Tips for building a house

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Post Reply
Topic Author
MP173
Posts: 2607
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:03 pm

Tips for building a house

Post by MP173 »

DW and I are looking to downsize/move to a ranch style hours...or at least one with minimal stairs. Current house, which I love has all bedrooms on 2nd floor which may not be practical at some point in the future.

I am not looking forward to potentially building. Never done it, but to me it seems stressful.

Give me some pointers from finding a location to the actual building. We do not have a location in mind, nor a builder.

Our locale has a shortage of ranch or one story houses which makes building seem like the only possibility.

Thanks for advise.

Ed
User avatar
firebirdparts
Posts: 4387
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2019 4:21 pm
Location: Southern Appalachia

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by firebirdparts »

Taking that at face value, my advice is to not care much about anything. The stress comes from creating, ex nihilo, 1000 expectations in your head, and then trying to get somebody else to do exactly as you imagined them. You don't have to do that, it just seems common, and it is very stressful.

Locations are all about lifestyle, and I know you think about all that. No need to list it out. There's no way to try a location out, but you can sure try out the drive from there to wherever you go.
This time is the same
mrc
Posts: 1908
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:39 am

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by mrc »

Installing an elevator in the house you love is a less-expensive option, and one that's a lot easier than building a new house.
By the time you know enough to choose a good financial adviser, you don't need one. | bogleheads.org is my advisor: The ER is 0.0% and the advice always solid.
Tracker968
Posts: 369
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 8:32 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by Tracker968 »

DW and I just moved into a new build. Took 1 year in planning and 1 year to build. Tried very hard to stay within budget and had cut a lot of things we wanted. But the move from a three level home to two levels with master bedroom on the main level is great and definitely worth it. Upgraded to zero entry which means just one step up from garage to house. This will be our aging in place home.
Now we're working to get the landscaping done. That is crazy expensive!
I spent a lot of time running Cat 5e wire around for TVs and security cameras. But it turns out that our cable provider has gone to 100% wifi so I didn't need to run cables to the TV locations. Something to check into.
The only other advice I can give is that a lot of things won't be perfect. The subcontractors don't seem to care too much or do any quality control. That is up to you.
User avatar
Kenkat
Posts: 9539
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:18 am
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by Kenkat »

Spend your money on the things you cannot easily change later. We built a ranch style house it the late 90s that was meant to be somewhere we could stay long term. A number of our original neighbors have since moved out but we are still here. It is neat to see little kids in the neighborhood again. Things I feel we did “right”:

- location: we wanted a quiet, dead end street (which we got)
- single story, minimal steps
- flat lot with some privacy to either side and wooded in the back
- oversized garage
- varied ceiling heights of 9-11 feet (we did 8 feet in the basement which I regret)
- all brick / stone exterior
- covered front entry
- large windows with lots of light
- larger kitchen and great room (where you spend much of your time) in exchange for smaller bedrooms
- smooth ceilings (no “popcorn” finish)

This was our second build and we learned a lot from the first. We used a quality builder and watched what was going on but didn’t go every day. I would fax the construction supervisor a list of things I saw or questions I had and they would address them.

Things like paint colors, light fixtures, tile, plumbing fixtures, carpet, countertops - i.e., a lot of the stuff you “pick out” - end up getting changed someday later anyway, so while you don’t want to mess it up, you can also change these things later and at reasonable cost. And will likely want to anyway.

Landscaping grows, don’t overdo it. I see a lot of people over plant, or plant a tree 10 feet from the house and in 5 years, it’s an overgrown nightmare.

It’s a fair amount of work and some stress to build but done right, it can be really great.
Second Round
Posts: 230
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2021 8:16 am

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by Second Round »

Kenkat wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 4:25 pm
- smooth ceilings (no “popcorn” finish)
IMO, if bell bottoms and vinyl records can come back, popcorn ceilings can as well. I hope, anyway ... we got 'em, and currently unpopular or not, they don't bother me at all. :)

Watching this thread. We are in a similar boat to OP, and there's a dearth of houses out there that tick most of the boxes for us. We want nicer, but smaller. Those seem to be contradictory in our area. We are lucky that we have the master on the 1st floor, but even that is a walk-up from our basement and garage.

We know ourselves well enough to never try to build. The ratio of good experiences to horror stories is nowhere near where I'd consider doing it. We just don't have the personality/temperament for it.
User avatar
lthenderson
Posts: 8499
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Iowa

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by lthenderson »

mrc wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 3:34 pm Installing an elevator in the house you love is a less-expensive option, and one that's a lot easier than building a new house.
+1

OP, you love your house other than the second floor. An elevator will be much less expensive and stressful than building a new home and all the other things that go with it.
TheGreyingDuke
Posts: 2217
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 10:34 am

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by TheGreyingDuke »

lthenderson wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 4:03 am OP, you love your house other than the second floor. An elevator will be much less expensive and stressful than building a new home and all the other things that go with it.
We are also facing needing a house to take us to the end, our current house is great but access to second floor challenging and an elevator would not be an option. Making it a house to die for requires more than access to a second floor, appliances, counter heights, bathroom configuration all figure in to the equation.
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." H.G. Wells
User avatar
TomatoTomahto
Posts: 17100
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:48 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by TomatoTomahto »

lthenderson wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 4:03 am
mrc wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 3:34 pm Installing an elevator in the house you love is a less-expensive option, and one that's a lot easier than building a new house.
+1

OP, you love your house other than the second floor. An elevator will be much less expensive and stressful than building a new home and all the other things that go with it.
+2

If an elevator isn’t an option inside the house, you can possibly install one outside the house with access to the top floor.

We went a different route, doing renovations with an eye to creating a home that would work without using the stairs. Our downstairs guest bedrooms were renovated to have roll in showers and other ADA features if we can no longer easily reach the third floor (lowest level is a walkout basement with bedrooms, then main living level (kitchen, dining, family, etc), then bedroom, large bath, office). While we very much enjoy our “owner’s floor” now, eventually it could become a very nice place for live-in help; I hope the day never comes, but we are prepared.

Generally, I think modifying a house to make it livable with the infirmities of age is an order of magnitude easier than building a house (and cheaper) if you otherwise like your house.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
Nowizard
Posts: 4827
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:33 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by Nowizard »

If building, look around at houses for sale to find one as similar as possible to the design you want. There are experienced "draftsmen" who are not architects but who do housing plans for much less with a sign-off by a licensed architect.

Tim
homebuyer6426
Posts: 1830
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2017 8:08 am

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by homebuyer6426 »

Rather than elevators, I've also seen people install lifts that run on a track next to their stairs. That's probably a much less expensive option.
45% Total Stock Market | 52% Consumer Staples | 3% Short Term Reserves
User avatar
Watty
Posts: 28813
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:55 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by Watty »

There is an old joke that the final step in building a custom house is to file the divorce paperwork. That is an exaggeration but it will put a lot of stress on your marriage with all the decisions that need to be made so be prepared for that.

Be sure to use a real estate lawyer to handle the contracts because there are all sorts of Murphy's Law things that can go wrong. A few years ago there was a thread by someone who was having a custom house built. The found a great small builder and it was going very well until the builder unexpectedly died in something like a car accident or heart attack. They had a mess since there were unpaid subcontractors with liens, missing plans, the building permits were in the builders name, etc. A big problem was that they could not find another contractor to finish the house since none of them wanted to get involved with a mess like that. I never heard how that turned out.
MP173 wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 3:07 pm Give me some pointers from finding a location to the actual building.
Do not buy a lot with any flood risk. You might find some place that is in something like a 250 year flood zone which does not sound all that bad but keep in mind that means if you live in the house for 25 years there is a 10% chance that it will be flooded while you live in the house.

Flood maps are also not all that accurate. In much of the country there is less than 100 years of good flood records. Even if there are newspaper accounts of floods in the 1800s or even 1700s that is not the same as having good scientific measurements over a long period of time. Even without global warming just by random chance in some areas the last 100 years will have been atypical.

In many developed areas any vacant land will have issues which is why it is vacant. If you do find some vacant land pay a lot of attention to the area around it since the area could be developed in undesirable ways and zoning can be changed.

In my area about the only land is available for building is when someone sells an old house from the 1970s or before which was built on a couple of acres. These will be bought by builders and subdivided into tiny lots and they will put tall McMansions on them. The lots are not really large enough for a ranch house and even if you built a ranch house on one it would be surrounded by tall McMansions that looked down on them.

If your area is anything like mine your best bet might be to find an older house on a good lot and then to either gut it and remodel it or tear it down and build a new house on the lot.

There is a house up the street from me where someone bought a house and pretty well gutted it to remodel it. I don't know all the details but from what I have heard it sounded like they were hoping for it to take less than a year but it took them almost two years because of the labor and supply chain problems and even then some of the work was not done when they moved in.

If you are looking at a project that might take two years a better choice might be to just have your financing all ready to go and to wait for an acceptable house to come on the market then snap it up quickly. Ranch houses might be rare in your area but there are likely some of them around so two years you might be able to find an acceptable one.
User avatar
Watty
Posts: 28813
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:55 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by Watty »

One other thing to keep in mind is that the typical suburban single family home can be very socially isolating when you need to give up driving.

My mom survived my dad and she insisted on staying in the large single family home I was raised in. That was her choice and I understand it but the dependence on cars caused her to drive a lot longer than she should have and once she did stop driving it was socially isolating. My siblings and I lived in other parts of the country so there would sometimes be weeks when the only person she would see would be the housekeeper who came in to help her out most days. She had outlived many of her friends or they were not very mobile either or they had moved away.

For years we tried to get her to move into some sort of senior community(not assisted living) where she could have had more social contact but she refused to move even though she could have easily afforded it.

Try to picture how this house will work not only when you are older, but also if one of you survives the other.

Anyway, you might look to see what is available in a retirement communities near you.
sport
Posts: 12084
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:26 pm
Location: Cleveland, OH

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by sport »

In preparation for our "senior years" we moved from a 3 level house to a one level house. We are completely on one level, not even a basement and we are very happy with the arrangement. We did not "build" the house. It was a partially finished house in a new development. We had to choose all the finishes, flooring, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, etc. Since we have no basement and only a mostly inaccessible attic, we needed to add storage space for our "stuff". We added cabinets to the kitchen, living room, laundry room, and garage. We have been here 15 years and it has worked out well.
Topic Author
MP173
Posts: 2607
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:03 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by MP173 »

Thanks for all replies, including the "divorce lawyer". I am not looking forward to this, but i didnt look forward to my hip replacement, but it worked out well, only took about 4 weeks to return to normal.

Sounds like this will be a 2 year project. Been told I am ADHD...not sure if I can handle a 2 year project.

Keep comments/suggestions flowing,

ed
WhyNotUs
Posts: 2606
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 11:38 am

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by WhyNotUs »

What do you love about your current home? Create a list
What (other than 1 floor living) would you really need from a new home? Create a list
Is there a neighborhood that you would like to spend more time in? Good walks, access to medical, good dining and entertainment access, friends? Create a list, that will be the start of an architectural program.

Interview 2 or 3 realtors to see if there is one that seems to get your values and needs. If not, keep interviewing.
Their mission will be to find you an existing house that meets your program in your price range.
Looking at some houses will either result in a purchase on some additional testing of your program.
If you find a home great, if not, then your realtor starts looking for a lot and you start looking for an architect.

Interview some architects and share your program and what you have learned from looking at homes.
Pay them to look at a quick sketch to determine whether you existing home lends itself to one floor living with a remodel.

If all of that fails and your realtor finds a lot that meets your needs, then you start design.
It would be mistake IMO to jump to "I need to design a house"
I own the next hot stock- VTSAX
Flashes1
Posts: 1421
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 7:43 am

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by Flashes1 »

My advise:

1. Google the top custom home builders in your area and carefully look at their website for pictures of some of their prior builds...take lots of notes of what you like and don't like.

2. Go to the citydataforum message boards and ask about opinions about those builders.

3. Look at the MLS every morning to educate yourself about current market conditions and the available housing stock. Take lots of notes and cut & paste images of what you like.

4. Call your favorite 4 builders on the phone (note how long time it takes for them to return your call - if it's more than a day - that's a red flag, IMO).

5. Discuss over the phone the basics of what you want: For example I want to build a 3 bdrm/3 bathroom Ranch style house - XXXX sq. foot with a screened in porch.....can you do it for $XXXXXX, or less?

6. If any are appealing, schedule an in-person meeting and make sure you ask them to bring pictures of what they're thinking -----and most importantly----bring pictures of what you like.

7. Is there a fit? Does this sound like a person you want to basically be married to over the next 6 months? Personalities matter.

8. Do they have lots or will you have to buy one?

9. Make sure they can finish construction that fits your needs.

10. Ask them if there is a way to walk thru a couple similar homes they've already built. Many small customer home builders develop close enough relationships with prior customers that they won't mind showing off their house for them. This will let you tell the builder what you like and don't like. If you can do this - you are golden.

Edit: There's a bunch of great smaller, custom home builders where I live in Ohio. I got a great one. He had a lot ready to build - I saw his sign out front and gave him a call. The Initial phone call was in April - and we moved into the new home in mid-December. There were a couple stressful times (namely the cabinet maker inexpicably stopped working and wasn't returning calls - I had to drive 30 minutes to his shop to put an end to this nonsense) and given the 10,000 things you have to pick out in a truly custom built home ---- there were lots of phone calls with the builder (and we hired a decorator to help us with EVERY selection from the color of the granite to the style of the bathroom fixtures and finish of the floors and cabinets and paint colors).

Run very very far away to anyone who says it's a two year process. What a joke. They're not working with the right builder.....or the buyer is indecisive and drags their feet. Me? I can make pretty much any decision in a few minutes. I'm not going to sit there and stew over what kind of fridge I want or what kind of window I want in the family room. It did help to have a decorator! I think I paid her $3k to guide me thru the entire process. Money well spent.

I loved it....my wife didn't but I would build a house every 5 years if I had the money. You learn so much what you like and don't like after moving into a home. It would be fun to have all these little tweaks done via multiple home builds.
joechristmas
Posts: 122
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2015 9:02 am

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by joechristmas »

Ensure that you have proper grading around the structure as this can be very important and a headache to fix later on.
Johny Fever
Posts: 347
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:05 am

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by Johny Fever »

If at all possible may I suggest looking into a zero step entry way at least. Our whole new home is this way but even just having a friend come over that might be in a chair this is a nice deal. Had company last night with my kids over and one of their buddies is vet and chair bound. He said how great it was to come into a home that he could just roll in and also having access outside to the deck and pool area he loved...just a thought...drainage I know can be an issue...but...we love it so far.
iudiehard1
Posts: 131
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:40 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by iudiehard1 »

I have moved houses many times and have built 2. We will likely be in your shoes in a couple of years and have given this some thought. For me, I would reach out to a realtor and tell them what your are looking for and to keep and eye out for what your ideal home would be in the coming months. Go look at some places that fit your criteria……you may be surprised what you see especially if you add some other areas to your possibilities. It may not yield a new home, but it will get you thinking about what you would want in a new build. Take pictures of the things you like about single living layout, etc. good luck!
Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. | SCHD 70% DGRO 30%
ItzaHoot
Posts: 142
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:05 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by ItzaHoot »

1. Check FEMA and insurance flood zones/maps. Stay well clear of even 500 year flood zones.
2. What "open" property is nearby that might impact your quality of life? You probably don't want a failed shopping center or empty land bulldozed and apartments or condos pur up in your "backyard".
3. Work with an architectural firm for drawings and specifications. Make sure EVERYTHING is is writing. Either specify light fixtures, ceiling fans and appliances or specify that you will supply fixtures, fans, and appliances for the contractor to install.
4. Although it is a misquote, "the devil is in the details" is absolutely correct. Verbal doesn't count. Unless it's in writing and signed by both parties, contracts are seldom enforceable.
5. Don't change anything without a written quote and you and the contractor signing off on all changes. I had a friend that built a house on his property quite a few years ago that started out less than $300k which at that time and in that area was an upper middle class home. By the time he and his wife got through stopping by several times a day and saying "I'd like..." or "Could you...", followed by the contractor's "Sure, no problem...", the finished home cost him well above $400k since the changes were made without approved costs.
User avatar
hand
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 8:42 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by hand »

MP173 wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 3:07 pm
Our locale has a shortage of ranch or one story houses which makes building seem like the only possibility.
Unless you are likely to enjoy the process of building (including issues and delays), have truly unique needs, and can afford the premium of a custom build, I would first take some time to define your requirements and budget and share with a realtor. It seems likely *somebody* has built a house designed for aging in place in your desired location any you might end up finding existing inventory that meets your needs.

If you do build, think carefully about how you want to balance 1) cost, 2)long term quality and 3)features/finishes. Much of the building industry seems to be focused on cost and features at the expense as quality is hard to see and payoff is generally longer term. Insulation, air sealing, sound dampening, solid core doors, number of electrical circuits, wiring gauge, electrical panel type and a zillion other details all can make a difference in the livability and maintainability of the home over time.

Find a builder who understands the difference between value and price and is willing to meet you where you are comfortable even if it is not the typical approach.
bombcar
Posts: 875
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:41 pm

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by bombcar »

Can you find a house that has everything you want/need on the ground floor? You don't have to USE the upstairs just because you bought it.

The simplest way to "build" is to find a developer who is doing building in a development, and talk to them about getting your single-level. Then buy it once they build it.

In most cases doing a custom build is only worth it if you REALLY have something you want that is not available at all locally; it sounds like you might fall into this but I wouldn't be sure.
mjg
Posts: 246
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2022 4:06 pm
Location: CA

Re: Tips for building a house

Post by mjg »

What's your general area?

How many sq ft do you foresee the house to be built?

What's your budget, either total $ or $ per sq ft?

What's your timeframe for the build to take?

Lot's of benefits to having what you want built, but it will come with a cost of $ and stress along the way.

We bought raw land (12+ acres) in June 2017. Hired an architect in Sept 2017. Plans started taking shape late 2017. Lined up a builder by March 2018. Hired the civil engineer to develop grading plan (needed to move 2450 cubic yards of dirt) in April 2018. Some house plan mods due to how the pad layout came out. Then structural engineer and the CA Title 24 plans and the grading plans and the plans for the BMP (best management practices). Filed grading permit and building permit beginning of Oct 2018. Grading approved mid December 2018. Grading started the Monday after Christmas. Grading complete late Feb 2019 and approved. Building permit approved March 2019 (they don't approve until grading done and approved). Then the building, getting electric brought to property, septic in, etc. Passed final inspection last week of Jan 2020. Love the house and property. Single story contemporary 3750 sq ft ranch and 1350 sq ft detached garage and workshop. Designed and built to our lifestyle. My "carry me out in a box" house. A great place for what was to come with Covid. And I didn't discuss the whole construction loan process -- we did build to perm but sold existing house mid build and lived in a fifth wheel trailer at the build site for five months, and ended up not doing the full building fund draw and refinancing at completion. One thing 2020 and on was great for was doing multiple no cost refinancing's getting down to my final 30 yr 2.25% fixed loan. Keeping that even though retired in July 2022.

Perhaps what you wish to do is find a semi custom builder that has lots and plans you can choose from and they will make minor modifications to fit your needs. This is what we did in 1987 in the Chicago suburbs - found a builder with lots available, picked out a wooded 1 acre property, and picked out a Cape Cod style house plan they had. We signed a contract, and builder funded construction, and we moved in after a 9 month or so build.
Post Reply