. Something similar happened with my parents. They won the judgement but he didn't have anything in his name to seize. Then, he filed bankruptcy. My parents fought that in court and the bankruptcy court terminated that debt. So not only did we have to pay another contractor to complete the work, we were also stuck with legal bills from two separate proceedings. The entire process has made me very leary of all contracts and contractors as people.

I hope things work out better for you but every step of the way we (even our lawyers) thought things were going to work out for us. Ultimately, the contractor got to walk way with few consequences. In hindsight, my parents would have been better off letting the contractor walk but they couldn't stomach that. I'd probably make the same choice they did even in hindsight. There is just no good answer.

ETA: The emoji is for your situation. In my opinion, what your guy and our guy did is criminal, but we got no where on that either.

man, we built a house 10 years ago and I came to post some stuff on here that we learned...and a lot of it was already posted!! wish this thread was around when we built.
I will say Schmelba hit the most of it but here are a few things....
I am not a contractor and know very little about it and mostly just from building our house...so this is from a layman's perspective...

1) find a buddy that's a contractor, buy him a case of beer and have him walk thru before they put up drywall. Have him point out major issues and minor. But you have to be careful how you talk with the builder about these items....which leads me to step 2....
2) Similar to what one person posted above....regarding an inspector....I was going to hire one before the drywall went up but then I thought might be pointless if don't get someone good. My contractor buddy had one that previously built homes so knew their stuff. Paid my $350 and the inspector brought up their concerns (as well as the ones from my buddy). Provided that to builder as it was more reliable than just an email from me and didn't want to potentially drag my buddy in and the builder took it no problem.
3) now take the rest with the understanding that every $$$$ added will be compounded by interest over a period of time on your mortgage....if you have one....
3) get a bigger pantry....maybe not big enough for a fridge but make sure it's big
4) bigger laundry room....not sure drain in floor is necessary. But make it BIG. If builder wants to install cabinets tell them no and do this yourself with cheapo cabinets from home depot.
5) skip the tub in the master. We had our kid right after we moved in so it was nice to have during that time when they were little. Other than that, we don't use it. Literally maybe 4 times a year. Skip the tub and have them expand the shower. Get 2 shower heads and maybe built in tiled bench. Make sure linen closet in bathroom is bigger too. Both of those should be easily done if you remove the tub
6) I've always thought it would be better to have a urinal in the bathroom. Makes it easier when sleepy and forget to lift up the seat when your aim isn't at it's best!!! wife will thank you for it
7) attic space ACCESS....we have some space above our master that we could easily access from 2nd floor bedroom that we SHOULD (and still could) put in a nice door and be able to walk in. Much better than going up stairs to attic. So if you're doing a 2 story think of attic space and how easy to get in.
8) ours came with that tech shield stuff to help insulation. Which has been great but kills cell phone signals and over the air tv too. Have them run a cable to the outside where you could mount an over the air antenna outside easily and then already have it connected inside.
9) the ran all coax, cat5 cables to one panel in upstairs bedroom. They didn't label ANYTHING and it's a freakin mess!! Did an absolutely horrible job with it. This is where our internet and alarm and all that good stuff ties in and feeds the rest of the house. And who knows what up there. Took me a long time to get thru a bunch of it but still have a bunch to go. Also run more cat 5 outlets around house than you think you'll need.
10) DO NOT PUT WATER HEATERS IN ATTIC.....I didn't think of this until it was too late. Now I'm awaiting the inevitable
11) now for the garage....MAKE IT BIIIIIG!!! As you can tell from the pic I'm a fan of this. People will literally stop and tell us they wish they had done this. Previously wifes work vehicle was like a small RV so we needed the height. It made easy for us to install the shelves on the left (more in back you can't see) so tons of stuff fits here that would normally go in an attic. Ours was originally going to be a 3 car garage with single on left and tandem on right. "Tandem" is equal to 2 smart cars. So the tandem fit her work car and then when she changed jobs we put my f150 there with plenty of room. Until we bought a boat. OUrs is 18.5' and we have plenty of room. We also had them build on the "4th" car where my wife parks the van. I keep bikes and lawn stuff on the left side but could easily put that in storage in backyard. That would enable me to fit my f150, boat, and her van all inside. Would be TIGHT but doable. For those that are curious I could fit a 21' boat with foldable tongue in here even with T-top. We also added all of the lighting afterwards which is relatively easy to do so don't pay them for it. Get them to add more lighting on outside. Also make sure they insulate the walls and the garage door is too
12) patio....we didn't have builder do this and we should have. Although our house faces good direction so we get shade there early and a breeze but would be nice to have that outdoor cooking area, fans, and TV and we've never got around to doing it. Primarily b/c it will require big roof change.
13) think about thermostat placement espcially if 2 story with vaulted living room cieling. And if you have higher ceilings in the bedrooms make sure you select where return air ducts are or put in one of those whole home filters. Annoying to have to bring in a ladder to change 1 air filter.
14) try to get the stuff done with the actual build that would be pain in the ass later.....flooring is easy to replace dropping lines behind a wall, dealing with water heater in attic is not....so if you have to spend $$$ do it on the stuff that would be difficult later on

You have more A&M stuff in your garage than I have in my entire house!!

Thats a nice garage.

White F-150 and White Odyssey - you must be like a god on the auto board.

Apache said:

---

You have more A&M stuff in your garage than I have in my entire house!!

---

sounds like a personal problem or you don't wear the pants!!! Either way, no bueno for you!!

p.s. my wife came up with the entire decoration and got it done while I was on buddies golf trip

Fairview said:

---

Thats a nice garage.

White F-150 and White Odyssey - you must be like a god on the auto board.

---

dunno....very rarely go there (and never go to politics!!).....wonder what they would say with white f150...white odyssey....AND a white boat?!?!?!

In addition to others

- Foundation and thermal barriers!
- Closed cell foam insulation in your attic - understand you'll need outside air for your air handler
- add a 30 or 50 amp plug outside if you think you'll ever own an RV
- blocking for TV walls
- add elec and low voltage for outdoor TVs and appliances
- natural gas stub out for a grill
- Gas and sub-panel outside for future pool equipment
- bigger closets
- more storage
- deck every accessible inch of your attic
- focus on the upgrades that are difficult/costly to change later: flooring, cabinets, MEP
- insulate your garage walls and doors
-

They add, almost, no cost, if installed during construction. When a pipe leaks, it minimizes damage. Often, cabinets are below the grade of the floor, and a slow leak in a shower/toilet/washing machine/kitchen sink can cause extensive damage.

All good tips thanks!

Another question, our builder has included money in our quote for appliances. Is that something worth buying through them? Will they get a better deal than going to a Home Depot or Lowes? Is the only benefit that it rolls into the mortgage?

Nagler said:

---

All good tips thanks!

Another question, our builder has included money in our quote for appliances. Is that something worth buying through them? Will they get a better deal than going to a Home Depot or Lowes? Is the only benefit that it rolls into the mortgage?

---

Personally I wouldn't use the builder to purchase the appliances. They might get a slight discount, but its unlikely this will be passed on to you.

I would shop sales around the Memorial Day/July 4th/Labor Day/Black Friday. Most places will let you delay delivery of the appliances until closer to your build completion date.