building a house (buying new Constr.)

[davsel]

Get yourself a full set of the blueprints so you can keep an eye on what is being built.
I had a Classic home built years ago, and snagged a copy of the prints from the sales office.

We'd stop by a few times a week in the evening to see how the house was progressing.
Throughout the construction, I had to visit the foreman multiple times to correct work that had been done.
Things like:
Plumbing placement in the unfinished basement - exposed pipes did not line up with where the finished walls were going to go in.
Mechanical room placement of appliances and vents
Light fixture and switch placement
Exterior window trim - sub tried to take shortcuts
Front porch trim - more shortcuts
Etc.

They tried to argue at first, but after showing them on the plans where they screwed up, they just started taking my word for it and fixing as they went.

Check everything from the foundation up - the sooner you find a problem, the cheaper and more likely it is for them to fix it right.

Also, check the drainage plan - I've known many new homeowners who had minor to major drainage issues which could have been completely avoided in the beginning, but once the foundation is in, you're stuck with possibly extensive measures to mitigate it.

Good luck

[fly boy]

Everything will be built to code but you might want to see what insulation they put in, getting it upgraded now can save in the long run.
Each builder is different but paint is paint. See if they will do two tone or different colors in different rooms if you want something other than white.
Make sure grading is included around the house and you aren't left with a mess
See if AC is included.
See if you can pick the front door out
What type of windows are included. Now is the time to upgrade is you want something better or more efficient

Get yourself a full set of the blueprints so you can keep an eye on what is being built.
I had a Classic home built years ago, and snagged a copy of the prints from the sales office.

We'd stop by a few times a week in the evening to see how the house was progressing.
Throughout the construction, I had to visit the foreman multiple times to correct work that had been done.
Things like:
Plumbing placement in the unfinished basement - exposed pipes did not line up with where the finished walls were going to go in.
Mechanical room placement of appliances and vents
Light fixture and switch placement
Exterior window trim - sub tried to take shortcuts
Front porch trim - more shortcuts
Etc.

They tried to argue at first, but after showing them on the plans where they screwed up, they just started taking my word for it and fixing as they went.

Check everything from the foundation up - the sooner you find a problem, the cheaper and more likely it is for them to fix it right.

Also, check the drainage plan - I've known many new homeowners who had minor to major drainage issues which could have been completely avoided in the beginning, but once the foundation is in, you're stuck with possibly extensive measures to mitigate it.

Good luck

Huge helps!!! I am now starting a word document of all this together so we can make sure we stay on top of all this!

[newracer]

As sniper7 said pay for extra insulation in the attic as it should be very cheap during the build and it will make a lot of difference.

With my current house the builder walked us through the whole house when all the rough framing, electrical, and plumbing was done. We looked at the placement of every outlet, light, switch, and cable/cat 6 location. That is the time to move or add anything.


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[sniper7]

Another thing is make sure you have access to the house throughout the build. Tell them you want to go in and put in some things to make your life easier. As long as you aren't in the way it shouldn't be a problem.

A few things I would recommend is putting supports up for any pictures or decorations (for me it was big game animals). I cut 2x6s down and put them between studs so I could center animals.
Same goes for TVs. Make it easy on yourself and put an outlet up high where the tv will go on the wall and next to that have a tube with a cover plate that runs down to a lower cover plate where you can run wiring, and have another outlet down there for your different DVD and game systems etc. and put 2x6s in the tv mounting location for both the upper and lower mounting brackets (I used 4x 2x6 per tv location).
Then it is as simple and making it level in the spot you want in and screw in lag bolts and you will hit wood anywhere you drill.

Another thing I did was run low voltage wiring during the framing process before drywall. i have a camera system which I still have to install but all the wiring is ready to go, no crawling through insulating and feeding and fishing wire all over the place. Figure out your potential spots, label them and run the wire. Super easy and convenient.

[sniper7]

Some stuff is hard to visualize off plans, or looking at bare 2x4s. But if you think something is off or don't like it, just speak up. Now is the time to change it or clarify what you want. Just remember YOU will be living there, not the builder, not the subcontractors etc.

[fly boy]

Thanks sniper.

What would be "sufficient" attic insulation vs something you would suggest? spray in, batting, R-value etc.?

[stodg73]

Attic insulation you want is r-38 or better.

[sniper7]

R38 at a minimum. I'm not an expert in insulation but current codes are set for a lot better efficiency. But if you go the next level up or get around r49 (I think that's what we got) then you get a little better efficiency for not much more money I think we paid $300 more. We got the blown in type.

[xjtwo]

Very good point! We have asked some of the questions and our appliances are going to be included in the build, we would have limited selection of color of carpet/hardwoods/granite etc. but a fence for a backyard would be extra, not included in the "house sell" but could hire them at the time of build to put in a fence at the same time.

Updated first post. We decide to take the leap and build! Now keep up the good ideas that I will need to be concerned with as we negotiate the next few days.

Make sure you look at the allowances for appliances, carpet, granite, hardwoods etc....
Not sure if you've looked at appliances lately but you can go down a rabbit hole quickly.

All solid advice in this thread....wish I had this when we started building.

Also, I would go look at some of the builders previous builds or new construction.

[fly boy]

Do you have allowances for items that can be adjusted?

I.e. $20,000 for a septic system, $15,000 electrical etc. but I only need $15,000 for septic and put the other $5,000 towards electrical upgrades?