Anonymous
Post 10/21/2019 12:34     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 18:05     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm building a house in Bethesda right now. It's 5000 square feet. It's so much work. I even hired a designer and we meet nearly every week. And all of the vendors are nearby the builder so I have to drive an hour to get to the vendors. If I didn't have a designer, it would be so much harder. I'd be constantly second guessing myself. I'm also going over my budget which was absolute crap to begin with. Like $45 for a flush mount light in the bedrooms. That is not a TERRIBLE budget but for this price point I am spending about $200 on them instead. If you want a fan...that's $200 over budget. I didn't even realize how much little things I have to pick. Door handles, garage door, cabinet pulls, the size of the cabinet pulls. I have no regrets because I am getting what I want and I have the time (although I'm 7 months pregnant...) but I also own my own business and I can take a few hours here and there. It's literally a few hours a week though. And again, without my designer it would be a LOT more.


Thank you, this is very helpful. How much is a few hours a week - like 10-15? I could handle that. If it’s more like 40, I could not. Also, would you mind sharing your designer’s name? Sounds amazing.


Probably about 5-10 hours a week but I've been doing this since August and it's not over. A lot of it is trekking out to MoCo because that's where the vendors are. But it's all during the week like I said. I don't want my designer's name searchable on here so I'll email it to Jeff and you can do the same? She's really awesome because she 1. does this full time and has for a long time and 2. knows my style and works with that and doesn't have a specific style she only works with.
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 17:01     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
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
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 16:57     Subject: Re:Talk me out of building a home
Anonymous wrote:
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?


PP again, sorry for the multiple posts! I have built a house with Pulte and this is my first real custom build. I actually liked our builders floor plan. If you are now starting from scratch with an architect, oh man that will be even MORE work. Because it has to fit the lot and the builder has to determine how much it will cost him to build that house. I'm not sure what you mean by semi-custom. Do you mean picking a Toll brothers house and building that? Pick from these four floor plans and those four countertops? That is not very time consuming and can be done on weekends. But a real teardown/lot and building a house on it will mean mostly weekday appointments and going to actual stores like Fergusons, Mosaic, a granite yard etc.


OP here - I built with Toll Brothers last time and that was very easy since we had very few choices with the floorplan (townhomes). This time I would be working with a build-on-your-lot builder like Sekas or Relux and can use/tweak their existing floorplans.
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 16:54     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
Anonymous wrote:I'm building a house in Bethesda right now. It's 5000 square feet. It's so much work. I even hired a designer and we meet nearly every week. And all of the vendors are nearby the builder so I have to drive an hour to get to the vendors. If I didn't have a designer, it would be so much harder. I'd be constantly second guessing myself. I'm also going over my budget which was absolute crap to begin with. Like $45 for a flush mount light in the bedrooms. That is not a TERRIBLE budget but for this price point I am spending about $200 on them instead. If you want a fan...that's $200 over budget. I didn't even realize how much little things I have to pick. Door handles, garage door, cabinet pulls, the size of the cabinet pulls. I have no regrets because I am getting what I want and I have the time (although I'm 7 months pregnant...) but I also own my own business and I can take a few hours here and there. It's literally a few hours a week though. And again, without my designer it would be a LOT more.


Thank you, this is very helpful. How much is a few hours a week - like 10-15? I could handle that. If it’s more like 40, I could not. Also, would you mind sharing your designer’s name? Sounds amazing.
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 16:09     Subject: Re:Talk me out of building a home
^sorry for typos, on phone
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 16:07     Subject: Re:Talk me out of building a home
We built a leed certified green home 10 years ago. It is a full time job. We expected about 15-20% higher cost due to eco materials and it was higher than that. Builder was your green certified and ambitious, he was great but needed hand holding. DH and I designed house despite not having any architectural background. Hired one just for plans. Builder had enough experience to tweak here and there.

It was blood sweat and tears procuring materials, etc. Learned so much and passed advised others who approached for help. That part was fun. The house is beautiful, but I wouldn't do it again.
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 15:59     Subject: Re:Talk me out of building a home
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?


PP again, sorry for the multiple posts! I have built a house with Pulte and this is my first real custom build. I actually liked our builders floor plan. If you are now starting from scratch with an architect, oh man that will be even MORE work. Because it has to fit the lot and the builder has to determine how much it will cost him to build that house. I'm not sure what you mean by semi-custom. Do you mean picking a Toll brothers house and building that? Pick from these four floor plans and those four countertops? That is not very time consuming and can be done on weekends. But a real teardown/lot and building a house on it will mean mostly weekday appointments and going to actual stores like Fergusons, Mosaic, a granite yard etc.
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 15:55     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 15:53     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
I'm building a house in Bethesda right now. It's 5000 square feet. It's so much work. I even hired a designer and we meet nearly every week. And all of the vendors are nearby the builder so I have to drive an hour to get to the vendors. If I didn't have a designer, it would be so much harder. I'd be constantly second guessing myself. I'm also going over my budget which was absolute crap to begin with. Like $45 for a flush mount light in the bedrooms. That is not a TERRIBLE budget but for this price point I am spending about $200 on them instead. If you want a fan...that's $200 over budget. I didn't even realize how much little things I have to pick. Door handles, garage door, cabinet pulls, the size of the cabinet pulls. I have no regrets because I am getting what I want and I have the time (although I'm 7 months pregnant...) but I also own my own business and I can take a few hours here and there. It's literally a few hours a week though. And again, without my designer it would be a LOT more.
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 12:36     Subject: Re:Talk me out of building a home
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?
Anonymous
Post 10/20/2019 08:48     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/19/2019 21:37     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
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.
Anonymous
Post 10/19/2019 21:36     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
I think that planning and executing the project will be almost a full time job even after you hire the builder. If you are prepared for that, great, but it sounds like your DH is saying he isn't.
Anonymous
Post 10/19/2019 21:27     Subject: Talk me out of building a home
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?