Things Are Really Moving Now...

Our house is framed now, almost. Most of it is done, but there are a few things here and there that have to be finished. It feels like it has taken a long time to get to this point, but I suppose it probably feels that way for all home owners.

Over the last month or so, we've experienced a lot of things that I thought I should share.

Snow is not your friend. Now, I've never been a big fan of winter. I pretty much hate it. But, now I hate it even more. For several weeks, our home didn't have a roof. So, every time there was snow in the forecast, my heart sunk a little. There's something really wrong with seeing snow and ice in the places that you hope to cover with carpet and flooring in a few short months. We have a roof now, though, and there doesn't appear to be any major damage to anything.

You should keep up with your cleanup work. My husband and I, to save money, have opted to do most of the cleanup work ourselves. However, when the framers were working we weren't sure which piles were scrap and which piles were still being used, so we didn't actually start our part of the work until the guys were almost done. Big mistake! We're almost caught up now, but we're in the middle of a wicked cold snap and got snow yesterday. We still need to pick up all of the roofers' trash, but I think we're going to hold off until I can actually see the trash again. It's all under the snow right now.

You should talk to your builder everyday. And I do mean, everyday. Over the course of the four weeks that our builder and his crew were framing the house, I learned the hard way that I should spend a little time talking to him every morning. A couple of times, he would decide to work on a part of the house that he needed to get our opinion about. Since my husband and I were at work during the day, he would just make his own decision about what he thought he should do. It wasn't always what I would have done.

For instance, the original plans called for arched windows on the front of our house and a barrel roll arch in the front porch. While shopping for windows, my husband and I decided to move to squared off windows. So, the builder decided while he was working on the porch that since we had gotten rid of the arched windows that we didn't really want the arch under the porch. He was wrong, by the way. We ended up with a totally different look over our front door. Fortunately, we've grown to like the new look, but otherwise, we'd have had to have the builder rip it all down and do it over again. Here's how the porch ended up; what do you think?

Now that the framing's almost done, I realize that this part has been a lot smoother than it could have been. Our builder put up with a lot of questions from us, with no complaints, and I really appreciated that. Now, we're starting to move into the sub-contractor phase. My husband and I will start doing walk-throughs. I'll let you know how it all goes.

Explore Your Home Plan Options Online

The home of your dreams may be as close as your laptop. Using the myriad of online databases available today, you are almost certain to find a plan (or several) that you can see yourself living in.

The best thing about conducting your house plan search online is being able to use the search engines employed by the website. Many of the plans available online are the same ones you’ll see in books from your local library. However, once you’ve started narrowing down your list of required house plan features, using the online search engines is much easier than examining each plan in a book page by page.

These search engines will allow you to look for just about anything you want in a house. You can specify the number of stories, the number of bathrooms, and even the location of your mater bedroom. Another great feature of some websites’ search engines is the ability to search by estimated price.

The home plans offered online are pretty affordable. The pricing is dependent upon how complicated and large each home plan is. Starting as low as approximately $500 for a study set and as low as $765 for a reproducible master, purchasing a house plan online is an economical way to have a custom home built. For an additional charge, you can even have alterations made to the plan to make it truly yours.

Great Websites with Home Plans

New Home Guide

New Home Source

Dream Home Source

Model Houses

Model houses are another great way to find the home of your dreams. Model houses are a great opportunity to see all of the different amenities you've read about during your planning (read: dreaming) live and in 3-D.

For those of you who haven't been dream home shopping yet, I should describe the model home tour process. You'll find model homes in most new communities. Sometimes there will be two or three models; other times you'll see more like ten or fifteen. These homes are built so that potential homebuyers will have the opportunity to view the builders' finished products as well to help homebuyers who are going to purchase a home in that community choose the model that will suit their family's needs.

When visiting model homes, sometimes you will have to enter what I call "Model House Row" through the sales office at one of the models. After answering some standard questions from the salesperson, you will have access to the rest of the houses. You can look at each one, or skip any that don't interest you. When Husband and I first started looking at houses, we only looked at 1 1/2 story and 2 story homes because we knew we didn't want a ranch. Later, as we worked to ironing out more details related to interior design we looked at all of the houses. Pick whatever system works for you.

At other model home communities, you won't ever even see a salesperson, unless you want to. In these communities, the sales office is still housed in one of the model homes. But entering through that home isn't required. In these settings, if you're "just looking," you could just avoid that house. The model homes in these communities are sometimes dispersed over a slightly large part of the community.

I do have to mention a little bit of model home etiquette, though. First, come prepared to do something with your feet. Either take your shoes off or use the booties that are usually provided at the front door. Eventually someone will be purchasing that model home and they don't want to have to immediately replace the carpets.

Second, as you inspect the home feel free to open drawers and cabinets. I like to see how things work. But remember that this isn't your home. So treat things gently.

If you're even just starting to think that purchasing a custom-built home might be for you, I would strongly suggest checking out the local model home communities right away. Nowhere else will you able to see so many design options in one location.

A Pro's Take on Working with an Architect

Bob Vila (of This Old House fame)has a great article about working with an architect on his web site. Check it out!

http://http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Library/Working_with_an_Architect-Hiring_a_Pro-A2113.html

Finding out What Your Dream Home Looks Like

The first part of purchasing your custom-built dream home is figuring out what that home looks like. There are lots of ways to start seeing your dream home take shape. You might start completely from scratch and hire an architect to design your home. You could browse through house plan books or web sites and find your dream home there. Another option is to start with a builder’s model home and make adjustments to suit your needs. Over the next few days, I’m going to cover the different avenues that are available and hopefully give a little insight into each one.

Hiring an architect is one way to be certain that you get exactly what you want in your new house. You’ll be able to start completely from scratch and specify every detail in the house. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Be careful what you wish for, though. The design process takes more work than you think.

We hired an architect for our home. And we’re glad that we did. However, don’t think that you’ll have a couple of meetings and then the architect will do all the work. You have to be prepared to do your share, too. Often the architect will give you a draft and then you’ll take it home and start examining it. It amazed me how long my husband and I could debate about the placement of one door. Don’t be discouraged if there are lots of revisions needed before you get to your dream home. Each time you make an adjustment, you’ll have narrowed down one more aspect of your house to match your vision.

When you first meet with your architect, be ready to spend a little time with him. Here are a few things you may want to do at your first appointment.

1. Bring pictures of things you like with you. We took pictures of houses that we liked from around our neighborhood and model homes that we visited.

2. Talk about things that you hate. This could be just as important as the things you like. I’ve always hated ultra-modern looking things, so I made certain that we told him that, too.

3. Talk about how you live in your home now and what changes are coming up the road. In my case, my husband and I want to start a family in the next year or so. So, although a small house suits us now, we wanted our dream home to have a couple of extra rooms to grow into.

4. Be honest about who you are. This is not the meeting where you want to start imagining that your lifestyle is different than it really is. My husband and I watch a lot of television. I know, in some circles, that isn’t always easy to admit. But if that’s how you and your family spend your evenings, don’t try to pretend that you do something else. Go ahead and plan a spot for that TV.

Dreaming about your custom-built home is a lot of fun. Seeing it come to life is even more fun

Woohoo! A Real Groundbreaking

Although this blog was started to document the custom home building process, the process actually started for me about six months ago. Over that time we worked with an architect, found a builder, and arranged for financing.



So...this week we're finally seeing work at the build site. Here is a "before" shot of the field where our new home will be.







They brought out a huge piece of equipment (that I've since learned is called a front-loader) and started digging away. Here's shot of the hole the guys dug for the foundation.


More updates will come as the house progresses.