CaptnCarl said:

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Anybody have a strong opinion on carpet vs wood upstairs? Upstairs is bedrooms and small living area.

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If you've got kids, or will have kids in this house, and they will play upstairs I would recommend carpet. It's softer so it's easier to play on, but also less noisy.

Need to be careful about what you install as well if you don't do carpet. It needs to be a rigid product. Floppy LVP will one day telegraph the floor joists.

Good input. No kids, but it won't be a bachelor pad. Right now I'm looking at carpet in just the non master bedrooms, everywhere else real wood.

I've seen some wood floors that have carpet runners with wood along the edges. It's a nice look and helps the knees on the stairs.

Can we talk about HVACs? Wanting to do some kind of makeup air system since I'll have a wood fireplace and big vent hood. Any experience with those or an ERV? Single or multi zoned? Humidifier? It's dry in west Texas ha!

Appreciate y'all's input and opinion. It's hard talking about this stuff with builders because I never know if they're just trying to sell me something or they don't want to address the details.

If anyone in your family has allergies, asthma, or respiratory issues,I would not recommend the spray foam insulation. It's great for saving on electric costs, but your house just doesn't breathe like it should. Can get very stagnant. In-laws went that route and its hard for me to stay for extended period.

That is the purpose of the ERV/HRV. It allows filtered outdoor air to circulate through the home while being able to maintain a tight building envelope to control moisture and airborne contaminants. Basically Outdoor air is filtered into the home to let the house "breathe" without sacrificing energy efficiency and letting in dust, contaminants and humidity. The situation you mentioned is the exact application for an ERV system, but obviously it's an added cost. I'm glad you brought that up.

Put your laundry room on an exterior wall so you can reduce the length of your dryer duct. The shorter the duct, the less lint buildup you have, and the easier it is to clean out.

If you're a dog owner: some friends of ours built a huge laundry room, with a dog wash station, sloped floor with a drain, and a doggie door that went out to a fenced in dog run so they can go in/out at will throughout the day and not have access to the rest of the house in case they get dirty/have accidents. They also had a built in dog waterer that stayed full.

All LED lighting.

Energy audit through an engineering firm like MLAW. You'll save thousands with a well designed HVAC system with proper insulation and LED.

Call David Deutsch at Southern Creek Homes and visit with them about their Traditions model home and the advancements they're making with energy savings.

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If you're a dog owner:

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In our last remodel, we installed a wrought iron gate to create an under counter dog crate in our laundry room.

Building a custom home now. Wish I would have seen some of these suggestions ahead of time! Here are a couple things we are doing not yet mentioned.

I am very excited about our safe room. Took advantage of dead space under the stairwell.

I am big on pre-wiring...think about coax, Ethernet, and speaker wire. We put CAT6 drops everywhere, including TV locations. Wired cat6 to exterior locations for PoE cameras. Wired cat6 to strategic locations on the ceiling for PoE wireless access points (including the patio ceiling) so we won't have any Wi-Fi dead spots. All the Ethernet homeruns to the office closet. For music, I wired speaker wire to various rooms where i will mount speakers and will be using Apple Airport Expresses with AirPlay 2 to steam music to any room of choice on demand.

Trash compactor

3.5 baths.

Nice deep sink in the laundry room.

spigots on all exterior sides.

attic door & ladders for all potential attic storage locations.

We bought a house with an outdoor shower bay tucked behind a wall by the pool. It's now on the list for our build house.

Outdoor wall spigots on a separate line than the house. It makes it easier to add a water filter if needed.

Nice cabinets - it costs too much to replace them later.

Sink in the laundry room.

Oversized garage because no one ever said, we have too much-covered storage space.

Covered porch - See the thread on the HI board. It is much cheaper to just do it while the framers are there.

Pre-wire Ethernet/Cat6 cables as previously suggested: All TV locations, office too. You can make the argument for just going all WiFi, but wired connections are still better. I added them to every room in our house. I plug in my laptop to the Ethernet cable at my desk when I'm home and turn off the WiFi off.
The AppleTV and Roku3 are wired to Ethernet, and 2 more Roku sticks are on WiFi. The wired connections still have a faster response when streaming movies.

I have 3 Eero boxes positioned throughout the house for WiFi distribution, and all 3 are connected by Ethernet cables. The WiFi signal for all other devices is flawless, and it even reaches to the garage and patio too.

Make sure you get a gigabit network switch to stash in the closet where all of those Ethernet cables terminate; and you'll need a power outlet in that closet to power the network switch.

Electrical: I really like the combo dual wall outlets that also have 2 USB cable connections. Install one or two on the kitchen island or counter to easily connect a phone/tablet charger cable without the wallwart. Also maybe install them near the bedside.

Finally, put a small cheap TV in the master bathroom. You'll thank me later.

Appreciate all the advice thus far. Closing on our lot next Friday. Working on the sketches with the architect now.