Talk me out of building a home

[Anonymous]

Don’t build a home.

[Anonymous]

We built with Focal Point Homes and it was truly not a stressful experience. They have a variety of floor plans to pick from and we did go back and forth twice on which model would fit best on our lot. Once that was done, it was pretty easy! The standard finishes are very nice and we really liked the designer that Focal Point has on staff.

Not at the stage of life where I could devote the time to a truly custom home, but this was a great (and pretty affordable) option for our family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We built with Focal Point Homes and it was truly not a stressful experience. They have a variety of floor plans to pick from and we did go back and forth twice on which model would fit best on our lot. Once that was done, it was pretty easy! The standard finishes are very nice and we really liked the designer that Focal Point has on staff.

Not at the stage of life where I could devote the time to a truly custom home, but this was a great (and pretty affordable) option for our family.

OP here and that is exactly the type of experience I would like to have. I would pick a builder who already offers a floorplan I like, invest some time to tweak it slightly (if needed) and select finishes. I don’t want to have to be on site frequently to micromanage construction workers. I just don’t have the time for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Building with a production builder such as NVHomes, Toll, etc is very different vs. hiring your architect and a firm to complete the project. IMO, it is only worth it if you do full custom as you are in the driver's seat in terms of material selection, design, and of course the quality of the people constructing the place. As others have stated, it will cost more but if you have the budget , patience, and plan to stay at the place for some time, well worth the effort.

+1. What OP describes is like building in a development with a stock builder. That’s not really custom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Building with a production builder such as NVHomes, Toll, etc is very different vs. hiring your architect and a firm to complete the project. IMO, it is only worth it if you do full custom as you are in the driver's seat in terms of material selection, design, and of course the quality of the people constructing the place. As others have stated, it will cost more but if you have the budget , patience, and plan to stay at the place for some time, well worth the effort.

+1. What OP describes is like building in a development with a stock builder. That’s not really custom.

Well, frankly, if I could build with Toll or NV, I would! Unfortunately they don’t build on individual lots, and there are no new home developments near my preferred location. I am looking for a similar experience with a semi-custom builder. I am willing to invest a bit more time on floorplan and finishes than I did with Toll, but again, I don’t want to be on the site every day micromanaging the workers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for the two PPs who built custom - is it still a full-time job if you go with a builder who does a lot of houses, pick one of their popular floorplans and tweak a few things? We built our current home in a new home development with a large well-known builder and we had very few customization options. We didn’t feel the need to check up on the builder because we figured they’re building the same house over and over again and they know what they’re doing. We would go to the site on weekends for fun and we had a pre-drywall inspection (that didn’t turn up many issues) but that was about it. I know we would have to be more involved this time around since it’s a stand-alone house, but should going with a semi-custom approach mitigate the amount of risk and time investment?

Didn't you just answer your own question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Build - it’s the o my way to get exactly what you want. Just be prepared that it’ll likely cost more than you want. You may think you aren’t picky about finishes but when you see what is included in most builders base packages you may realize you actually do - e.g. despite using a higher end builder, the trim around windows wasn’t included and cost quite a bit to have added. Or base cabinets tend to be pretty cheap so upgrading always costs more.... the included floors might be 3” planks of a softer wood that would get ruined in a few years. Building was a hassle and cost more than I anticipated but it was 100% worth it to have our dream home and location.

We just did this. It was a full time job. Supervising everything to make sure it's done correctly is critical since everyone wants to cut corners and will if you don't let them. Expect some confrontations with your builder along the way. It's been very stressful at times and VERY time consuming.

That said, we had specific wants in quality and design that we could not find in a spec house. Also were worried about quality in a spec since no one is there to make sure corners are not cut. So it was worth it to us in the end.

Also, I did not think I was picky about finishes going in but it turned out I was.

PP here. It sounds like you chose the wrong builder. I have faith in my builder and having to micromanage him isn't what is taking up my time - its picking out the finishes.

Could be. But if you are just at the picking out the finishes phase, then you're still in the honeymoon phase. So keep a close watch as you get into construction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No matter what you bed to be there every day to make sure the workers are doing it the right way. We did this to avoid ugle bulk heads, make sure all rooms and closets have HVAC vents, where the hose sigot goes, outlets, etc.. lots of decisions need to be made and I'd you are not there the workers will just do whatever

+ 1. Even though I was there a lot, I'm still finding things that aren't quite right and it's too late to change some of them. Like why was this outlet put there instead of lined up symmetrically? Builder just gave me a blank stare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter what you bed to be there every day to make sure the workers are doing it the right way. We did this to avoid ugle bulk heads, make sure all rooms and closets have HVAC vents, where the hose sigot goes, outlets, etc.. lots of decisions need to be made and I'd you are not there the workers will just do whatever

+ 1. Even though I was there a lot, I'm still finding things that aren't quite right and it's too late to change some of them. Like why was this outlet put there instead of lined up symmetrically? Builder just gave me a blank stare.

Are there no competent builders?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Building with a production builder such as NVHomes, Toll, etc is very different vs. hiring your architect and a firm to complete the project. IMO, it is only worth it if you do full custom as you are in the driver's seat in terms of material selection, design, and of course the quality of the people constructing the place. As others have stated, it will cost more but if you have the budget , patience, and plan to stay at the place for some time, well worth the effort.

+1. What OP describes is like building in a development with a stock builder. That’s not really custom.

Well, frankly, if I could build with Toll or NV, I would! Unfortunately they don’t build on individual lots, and there are no new home developments near my preferred location. I am looking for a similar experience with a semi-custom builder. I am willing to invest a bit more time on floorplan and finishes than I did with Toll, but again, I don’t want to be on the site every day micromanaging the workers.

One of the large builders is starting to do this, but there are many, many smaller builders that do "build on your own lot" that end up with a hybrid approach. It ends up being semi-custom - you have to pick from their floor plans but can customize (mostly finishes) within that.

I built a custom home about 5 years ago - bought lot, selected builder, architect, design, finishes, etc. I'd say it was a 20% cost premium to a house we could have purchased from a builder. One nice thing you can do with custom is to stop the builder from doing all the little things they do to jack up their profit - cheaper AC units, windows, insulation, etc. The challenge is that for most builders, even custom, is that if it's not visible, they go for the cheapest thing they can get. A pretty Nest thermostat on the cheapest HVAC equipment, as an example. You have to do your own research and watch them or things like that will slip in everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Building with a production builder such as NVHomes, Toll, etc is very different vs. hiring your architect and a firm to complete the project. IMO, it is only worth it if you do full custom as you are in the driver's seat in terms of material selection, design, and of course the quality of the people constructing the place. As others have stated, it will cost more but if you have the budget , patience, and plan to stay at the place for some time, well worth the effort.

+1. What OP describes is like building in a development with a stock builder. That’s not really custom.

Well, frankly, if I could build with Toll or NV, I would! Unfortunately they don’t build on individual lots, and there are no new home developments near my preferred location. I am looking for a similar experience with a semi-custom builder. I am willing to invest a bit more time on floorplan and finishes than I did with Toll, but again, I don’t want to be on the site every day micromanaging the workers.

One of the large builders is starting to do this, but there are many, many smaller builders that do "build on your own lot" that end up with a hybrid approach. It ends up being semi-custom - you have to pick from their floor plans but can customize (mostly finishes) within that.

I built a custom home about 5 years ago - bought lot, selected builder, architect, design, finishes, etc. I'd say it was a 20% cost premium to a house we could have purchased from a builder. One nice thing you can do with custom is to stop the builder from doing all the little things they do to jack up their profit - cheaper AC units, windows, insulation, etc. The challenge is that for most builders, even custom, is that if it's not visible, they go for the cheapest thing they can get. A pretty Nest thermostat on the cheapest HVAC equipment, as an example. You have to do your own research and watch them or things like that will slip in everywhere.

Second this...The primary reason we custom built our home from scratch was not necessarily to build something unique or personal but to simply build a superior quality home and flush out all of the garbage low quality materials that most all of the the production or semi-production builders use. Most of these materials are hidden and the builders are savvy enough to get away with it. Unlike most homeowners, our focus was to upgrade the "guts" of the home to include major components such as hvac, plumbing, electrical, insulation, roofing, exterior cladding, gutters, concrete, grading, driveway, etc, etc. As one of the PPs stated, full custom allows one to control quality of materials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We found a reasonably-priced lot in the neighborhood we want. I want to buy it and build, but DH wants to keep checking out spec homes and expects to find one we like in terms of location and layout. I feel like there are always a couple of things I don’t like about any house I see (pantry too small, weird flow, high traffic street, etc.) and have not found a home that meets my wants. I feel that if I can pick my location and floorplan, I will be easy to please (I am not picky about finishes). DH thinks it’s not worth the hassle. I think it is because if we’re spending this much money on what we expect to be our “forever” home, we better love it. What do you think?

Those two statements are completely inconsistent. You have no idea what this entails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Building with a production builder such as NVHomes, Toll, etc is very different vs. hiring your architect and a firm to complete the project. IMO, it is only worth it if you do full custom as you are in the driver's seat in terms of material selection, design, and of course the quality of the people constructing the place. As others have stated, it will cost more but if you have the budget , patience, and plan to stay at the place for some time, well worth the effort.

+1. What OP describes is like building in a development with a stock builder. That’s not really custom.

Well, frankly, if I could build with Toll or NV, I would! Unfortunately they don’t build on individual lots, and there are no new home developments near my preferred location. I am looking for a similar experience with a semi-custom builder. I am willing to invest a bit more time on floorplan and finishes than I did with Toll, but again, I don’t want to be on the site every day micromanaging the workers.

One of the large builders is starting to do this, but there are many, many smaller builders that do "build on your own lot" that end up with a hybrid approach. It ends up being semi-custom - you have to pick from their floor plans but can customize (mostly finishes) within that.

I built a custom home about 5 years ago - bought lot, selected builder, architect, design, finishes, etc. I'd say it was a 20% cost premium to a house we could have purchased from a builder. One nice thing you can do with custom is to stop the builder from doing all the little things they do to jack up their profit - cheaper AC units, windows, insulation, etc. The challenge is that for most builders, even custom, is that if it's not visible, they go for the cheapest thing they can get. A pretty Nest thermostat on the cheapest HVAC equipment, as an example. You have to do your own research and watch them or things like that will slip in everywhere.

Second this...The primary reason we custom built our home from scratch was not necessarily to build something unique or personal but to simply build a superior quality home and flush out all of the garbage low quality materials that most all of the the production or semi-production builders use. Most of these materials are hidden and the builders are savvy enough to get away with it. Unlike most homeowners, our focus was to upgrade the "guts" of the home to include major components such as hvac, plumbing, electrical, insulation, roofing, exterior cladding, gutters, concrete, grading, driveway, etc, etc. As one of the PPs stated, full custom allows one to control quality of materials.

+1

These are the things we cared about too, and the reason we didn't buy a spec. However it was very challenging to supervise construction and ensure quality in the actual build. You would have to be in the industry to really be able to do this well.

[Anonymous]

We built a very custom home 10 years ago - our own architect who we also paid to oversee construction. From start to finish it can take two years and if you are not incredibly organized and detail oriented it can drive you nuts. Fortunately, I'm both of those but it still was an enormous amount of work. My husband really stayed out of it except for the overall design and budget (went at least 15% over) and if he had felt he needed to be involved in every decision things could have gotten ugly. We were building our winter retirement home and I knew we'd have it forever so I wanted it just right. I'd never go through the process for a place I might only live in for 5-10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We found a reasonably-priced lot in the neighborhood we want. I want to buy it and build, but DH wants to keep checking out spec homes and expects to find one we like in terms of location and layout. I feel like there are always a couple of things I don’t like about any house I see (pantry too small, weird flow, high traffic street, etc.) and have not found a home that meets my wants. I feel that if I can pick my location and floorplan, I will be easy to please (I am not picky about finishes). DH thinks it’s not worth the hassle. I think it is because if we’re spending this much money on what we expect to be our “forever” home, we better love it. What do you think?

Those two statements are completely inconsistent. You have no idea what this entails.

Huh? You don’t get it. I care about location and floorplan. I would invest the time up front to get those right. I don’t care as much about top-of-the-line construction materials and finishes. I have better things to do with my time than micromanage someone else.