The past few days, I’ve been sharing my opinions on the Build vs. Buy debate. Now I know that a lot of you might disagree with the stuff I’ve been writing, and that’s just fine — in fact, I’d love to hear some of your opinions!

A lot of people view homebuilding as a nightmare full of stress, over-shot budgets, delays, and headaches. And although this is often the case, let me share a few things I’ve learned that can help make homebuilding a more fulfilling — even enjoyable — experience:

• Hire a Builder – Now, this rule isn’t set in stone; I know a lot of very capable homeowners who have built their own homes without the use of a general contractor. Each of them has a strong background in construction, and they have jobs that allow them to spend a lot of time on-site rather than at work, but for the rest of us mere mortals, you really ought to hire a professional. Sure, you’ll end up paying more, but you get to keep your sanity!

  Not only will a good builder take care of a lot of the technical details (such as obtaining permits, coordinating inspections, etc.), a reputable contractor is also able to purchase large quantities of building materials at highly discounted rates. Sure, most of those cost savings disappear when the time comes to pay your contractor, but if you try building a home yourself, you’ll likely end up paying retail price for all of your materials — and retail price = blown budget!

  If you’re like me, you might know a thing or two about construction. As a teenager, I worked for an electrician, wiring up new homes; in the past, I’ve done some volunteer work framing homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina; and I’ve had countless hours painting and sheetrocking. But y’know, that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans! At the very least, I would have to locate and hire someone to pour the foundation and do the plumbing. Try to imagine that — locating and hiring reputable companies to pour the foundation and do the plumbing. Maybe you want to hire someone else to do the tilework. Then there is the cabinetry to worry about — just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach! Finding and hiring a good builder is a difficult task, but at least you only have to do it once.

  If you want to use your construction skills, I’d suggest working out some kind of a sweat equity plan with your builder. That way, you do a portion of the work yourself, and your builder knocks the price down.

• Clearly Discuss EVERYTHING – Especially if you’re building a home that your contractor hasn’t built before (this happens all the time when ordering plans off the Internet). You need to be sure that he knows exactly what you expect. Take the time to draw it out whenever possible. Explain it clearly, and then ask your builder to repeat it back to you, just to make sure you’re on the same page. It might seem a little redundant, but good communication is vitally important!

  Most homebuilding headaches come because there was a misunderstanding between the owner and the builder, and once a mistake is made, you’re either gonna have to just live with it or tear it down and replace it (a very pricey option). I can’t stress it enough — you have to communicate plainly!

  Your goal isn’t just to make sure that your builder understands. You have to make sure that there’s no way he can misunderstand!

  Even if you end up being your own contractor, you’re life will be so much happier if you discuss everything with your spouse. I’m not sure if there are any statistics, but I’ve heard stories about homebuilding experiences that ended in divorce. Heartbreaking, but true. So discuss EVERYTHING — everything from floorplans and structural modifications to paint colors and light fixtures.

  If you end up hiring a contractor, make sure to discuss beforehand who will be in charge of obtaining permits. Discuss engineering needs. Find out what you’ll need to do to bring utilities (water, electricity, phone lines, fiber-optics, etc.) into your site. Ask about how much excavation you’ll need to prepare your lot for building. And most importantly, thoroughly discuss the price. Find out about hidden costs, time estimates, etc. Keep in mind that it could easily cost 20% more and end up taking 2 to 3 months longer than what you’ve been quoted — by doing so, you’ll probably end up saving yourself a lot of disappointment down road.

  Like I said, discuss EVERYTHING! You’ll be glad you did.

• Visit the Site and Get Involved – I know I just got done telling you about how your builder can save you a lot of time and worry, but that doesn’t mean that you can just sit back and eat bon-bons. You should make it a point to visit the site every chance you get.

  There are a couple reasons for this. First and foremost, it gives you a chance to inspect the work. If there has been a miscommunication, you can catch it early — before you reach the costly point of no return. But be careful! You don’t want your contractor and his workers to see you as some kind of cruel, unpleasable Nazi!

  While you’re on the site, if circumstances permit, you should try to learn the workers’ names and get to know them. Be a genuinely friendly human being — it can’t hurt! Compliment them on their work. You might even want to consider bringing a pizza or two, or maybe some cold drinks. You don’t want to distract them or disrupt their work, but making friends with your workers can be very beneficial. Not only did you make a new friend (and who has too many friends, honestly?), but you are also letting them know what kind of work you expect from them. By getting familiar with you, they’ll understand that you have high expectations — and they’ll be more likely to put forth extra effort to meet those expectations. So Get Involved!

So that’s my take on building. There is a lot more to it than that, but this should give you enough to think about for now. Sure, buying an existing home is simple, but like My-House-Plans.com says, building gives you the chance to “watch an empty piece of property literally transform into your own personal kingdom!”

Just make sure you have the right set of house plans!

P.S. This is another personal narrative, the events related herein were merely derived from actual happenings. ;o)

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

Note: This post follows the same storyline as the article “Buying Vs. Building — Don’t Settle“. That being said — enjoy!

Last week, I wrote I wrote a pretty biased article about whether to buy or build your own home (Click Here to see the full article). I bought our current home, and I’m not really happy with it. You have to understand that it isn’t a terrible home, but if I had to put a percentage to our satisfaction (See “THE 90% RULE”), I would say that we are about 75 – 80% satisfied — not a bad approval rating! But when you have to live with it day-in and day-out, it can get kinda depressing (there goes my dramatic side again). Anyway, my wife and I have decided to get out of this mold trap as soon as possible — but we’re going  to do things right this time; we’re going to BUILD!

Let me get one thing straight — buying an existing home isn’t always a bad idea. In fact, there are several benefits that come with buying an existing home. One of the most appealing benefits to buying an existing home is the convenience. That’s what drew my wife and me into buying our current home; we wanted to be settle in time for Christmas — which we were.

It really was a painless process; we looked at the house, made a bid, signed the papers, and moved our stuff. I was surprised that we had everything settled in less than a month from the time we made our offer! Convenience is a definite plus when it comes to buying vs. building.

Another benefit is the neighborhood. Most homes-for-sale are located in established neighborhoods; so unless you’re looking at an area that was hit with a lot of foreclosures/short sales you should probably plan on getting familiar with your neighbors — which may or may not be a good thing. In our case, the neighborhood was wonderful! One family brought us cookies; another family invited us to go to church with them; and several neighbors came caroling to us over the holidays. Welcome to Small Town, USA.

And then there’s the landscaping…. You have to understand something — I absolutely love working in the yard! Our current yard was a dream come true for me. It was totally overgrown with weeds; the wooden fence (if you could still call it that) was completely dilapidated; and the yard itself was totally uneven, rising and falling several feet in a completely inconsistent manner. I had such visions for this yard! It was going to be my sanctuary filled with countless hours of work and gallons of sweat! — I guess I’m just weird like that. One of the biggest factors was the mature trees. I love trees, and if you’re going to build a new home, you’re probably going to have to start with trees that you’ve planted all by yourself. So don’t plan on building any treehouses on your property for at least 20 years.

And speaking of time, that’s another draw for buying an existing house — the craftsmanship! You always hear the old-timers say “They sure don’t build ‘em like they used to.” Well, it’s true! Older homes were built using naturally stronger, longer lasting materials like hardwood beams and wood siding; new homes usually rely on smarter design principles and lighter, specially-engineered materials to withstand the elements. Both homes get the job done, but newer homes usually don’t have the same rustic appeal. But you know what comes along with rustic appeal — RUSTY PIPES. Rusty pipes, bad wiring, mold, termites, and backed-up septic systems are just a few of the problems that can come with older homes.

So there really are a lot of pros and cons when it comes to buying a home, but the root of the problem is in the selection. When planning for your Dream Home, you have to take several things into account: the neighborhood and landscaping are important, but you also have to consider the community services (how are the schools? how close is it to shopping centers, post offices, etc.), keep in mind the aesthetic quality of the house itself, and you need to make sure that the layout of the home is practical for your lifestyle (something my wife and I neglected).

So there are several variables to consider, and it’s been my experience that you have a lot more control over those variables when you build it yourself. Buying an existing home limits your selection tremendously. In a given area, you only have a handful of houses to choose from, and it’s up to you to pick the best one. Unless you get extremely lucky, you’ll probably be forced to settle for less than 90%. And let me tell ya — it’s no fun!

But what do you think? I’d really like to hear your opinions. In the meantime, take care!

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

NOTE: The following is a fictional narrative that has been dramatized for your enjoyment.

I watched in horror as the carton of eggs fell from my brown paper grocery bag onto the freshly shampooed living room floor. SPLAT! The sticky yokes were oozing from the carton, and all I could think was, “We really should have BUILT rather than bought!”

You might be wondering what broken eggs have to do with buying or building a home. Well, you’ll understand the connection soon, I promise.

A few months ago, my wife and I were trying to decide whether to build a home, or buy one. With the current state of the housing market — including a huge inventory of unsold spec homes — we decided to buy a home… and we’ve been regretting it ever since.  It’s not that I hate our current home — it’s a nice 2,000 square foot Craftsman home with a huge master bedroom and bath; it has everything we wanted in a home; but something just isn’t right!

It’s our own faulty, really. When our real estate agent first showed us this home, the first thing I noticed was the crazy layout. When you enter the house from the garage, you open the door and find yourself in a dark little laundry/mudroom. If you don’t trip on one of the dozen pairs of shoes laying around, you’ll probably end up stubbing your toes on the hidden stairs leading up to the living room. We have begun to affectionately refer to this room as “The Airlock” because of the way you have to open one door, close it; then open and close a second door, just to enter the home.

After making your way through the living room, scooting around the table and past the china hutch in the dining room, you find yourself in the kitchen. The kitchen is nice. It really is. The problem is that you practically have to trek across the Sierra Nevadas before you get there. Okay, so that’s an exaggeration, but it is a valid point. We told ourselves we could live with it, but I’m beginning to think we were wrong.

Our first clue was when our son lost the ice cream from his cone while trying to close the second door on the Airlock — all over the living room carpet. That sort of thing happens all the time with little boys, I told myself as I shampooed the carpet. It wasn’t until I (a grown boy) started spilling stuff that I began to lament our hasty decision. Throw in the fact that we just found out about a mold problem, and now I’m beginning to wonder if we should try to start again. This time, we’re definitely going to build!

I currently work for The Plan Collection, and I used to work for a residential construction company, so I’m not afraid of building my own home. In fact, I really prefer being able to pick and choose the layout and features of my home. The only reason we decided to buy a home was because my wife and I were impatient. We didn’t want to wait to have it built; we wanted to be settled in for Christmas. In all actuality, we could have built a nicer home (without an Airlock) for a couple thousand dollars cheaper than what we paid for our current abode. We could have our dream home, laid out the way we want, but now we’re stuck with this moldy maze of a house. I guess we’re reaping the consequences of our impatience.

So if anyone ends up reading this post, I just want to point out how much control you have in building a home. I know there are thousands of horror stories about overshot budgets and irresponsible builders, but I can attest that if you’ll just do your homework, make it a point to get involved in the building process, and most importantly Choose the Right House Plan, you really will end up with your dream home. I’ll be sharing a few tips in the coming days and weeks that will make your build much more enjoyable, but the bottom line is this — if you want a home to adapt to your lifestyle, you’re gonna have to build.

If you want it done right, BUILD it yourself!

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.