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Miracle in the Making
Posts: 4013
| 2 things a fancy roof with different gables makes your taxes higher seriously talk to your county tax apprassier i found that out by contesting taxes on house
fancy roof hugher taxes at least in ga
also have a cost over clause and a pently deadline if not completed on time DO NOT PAY in advance have trades people bills payed in full so no leins because general contractor did not pay
in floor heating and i would have the mitubisti air and heathers rather than central heat and air if you do go that route zone each room |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
  
| Ditto on the outlets, we have tons too and our electrician put in a charging station next to our bed. I have a sit down vanity in my bathroom and had outlets put in that connect through the drawers with an elastic extension cord so rollers, hair dryer, etc can be plugged in in the drawer. When planning our house, I really thought about how I use each space and not just how it will look. I have a huge laundry room as well as a big mud room, our 6 dogs have a doggy door into the laundry room and I did not want to have to wade through them every time I am coming in from the back of the house so I added another entrance and did a seperate mud room. All these little things did make the house bigger then what we really wanted but I have a house that really works for us and our animals. We did a huge back patio and added an outdoor fireplace and TV. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. My kitchen has no upper cabinets, it is all big windows. I wanted light and to see our land. Everyone thought I was nuts but now that the windows are in they love it.
Edited by rodeomom3 2015-05-30 1:51 PM
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 Banjo and Baby
Posts: 7259
Location: South of Canada and North of Mexico | Thank you all for the ideas!! So very helpful!!
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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
 
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | The bottom line is... do not build a "spec" house -- build YOUR house. And live happily ever after. |
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Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Another thing I did a little different is I did all refrigerator in my kitchen. It seems the refrigerator is always packed making it hard to find items in there and I don't use the freezer near as much as the refrigerator. I did two 24 inch refrigerator columns, an undercounter ice maker for ice and have an upright freezer in the laundry room. |
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Banjo and Baby
Posts: 7259
Location: South of Canada and North of Mexico | rodeomom3 - 2015-05-31 4:00 PM Another thing I did a little different is I did all refrigerator in my kitchen. It seems the refrigerator is always packed making it hard to find items in there and I don't use the freezer near as much as the refrigerator. I did two 24 inch refrigerator columns, an undercounter ice maker for ice and have an upright freezer in the laundry room.
Im a freezer person but is yours like this? This was in a modular - amazing kitchen, but the left side was freezer and the right was a the refrigerator. Really cool.
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  Fact Checker
Posts: 16572
Location: Displaced Iowegian | watchpeppydoc - 2015-05-30 10:50 AM Three 4 Luck - 2015-05-30 10:43 AM Oh, and our on-demand gas water heater is The Chit. I find this funny as a few years ago we looked into a modular and so I talked to a company to run the duct work and the furnace, water heater, etc and he said the on demand really are not worth it as if you're running dishes and showers and what not they cant keep up. Might have to really look into them. Do they save quite a bit or does it even out to the same as a normal water heater?
I have had an tankless water heater for 8 years now.....whoever told you that they can't keep up is a moron...."On Demand" means that the water is heated instantly as it crosses through the unit....duh.....always hot...NOW, that being said, don't buy the electric. They do NOT heat as efficiently as the gas. The savings comes by not heating water 24/7 (like a traditional heater) and only using gas when you actually need the hot water. |
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Expert
Posts: 1549
Location: Southwest Louisiana | We are almost finished building our first, and last, home. It's a headache for sure. My husband has been working out of town for most of it so it falls on me. Dealing with all of the different contractors and vendors, plus making the million little decisions along the way are a hassle, but have to be done.
We looked at tons of floorplans but in the end, I drew what we wanted and sent it to get it changed into blueprints. I'm so glad we did because our house is exactly what we need and is laid out how we will use it, no wasted space. It's pretty open with a big ceiling in the living room, but I put a hallway wall between the living area and the bedrooms. I also hate bedrooms opening up to the main living area. To really get more house out of it, we made the whole thing a big rectangle with a simple roof. The slab is 80ft x68ft. The front porch goes the full length across and is 8ft wide. The back porch goes the full 80ft length and is 20ft wide. It's huge!! but it overlooks our land and we are ALWAYS outside having family get togethers, birthday parties, bbqs, etc all year around. With this porch we can be outside no matter what the weather is.
We also went with stained/epoxy floors. The stain was simple and cost $2.50/sq ft. THe Epoxy was $5/sq ft but it's absolutely beautiful. Looks just like a marble floor. Just another idea.
I'll find pics of our floor plan and outside. It's not finished yet but you can get the idea.
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Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| NJJ - 2015-06-01 10:29 AM watchpeppydoc - 2015-05-30 10:50 AM Three 4 Luck - 2015-05-30 10:43 AM Oh, and our on-demand gas water heater is The Chit. I find this funny as a few years ago we looked into a modular and so I talked to a company to run the duct work and the furnace, water heater, etc and he said the on demand really are not worth it as if you're running dishes and showers and what not they cant keep up. Might have to really look into them. Do they save quite a bit or does it even out to the same as a normal water heater?
Glad to hear you like it, we are putting tankless in this house. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1100
Location: Southeastern Idaho | NJJ - 2015-06-01 9:29 AM
watchpeppydoc - 2015-05-30 10:50 AM Three 4 Luck - 2015-05-30 10:43 AM Oh, and our on-demand gas water heater is The Chit. I find this funny as a few years ago we looked into a modular and so I talked to a company to run the duct work and the furnace, water heater, etc and he said the on demand really are not worth it as if you're running dishes and showers and what not they cant keep up. Might have to really look into them. Do they save quite a bit or does it even out to the same as a normal water heater?
DITTO! We have had a tankless water heater for 8 years as well and LOVE it. So far so good. You will need a water softener with it (at least ours requires one). |
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 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | We have never built our own home but we have lived in a few. If we ever build a home or buy again the thing at the very top of my list is the Laundry room. I do not like having clothes stacked everywhere. I don't put up clothes, I wash, dry, fold, or hang them. It is everyone else's responsibility to put them up. That is just the part that I really hate doing lol. Where we were before my laundry room had an empty corner that I just couldn't do anything with, I had my husband build a few shelves that laundry baskets would slide right in like drawers. So everyone had their own laundry basket, they pulled it out, put their clothes up and brought it back empty. I absolutely loved it. So my next laundry room will have that (or something like it), with lots of space. Seems the laundry room always ends up being where we put things that we don't have a place for.
Also for me I would rather our bedroom be smaller and that extra space used somewhere else, like the kitchen. I really have no need for a huge Master bedroom. That is the room I spend the least amount of my time while awake. A bunch of wasted space in my opinion lol.
Also storage in closets, I like to be organized and if there aren't enough shelves etc in my closet it is a wreck. Where we are now we have a closet in the hall that doesn't have 1 shelf. That does me no good. Anything that is too big to go on a shelf is in the garage or shed anyway.
I am big on closet space. Not huge but big enough that I can use some for storage in the kid's rooms. Like instead of having buckets of toys everywhere I can find a way to have them neatly hidden in a closet.
Just think about all the things you loved or hated in previous houses. Of course everyone has different preferences. If we ever build I will be trying to smash all my favorite things from all of our previous houses together lol.
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Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| watchpeppydoc - 2015-05-31 10:46 PM rodeomom3 - 2015-05-31 4:00 PM Another thing I did a little different is I did all refrigerator in my kitchen. It seems the refrigerator is always packed making it hard to find items in there and I don't use the freezer near as much as the refrigerator. I did two 24 inch refrigerator columns, an undercounter ice maker for ice and have an upright freezer in the laundry room. Im a freezer person but is yours like this? This was in a modular - amazing kitchen, but the left side was freezer and the right was a the refrigerator. Really cool.
Edited by rodeomom3 2015-06-01 11:44 AM
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | I'm starting this process too. I am doing a passive solar design. My must haves are a big laundry room, huge mud room with dog bath, boot wash and kennels. I like the masterbed room isolated. I am also doing a working pantry which is essentially a small second kitchen, for my various projects, canning, making hams, cheese and all my other fun farm stuff. That way I don't have to put up my mess to cook dinner!
Edited by equussynergy 2015-06-01 11:51 AM
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Banjo and Baby
Posts: 7259
Location: South of Canada and North of Mexico | equussynergy - 2015-06-01 11:45 AM I'm starting this process too. I am doing a passive solar design. My must haves are a big laundry room, huge mud room with dog bath, boot wash and kennels. I like the masterbed room isolated. I am also doing a working pantry which is essentially a small second kitchen, for my various projects, canning, making hams, cheese and all my other fun farm stuff. That way I don't have to put up my mess to cook dinner!
Like a butlers pantry? That would be cool!! |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | Keep in mind with the On demand water that if you are using well water and it's hard you will need to soften it. Once those elements go you'll have replace. This is something we are discussing at the moment.
Tub--I kicked it out fo the main guest bath because we don't have kids so no need. I am putting a monster soaker tub in the master bath though. It won't be jetted just a soaker and we are having a huge walk in shower as well.
Laundry room--put counter tops in there for being able to fold in the laundry room. Since all of our bedrooms are close to each other we put the laundry room centrally located and we can access from both the hall AND the master closet/master bathroom.
Probably the 1 think I don't like about the plan is that I can't access the kitchen or pantry right from the garage. Mainly just for lugging in groceries you have to walk so far but that's just me.
We are in the process too and yay that it's finally happening but ARG on getting it done.
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