- Make notes. Lots of notes. What do you want? Include all details. Do you want a lot of light? Make sure you note that you want lots of windows and in which rooms that’s most important. But think about more than just rooms. For instance, do you have a study? What do you want in the study? What would be your perfect study? (For instance, in mine, I have a corner desk, which I’ve never had before. My computer is between windows on each side. We couldn’t have big windows on the left wall, but the other one has big windows so I have a good view.)
Think about what kind of floors you want, what you want the windows to look like, what colors you want, what fixtures you want, and so on. Do you have a general idea for the floor plan? If so, sketch it out. Did you find a floor plan our house plan online that you like? Note what changes you want to make in those plans and why. - Be aware that the lot you buy can determine a lot about the house plans. We have a large lot, for example, but weren’t sure what places would be useable for building. We ended up on a hill, but not much of a slope, so we planned as if it were on flat ground. But if we had to use the steeper slope, on a hill, that would have seriously changed our floor plan. When you’re looking for land, take into account what kind of house and if it’ll work on the land you buy.
- If you’re looking for a big lot, or a wooded lot, check if there are creeks or any kind of wetlands nearby. Check for floodplain issues. Call the environmental and zoning departments in the city or county and tell them what you want to do and make sure you can do it on the lot you want to buy.
- Hire an architect. Of course you have to do this if you’re working with a custom plan, but if you’re working with plans you bought, have an architect review them, especially in relation to the lot where you’re going to build. They’ll also make sure the house is in a legal location and not in a setback or wetland area or Resource Preservation Area, or anything like that. They’ll also be able to help you with any issues with your floor plan which you may not have realized could be problems.
- After you think you have the plans finalized, study them closely. Imagine living in that house. In your mind, get up and get ready for work in that house, with that bathroom and the kitchen. Even imagine driving out of the garage and turning into the street. Imagine cooking in that kitchen. Imagine what it will be like kicking back and watching TV. Frank Lloyd Wright used to do this with all the homes he designed for people. If it was an office building, he’d imagine working in it. This will help you find details that you may have missed.
- Spend time, well ahead of time, looking for a General Contractor. Unless you have experience, a good GC is more than worth their pay. I know of many cases where our GC managed to get prices negotiated down far lower than I would have been able to. There were also other issues that came up along the line that he was able to handle in ways we could not. For instance, the framers built our 1st floor 9′ high when we had asked for 8′. This may seem like a small thing, but it means more wood for framing, more drywall, more siding - more of a lot of things. That also caused an issue with the roof trusses. (We have one vaulted room, so even though it was on the 1st floor, the taller walls created a problem.)
The contractor was able to get refunds or special deals (like having them do a few extras for free) because he’s worked with the framers and lumber yard a lot, so he has a long term relationship with them. If it were just us, they’d have less motivation to want to keep us happy.
Make sure this contractor understands your ideas and plans. Many contractors and subcontractors are used to just doing things the way they expect them to be done. Others are better at dealing with special plans and pay close attention to what you want. - After you have a contractor, have him review the plans. In our case, we had something we really liked, but the contractor was quick to point out things that would have cost us a lot of money. He helped us by showing us what would add big costs to the house and how we could change them to something that would cost far less.
- Be on the site as often as you can. Sometimes something comes up and they need a decisions. If you’re on the spot, you can discuss it. Also, if you can check on construction frequently, you can find mistakes while they’re still correctable (and not expensive to correct).
