Whether you are struggling to find a job in the office world and want to learn a solid trade, or if you are already training to be a joiner, becoming a Master Carpenter is a fantastic goal.

Some people use this term just to describe someone who is quite good at carpentry, but the real definition is someone who has completed extensive training and achieved the highest standard possible in their country.

Step 1 – Go on a Journey

If you’re at the earliest stage i.e. when you are at school, try to take subjects that will set you on the right track. These include woodworking, obviously, but also maths, physics, geometry, English and graphic design.

If it’s too late for that (or after you’ve done that) you should attend a college or training school to get some basic qualifications in carpentry through an apprenticeship. This will take a few years and see you doing both more classroom stuff as well as on the job training in a range of disciplines. This should help you develop all of your skills and give you an idea of what areas of carpentry you are most interested in.

The journey is your path through different areas of training and through different apprenticeship positions. You will work with different people and once you have completed your apprenticeship you can then work on different projects at different sites, building your experience and developing a reputation as a solid ‘journeyman’.

Step 2 – Get Serious

As you go through your journey, try to pick up as many advanced carpentry certificates as possible. These might be in specific skills such as:

• Structural Mechanics
• Shoring and Bracing
• Roof Framing
• Timber windows
• Stairs and Landings
• Project Planning
• Joinery Techniques
• Construction

And if you want to go on to supervise or train other carpenters then getting a degree in construction management or building construction is a good idea. With both lots of skills and certificates under your belt you will be qualified to do and teach all the main carpentry techniques and make you really close to being a Master Carpenter.

Step 3 – Get Certified

Once you have got all the Advanced Certificates, completed an appropriate apprenticeship or two, worked for 5 years and done lots of training and achieved an appropriate degree, you can apply and hopefully achieve Master status.

This is not a quick and easy route, but the rewards of having Master status are worth the effort; more money, more interesting projects and a more secure job at the end of the day.

Good luck.

Andrew Jonestown is a timber windows carpentry specialist. He is currently designing and building box sash windows for a client in Dubai.

After finishing the construction of your custom home, you must start working on the yard, as all you have around the house at this point is a rough construction site just waiting to be transformed into something beautiful by designing your landscape. After you’ve completed your home, take comprehensive photos of its exterior and its surroundings. These photos will be invaluable tools as you purchase plant materials or talk with landscape designers.

The landscape plan you or a professional create offers a blueprint for your landscape’s finished product. But keep in mind that you don’t need to complete everything the landscape design specifies immediately.

Hiring a Professional for Designing Your Landscape

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The last step of the custom home building process consists of making the final touches, such as those pertaining to the outdoor look, and softscaping with plants is included here. You can now begin to paint broad brushes of color into your property when designing your landscape and add layers of leafy texture with plants. However, you must pay attention to the soil around your new home. Fill dirt and construction waste brought to the site may have rendered much of the soil around your home less than desirable.

During the tree-planting process, you must keep their growth patterns in mind and how their placement may affect your views from inside. Remember that trees grow underground, too. Root systems can damage foundation walls and underground sewage lines. A good landscape plan eliminates these potential problems by protecting the trees’ root systems from damage that can be inflicted by heavy trucks parking too close to a tree, or excavation that disturbs the roots.

Remember that trees that drop their leaves mean extra yard work. Trees with blossoms or berries planted near your deck or front walk may bring clean-up tasks with them. Also, some trees require little pruning, others a lot.

Flowers are preferred by many people when softscaping a home and they give a beautiful look to your yard. However, most garden experts advise you that flowers are short-lived. When choosing flowering plants for your yard, keep the plants’ other characteristics in mind. You can get the answers to all your questions regarding flowers from the multitude of gardening books available, your landscape designer, or even by looking at neighbors’ yards. The latter method may be the most helpful if you plan to build your home in a region that’s new to you. You may not be familiar with the types of flowering plants that thrive in the climate. Taking a tour of local gardens can give you a quick tutorial.

Carefully Calculate the Budget for Softscaping with Plants

 Before designing your floral arrangement, estimate how much money you are willing to spend on this final step. Check out the neighborhood trends by poking around your neighbors’ gardens (with their permission, of course) can actually save you money on your home budget. Your local gardeners and your landscape professional may agree that certain types of flowering plants just don’t do well in the climate, or require a high degree of maintenance. You can lower the cost of your landscape by choosing plants that require little watering and less fertilizing in your climate.

This procedure might even get you a few free plants, as neighbors are usually willing to share their flowers. Many plants must be divided seasonally to maintain their shape or their health. Offer to help your neighbors thin their stock, and ask if you can take divisions home to plant. Other gardeners’ castoffs could be a windfall for the barren plains around your new home.

Remember to stick to your landscaping plan when buying plants for softcaping. Don’t just buy something because it’s a bargain — it may not thrive in your garden, and you might end up losing time and money while softscaping with plants.  If you’re in search of landscaping design ideas for your home check out this handy software and video guide with over 7000 landscape design ideas – including softscaping with plants.

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Everybody knows or, at least, suspects that carrying out a custom house project requires assiduous work, substantial financial resources and a lot of patience and planning and most of the persons who engage in such an endeavor want a cozy, welcoming domicile, suitable to their tastes, but being aware of the impact of neighborhood trends is also an important feature of the “equation”. Why is that? Because it also makes your house appealing to other people and helps you fix a good price on it as well, which is very useful in situations like the one when you may want to sell your custom built home.

“Why would I want to do something like that?”, you would ask yourself. After spending so much time to obtain a construction loan, hiring all those subs for each specific stage of the build, purchasing all those new home appliances and furniture items and doing so many other things for your own residence, you consider that this is the least probable course of action to take. At least at the beginning of your household existence in the new nest. However, situations do alter and such an instance can occur. It may take the shape of work-related issues forcing you to relocate or simply the acknowledgement that the best part was materializing the project, but not actually living in the house. Irrespective of the reason, you have to be prepared to face the implications of this scenario.

Remember, selling your property in a custom house neighborhood can be quite difficult. You need to weigh all the strengths and weaknesses of your home and find the proper time to put it on sale. Being aware of neighborhood trends when selling a house is an important aspect of marketing your home.  Selling it too early or too late can cost you and it would be a pity, after everything you have invested in it.

The essential fact that you must keep in mind is that neighborhoods are designed to mature in 25 years. Trying to sell in a relatively new residential area involves that you “operate” on a market where buyers are willing to live in an undeveloped neighborhood with no mature foliage and plenty of construction going on. In other words, they have limited budgets and are not always eager to purchase someone else’s ideal of custom house. If they want one, they may as well buy a lot and start building their own dream.

Impact of Neighborhood Trends on Home Prices

So, when pricing your home for sale, you may want to take the following issues into consideration:

• spec homes can set the price

Spec homes refer to those residences that are built in custom home developments just for the purpose of being sold. Supposing that their quality matches the one of your house, you have nothing else to do than compare their prices as well. If the quality is good and the bid for the spec home is attractive, then you are in advantage. On the other hand, if they are sold at lowball prices or are built at lower levels of quality, you may have serious difficulties in recouping your expenses.

• too many undeveloped lots may drive potential buyers away

Resort area developments sell their land without asking the buyers what the purpose of their purchase is. Developers just want to make profit and many of the acquirers do not hurry to initiate building projects. Thus, the respective lots can remain “lifeless” for decades. Locating your home in such an area would be quite perilous for your financial future because developments with no building going on are considered unattractive. Most people have a sense of belonging to a community and they want to live in a neighborhood. This is why such regions would hardly appeal to a larger segment of bidders.

• the possibility of competing against the sales office

If you are one of the first to start building projects in your development, you may set a competition trend against the local sales office, which works on commission. If you don’t list with them, the sales agents will exert great efforts to getting ahead of you, by selling buyers on new land or speculating listings held by the office.

These elements are very important and require your utmost attention when considering the idea of selling your custom house. They act like “coordinates” in relation to identifying the best moment to market your house. For more safety, work with a real estate agent to asses the trends of the marketplace. If circumstances are not favorable for sale due to the neighborhood trends, you then get to enjoy for a little more the new home you put so much love into.

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Your future household existence will definitely include the issue of managing home maintenance and repairs. You are the happy owner of a custom house and you have just moved in. After months and months of waiting for the contractor to finish the underlying stages of the construction process, you are now enjoying the beauty and comfort of a freshly finished home. However, although everything is brand new, don’t imagine that this is the end of your worries.

A custom house is quite similar to a custom car, the components of which have been selected one by one and have been handcrafted to create a single whole that will bring satisfaction to its user. It has emerged after a one-time effort, not after multiple attempts in which potential bugs have been worked out after years of manufacturing thousands of copies of the same prototype over and over. As a consequence, there are chances that you encounter some minor glitches in the first years of residence.  There may even be construction defects that you have to settle with the building contractor.

A thing to remember when you begin your domestic life in your new home is that all the equipment and home appliances that you have should have warranties. Furthermore, the contractor has committed to guarantee his work for a period that varies from state to state. Thus, in case you experience various malfunctions or inconveniences, do not hesitate to use these covenants in order to solve the respective problems. Ask your contractor to give you all the manuals and registration certificates for the home appliances and fixtures and carefully catalog them. It might sound exaggerated, but you are advised to store copies of these documents in a place away from your home. This way, you may still use the information if, unfortunately, your residence falls victim of a flood or fire.

Usually, the builder to whose services you used for your custom house project has the duty to offer you a warranty that covers structural home defects for ten years, as well as construction materials and defects for the first year and major mechanical systems for the second. Once this specified period expires, you will have to handle any related problems by yourself unless they clearly resulted from the contractor’s mistakes. Therefore, after the build is over, discuss with him the full details of his warranty and inquire about home maintenance procedures that help one keep the house in working order. Don’t forget to ask who covers the work if the builder goes out of business.

Since nothing is perfect, it is very likely that your home may have some defects of workmanship that didn’t show up at the final walk-through. Take for instance a cracked foundation that becomes apparent only after several years from the construction or drainage or roofing issues that manifest only at the first big rain. In either of these cases, it is natural for you to feel angry and have the urge to reprove the builder. However, bare in mind that your goal is to solve the problem as efficiently and amiably as possible.

Tips to Handling Home Maintenance and Repairs

Hence, if you find yourself in a construction defects situation, there is a series of steps you could take in order to solve it with a minimum of hassle.

1. For starters, you need to relax and let the steam wear off. The last thing you want to do is to contact the building contractor responsible for your custom home project in an agitated state of emotions and, most probably, generate a real conflict. It is better for you to be calm and self-contained. Thus, there are bigger chances to have a reasonable discussion and reach an agreement sooner.
2. Secondly, talk to the home builder calmly and politely ask him to come out to the house and examine the problem directly. Discuss the possible causes that may lie at its roots and search for solutions in a calm manner. Normally, it is in the contractor’s interest to get the issue solved and collaborate with you because he wants to protect his license. In case he doesn’t want to take the responsibility for the matter, you go to the following step.
3. Get an outside, objective opinion  from an expert in the field in question. Yes, his services might get pricey and this is why you need to monitor your expenses. If you are dealing with a cosmetic issue, such as cabinets, hire a finish carpenter; if it is a structural defect, get a structural engineer. No matter the type of specialist you will be needing, be prepared to spend a few hundred dollars in this respect, but consider it as a worthwhile investment, because you can submit his statement in court if necessary. Make sure he agrees to testify. If possible, get two such opinions that should suggest solutions to the problem as well, thus making a stronger case.
4. After covering the above steps, contact all the involved parties and propose mediation. The meeting should be held at your house so that the problem can be studied directly if necessary. Analyze the situation, present your case to the contractor and start negotiating. If the builder agrees to repair the defect at no costs, make sure you get it in writing. In case he takes the job upon himself with some cost to you in the process, compare the respective amount to the expenses that you would contract if resorting to a lawyer. If you don’t get any positive response, go to step five.
5. Contract an attorney and approach the matter in court. However, mind you not every lawyer would do for this type of litigation, so choose wisely. Avoid general practitioners or family attorneys and aim for a specialist in construction defects. Otherwise, you risk suffering losses because the lawyer’s lack of expertise in the related field.

Hopefully, you won’t be forced to employ this last resort, but if you do, be careful and minute about handling the expenses, as they might add to those needed in managing home maintenance and repairs.

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The real world usually isn’t perfect and people working on custom home projects always face a series of custom home mistakes, some of them common and others particular to a certain case. When these problems occur, it is important to stay focused and not to panic, as this would result in a series of mistakes.

We list here the ten most common custom home mistakes and some ideas on how to avoid them:

1. Designing a House Unlike Others in the Neighborhood

The first common mistake is that some people assume that they can build anything they want anywhere they want. This is simply not true. Building a house significantly larger or smaller than the other houses in the neighborhood can make your house undesirable and harder to sell in the future. You can avoid this problem by asking your real estate agent to show you houses that are selling in the neighborhood, and you can also ask for information on houses that have sold within the last three to six months. Check with the homeowners’ association (HOA) to find out what other homes are being built. Talk with the other landowners if you can to find out their plans.

2. Attempting to Build outside the Design Review Guidelines

Review the design guidelines before you buy the property. Design review committees are under no obligation to make exceptions. If you’re going to buy in a development of custom homes, then accept the fact that you’ll need to conform to the neighborhood. The more you design within the guidelines, the faster and easier your approval will be.

3. Thinking the House Will Be Worth What It Costs

Your house will never be worth the money you spent on it, it will worth the price that someone will be willing to pay for it. If you like something, it doesn’t mean that the potential buyer will like it too. As soon as you understand the value of the neighborhood, you can create a budget that fits your situation. If you’re going to finance your project, you’re going to be dependent on a budget that fits in line with the appraised value.

4. Paying Off the Lot Before Starting to Build

Banks are concerned with your liquidity, or how much ready cash you have available. After good credit, money in the bank is the next most important criteria for loan approval. Putting your money in your land ties up your money where you can’t get to it and the bank can’t verify it. The best way to avoid this mistake is to finance your land with a low down payment and hoard your cash until your construction loan is finished. Cash in your hand can save you from a variety of trials and tribulations along the path to your dream home.

5. Waiting for Permits to Investigate Construction Financing

Even though the construction loan doesn’t take place until you’re ready to build, you need to keep in mind several considerations in the design process — such as the compatibility of the house in the neighborhood and making the budget fit a lender’s guidelines — that can impact your ability to get financed. Even the wrong approach to land financing can delay your project for years. By the time you have submitted your permits, making significant changes to appease lending guidelines may be too difficult.

6. Applying for the Construction Loan Too Early

Applying for a construction loan too early may sound strange considering we tell you not to take too much time in the previous section. The key difference is the issue of applying for the construction loan. The safest general rule is to wait until your final plans are ready to be submitted to the building department. Applying at this time generally puts you within 60 days of breaking ground. Try and get as close as you can to the 60-day mark and communicate openly with your loan officer on your timing.

7. Applying to Too Many Lenders

Make sure your loan officer tells you who will be funding your loan. Loyalty goes a long way with good construction loan officers, so do your shopping first and then start the application process. After you start, make sure you keep aware of how the loan process is moving along. If you know of or anticipate any hitches, try to resolve them with your loan officer.

8. Borrowing the Minimum to Get By

The only way to know exactly what a custom home project will cost is to finish it. Therefore, the only time you can know your minimum loan needs is after completion. There is nothing worse than running out of money in a custom home project. You can always reconcile the proper loan amount after you have moved in and paid for everything in the project.

9. Spending Your Own Money First

The banks need to see cash reserves in your bank accounts and won’t count any of the money you have already put into the project toward the funds. If you’ve been using credit cards to fund construction, your credit scores decrease, causing even bigger problems for qualification. Your project can come to a grinding halt in the middle if you run into any financing difficulties, which can cost you even more money and may force you to take a more expensive loan to bail out the project. Have your financing all set to go when you’re ready to break ground. You can apply for a loan after you’ve started, but try to avoid those unnecessary risks if at all possible.

10. Selling Your Existing Home Before Building the New One

This is not a very good idea, since you might need to keep the old home during the build for a few reasons. Many lenders don’t factor your old house in their calculations for qualifying. You can take the necessary cash with a refinance or credit line at favorable rates and payments. Doing so gets you the cash today without having to sell the house. You can also avoid the cost and hassle of moving twice.

Remember that knowing these common custom home mistakes beforehand can save you the trouble of dealing with them, and you should really try to avoid such mistakes.

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You are now witnessing the moment when everything starts to settle down, with your certificate of occupancy released and legally attesting the existence of your custom house and with your wrapping up the lender’s requirements, but, to begin your domestic life in the new residence, you must make one last verification that the house is finished to your liking by taking the final contractor walk-through.

Because a custom house project is very complex and involves numerous stages and parts, it is unlikely that everything be perfectly done the first time. Only in rare cases does that ideal communication between the homeowner and the general contractor exist, allowing the former to regularly spot-check along the way. Usually, you need a last contractor walk-through for this purpose.

Punch List During the Contractor Walk-Through

This step takes time as it requires scrutiny and minuteness, therefore make sure you reserve yourself a period particularly planned for it. While you and your contractor analyze every aspect in the house, pay attention to details and don’t forget to have a flashlight at hand. Thus, you identify any potential imperfection that needs to be fixed and write it down on a list, called a punch list.

As said earlier, this is not a job to do in a hurry or rush, hence take your time at snooping and sniffing below, above, and behind everywhere your flashlight can reach. After you have completed the inspection, ask your contractor to sign the punch list so that he takes the responsibility of the respective flaws upon himself and commits to repair them.

You may be advised by friends or acquaintances to withhold some of the funds from the general contractor if he doesn’t raise up to your expectations in terms of professional standards. Our advice is to do so only if you both agreed upon this point of interest  in the contract, establishing that the payment will be made after the punch list is complete. Otherwise, it is not recommended to use money as a lever against the contractor because more serious complications can occur. If he runs on slim margins, he might file a mechanic’s lien, which places a charge on your property and seriously interferes with the smooth development of your construction loan.

Therefore, in order to handle the situation in the optimal way, try to keep an open and friendly relationship with your contractor, being as updated on the progress of the work as possible. Resort to legal action only when it is absolutely necessary. In case the general contractor is truly in the wrong, the legal system will force him to solve the problems and help you recoup all the losses. As the saying goes, good words cost nothing and are worth much. It is in the contractor’s interest to do his best because his license and livelihood are on the line.

Once the punch list is drawn out and signed by the specialist whom you have hired for the construction project, you receive a sort of written guarantee that all imperfections are to be repaired. Discuss and delineate a reasonable time frame for this procedure. The serious and messy repairs should be done before you move in, but be aware of the possibility that some of them could continue long after you have taken this step. The specialist may have to order new materials or work with the subs’ schedules to get the job done.

In conclusion, the key to a satisfactory final walk-through is to “take care of things” along the way, during the construction process. After the principle “a meeting a day keeps the anger away”, try to foster a good communication relationship with your contractor from the very beginning and regularly meet to discuss further details. Let him clearly know what you want and don’t want before the final contractor walk-through and also keep yourself up to date about the progress of the custom house project.

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Your custom house is completed and awaiting you to move in, but there are still several steps left to take in order for you to calmly start inhabiting it, the most important one being to get your certificate of occupancy and the mechanic’s lien releases. Therefore, it is not enough to finish the building tasks per se, you also have to prepare the house for the bank and local authorities inspection, especially if you are the beneficiary of a construction loan.

CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY

The certificate of occupancy is an official document issued at the end of the custom house project which attests that your home meets all the structural and safety guidelines required by the local building code. It is released by the city or/and county building authorities after a thorough final inspection. It is not in minor deficiencies like workmanship, quality, or cosmetic issues such as paint, flooring, or window covering that the inspector is interested, but in the general result. Bare in mind that, apart from the final examination, these specialists visit one’s property regularly, throughout the entire span of the build, to inspect and sign off on the foundation, electrical, plumbing and other key components.

Usually, the big day of reviewing your home’s conformity with the standards is set a few days in advance of being ready. As a tip related to obtaining this certificate, you are recommended to walk the house with your contractor before the building inspector arrives and look at all the items which are to be examined. Thus, you can gain a clearer insight into how the procedure goes, check up on the contractor’s work and make some last adjustments, if necessary. In case you spot any defects, this is a good opportunity to detect them and ask the subs to fix them.

If the inspector is satisfied with your home’s compliance with the local building codes and requirements after the final review, he files the approval with the county or city. His signature of approval will determine the building department to issue the certificate of occupancy (C of O), document which gives you the go-ahead to move in. It practically ascertains that your house officially and legally exists and it is of great importance to your bank and tax assessors.

In case your home fails to impress the building inspector and he doesn’t grant you an approval, there are two options for you:

• you call for another inspection after the contractor performs all the necessary tasks to meet the standards;
• ask the building inspector to issue a temporary certificate of occupancy, which will allow you to move in while the necessary task are completed; this solution is particularly beneficial for the persons who have already sold the original home and scheduled moving trucks. However, the alternative might not be available in every area of the country, so you need to do some research in advance.

MECHANIC’S LIENS RELEASES

 Once you receive your certificate of occupancy, the next thing to take care of is the possible liens that your subs can attach to your property if they are not paid for their services. These legally enforceable financial claims filed by your workmen can seriously put spokes in your wheels, so be careful to deal with them at the right moment.

Every time a particular task has been completed or a certain delivery of materials has been done to the property, the related sub or supplier issues a preliminary filling that functions as a notification on the respective aspect. These documents allow the contractor or the sub to file for their mechanic’s lien immediately if they are not paid. Since the entire project is structured on multiple tasks and materials will be delivered several times throughout the span of the build, make sure that these preliminary fillings do not pile up.

In order to prevent these forms from turning into mechanic’s liens, you have to obtain a lien release from each and every sub and supplier you have worked with. The releases are issued only if you pay for everything in agreement with the terms and conditions settled with the involved parties.

The optimal way to deal with this aspect is to try to pay your subs as regularly as possible so that you can collect these lien releases as you move through the process. If the contractor takes care of gathering them, ask for copies along the way and carefully file them in registers so that you can have the release at hand when needed.

Don’t underestimate the importance of such documents because they can affect your loan and finances. Hence, don’t create unnecessary disputes with your contractor and subs by withholding their funds. If possible, pay them first. Thus, you can clear the title on the property and later solve the potential disputes and misunderstandings.

In conclusion, the act of finishing a custom house project is based on a combination of action and paperwork. It is worth making an extra effort and dealing with all the small details at the right time, such as getting your certificate of occupancy and the mechanic’s lien releases, so that you can later enjoy full satisfaction when starting afresh in your new home.

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Home appliances are devices designed to make our household existence much easier and more comfortable. They can also add up to the aesthetic charm of your home. What is certain is that they are fulcrums around which the entire domestic activity revolves. With today’s technological progress, a homeowner has an impressive list of gadgets and labor-saving devices from which he can choose. However, you don’t need absolutely each and every one in order to make your home functional. Therefore, the present article aims at presenting the most relevant and commonly bought appliances.

Home Appliances Classification

Usually operated electrically, these home appliances are designed to accomplish household functions and perform related chores, like washing or cooking. Based on the degree of complexity in their usage, home appliances can be divided into:

• major appliances (also known as white goods);
• small appliances (also called brown goods) .

The former category encompasses those devices which require practical skills and “brute force” to manipulate them. Heavy tools are necessary to repair such machines, which include – among others – air conditioners, dishwashers, freezers, clothes dryers, refrigerators, kitchen stoves, water heaters, washing machines, trash compactors, microwave ovens and many others. The latter refers to the ones the use of which necessitates higher technical knowledge and skills than the first group. As representatives for brown goods are DVD players, camcorders, still cameras, clocks, video game consoles, home cinema, telephones and answering machines.

The alternative denominations for major and small appliances, respectively, derive from the color that was generally specific to each category. Thus, white goods are typically painted or enameled in white, while the brown ones are traditionally finished with or looking like wood of bakelite.

Another criterion of classification in terms of appliances is given by the place where the homeowner intends to install them. Hence, one can distinguish the following classes:

• kitchen appliances – very helpful in lessening the amount of housework and saving a lot of time for busy persons, these gadgets have known an incredible diversification and sophistication. The market is now filled with machines designed to meet every specific need, each serving a particular purpose. It is their function that further subcategorizes them in smaller divisions: refrigeration (freezer, refrigerator, bottle coolers, drink chillers), washing (dishwasher, kitchen sinks), cooking (kooking stove, grills, cookers, ovens, hobs, microwave ovens), cleaning (vacuum cleaner, trash compactors, garbage disposers), ventilation (cooking hoods, air conditioning);
• bathroom appliances – the most common and often encountered such devices include washing machines, laundry driers, tubs, washbasins, sinks, ceramic heaters, bidets;
• bedroom/living room appliances – basically destined to help one relax within the intimacy of one’s home, this category includes representatives such as home cinemas, DVD players, alarm clocks, game consoles, telephones, sound systems, air purifiers.

No matter the area of the house where you intend to place them, appliances can be free-standing or built-in. The former are easier to move and relocate and are usually put into place after all the painting is finished and the flooring is installed, whereas the latter should be set at the same time as your cabinets.

So that no desynchronization occurs, talk to your contractor and discuss when it is the best moment to have the ordered appliances delivered. Thus, you will schedule the proper time for their installation without the later risk of having to reshuffle the display of your interior. This aspect is quite important because it ensures the smooth development of custom house finishing chores. If you have them brought to your home too early, you risk damage and creating difficulties to work around, whereas lateness in their delivery can delay your entire move-in plans, or worse, the completion of your construction loan.

Upon delivery, make sure that the measurements are as specified in the building plans. After setting them into their place, you need to do one more thing: check whether all appliances are securely fastened and plugged in. Also, look after any gas or water leaks. Once you have done this and you have purchased all the home appliances you need, you can move on to the next step of having your home completed.

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Purchasing the Hardware and Fixtures

Here is a list of the most common things that a soon-to-be homeowner should buy when it comes to hardware and fixtures:

• appliances (washing machine, cooking stove; dish washer etc) – in order to decide easier on what exactly to pick, think about whether you prefer a certain brand and whether you want them free-standing or built-in;
• baseboard – choose a certain type of wood and finish that will match your plans of the ideal home;
• carpet – some might consider it a trifle in the process of “accessorizing” a home, but color, material, and thickness are features that will give you a really hard time in deciding when you will be actually buying one for your house; think of these aspects in advance ;
• crown molding – its type and finish are elements to be selected in order to create a sort of universal harmony;
• doors – being the “paths of access” to your home, you will sure want to think about style, finish, type and number before going shopping;
• door handles – their number and design/style should correspond to the doors you have already envisaged for your residence ;
• door hinges – what type, color and style would you like  and how many would you need?;
• eaves – you should purchase them depending on finish and type;
• exterior trims – you need to decide what you consider to match your exterior facade;
• faucets – after thinking about how many and what style they should be, decide whether you want any outdoors;
• fireplace – do you want a hearth, a gas-based, electric or wood burning one? think of what type of face or mantel you want to choose for your fireplace;
• floor tile – pick up what you need for your home according to your taste in terms of  style, and color; make sure that the grout matches the color of the tile;
• handrails – choose the right type of wood and of finish for your house and the result will be satisfactory;
• hardwood floor – thickness, width, style and stain color are parameters that will help you pick up what you want;
• heating and air conditioning – when dealing with the related aspect, answer these questions in order to find what your home needs- will you use an forced air system? how many pump units? how many tons of cooling? will be there any radiant floor heating? will you use Zone heating and cooling for efficiency?;
• insulation – choose between rolling or blown insulation and also decide on what rating it will be;
• lighting fixtures – how many do you need and what style should they be? ;
• wainscot – it is an optional feature to which you can say no; however, if you do want it, choose the favorite type of finish and wood;
• wall tiles – similar to the wainscot, they can be eliminated from your decoration plans; but if they appeal to you, you can pick from several type options, such as decorative, monochromatic or accents tiles.

Installing the Hardware and Fixtures

Once you acquire the elements specified on the list above, it will be easier to organize the work tasks, according to each section. Therefore, the labor schedule will roughly include the installation of the following:

• hinges on doors;
• doorknobs on interior doors;
• matching deadbolt and lock-set on front and back doors;
• light electrical cover plates and light switch;
• all lighting fixtures and ceiling fans;
• securing and attaching thermostat and alarm controls;
• putting in place all exhaust fans;
• toilets and toilet roll holders;
• towel racks and soap dishes;
• medicine cabinet and mirrors;
• shower rods and doors;
• faucets;
• connecting stoppers;
• window locks;
• doorbell;
• door knocker;
• all cabinet knobs and appliance knobs.

Some of these require special attention and safety measures, such as the lighting fixtures. Therefore, if you decide to do the job by yourself, remember to make sure that the circuit breakers have been shut off before you start the work. It seems like a redundant thing to say, but you never know how you can forget about these elementary precautions when you are caught up in finishing what you have to do. Not to mention that the simplicity of the process (most light fixtures come with clear printed instructions and precisely marked wires) may stimulate you to begin the task at once.

Another premise which should be ensured in order to carry out the installment of electrical fixtures with no problems resides in using only recommended wattages. The reason behind this is that you thus avoid the risk of generating too much heat and, eventually, causing a fire by not creating an over-wattage lighting system. It might cost you a little bit extra on your monthly energy bills, but at least you are safe and sound. You should always consider safety first when purchasing your hardware and fixtures.

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• WINDOW STOPPERS

Pay attention to tasks which apparently seem minute and simple, such as home painting, otherwise the final result may look sloppy and the imperfections would stick out as a sore thumb. The good news about home painting is that, besides requiring care and skills, is that it can become quite fun and creative as well. It is said that big effects are achieved through small “artifices” or flashes. This cannot be more true when applied to a custom house project. Of course that laying the foundations, building the walls and roofing the house are fundamental steps within this process, but it is in the details that the actual beauty and “personality” of your home lie.

Self Home Painting or Hiring a Professional?

• Do you have the skill for home painting?
• Do you have the time for home painting?
• Do you have the physical ability for home painting?

In case you can confidently answer yes to all these questions, then congratulations- you have got yourself an occasion of having fun while doing something for your soon-to-be “nest” and also saving some money. If you are caught up with work, have a busy schedule or the last time when you painted was with your fingers, the commonsensical thing to do is to engage a professional to carry out the task.

Let us consider the case in which you decide to hire a home painting sub. Then, you need to inform your contractor that you want the best painter, who can boast both great references and insurance. In order to have a role in the selection process, see some samples of the candidates’ works on other home projects. It might sound snobbish to you to spend more on this job, but remember that the walls are the finished surface of what is going to be your home. Everyone that will enter it will lay their eyes on them and analyse the quality of their aspect. In conclusion, don’t be cheap about the materials and the “artist”.

Since it is newly constructed, your residence has never been painted before and, therefore, needs some special treatment before actually being subjected to this process. One of the pre-painting needs of your house’s walls implies applying a coat of primer and two coats of paint to seal and cover the first time. Only a professional would know the importance of these “adjusting” steps in paving the way towards a good home painting work.

Another quality of a true expert resides in knowing that different surfaces have different finish requirements. Here is a list of the basic standard choices in terms of surface and finish:

• doors, trim, woodwork – gloss or semigloss in order to repel fingerprints;
• kitchen and bathroom – gloss or semigloss because they are easier to clean and repel mositure.
• walls in bedrooms and living area – flat finish.

Now, the time has come to tackle with the most stringent question of a homeowner engaged in home painting. What type of paint to use? There are two basic options for home painting, that can be both obtained with a variety of finishes:

1. oil – bonding well to wood and metals and working well on greasy or dirty surfaces, oil used as paint is known for its durability. However, there will be a problem for the homeowners who live in damp climates because of the moisture which repels the oil basis during application. Another shortcoming of resorting to this option is that brushes and spills can be cleaned only with thinner, which has an unpleasant odor until it dries. It is generally considered to be more suited for exterior rather than interior walls.
2. water-based paints (e.g. acrylic latex) – easy and safe to use, this type of paints has rapidly gained popularity; the process of cleaning the brushes and spills is easier, the paint dries faster and exhales no fumes, all these properties turning them it into the favorite candidate for your interior walls. Nevertheless, being porous, water-based paints are more vulnerable to moisture if applied in thin layers over wood, so you have to use an oil-based primer for starters. This is why they are not so widely recommended for exterior home painting.

Don’t hesitate to ask the help of a designer if you intend to have specifically designed colors for home painting, murals of faux finishes.

Now that you have found out the most important aspects to be dealt with during the custom home painting process it is up to you to use the information in your favor. As it is practically “the face” of your new house, home painting is important

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Now that you know how heavy these weigh in the process of completing your journey to having a special place of your own, take your time in choosing the right carpenters to have them put in place for you. Your contractor might already have selected a carpentry team, but if you can choose the related specialists for yourself,  prepare to examine their skills and workmanship before making any hires. See as many previous samples as possible of each person’s work and then make a decision regarding to whom to give the job.

In order to make your selection easier, just list the main types of jobs that have to be carried out in this area and then decide what sub is more suited to perform each of them. Here are some suggestive examples in terms of tasks typically completed by finish carpenters:

• hanging exterior and interior doors;
• setting door sills;
• setting windows and window sills;
• installing closet and pantry shelving;
• installing stairway trim and decorative railing;
• installing base and crown molding;
• installing decorative molding such as chair, picture rails and wainscoting.

When charging the bid for getting the work done, carpenters have different criteria on which they calculate it. Some do it by the number of openings cut into the wall (for example, the number of windows and doors) or the number of cuts they have to make. Others use a time basis by the hour or by the day when charging for their services. You can suggest a price for the whole task and negotiate with the workers.

After hiring the proper subs to carry out the carpentry tasks, you need to make sure that you have all the necessary materials ready for the completion of the project and, most of all, that it all comes from the same suppliers. You don’t want to run out of trim, let’s say, during the installing process and then order some more just to have incompatibilities in colors, grain, weight or other aspects of the material. Furthermore, ensure a proper place where you can store and protect it from damage.

Doors and Windows

In order to work properly, doors have to be hung level or plumb, with its trim also level and square. Therefore, the sub designated to deal with this matter has to make sure that the correct clearance at the bottom is created. Otherwise, hardware may not match up and doors can stick, which will later require a lot of effort to fix.

In terms of exterior doors, they are usually decorative, but by all means they have to be solid. This is why weather stripping should be taken into consideration when reaching this point. An essential add-on, weather stripping saves a lot of energy and it is not always provided by the finishing sub. Hence, talk to your contractor about it so that you won’t be deprived of this important feature.

When it comes to interior doors, you can choose from a wide diversity which has price as its main variable. At the low end of the price scale are hollow-core Masonite doors, which have an outer frame endowed with a sheet of masonite on either side. Light and inexpensive, they are easy to hang, but need painting and won’t account for a big aesthetic effect.

Just a little above on the price barrel, there is the alternative of prefabricated hollow-core doors. Although still requiring to be painted, these models are imprinted with three-dimensional patterns and simulated wood grain, which adds a nice decorative flair. Moreover, they are easy to install.

High on top of the option list come the custom doors. Sure, they do boast a beautiful aspect, but they are solid-core, which means that they are heavy and, therefore, need expert hanging. Plus, you need to order them far in advance to make sure they are ready in time for the finishing work. If this is the choice you make for your custom house, take care of it during the architecture phase so that you can allow your contractor and finishing subs to make the necessary arrangements.

To make your life easier, you might consider purchasing prehung door and window frames because they can be easily fit into place. Made from metal, wood or vinyl, today’s window models are self-contained units.

Moldings and Baseboards

Relatively easy to install, baseboards represent the molding that runs along the corner of the wall and floor. To put in place, the finishing carpenter seats the measured and cut boards against the floor and secures them onto the wall with the help of a nail gun. For the final “act”, the worker will miter (cut at angle) the corners of the baseboards so that they fit smoothly and cleanly into place.

While you are at molding, here are two other “sections” asking for your attention:

• crown molding – running along the corner of the ceiling and the wall or sometimes just below the ceiling, it is more difficult to be applied because it sits at an angle to the wall which can make negotiating corners and angles a challenge;
• chair or picture rails – they refer to the decorative molding strips that run horizontally somewhere along the middle of the walls.

Seeing that this type of molding is more exposed to direct sight, it will be subjected to critical scrutiny more often. Therefore, you need a perfect finishing, which, in its turn, requires a skilled hand carving with the coping saw. Another challenge with moldings comes from the possible presence of curved walls. Although expensive, custom warped pieces are available to help you in this respect. Another alternative is to purchase flexible moldings because they can bend around complex curves.

Once the trim is in place, any nail holes are filled with putty. After the putty dries, the carpenter sands and paints the nail holes.

Cabinetry and Countertops

If you are talking about cabinets and counters, then you definitely refer to your kitchen and bathroom. These functional decorative elements can be quite expensive, but indispensable. Therefore, study your options and make a wise decision. Instead of having them custom made, you can buy less expensive prefabricated models. With today’s variety, you are sure to find a pleasing design. However, since you want to obtain a certain look for your home, custom is not out of the question.

Depending on the wall shapes and areas that you want to populate with these cabinets, you have many choices at your disposal before ordering. Shape, color and style are parameters that diversify the range, including models with inserts, pull-out drawers, lazy susans, dish and spice racks, trays, and more. If you decide to acquire prefabricated cabinets and order from one single manufacturer, you can enjoy a substantial discount.

The almost unlimited offer for cabinets is replicated in terms of countertops as well. Thus, the once favored Formica option is now accompanied by alternatives like granite, tile, marble, synthetic Corian and Silestone. The “winner” will be chosen according to your tastes and budget.

After you receive the ordered models, reconfirm the measurements and layout of your kitchen and bathroom with your related sub. The dimensions of the appliances and the placement of the doors and windows are other important factors in installing cabinets and countertops. Consequently, checking this information in the contractor’s presence insures you that everything will fit in all the right places.

Before getting started in this respect, take a look at this list of typical dimensions that work as standard references:

• 36 inches: The countertop height from the floor;
• 32 inches: The optimum height for built-in desks and writing tables;
• 24 inches: The knee space required underneath desks;
• 24 inches: The standard countertop depth;
• 3 to 4 inches: The standard back-splash height behind sinks.

Don’t forget to include the thickness of the drywall and the width of molding in the “equation” concerning the measurements for cabinetry. Also think about the order in which you want to perform the painting and the fitting of these items. Maybe it is better to paint them first so that no hard-to-reach areas remain uncovered or unwanted surfaces get smudged.

When work advances to the bathroom, make sure that cabinetry phase precedes the tile application. This way, it is easier to adjust the two elements in accordance with each other.

Having all the necessary equipment at hand, the carpenter installs the upper cabinets first so that the base ones won’t be in the way. Then he places the latter in place, after which the countertops are cut and fastened securely to their proper positions. Next, the appliance holes are cut and all seams and joints are caulked. Finally, drawers are added and pull knobs attached. With a finishing touch, the carpenter repairs any scratches and marks, leaving you with a freshly furnished kitchen and bathroom.

In the doors and windows, molding, cabinets and countertops lies the abstract IT which makes your home special, even extraordinary.

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Finishing Fireplaces and Walls

An item that contributes to instilling a sense of intimacy and comfiness to your “nest” is the fireplace. Initially requiring a lot of work and efforts to be put in place, a chimney is now a prefabricated box that can be readily installed in a space which has been especially framed for this purpose by a carpenter. Since you can nowadays purchase insulated chimney shafts, you won’t need too much brick or stone except for outside decorative or architectural considerations.

The logic of the construction process places the installment of a hearth later in the course of the custom house project, but planning this stage is recommended to occur early in the underlying chronology. There are several reasons to support this suggestion:

• the necessary materials have to be ordered well ahead of the installation;
• you might face community restrictions regarding the type of fireplace, such as wood-burning or gas; and it is better to handle these potential hardships in advance rather than in the very last minute;
• if you want to use a particular type of fireplace (for instance, a gas-fueled one), you need to make the necessary adjustments long before you get to install it; thus, you would have to run the required plumbing to enable a gas line to fuel gas logs or to use it as a fire starter.

Precise and thorough consideration for the installment of a fireplace is needed on other grounds as well. Due to functionality and health safety reasons, a custom masonry fireplace requires a proper draft to ensure the right airflow from inside your home, up through the flue, and out of the top of the chimney. Thus, you prevent smoke from entering your house and, subsequently, the smoke detectors from continuously starting off. At the opposite pole of a poor-breathing chimney is the case when there is too much breathing, which would make it difficult for the fire to remain lit. You can overcome all of these problems by simply opting for a prefab fireplace, which is endowed with features that cancel the earlier mentioned issues.

While you are at this “chapter”, you might also want to take care of aspects such as whether you should build a raised hearth so that you facilitate the access to it or have an ash dump if the fireplace is on the ground floor. If you don’t want to sacrifice the warm air inside, you could hire some masons to construct a fresh air vent that will allow the fireplace to suck air from outside of your home.

The last “element” to be taken into consideration when it comes to installing a fireplace refers to picking up the right mantel to add to your chimney. Usually, this item is a wooden shelf that goes over your fireplace opening. You can however choose from a variety of versions that range from custom built models to prefabricated ones. In the latter case, you just have to check out the prototypes available in related stores or acquire antique mantels from older demolished houses that still look quite nice.

Irrespective of the solution that you consider to be the best in your case, make sure that the chosen mantel piece is firmly and safely secured with solid fasteners. Thus, you can carefreely hang your Christmas stockings on it.

As far as the walls are concerned, the finishing work resides in applying the proper drywall and get them ready for a potential type of wallpaper. Uniform and easy to install, this covering is made of plaster or gypsum sandwiched between two layers of heavy gauge paper. Compared to the more traditional method of wall finishing which consists of laying lath and plaster, where wood strips are used, drywall is much cheaper and provides the same benefits.

When you have to choose the type of drywall that you want to use for your custom house, remember that it comes in two common thicknesses: 3⁄8 inch and 5⁄8 inch. The thicker board is commonly used to prevent the rippling of the finished surface. This phenomenon is also called warpage and it can occur in moist climates if the homeowner has studs spaced far apart. For a better protection against this shortcoming, store the drywall in a dry place on the site until it’s installed.

This covering is generally available in sheets of 4 x 8 feet, 4 x 10 feet, or 4 x 12 feet. Having tapered edges on the long sides and full edges on the short sides, the sheets allow one to put two sides together so that a channel is created for drywall tape and mud to be applied. The two elements have the function of covering up and hiding the joints between adjoining pieces of drywall, leaving behind a flat, smooth wall.

Since the final “look” of your home depends on what type of drywall you choose, don’t stint on the budget when taking a decision. Get the best you can afford and then you will thank yourself when the job is completed. Other aspects to discuss with your drywall sub refer to:

• fancy textures – being given that texture can add depth to a room, be prepared to choose from a wide variety;
• unstippled ceilings – this will help you personalize your home in a good way in terms of quality;
• water-resistant drywall – in the dreaded event of water damage from a leak or humid climate, this type of covering will save you a lot of nuisance.

As for installing the drywall, a professional would apply it horizontally with the full sides joining at the studs. Thus, the amount of joints to be taped is reduced and the strongest area of the panel is placed across the studs. Moreover, a metal strip with a beaded edge should be installed at the outside corners, where the panels meet.

Once the fireplaces and walls are covered, your custom house is starting to look cozy and, with no cracks in the bricks or stones of the fireplace, a flue that vents properly, no bumps or warpage wrecking the neatness of your drywall, you could happily say that everything is set for the next step in enlivening your home.

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Now that your custom house is almost finished, exterior home lighting will come to complete the picture, “throwing light” upon your brand new home and enhancing its functionality and curb appeal. Once the major construction stages are covered, the electricians simply install the outdoor lighting system. However, choosing the exterior home lighting fixtures related  should occur much earlier in the project, even before starting the actual build. The optimal moment to do this is when you and your architect create the detailed list of materials that are going to be used throughout the project.

This phase is one of the simplest because it involves no “magic tricks”, but the simple intervention of an electrician. Since it is quite an easy task, the person with a “do-it-yourself” impulse might get engaged in carrying out this work. Before participating in a DIY installation process, just ask permission from the expert hired to do the job and observe the commonsense safety rules when handling electricity. Thus, make sure that you are not in the vicinity of any standing water so that you don’t get shocked. Furthermore, use gloves or plastic if you install halogen lighting. This way, you avoid direct contact with it and prevent the natural oil from your skin from reducing the life of the halogen bulb.

When designing the plans for your future residence, you definitely have to take into consideration the matter of exterior home lighting as well. This aspect is part of the landscape work you will be doing to confer something special to your home. Therefore, make sure that your electrical contractor adds a few electrical and light sockets to the house’s exterior when the construction process reaches the stage of installing the utility systems.

Exterior Home Lighting Choices

You can be the happy beneficiary of a wide range of exterior lighting effects and turn your residence into a more beautiful and safer place if your contractor takes care of installing the proper wiring. Consider the following options in this respect, but bear in mind that moderation is the key to a successful outcome. You don’t want neighbors to complain about being kept awake by your outdoor lights, do you?

The first alternative you might take advantage of is uplighting your home, which implies placing a light at the base of a structure or a tree within your property. This enables one to create interesting shadows.

A second possibility in terms of outdoor illumination is downlighting your home. Sometimes referred to as moonlighting as well, it brightens things from above because the fixture is placed in a tree or any other high location.

Thirdly, feature lighting allows you to put certain objects or items in the “limelight” within your outdoor show. A favorite tree, your doorway, a backyard pond or fountain, an outdoor art object, or another architectural feature of your new home can become the object of attention. This option is quite fun because it stimulates your imagination in randomly spotlighting various “points” of interest.

A forth illumination technique consists of grazing, which requires you to install a light close to an interesting surface, such as a brick or stone wall or the bark of a tree. By doing so, you allow the beam of light to shine across the surface, which accentuates the texture of the item.

If you aim for both a romantic look and safety, low-voltage exterior lighting fixtures are the thing you need. Available in a broad spectrum of styles to match the aspect of your home, they are also useful in revealing the boundaries of a yard or lining a walkway.

Utility lighting is the solution when you want to shed bright light on a particular outdoor area, such as near the grill, a set of steps, the garage, where you will be unloading your car.

Last but not least, you can give your home a festive look with the occasion of a special holiday by means of specific home lighting systems. Consult your landscape designer in this respect and ask for some suggestions on placing outlets, camouflaging cords and hanging fixtures.

The use of light is a valuable “instrument” in highlighting the beauty of your new home, so why not take advantage of it by means of choosing the right exterior home lighting fixtures and accessories?

Installing A New Driveway

Installing a driveway is one of the stages covered in order to finalize the construction process of a custom house. The location of the project and the contractor’s preferences influence the way in which it is built. In rural areas, the driveway might take the shape of a simple gravel road. However, there are cases when this stage precedes the beginning of the build so that the workers can access the building site. The choices that one has for this part are more varied in urban areas, ranging from asphalt (combining tar and gravel) to luxurious stamped concrete, a material which can be colored and imprinted with a pattern while it is still wet.

Another factor that may compel you to choose a certain material for your driveway is represented by your neighbors. Building in a rural area where there are few houses represents a happy instance, when you don’t have to be subject of any homeowner association restrictions. Thus, you are free to opt for less expensive materials when installing a driveway, such as loose gravel. If you build in a development, on the other hand, your decision in this respect might be “directed” by your community’s codes towards the more finished look of asphalt, concrete or even some type of decorative paver. Climate and costs are other parameters on which the installment of your driveway depends.

Materials to Use when Installing a Driveway

In terms of material choice, concrete has become one of the most popular ones due to its durability and beauty. When such an option is adopted in your custom house project, the process of installing a driveway/walkway implies that the subs build wooden forms in the shape of the driveway. Once these wood boards, which keep concrete within a certain area, are placed in position, the workers reinforce them with metal rebar (steel bars) on small blocks. The result will look like a net that has the function of reinforcing the concrete after it is poured.

The next step is to install expansion joints, which represent gaps between the slabs. By doing so, the sub allows concrete slabs to move without suffering any cracks that can occur because of hear, cold or earthquakes. A base of crushed limestone or recycled concrete is placed and compacted before the concrete pour in order to confer a longer life to the “finite product”.

Professionals that engage in such construction tasks take into account the current temperature and humidity. These are vital elements when the sub has to decide exactly what concrete mixture to use. If this aspect is ignored, you might witness the pouring of an unclear slab. This construction stage has to include the establishment of a slight slope away from the house so that proper drainage will be ensured.

An optional element is cosmetic stamping. If you want your walkway to be enlivened with colors and patterns, mention this to your architect or sub and he/she will take it into account when designing and installing a driveway. The stamping occurs soon after the concrete is poured.

In comparison to the more traditional forms of driveway paving (with block, slabs, tarmacadam or shingle), cosmetic stamping or pattern imprinted paving is very creative and aesthetic. It however implies higher costs too.

Just think of the building location, the surrounding environment, your budget and tastes and choose what suits best the rest of your custom house project when installing the driveway.

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Although these elements come at the end of the construction project, the homeowner needs to deal with them from the very beginning. It is recommended that the roofing materials be ordered from the framing stage so that they are brought on site by the end of the respective step. Once they arrive, their installment has to be carefully carried out so that the roof looks exactly as the architect intended.

Moreover, pay attention to the construction plans as they specify the type and the quantity of materials necessary to get the job done. Order a little bit over the stipulated amount because it is better to have some extra reserves rather than not enough of it. Sure, if you run out, you can order some more, but you then face the risk of mismatched shingles.

Before putting the shingles in place, your sub and laborers have to make sure that the roof sheathing and flashing are properly installed because the slates are attached to these underlying layers. The sheathing represents a coat of plywood covered with tarpaper that goes on top of the metal stripping (called flashing) installed around the chimney and extruding vent pipes (from furnaces, plumbing, ventilation fans, and other sources).

Sometimes, the sub may suggest that additional flashing be done in order to cover seams and valley sections of the roof so that further protection from moisture is provided. You are advised to accept this suggestion. It is only after the roof has been sheathed, flashed and inspected that the work proceeds towards installing the roofing materials, which come in the form of either shingles or tiles.

Materials to Use for Roofing and Rain Gutters

If you opt for the former type of materials, you have several choices that include:

• asphalt shingles – the most common and the least expensive; made of fiberglass and asphalt, they have a life span of 15 to 20 years;
• clay tiles – they boast the advantage of being aesthetic, but are rather heavy, requiring a reinforced roof to support them; although costing 30 times the price of an asphalt roof, they are fire retardant and last 50 years or longer;
• laminated fiberglass shingles – containing the same materials as asphalt, they are however thicker and can be fashioned with different textures, which allows the roof to take various looks; they do cost twice as much as the asphalt counterparts but last 10 to 15 years longer;
• sheet metal – lightweight, easy to install and available in various colors, metal roofing is not actually a tile, but large rolled plates of metal; it is popular in snowy areas because it enables a faster removal of the snow; ten times pricier than asphalt shingles, it however lasts two or three times as long;
• slate – it is elegant and durable, lasting up to 100 years; but these advantages come with a price, slate requiring roof reinforcement and costs that are 30 times bigger than for asphalt shingles;
• wood shake shingles – they look great, are durable and their price is five times the cost of asphalt shingles, but, compared to the other roofing materials, they are the least fire retardant.

Displayed in overlapping rows from the bottom of the roof to the top, the shingles are fasten into place with galvanized roofing nails. If you opt for sheet metal, then the material will be rolled out or have pre-manufactured seams on the edge of their panels to facilitate installment. For the result to look satisfactory, adroitness and artful cutting are necessary.

The overlapped layering is designed to keep water above the tile surface and make it run over the roof rather than under it. However, proper rain gutters are also necessary to maintain your home dry. Otherwise, water backs up on your shelter and soon finds its way under. Your contractor has to install an efficient drainage system that would also look good on the house.

The main principle of drainage is based on angling the roof in such a way that the water is channeled down and towards the edges. But if you allow rain to flow down to the ground directly from your roof, it will settle around the foundation, which can later create humidity problems. This is where gutters come into play.

Made of aluminum, plastic or fiberglass, gutters are channels that direct the water from the roof surface towards the drainpipes situated at the corners of the house. For correct installment, the gutters are sloped down toward the drainpipe at a rate of 1 inch for every 12 inches of lineal feet. The downspouts then have to be connected to underground tubing that leads water away from your home.

Being given their importance in preventing water from leaking into your residence, gutters have to be kept clean. This task becomes easier with the latest models, which feature special covers that allow water in, but keep leaves and other materials out. They might be more expensive, but they would definitely spare you a lot of effort when having to clean old-fashioned types.

Roofing and rain gutters are two important aspects that can lie at the root of many problems if neglected, so do a good job from the very beginning and you will enjoy a peaceful and pleasant existence in your new residence.

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Applying exterior siding is one of the final steps of  building a custom house, which is a multi-step construction process that requires the owner to take things one at a time and in a particular order so that the result be a qualitative home. The build is practically divided into two major phases, namely the “raw” and the finish one, respectively. The first part of the work primarily implies outlining the “skeleton” of the house and installing home utilities. The second one includes steps like applying wall coverings, roofing, attaching a deck,  furnishing exterior lighting and other details that help you complete the “picture”.

The Beginning- “Outlining” the Structure

 The construction project begins with the preparation of the site, which involves clearing and grading the land and then establishing the underground utility lines. Once this stage is covered, the build continues with laying the foundation, constructing retaining walls and preparing the structure for the future utility systems (drainage, sewer, water source, gas pipes and electricity). The process then advances to the framing the house, which comprises the following phases:

• subfloor;
• load-bearing walls;
• interior walls;
• second story;
• roof framing.

After completing this part, you proceed to the installment of the rough systems which endow your house with water supply, sewers, vents, electricity, heating and insulation equipment. Then everything is “wrapped up” in an efficient package that is based on sheathing, flashing and insulating the frame of your house. With these being done, the raw phase of a custom house build comes to an end.

Applying The Exterior Finish To Your Home

The process now heads up for the exterior finish, when the details are taken care of. This requires artistry, craftsmanship and preciseness, otherwise the result might look sloppy. The work starts with the application of exterior siding. Depending on personal taste and budget considerations, the homeowner may choose to cover the exterior of the home with: vinyl siding, stone or stucco.

A. Siding

Popular with older-style homes, siding has four major subtypes:

• Wood Siding or Shake Shingles
• Vinyl Siding
• Cement Board;
• Aluminum Siding

If your primary concern is aesthetics, wood would be the best option to go for. However, beauty comes with a price, because this exterior siding material is the most expensive and pretentious one, requiring constant maintenance. You have to regularly paint it and bare in mind that rain, sun, insects and rot can easily damage your exterior siding.

If durability prevails over aspect, vinyl and aluminum are recommended. Although they don’t look as good as wood does, they are the more durable types of siding. However, when compared to the other materials, vinyl comes with a minus in that it doesn’t provide the same protection against moisture.

Lately, contractors have displayed an obvious preference for cement boards, which have thus become a favorite when it comes to siding. Also referred to as hardi board or Hardie Board, after the name of its manufacturer- James Hardie, this siding material is cost effective, goes on easily and it is impervious to fire, birds, insects and rot. It features other advantageous characteristics as well, including its aspect similar to wood and the property to hold paint up to 15 years due to its thermal stability.

Exterior Stone Finish

If you want a stone or brick exterior for your house, you leave the subcontractor to choose from:

• real brick or stone - a rather expensive proposition, this exterior siding option provides beauty but requires the work of craftsmen called masons in order to be assembled correctly; problems can later occur if the mortar starts to fail;
• masonry veneer – designed to imitate the aspect of bricks, stone or even adobe, this material is far less expensive to buy and install than its real counterpart; careful matching of the patterns is required so that the result can look like real stone or brick.

Exterior Stucco Finish

Last, but not least, stucco is another commonly used exterior finish. Being a thick, concrete-based substance, it closely resembles the mortar applied between bricks when erecting a wall. The only difference is that the former is applied to your home’s exterior.

In order to install this material, the sub has to first mount wire lath (also called chicken wire) to your house’s exterior walls. This procedure is necessary for the covering to have something to hold to and maintain its shape. Then, a first coat of stucco is applied with a thickness of ¾ inches. Once this layer dries, a brown coat is applied over so that any uneven surfaces could be smoothed out.  A third layer of color in accordance with the homeowner’s preferences is applied to finish the work.

It is up to you to decide which of these exterior siding options suits your project best. Think of the advantages and disadvantages offered by each of the exterior house finishes, and choose the optimal one for your custom house.

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Although some have claimed that the draw system is more lenient than the voucher one, there are still many lending financial institutions which prefer the “more intricate” way. Usually employed by banks  that are looking to keep tight control on their funds during the custom house building process, the voucher system is more appropriate and efficient to make sure that all parties have met their obligations along the way.

The starting point of the voucher system resides in the custom homeowner’s cost breakdown, which clearly divides and associates the various stages of the building project with specific costs for labor and materials. The lender issues a voucher, which looks like an oversized check on the front side of which are written:

• the date;
• the amount that the bank will pay;
• the receiver of the amount;
• a description of exactly what work or materials the voucher should cover.

On the back of the voucher, there is a place where your contractor or supplier has to enter pertinent business information like their address and Employer Identification Number. These data are used by the issuing bank to report all money that it has paid for tax purposes. What a borrower can also find on the verso of the voucher is a paragraph stating any rights that the supplier or sub may have to put a lien on the property.

In the capacity of custom house project owner, you receive this voucher that you in your turn have to give to your suppliers and contractors to fill out the necessary information. They also have the responsibility to provide the original invoices and bids to the bank, when requested. Once the bank inspector verifies whether the work has been completed, the suppliers or subs are directly paid the amount requested on the voucher by cashier’s check.

The Benefits of the Voucher System

Within the custom house industry, there is the almost unanimous consensus according to which the rigid voucher system ensures the most accountability. However, despite this favorable premise, there are still parties who find it as a cumbersome factor in the increasingly fast-paced and flexible building process. It might be complicated and tangled in terms of procedure, but it surely has some benefits as well. Let us have a look at them.

• The voucher system gives the custom homeowner added control to make sure the money is used for the right purpose when the contractor isn’t financially strong;
• It helps the project owner and the bank protect themselves against mechanic liens;
• It ensures a tight budget control exerted by a third party (the bank) –  thus, arguments over money between you and your contractor are kept to a minimum because every decision has to meet the bank’s approval.

On the other hand, the voucher system has also its drawbacks. The most relevant are:

• It requires a lot of paperwork, which can be a true hassle;
• It leaves little room for wide variations from the budget, requiring strict adherence to it;
• It requires multiple signatures from multiple parties, which is surely time-consuming and problematic if these parties travel a lot.

Some banks simply impose you to use this system, whereas others give you the liberty to choose from the voucher system and the draw system, but, no matter the case, the lender is always focused on efficiency and safeguarding his investment.

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There is no such thing as having too many extra custom home resources in the project, and you can find a few handy resources for finding land and arranging your financing, as well as listing the major associations that work with custom home people, or specialty resources for owner-builders, log homes, and environmental help.

Land Custom Home Resources

 Lotfinders (www.lotfinders.com) is an Internet resource focused specifically on helping the consumer find land to build a custom home. It works with developers to publicize properties for sale. They also help prospective homebuilders to identify landowners with property not listed.

Other resources for finding land also on the Internet include:

- www.Realtor.com: This site can get you to any land listed in the Multiple Listing Service.

- www.land.net: This site has a large database of land for sale as well, although much of it is commercial land or raw land, which is land that’s not prepared for building.

Stratford Financial Services

Stratford Financial Services (www.customhomeexperts.com) is a company dedicated to real estate financing education. The company has financed thousands of homes and more than 800 custom home projects. Its Web site has tons of custom home articles and essays designed to keep consumers from making costly mistakes when financing real estate.

Log and Timber Frame Homes

Goodman Media, publisher of Log Homes Illustrated magazine and Timber Homes Illustrated magazine, acts as the best all-around resources for log and timber home enthusiasts. Log on www.loghomesillustrated.com for more information.

Another great company providing resources for such projects is Log Home Authority (www.loghomeauthority.com), which has two major magazines that service the log home industry, Log Home Living and Log Home Design Ideas.  Building green with a log home is a great way to go.

Finished Plans

The Garlinghouse Company serves as America’s premier publisher of home plan books and project plans. Its Web site (www.garlinghouse.com) is a great online resource. Garlinghouse provides great information for converting bought plans into approved plans. Hanley Wood is also a good resource. You can find Hanley Wood’s plans online at www.eplans.com and www.dreamhomesource.com. Hanley Wood also publishes a number of trade magazines for the building industry. If you’re interested in seeing things from your contractor’s perspective, check out Builder magazine or Custom Home magazine or www.hanleywood.com.

Home Depot Expo

When you’re in the market for appliances, fixtures, and cabinetry ideas, there is no better showcase open to the public than Home Depot Expo. This store exhibits an amazing designer showcase where you can see how bathrooms and kitchens come together. Log on to www.expo.com to find a design center near you.

American Institute of Architects (AIA)

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) provides information about architects. You can go to the AIA Web site (www.aia.org) to read up on the subject of architects and the public. You can also search the architect-finder service by location. The AIA has local offices in most major cities, which can be a great resource for meeting architects in person.

National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Web site (www.nahb.org) looks to be for builders only, but you can find plenty of consumer information about builders and the building
process spread throughout the site. The site has detailed explanations of the building process and listings of trade shows that you can attend to see building materials and processes.

One other resource is www.homebuilder.com, which is a consumer site connected with NAHB. It’s a decent source for information and houses a referral source for finding contractors.

For Owner-Builders

You can utilize two strong resources for owner-builders not quite looking to do it all themselves. U-Build-It (www.ubuildit.com) is a set of franchised dealers that educate and consult with you through the entire construction process. The other resource, Complete Owner Builder Services (COBS; www.cobshomes.com), is a one-stop shop for owner-builders. It combines its expertise along with supplier relationships to help you save money and achieve your goals in the owner-builder process.

Building Green

Building Green (www.BuildingGreen.com) provides authoritative, independent information on environmentally responsible design and construction. Building Green’s resources include:

- Environmental Building News (EBN): A newsletter featuring comprehensive in-depth features, product reviews, news, opinions, and more, on a wide range of sustainable building topics

- GreenSpec Directory: Featuring more than 1,850 green building products carefully screened by the editors of EBN, plus guideline specification language

- BuildingGreen Suite: Providing instant online access to EBN and thousands of past articles, cross-linked with the GreenSpec product database and high-performance building case studies.

Wild Ones Native Plant Landscaping

This organization promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices incorporating the use of native plants in landscaping for houses and buildings. If you’re interested in native plant landscaping, check out Wild Ones at www.for-wild.org.

These custom home resources can be very helpful in your new quest, so make sure that you check them out before starting the project.

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List of the Most Common Stuck-in-the-Middle Problems:

My Home Is Behind Schedule

If your project is encountering a significant delay, that holdup can often affect the availability of the subs. Discuss the situation with your contractor. Communicate your concerns and financial risks. Talk about workable solutions, such as the option of using alternative subs. If the contractor is being negligent per the contract’s terms, you may need to discuss changing contractors. However, taking this step should be a last-resort issue at best. As long as you keep in mind the cost of any lender penalties, a couple of extra months isn’t worth cutting corners on a house that will last lifetimes.

My Construction Loan Is Expiring and the House Isn’t Complete

In such a situation, you need to remain calm and resolute. Most construction loans carry some sort of penalty for going over the allotted time limit. Although these penalties can be steep, they often can be negotiable. Discuss with your lender the minimum work required to roll the construction loan into a permanent loan so you can finish as soon as possible. Often you may be able to put some work off until after the construction loan is rolled into permanent financing.

My Contractor Wants More Money in a Fixed-Price Contract

When a fixed-price custom home project goes over budget, it’s either because the contractor’s estimate was too low or because the consumer keeps making changes to the original plans. If your contractor underestimated the project, sit down with him to renegotiate. Your requests for changes in the original plans are called change orders and they are your issue. Discuss the time and cost of each change before the contractor begins the process. If the contractor has already made the changes and you find yourself looking at the bill you didn’t expect, you’re probably on the hook, and you’ll need to cover these changes out of your own pocket.

Everything Costs More Than My Budget in a Time-and-Materials Contract

A time-and-materials contract exists when you’re responsible for all the material and labor expenses, and the contractor makes his money as an additional percentage of the total cost. When costs are your financial responsibility, the best way to deal with cost overruns is to keep a close watch on them. Weekly communication with your contractor can keep the overruns from getting out of hand.

The Bank Won’t Fund the Draws

Usually you encounter the problem of the bank not funding the draws, or requests for money, when the percentage of your house that has been completed isn’t relative to the percentage of funds you have taken from the bank. The bank will ultimately fund you all of any section, such as foundation or framing, when complete, but you have to get the sections complete first. If you can’t pry any money loose from the bank, make arrangements with your contractor to get to the next payment stage.

I’m Out of Cash

This usually stems from a combination of poor planning and putting too much cash into the project upfront. If you do run out of cash, try the following possible resources for cash.

- Credit cards: You can reimburse yourself after the project pays off, so don’t be shy, charge it!

- Friends and family: You’re borrowing a short-term loan, and who are you going to be entertaining in your new home? Let them share in all the joys of custom home ownership.

- Home equity loans: If you haven’t already tapped the equity in your current personal residence, now is the time. You’ll likely sell the house when finished anyway.

- Retirement accounts: Borrow if you can, liquidate only if you have to as a last resort. Margin accounts are credit lines secured against stock accounts. Liquidation of any retirement accounts could result in penalties and taxes, so be sure to consult your accountant and financial adviser before taking action.

The House Is Having Some Engineering Problems

If you have a major issue, such as a foundation that won’t support the weight or a structural wall that needs to be moved, you need to immediately communicate with the architect, contractor, and lender to determine a plan to resolve it. Often the solution requires some form of redesign and new approval of the changed plans with the building department. Most often a minor engineering issue will simply create a delay or expense.

My Contractor and I Can’t Get Along

When you selected a contractor, you picked someone with whom you thought you could trust your life’s savings and who exhibited good craftsmanship and excellent management skills. Finding someone who met all those requirements was a big challenge. Work hard to put personal emotions aside. Be willing to sacrifice personal ego and correctness for getting to the objective.

My Contractor Walked Off the Job

This problem can translate to time and money if you don’t act quickly. Unless your contractor left for reasons unrelated to your project, don’t attempt to reengage him. Depending upon your lender, you may be able to take over the helm and act as your own general contractor. If that option isn’t possible, then you need to work with the lender to find a contractor soon.

This Project Is Breaking Up My Marriage

Building a custom home can take its toll on family and relationships. If things do get tough, focus more attention on your relationships and let your contractor take over more of the day-to-day operations and worry on your custom home project.

These stuck-in-the-middle problems can be very annoying if you’re not expecting them, so you need to be prepared to face them and choose the most appropriate way in fixing them.

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Sheathing, flashing, and insulation is the last step before moving on to the finish work in the custom home building process. However, depending on the time of year and the climate in your area, your contractor may choose to sheath the house before installing the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems.

These operations represent basically the process of covering the framing, offering protection from the elements, but leaving it open makes for easier access. Your construction crew encloses the house during the sheathing process. In this process the crew applies a covering material to the outside of the framing.

The sheathing procedure serves several purposes, adding shear strength to the walls, providing backing for the siding, and stabilizing the studs from bending under the load and warping with the weather.

The majority of home sheathing products nowadays are forms of asphalt-soaked fiberboard. A composite material commonly referred to by its brand name Built-rite, this fiberboard sheathing is the most common and cheapest insulator for sheathing a home. Other newer and more expensive materials may be available for sheathing. Discuss these options with your contractor as well as the timing of sheathing your home in your project.

There are special nails used in the sheathing process, which have protective plates to keep them from puncturing the outer skin of the sheathing when attaching to the studs. The crew nails wall sheathing to the stud vertically about every foot. Over the top of the sheathing, a permeable vapor barrier is applied, underneath the siding. This barrier keeps moisture out but allows air to pass. Make sure all seams are taped, and windows wrapped with window wrap.

When it comes to the roof, sheathing is generally made of the weatherproof plywood. Your roofing sub needs to secure roof sheathing along the rafters or trusses every 8 inches. When sheathing the roof, the crew needs to allow for whatever type of roof ventilation that you plan to use. The crew may need to leave spaces at the roof ridges and cut holes for extruding vents and skylights. Any items punched through your roof need to have flashing, a metal stripping nailed in place and sealed or caulked to prevent water from leaking into your home.

After the roof sheathing, contractors commonly stack the roofing material on it in preparation for the next phase of construction, thus providing the appropriate weight to the roof sheathing, preventing unnecessary expansion and warping.

Immediately after the sheathing process, it’s time to roll out the insulation. By then, you and your architect should have already discussed the type of insulation for your house during the design phase. Your construction crew can easily roll the commonly used blanket insulation out into the walls and ceilings.

Walk the house with your contractor and discuss which areas can handle hand-packed insulation and additional soundproofing. Make sure that you have the plumbing and ductwork completely covered and that the insulation doesn’t cover any vent holes.

Things to Check after Sheathing, Flashing, and Insulation

 After all these operations are complete, you need to make sure that your house is bundled up just the way you want it. Use the following pointers to check the quality of the work done:

- Your contractor has attached sheathing every foot in the middle of the panel, every 6 inches on the edges vertically along studs, or every 8 inches for roof deck.
- No nails are loose or extended.
- All gaps are taped over a quarter inch.
- Skins of sheathing aren’t torn, ripped, or broken by nail heads.
- All skylights, chimneys, and vent pipes are sealed and flashed.
- All wall insulation is securely fastened.
- All windows, doors, cracks, and joints have hand-packed insulation, as appropriate.

After the sheathing, flashing, and insulation step, you are ready to start with siding and then painting the house if necessary to give it the look you wanted from the beginning.

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The working drawings for your home have specific plans for plumbing, HVAC, and electrical systems, all of these being the rough systems of your house. Another meeting with your contractor can go a long way in clarifying the schedule as well as the materials used by the subs.

Plumbing — all those steel, copper, and plastic pipes that route water into, through, and out of your home — is actually composed of three separate but interrelated systems: the water supply, the sewer system, and the vent system. The supply brings water to different places in your home, and the sewage system takes it away. The vent system is necessary so that the water can move in a steady flow without bubbles or spurts.

Items Needed for Installing the Rough Systems

Here is a brief checklist of common home plumbing fixtures

- Bathtubs and faucets
- Exterior water spigots
- Garbage disposal
- Refrigerator or icemaker
- Sauna or steamroom
- Septic tank, if applicable
- Shower fixtures
- Sinks and faucets — bathroom, kitchen, utility, wet bar
- Toilets, toilet seats, and bidets
- Water heater
- Water softener or conditioner.

In most cases, you can have water piped into your home from a public utility (the water company) or from a well on your property. Your plumbing sub installs the infrastructure necessary to distribute this water supply from its primary source to every place within your home where you need it.

Although galvanized steel pipe was once the material of choice for plumbing homes, most people today choose copper tubing. Copper tubing is durable, readily available, easy to work with, and relatively compact. On the other hand, even though copper tubing can cost twice as much as steel pipe, the labor savings have made steel virtually obsolete.

Generally, before you turn on your water supply, the plumbing sub conducts a test to check for leaks or blockages in your water pipes, first using air pressure and then using water. This test checks the time and water volume it takes to fill the system.

Gravity powers your sewer and waste systems, so your lowest sink, toilet, and drain must be higher than the sewer line that leaves your home. When properly installed, your sewer line efficiently delivers waste from your home to the city hookup or possibly to a septic tank on
your property. Your primary choices for sewer materials are cast iron or poly vinyl chloride (PVC) pipe. Although PVC is cheaper and easier to work with, it has a tendency to be noisy when water flows through it. If you decide to use PVC, take care to position the pipe in walls isolated from bedrooms and media rooms where the sound could be annoying. The drainpipes have occasional openings to the outside of the house, called cleanouts. These openings have removable caps so that you can snake out difficult clogs and roots in the future.

The vent system allows your home’s plumbing system to breathe. Without this venting system, the plumbing would be ineffective due to problems like siphoning and backpressure, which can stop the water flow. In addition to installing the water systems, either your plumber or your HVAC sub installs pipes for the natural gas or propane system if you have gas service to your property.

The ductwork for your HVAC creates passageways for air delivery and return throughout your home. The ducts are usually made of two materials, cut and fit at the build site. The two materials are:

- Insulated fiberglass: Fiberglass ducting is becoming more popular because you can cut it with a knife, and it has greater insulation, making for lower installation cost and quieter airflow.
- Sheet metal: Sheet metal ducting can develop noise over time because of temperature changes causing the metal to expand and contract. Sheet metal is becoming less popular because it’s more expensive and harder to work with.

In addition to ducting for the climate system, you need to install power ventilation ducts for bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans. These ducts require electricity as well as ventilation to the outside.

Your electrical sub reviews the electrical plan in the working drawings with you and your contractor to see if you need to make changes. Your local building code specifies the gauge and type of wiring that you have to use. You can discuss with your contractor and electrician which materials give you the best protection regarding age, corrosion, and fire. Your electrical sub runs cable or conduit throughout the house in different loops, or circuits. These circuits distribute the electrical load and tie back into protective circuit breakers at the main panel. Your electrical sub can install subpanels for your convenience. He needs to mark each of these circuits on the service panel so that you can identify which breaker goes to which outlet.

You should choose the best experts when installing the rough systems, as you don’t want these to break very soon.  Don’t be afraid to be rough with your sub if you feel that their performance is not what it should be.  Remember you are the master of this project and need to demand superior performance from your sub as rough systems are critical to your home build.

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Phases in Framing the House

The framing process consists of the following phases, generally done in this order:

- Subfloor: The base floor is built below your carpeting or finished flooring and on top of the foundation. A subfloor isn’t always required for a slab foundation but is necessary if the house has a basement.

- Load-bearing walls: These walls are added to support weight on top of the subfloor.

- Interior walls: These walls are erected, along with spaces for doors, windows, fireplaces, and architectural structures, such as dormers and soffits.

- Second story: The framing sub repeats the previous three bullets to create an additional story if required.

- Roof framing: The roof’s frame is put into place.

After finishing the foundation, the first step in the framing process is putting in a subfloor, which serves as a platform for building walls and creates a base to attach flooring. Putting the subfloor in is mostly a wood-based process, and the framer, carpenter, or general contractor generally build it. If you’re building your house on a concrete slab foundation you don’t need a subfloor because your entire house is supported directly by the slab. The following list gives you the instances when you need a subfloor:

- If you build the house on raised or pier-grade beam foundations
- For the upper floors of multistory houses
- As a base floor underneath hardwood floors (even if you’ve built the house on a concrete slab foundation)

The subfloor consists of a few parts, such as:

- Girders: A long heavy piece of wood that spans the floor and provides support.

- Joists: Long narrow boards set in place on their edge resting on sills and girders. The outer joists are the header and stringer joists, and the inside joists are called lap joists.

- Seal: A metal strip or layer of sealing material called caulk designed to protect the wood framing from moisture and bugs. It sits between the footing and the sill.

- Sill or sill plate: A piece of pressure-treated wood anchored to the foundation.

- Subfloor: Plywood lies flat over the joists usually at a perpendicular angle to direction of the floor joists.

After the subfloor is in place, the next step is to put up the walls. Framed walls have a very simple structure. A bottom plank, called a sole plate, is the base for a series of studs set 16 inches apart. A piece of lumber matching the sole plate caps these studs and is called a top plate. A tie plate above the top plates ties the walls together at the junctions. The framing sub creates spaces for windows and doorways that don’t detract from the structural integrity of the wall in the framing. The sub does this job with a header. A header is a large, strong piece of lumber designed to distribute the wall’s weight away from the opening for the door or window. Trimmers are side supports that transfer the weight from the header to the sole plate. Cripples are small pieces of wood that secure narrow gaps and make up wall height.

If the logs are milled in a factory, they’ll likely interlock with a sealer inserted in between, but if the logs are handcrafted, then extra shaping may take place on-site and an insulating gooey material called chinking will need to be applied between the logs. In either case, the logs will be bolted together as they’re stacked.

For multistory residences, contractors use two different methods of framing:

- Platform framing (also known as stick framing) is the most common framing method and allows for multiple levels with unique architectural choices. The framing sub builds the first walls attached to the subfloor. The ceiling joists, or supports, then serve as floor supports or joists for the next story. After installing a new subfloor, the framing sub builds the second story walls on the subfloor platform, just like he did on the story below.

- Balloon framing uses continuous studs running from the sole plate at the base of the house up to the roof. This method allows for the transfer of the weight of the roof and second story directly to the foundation.

Next, the framing sub builds the interior walls, and your home’s interior architecture begins to take shape. All external structures, such as attached decks, require pressure-treated wood and galvanized nails and hardware to make them weather resistant.

Finally, the roofing subcontractor installs the roof using either individual rafters or prebuilt trusses or I-beams. Because you can find multiple roof styles and types of roofing materials, the structural design varies according to the span and weight requirements of the different materials used for framing the house and roofing.

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You have a lot to consider before framing actually begins. You need to think about everything, including what materials to use, communication schedules, and what questions you want to ask or points you want to clarify with your contractor.

You and your contractor need to review the plans for marked flooring, framing, roofing, electrical, and plumbing. The detailed engineered plans, known as working drawings, have specific instructions for framing, subflooring, rough electrical, and rough plumbing. A precursory review insures that everyone is on the same page about the tasks ahead.

Questions to Ask before Framing and Rough Work Begin

Because most people have the least understanding about the framing and rough systems stages, you need to ask your contractor and subs the following questions:

- What is each sub responsible for?
- What are you (the homeowner) responsible for?
- Which subs are involved and when are they involved?
- What is the proper order of tasks?
- Who’s responsible for managing the coordination of tasks?
- What are my responsibilities with inspections and when will they occur?
- How does the contractor plan to keep you (the homeowner) apprised of the schedule, costs, materials, and so on?

Even though the contractor gets bids early on in the process, prices may change. After you have the subs’ estimates for materials and labor, always discuss with your contractor whether you can negotiate even better deals by paying the subs cash or on a weekly schedule. You should be
able to customize the project payment plan to give yourself the maximum buying advantage (and the best prices).

The schedule is everything in the process of building your custom home. When your schedule starts dragging, not only do you become frustrated with an apparent lack of progress, but also the overall completion of your home may become delayed. So, you have to stay on top of the building schedule. Discuss with your contractor how long each of the subs should take to finish their part with the framing and rough work. Having a schedule doesn’t guarantee everyone can finish on time, but it does allow you to track progress and make adjustments, if you need to.

You still need to discuss with your contractor whether or not to use engineered lumber such as floor trusses and I-joists. Floor trusses and I-joists are prefabricated wood structures commonly used for framing subfloors and roofs. Although floor trusses and I-joists often cost more than the materials that you buy for custom framing, because they’re made by combining different kinds of wood and glue, they’re often stronger and the quality is more consistently made. Trusses and I-joists are useful for running long distances when you have no underlying support, such as in an open cathedral ceiling, for example. In addition, when you factor in all the material waste and labor associated with custom framing, trusses or I-joists may end up being more economical in the long run.

Some builders are using another composite material called laminated veneer lumber beams extensively in their building process because of its versatility, uniformity, and cost benefits. Lastly, engineered composite plywoods are used in many cases to minimize the creaking sounds that keep everyone up late at night. This choice may or may not be more expensive than using standard plywood, but it does help the house retain a modern feel as it lasts through time. You need to calculate your budget before framing and choose accordingly.

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Pouring the foundation of your custom home has crucial importance, being maybe the most important part of the home-construction process. It is the base of the house, being responsible for supporting all the weight of the walls, the roof, and, of course, the people who live in it. Your architect and engineers will create specific foundation plans and calculations for your subcontractors in the working drawings. These plans let them know where everything goes and how much dirt needs to be moved to make room for the foundation.

The engineer needs to figure out which type of foundation is appropriate for the kind of home you’ve decided to build and the characteristics of the lot on which you plan to build it. You can choose from a variety of foundation types, and every local government has different requirements. You need to discuss any variations with your contractor so that you understand what needs to be built on your property, and these decisions will likely be made with your engineer earlier during the home planning stages.

Some cities and counties don’t allow any grading during the winter, so coordinating the schedule with your contractor is important. Also, weather can play a big role in delays during the foundation construction process.

Things to Do before Pouring the Foundation

 Until you start pouring the home foundation, you need to first dig out all the dirt from where the house will be. During the excavating stage, your lot may look like a playground filled with bulldozers, diggers, and trucks, ready to make pits, holes, and trenches.

The first thing to do is to remove the topsoil from the foundation area. Then, the sub digs holes for the footings (reinforced sections at the base of the foundation) if required. These holes will be several feet deep in cold climates so that they’re below the frost line (the maximum depth that the ground will freeze in winter). The type of foundation you install determines how much dirt to remove.

The most common type of foundations, built on relatively flat or gently sloped soil, is the perimeter footing foundation. It’s called the perimeter footing foundation because it comprises concrete footings that go around the house’s outer perimeter. In the case of the perimeter footing
foundation, walls are built primarily on the house’s perimeter; however the engineer may have specified certain places where an interior wall needs to be built to support extra weight.

If you’re building a slab foundation, then it will be made entirely of concrete. Slab foundations are less popular for custom homes because they don’t allow for any sort of a basement, and they make the first floor feel very rigid. However, on the plus side, slab foundations are fairly cost effective compared with other options. If your house is small and relatively inexpensive, your architect may have chosen a slab foundation.

A very popular form of foundation today is the pier-and-grade beam foundation. This foundation is versatile because it requires little or no excavation. It’s often used for hillside application because it secures the house deep into bedrock, preventing potential slide and settling issues. Some contractors like to use pier-and-grade beam foundations, even on flat lots, because they can require less concrete and less excavation, resulting in lower costs.

After finishing pouring the foundation, you need to have a clear picture of how the house will sit on the lot. Use this spot-check to be sure you’re ready to move on:

- All concrete is hard and secure, and there are relatively few cracks. No rebar is showing.
- The foundation hardware is securely in place and not bent or broken.
- Crawlspaces and utility connections have access points.
- All protruding utility pipes are clearly marked and have protective foam collars.
- All corners are square or at proper angles per the plans.

After pouring the foundation, you can finally concentrate on the shape of your future house and start the framing and the rough work.

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The contractor marks where all these different connections are coming from and going to according to the plans. You and your contractor connect with all the appropriate parties so that you and your construction crew can have the benefit of modern utilities during the building process.

Public water is generally more cost effective and reliable, but rarely available in rural areas, and in such cases you need to resort to a well. If you’re connecting to public water, your contractor will have laborers dig a trench to the water supply, connecting to the main water pipe at the street. Your contractor installs a temporary meter so the water company can measure your water usage during the construction process.

Preparing for the Utilities, the Alternate Way

If you’re installing a well, you or your contractor will arrange for a well company to install the well. The well company drills down into the water table until it can find clean ground water. After the well company digs the hole, it installs an electric pump to bring the water to the surface for home use.

If you’re connecting to a public sewer system, your contractor will have laborers dig trenches to lay the drainpipes leading away from the house. These pipes need to be installed prior to any concrete being laid, and your site plan will determine the most effective route.

If your property calls for a septic system, then you need to install one now. Your contractor consults the plans to determine the exact location of the septic tank for collecting waste, and then she arranges for trenches to be dug for placing the pipe in the leech field where the waste water drains.

Assuming your property is on the public electric grid system, you’ll need to tie into it to get electricity into your home. The power either comes in underground or from a pole. Your contractor sets up a temporary post with a circuit breaker and a meter so the utility company can start measuring your usage immediately. Your building inspector needs to inspect this temporary meter before the electric company will connect the power.

If you’re connecting to a public gas system, then your contractor will arrange for the pipes to be trenched that will run from the gas line under your street into your home. Details for this routing need to be noted on your site plan. If you’re running propane gas, your supply company will usually handle the entire installation process, including delivering and securing of your propane storage tank.

With the utilities in place, you’re ready to start the building process in earnest. Make sure you spot-check connections before you move on to the next step in the process.

- Water pipes don’t leak and connections are secure. Spigot is clearly flagged.
- Sewer pipes are well buried and marked at the connecting point. The inspector has signed off on the septic system.
- Power poles are secure with no exposed wires.
- Gas pipes are buried, and connections are clearly marked.

When you finish preparing for the utilities, you can start pouring the foundation of your new custom home.

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First of all, you need to know where everything goes and have a clean site to work with. Before you start, make sure you’re digging in the right place. This requires a specially trained professional (a surveyor) to use surveying equipment to mark the following:

- Lot lines: These are the property boundaries.
- Setbacks: These tell you where your building limits are relative to your neighbor’s property.
- Underground utility lines: If your property has any power lines and water pipes buried on it, identifying their location can keep you from hitting them.

After completing the job, the surveyor places a numbered tag on a permanent stake on the property. This tag has the surveyor’s registered license number and serves as a reference point for all future surveys. Often the survey is completed early in the design process, particularly if you’re dealing with a large rural lot where the boundaries aren’t clearly marked or if they’re required by the building department.

Site Preparation Steps Needed before Breaking Ground

Here are some suggestions for a few other things recommended to be done before breaking ground, although you and your contractor need to discuss their benefits and costs:

- Post prominent “Danger” signs (in red) throughout the building site. Doing so can help protect your liability in case someone unauthorized might trespass on the property.

- Arrange for a rental toilet for your workers.

- Decide whether or not to install an onsite storage shack for materials. Not only can you keep your materials and valuables dry in an onsite storage unit, but you can also lock up any valuables for security purposes.

- Consider adding an administrative office for your contractor. Adding an office can also be a very convenient place to store paperwork, tools, and refreshments as well as to provide comfort and first aid for workers when necessary.

- Discuss with your contractor about putting up a lockable chain-link fence. The fence can keep out kids and other intruders after hours. Installing a fence not only protects your site from theft and vandalism, but also prevents someone from coming onto the site and getting hurt.

Removing large trees requires a subcontractor with a bulldozer or tractor. The wood from the trees and stumps cut on your property is yours to keep, so talk to your contractor about putting it in a corner of the lot where you can cut it into firewood.

Depending on where you decide to build, your lot may also need to be cleared of brush and shrubs. Your contractor can arrange for the clearing. This removal can usually be done with a bulldozer at a reasonably low cost. Grading is scraping the land to move dirt from one place on the lot to another. Your contractor brings in a grading subcontractor to do the job. Tractors, bulldozers, and other heavy equipment often grade the land, although small grading projects are done by hand.

If your lot is on a slope or hill, it may require some serious grading to create a flat building pad. A building pad is the flat ground where your foundation will sit. An alternative includes building several retaining walls in succession to create multiple flat pads for the house and yard, which is called terracing. Furthermore, in severe situations, the contractor may build a retaining wall to prevent the land (and your house along with it) from slipping.

Depending on where you live and your contractor’s preferences, your retaining walls may be made from different products, including the following:

- Cement blocks filled with reinforced steel and concrete
- Large logs or railroad ties
- Keystone or boulders.

Drainage is a very important part of the build process. To create good drainage, parts of your property will be graded with a slight slope (away from your home), encouraging water to run off the property.

The next step is to clearly mark the building site. Using tape measures and the survey, your contractor marks the exact points for the edge of the house and garage. Depending on the type of foundation to be installed, your contractor may mark the perimeter with wooden stakes and boards called batter boards. The contractor then attaches string between the batter boards to represent the sides of the foundation and ensure straight lines and square angles. When the site preparation is complete and the foundation area is clearly marked, then the contractor can start lining up utility hookups and getting ready for excavation.

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A mechanic’s lien is a debt instrument that attaches to your property and guarantees the contractor will get paid before anyone else does when the house is sold. This takes precedence over all other liens, including your mortgage, which makes it a very powerful tool. A contractor can file a mechanic’s lien anytime up to 90 days after the house is finished regardless of when the work was actually done.

Lenders and title companies charge you extra money and make you sign indemnifications to protect their interest and put the weight of responsibility back on you. If a mechanic’s lien is filed
against your property, you’ll have difficulty getting money from your construction loan, and you can’t roll the mortgage into permanent financing.

You’re better off paying a contractor and suing him after the fact rather than withholding payment over disputed work. You may think you have leverage, but the penalties for a loan that never rolls to permanent financing can far exceed the original contract amount in dispute.

These liens should be avoided at all costs, and the following tips can help protect yourself against them:

- You can require the contractor to supply a performance bond. This bond completes the project and/or pays damages up to the bond amount. This money can pay off any outstanding payments due. These bonds can cost 1 to 5 percent of the construction contract and need to be recorded with the county.

- You can use a joint fund control. Local services that manage the books and take responsibility for paying all subs and suppliers are available for a fee. These services can provide lien waivers and other protections.

- You can pay with joint checks. Joint checks have both your name and the contractor’s. Using joint checks helps to document to suppliers and subs that you have met your obligations. Regardless of whether or not you adopt any of these methods of protections, you absolutely need to collect Waiver and Release forms. Have every sub and supplier sign these forms at the time you pay them, and make sure your contractor collects them as well. You need these forms for your lender at the end as well. You can get these forms at a stationery store.

Arbitration and Lawsuits if Construction Related Disputes Occur

If you and your contractor can’t reach an agreement, then you may have to resort to legal means or at the very least binding arbitration. Arbitration is an alternative to the courts that can save time and money. Instead of hiring attorneys, the two parties present their case to an independent arbitrator who examines the situation and works to find an agreeable solution. If no solution is agreed upon, then the arbitrator creates one based on the information reviewed.

If arbitration isn’t specified, then the last resort may be to engage an attorney. You must assume that if your project has gotten to this stage, then you are prepared to spend tens of thousands of dollars and possibly years of time before a resolution happens.

However, before engaging in a lawsuit, you might want to take the following facts into consideration:

- Do your best to confirm that the party you are suing has the means to pay a judgment or at least has insurance.

- Be sure you truly have legal ground to stand on and you aren’t acting on an emotional basis.

- Be sure you can absorb the costs associated with a trial and any delays to your project even if you lose.

- Be sure you have the emotional strength to deal with attorneys and personal attacks.

Construction related disputes can be tough, but sometimes they cannot be avoided, so you must be very careful about the way you resolve them.

Suppliers come in different shapes and colors, and each one has its own terms for deposits, payments, and delivery. If you’re working with a contractor, he’ll probably arrange for most of the basic materials from a supplier with whom he has an established business relationship.

Even though your contractor provides the suppliers, you can still look to buy fixtures and items. To make your contractor’s job a little less hectic:

- Communicate as soon as possible to make sure he hasn’t already ordered the item.
- Make sure the item is practical for the project. For example, older electrical and plumbing fixtures may require some adaptation for modern usage.
- Make the item easily available to the contractor by having it delivered to the site.
- Ensure the finances have been reconciled with the budget and contract.

Suppliers often need deposits to hold materials and for large items ordered in advance. Make sure you have plenty of cash available for deposits and to keep the suppliers happy.

Subcontractors don’t have all the credentials of a general contractor, but they’re experts in their specialized fields. They’re referred to as subcontractors or subs on your site because they work for the general contractor.

Subs Needed in the Custom Home Building Process

Here is a list of subs probably necessary for your project in the approximate order they will work on your project:

- Grading sub or excavator
- Foundation sub
- Concrete sub
- Framing sub
- Plumbing sub
- Electrical sub
- Mechanical/HVAC sub
- Roofing sub
- Drywall sub
- Painting sub.

Subs may also handle items, such as tile, masonry, millwork, stucco, insulation, sewer/septic, and carpentry. Most of these subs have licensing in their specific area. Make yourself available to walk through the property with the primary subs with whom you may have some input, such as:

- The plumbing sub
- The electrical sub
- The HVAC sub
- The roofing sub.

Subs are craftspeople first and businesspeople second. Many of them are less concerned about their social skills than their work quality. You need good communication and rapport during the process, especially for the finish work.

Last but not least, you will be confronted with two types of inspectors during the process – these being building and bank inspectors.

The bank inspector determines how far along the project is so you can be reimbursed for the work that’s been completed. These inspections occur at specified times. The building inspector visits to make sure that the project is being built to meet the local codes and according to the approved plans. These inspections occur based upon local government requirements established by the local building department.

These two inspectors aren’t interchangeable and have no interest in looking at anything beyond their scope. They both want the house to be completed in a reasonable time frame and in a workmanlike manner.

The whole inspection process can be smoothed if you and your contractor follow these few tips:

- Call the inspector a few days in advance so you don’t have to stop the project and wait.
- Keep the site clean and organized so the inspector feels good about what he sees.
- Make it easy for the inspector to see what he needs to see so he doesn’t have to spend time digging and become frustrated.
- Keep disputes calm. Find out how to fix the problems and only pick battles you’re sure you can win in the custom home building process.

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The surest way to keep a custom home project progressing is with steady, effective communication. Everyday something new is happening on your project, so the easiest way to keep everyone informed is to have a meeting before the work starts. Think of a meeting as two-way communication that can happen by phone, e-mail, or in person and that only lasts a few minutes. This daily update needs to address the following five basic issues:

- What is happening on the project today?
- Are we on schedule?
- Are we on budget?
- What problems or issues, if any, are occurring on the project?
- What, if anything, do you (the contractor) need from me (the owner)?

Having this regular meeting time saves panic calls and work stoppage while you’re busy earning money. If you and the contractor both e-mail, you can swap the answers to the questions the night before and agree to talk only if there are any problems.

You and your contractor need to have a pre-construction meeting to set reasonable expectations on both sides for a productive work environment. This meeting needs to remove miscommunication before it happens. It also lets everybody know what the hot spots are that can cause problems later. Use this list to figure out what you need to discuss and agree upon:

- What are acceptable communication times?
- What is reasonable contact during work hours?
- How often will we address the accounting?
- Will the property be fenced off and locked?
- What is a reasonable level of cleanliness on the site?
- Will smoking be allowed on the site?
- What potential noise restrictions may be an issue?
- What will be the working hours on the site?
- Will workers be restricted from removing shirts?
- What bathroom accommodations will be set up for the workers?
- Will workers be aware of using foul language?

Talk to the neighbors and solicit their input and approval because they’ll be impacted by some of the decisions even more than you. Also check to see if any local government restrictions apply.

If one phrase causes a contractor to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, it’s the dreaded change order. A change order is needed when you decide to do something different than you agreed upon in the plans or contract. You’re entitled to make any changes you want. However, change orders can create problems and delays not to mention added costs.

Such change orders should be kept to a minimum if at all possible. Doing so can be difficult because your house will look different as you build it. Minor change orders may not cause too much trouble, but major change orders could send you back to the planning department and cause weeks of delays.

The contractor usually isn’t willing to absorb the costs involved in change orders and may even charge a premium as spelled out in the contract. Don’t let the pace of the project lose any momentum if possible in order to keep extra costs to a minimum.

Guidelines to Working with Your Contractor

Utilize these five keys to maintain an excellent working relationship with your contractor:

- Do your homework first, and then trust the contractor to do his job.
- Detail every decision and ask every question before you start. Imagine you’re going out of town for the entire project and the contractor could only work from written instructions.
- Let the contractor know your fears before you start so he can address them.
- Ask that the contractor not start the project until he can commit to working continuously through to the end.
- Think of your contractor as being on your side, and he most likely will act like it.

If you respect these guidelines, you will see that working with your contractor will become very pleasant and also very efficient.

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As soon as the tedious process of permit approval ends, you can start gathering all the building permits you need, a step much easier and more straightforward than the previous one. The building permits are there to make sure that your final plan meets with the minimum standards required by your local city or county. The rules may be set for reasons of safety, logistics, or for environmental or other reasons.

First of all, you need to hire engineers to make sure you’re meeting the needs of your local government and help create the working drawings. The permitting process isn’t always a short one. Some processes can take more than a year with complications or bureaucratic difficulties, but you might get lucky and finish it in a few months.

Some building departments have a preliminary review process. For a fee, they look at all your working drawings after design review or before you formally submit the information to the planning department. They’ll let you know if they notice anything questionable or potentially against code so you can fix it first.

You start by submitting the working drawings to the building department with appropriate fees required for application. The plan checkers scrutinize the working drawings to make sure they meet all the local codes and requirements. The plan checker marks the working drawings with red pencil for correction or in rare cases turns the plans down for permit.

Then, you can pick up the marked plans at the building department. The architect and engineer make the requested changes to the working drawings and resubmit the plans to the building department. If the plan checker still isn’t satisfied, he’ll red pencil the plans again and request they be fixed again. This process continues until the plan checker is fully satisfied, at which point the plans are officially approved.

Sometimes you may need to go through this process more than once. The plans may require review by a local city department and a county department. Different local governments have different jurisdictions for code, so they’ll dictate their own approval process. Discuss the plan check process with your architect and engineer so you’re clear on the steps and timing.

When your construction plans are finally fully approved by the building department, you can pick up your permits. Expect to pay a considerable sum of money for all your permits and the remaining fees and pick up the permits so you can break ground. The costs vary widely from area to area, as do the names for the fees. You’ll have to pay these fees in full before you’re allowed to begin building on the property. Often these fees cover general expenses for the neighborhood’s local infrastructure as well as overhead for the local government.

Potential Fees in Gathering Building Permits

Here is a list with the potential fees you might encounter during this process:

- Appeal fee
- Building permit
- Design review fee
- Drainage study fee
- Grading permit
- Land use permit
- Parks and recreation fee
- School fee
- Tree permit
- Variance fee
- Walkway fee.

You must make sure to have sufficient funds in your home construction budget for these various fees and that you’re prepared to pay them when the time comes, even though their cost shouldn’t be a deal breaker. You may have to pay these fees out of pocket, but you may be able to reimburse yourself through your construction loan if you included them in your budget. These building permits fees can often be reimbursed immediately by showing the bank the receipts.

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However, if you intend to build in a higher density neighborhood or planned community, the guidelines can be strict and the design-approval process exhausting, especially if you’re looking to bend the rules.

Before this, you might need special separate permits for specific items such as grading, well, and septic systems. These approvals and permits may need to be handled by you, your architect, or your contractor before the house plans are completed based upon the needs of the lot. You may encounter some restrictions with grading, well, and septic systems.

Wells and septic systems need to meet county standards for habitability as well as environmental concerns. The county may have minimums for water pressure allowable for the size of the house. A similar issue can exist for septic systems. If the soil doesn’t support a standard system, the county may require a more expensive engineered system or restrict the size of the house.

Guidelines to Be Followed before Submitting Your Papers

You also need to be aware of other guidelines that were put in place when your lot or neighborhood was created. You can find some of these rules in the covenants, conditions, and restrictions. Newer subdivisions are usually developed with specific themes. Seaside areas or golf course developments may have very restrictive guidelines to make sure you’re staying within the theme of the development. Depending upon your neighborhood, the guidelines may include the following:

- Architecture style
- Drainage
- Environmental issues
- Exterior finish materials
- Height of the house
- Landscaping restrictions
- Minimum and maximum size of the house
- Paint color
- Types of the following building materials:

• Doors
• Roof
• Windows

Some smaller cities and neighborhoods have volunteer design review committees, whose members may be appointed or elected by the community. Although such committees may have a government employee involved or in attendance, most are dominated by residents concerned with the preservation of their neighborhood’s particular aesthetic feel. You will need approval from this committee to build your new home.

For design review, you’ll submit your preliminary plans to the design review board, neighborhood association, and/or planning department to get approval for the basic design of the house. They will review the plans and return them to you with a list of everything they don’t like. Subjective guidelines such as style and colors may provide for negotiation for an exception. Objective rules such as exceeding height limits likely require a variance to the guidelines.

In many cities you still have to get neighbor approval before presenting your project to the design review board or planning department. This neighbor approval process gives you the opportunity to inform your neighbors and prepare them for the new addition to the neighborhood before you submit your plans. As a part of seeking this approval, you may be required to erect story poles. Story poles are wooden boards that outline the perimeter and height of the house. These poles are required to stay in place for a designated period of time while your soon-to-be neighbors assess if your house will block their sun exposure, lake views, and so forth.

In dealing with your future neighbors, for a quick and positive response, consider the following:

- Take into account your neighbors’ sight lines and exposure before you commit to the design. Ask if you can look through their windows to see the impact on their property.

- Put yourself in their position. What would you think of living next door to your planned home?

- Get their feedback and support for your project. An option is to throw a wine and cheese party for the neighbors so they can come and see the plans before submitting your papers.

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This can be a very difficult process, and can last between three and six months. The best way to prevent problems is to work with experienced architects, engineers, and contractors (if involved at this time) that know the building department you’re submitting to. These professionals can use their relationships and knowledge of the local government inner workings to chart the fastest, smoothest course for approvals and save you from making costly mistakes.

Tips to Dealing with the Planning and Building Department

This step can vary a lot depending on the approach, but there are some pointers that you must remember in dealing with the authorities so that working with the building department goes smoothly:

- Keep communicating. First and foremost, keep the lines of communication open. The permitting process is all about passing information back and forth. Ask a lot of questions so you’re sure you understand how everything works.

- Be complete. Most building departments hand out or post online the information required to apply for a permit. Have all your information together in a nice neat package. Make sure it’s complete when you turn it in. If you piecemeal the process, you’ll frustrate the clerks, inspectors, or plan checkers and they won’t be able to make informed decisions.

- Deal with one person. One helpful person can make all the difference in a building or planning department. Dealing with the same person can keep you from having to explain your situation again and again. Find a person that you can work with. If you respect this person and give him or her a pleasant experience, then he or she is more likely to give you one.

- Have a single point of contact on your end. Plan-checkers, clerks, and inspectors get frustrated and confused by getting what can be conflicting information from the architect, the contractor, and the client. Pick a contact on your side, keep in touch, and trust in your contact.

- Be persistent. Most planning and building departments are underfunded and understaffed. They’re busy, and there is always a bigger problem to take your place. Don’t be afraid to call regularly to get the response you want. Be careful not to pester needlessly however. Pick your battles, but when there is something you really need, press the issue. Letting them know the realistic timelines at stake helps so they can set priorities in their workload.

- Don’t be intimidated or intimidating. These people are civil servants; they’re there to help you and want to do so. Don’t be afraid to be ignorant of the building process, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. At the same time, treat everyone in your building department with courtesy. Smiling and saying thank you goes a long way in reminding people that you’re human. A friendly tasteful joke once in a while may make that civil servant the inside friend you need.

If you manage to respect these tips, you will see that working with the planning and building department doesn’t necessarily have to be a torment.

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Architects and engineers often draw plans in quarter-inch scale, meaning that each 1⁄4 inch on paper represents 1 foot in real life. You can read the drawing measurements easily with a ruler by measuring any line and dividing the number of inches by 4 to understand how many feet long any straight line will be in real life.

The prelims will be used primarily for making initial decisions, such as room placement and size, with your architect, as well as preparing for the initial design approval process. Creating these prelims is an ongoing process of reviewing drawings and making changes. If you’re buying plans, the plan company provides you with the prelims. If you’re using a software program, the prelim creation is your responsibility.

The prelim plans and blueprints need to include at least three basic elements:

- Floor plans: Each floor of the house has a layout that shows the location of each room, the placement of each door and window and the location of other amenities, such as stairs, fireplaces, closets, and major fixtures such as kitchen cabinets and showers.

- Site plan: The site plan shows how the house and other buildings such as the garage will sit on your lot. The site plan explains the position of the house and the direction it faces. It also specifies how far it sits from the street and neighbors’ houses.

- Elevations: The elevation drawings illustrate what your house’s exterior will look like from the ground up on each side. Most elevation sets show the house from all four directions. The plans illustrate exterior windows and doors as well as any ornamentation in the design. From these plans, you can measure the height of the structure and its elements.

The architect and engineer create working drawings after the prelims have been finalized and approved. Working drawings are a series of individual papers giving explicit instructions on how to build the house. They give you every detail for construction including where to put the plugs and switches as well as the number of rafters in your roof. Furthermore, the working drawings include all the technical specifications and requirements for engineering and compliance with building codes. Each of the systems in the house is specified in the working drawings.

A typical set of working drawings has individual drawings for each structural system of the house, which

- Provide all the technical specifications necessary for contractors and subs to bid on your project. Each different section goes out to a different craftsman so they can determine the time and materials necessary to complete the project.

- May include some variations if you’re working with a design-build firm.

- May contain other pages that detail specific construction of parts that require extra detail such as unique staircases or particular architectural elements.

- May also include pages specifying energy calculations where required by the building department.

A set of working drawings also usually includes the following documents drawn in equal scale:

- Architectural plans: Site plan, floor plan, elevations, cross sections, wall sections, schedules of materials, and details

- Civil plans: Site plan, grading plan, and details

- Electrical plan: Outlets, switches, and lighting plans

- Landscape plan: Landscaping layout, irrigation plans, schedules, and details

- Mechanical plans: Furnace and ducting plans and details

- Plumbing plan: Plumbing riser plans and isometrics, and details

- Structural plans: Foundation plan, framing plan, cross sections, and details.

Remember that plans and blueprints are crucial in building your new custom home, so you need to make the best choice when it comes to purchasing them.

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If you are an ecologist or simply environmentally aware, there are several areas in your home that you can enhance to become energy efficient and be more environmentally friendly. Thus you can save the Earth and your budget in the process.

Tips for Making Your House More Energy Efficient

 Here are some pointers for making the most energy efficient house:

- Doors and windows: Today, advancements with double-pane windows and gas-filled panels reduce the ability of glass to transfer energy.

- Energy Efficient Insulation: A tight house is an efficient house (but keep in mind that a house that is too airtight can be an unhealthy house). Houses need proper ventilation so the air stays fresh and you don’t breathe your own carbon dioxide. You can research or discuss with your architect methods and materials that provide maximum insulation at a reasonable cost. In extreme environments, insulation with a good R value will be the number one factor for energy savings.

- Energy-efficient appliances: Many manufacturers make lines that focus specifically on energy savings. Many local utility companies offer rebates for choosing appliances with lower energy ratings.

- Solar power: Many people have saved money by supplementing their energy with solar panels. The technology has improved since people started using solar power in the 1970s. Panels have become smaller and lower profile. Many solar power options for energy efficient houses are available through sources on the Internet.

- Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system: Overestimating the cost of HVAC happens often because everyone wants a more energy efficient air system, a reduction in noise, and comfort, especially when the weather is extreme. Larger systems may cost more, but you typically can make up the extra cost in savings when the energy bill comes around.

Besides the options mentioned above, you might also want to consider your technology options. Technology has never been as much a part of individuals’ every day lives as it is today. The Internet is a regular part of home life, and more and more people can work at home because of it. Custom home builders often tend to want to add every new piece of technology offered.

Technology changes faster and faster today. Design your house to accommodate any new technology by providing tubing (conduit) and cubbies that give you general access points to rooms in the house. Mark the access points clearly so you can always add things where you want them.

Technology companies come and go. Sometimes the most innovative go up in a ball of fire the fastest. Whatever technology you install in the house needs to be maintained and serviced. If the manufacturer goes out of business, your technology may be useless.

Your house project may take years, and new features that are better than what you install will be available. Buy only what you’re truly likely to use.

Whole House Lighting Plan

A great way to save energy is to simply use less of it. Talk with your architect, lighting designer, or general contractor about a whole-house lighting plan. A whole-house system can allow you to program your home’s light fixtures to go on or off at certain times, based on your family’s needs, and can allow you to turn off lights throughout the home with a single switch. A master switch means you’re less likely to leave lights on when they’re no longer needed, thus making for a more energy efficient home.

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Here is a list of items that you need to consider for your new home and different questions to ask yourself in the process:

- Appliances: What brands? Do you want free-standing or built-in?

- Baseboard: What type of wood? What kind of finish?

- Carpet: What type do you want? Wool or synthetic? What color? What kind of pad? How thick do you want the pad?

- Crown molding: Do you want it? What type? What kind of finish?

- Doors: What style do you want? What type? What finish? How many?

- Door handles: What style and color do you want? How many?

- Door hinges: What type and style do you like? What color? How many do you need?

- Eaves: What type and finish do you want?

- Exterior facade: What color and style do you want? What type of material do you like?

- Exterior trims: What type and finish do you want to match your exterior facade?

- Faucets: How many do you want? What styles? Do you want any outdoors?

- Fireplace: What type of face and mantel do you want? Do you want a hearth? If so, what type? Will it be gas, electric, or wood burning?

- Floor tile: What style and color do you prefer? What color do you want for the grout?

- Front door: Do you want glass or solid? What type of material, fiberglass, or wood? What color? Do you want a screen door?

- Handrails: What type of wood do you want? What type of finish?

- Hardwood floors: What style do you like? What kind of thickness and width? What color stain do you prefer?

- Heating and air conditioning: Will it be a forced air system? How many pump units? How many tons of cooling? Will you have any radiant floor heating? Will you use Zone heating and cooling for efficiency?

- Insulation: Will it be rolled insulation or blown? What rating will it be?

- Interior walls: What type of materials? What kind of finish?

- Lighting fixtures: How many do you want? What types?

- Roof: What type of shingles do you want? Do you want a flat or pitched roof?

- Wainscot: Do you want it? What types of finish and wood do you prefer?

- Wall tiles: Do you want them? What type (decorative, monochromatic, accents)?

- Windows: What thickness do you want? What type (metal, wood, or vinyl)?

Selecting the Design Materials

You need to put a lot of time into the design materials selection process. You’ll have to make all those decisions at some point. Many people spend less time on the small details during the design process and defer them until their home’s basics are erected. They take their plans to the contractors who bid based upon estimates for the finish materials they call allowances. This is not recommended. Contractors make their own decisions about the quality of design materials you want and their assumptions may not be accurate. Also, you may not like what they have chosen and it may be too late to get what you really want.

You need to pick out every hinge, fixture, and appliance before you get price estimates for your project. This way you insure that all bids from subcontractors are equal, and you can be sure of the availability of design materials, and doing so also removes surprises and gives you the most accurate financial picture.

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You need to make decisions about style, size, and location depending on some components, such as doorframes and hallway passages. These decisions impact the feel of the house and, ultimately, your enjoyment of it. You can find hundreds of home interior ideas in the multitude of home magazines on the rack at the bookstore or on the Internet.

Elements of Home Interior Design

Despite the fact that you have total control on your home interior design, there are some elements to be included into your thought process while designing your home:

- Lifestyle: To be comfortable and relaxed, your home has to fit your lifestyle. Not every home works for every family. Determine how you want to live and design a plan that fits the lifestyle you enjoy.

- Foot traffic: Try to project how people move through the house on a daily basis. Look for problems in the traffic patterns. Some problems may include issues like tight hallways and people crossing through work areas of the kitchen, formal areas, or TV-viewing areas.

- Noise: Remember that bedrooms are for sleeping, so any noise above, below, or next to a bedroom can make for a restless night. Consider carefully the placement of noise-generating rooms like the garage, home office, laundry room, and bathrooms.

- Storage: Create ample-size closets, pantries, and cabinet areas. And make sure your storage areas are convenient without being obtrusive.

- Door placement: Every room needs a door, but it needs to open in such a way that it doesn’t bang against walls, obstruct other doorways, or block closets or windows.

- Window placement: Window considerations include privacy, not being blocked by doors, or looking out on the garbage area. Put plenty of thought into the size and placement of your windows to the world.

- Accessibility: Make sure you can easily access important rooms without creating unnecessary obstacles.

- Convenience: Make sure the rooms are placed for a maximized convenience.

- Utility: Make sure all areas serve a purpose.

- Future expansion: Think about how you might expand the house if you decide to do so someday.

Think about how much time you spend in the kitchen. Food is a critical part of family culture, and you want your kitchen to reflect it. Think about placement for breakfast eating areas. Although the kitchen is usually the most expensive room in the house, the kitchen also brings the best return on money spent in any home.

After the kitchen, bathrooms are the next most expensive rooms in the house. The labor necessary for all that electrical, plumbing, and tile work adds up quickly. Plus you only have to create one kitchen, whereas you may have multiple bathrooms.

The master bedroom is your reward for paying for this project. A touch of privacy is desirable, so placement of the master bedroom away from other bedrooms and heavy traffic areas helps provide seclusion. Also, plenty of room for closet space is a required necessity for shopaholics. The other bedrooms need to be designed for optimum utility. Take advantage of light and views where you can and make sure each room has adequate storage space. Each wall needs to have at least two electrical sockets to accommodate technology.

Dining rooms and family rooms often center around food and need to have reasonable access to the kitchen. If you want a home theater, understand that it’ll have its own special needs in terms of acoustics and technology. Running water will be an important consideration for entertaining. Any rooms with a wet bar need running water, drainage, and power for a dishwasher and the all-important blender. Additional cabinetry may be necessary as well.

Some people may consider the garage as only a home for their vehicles. However, other people view their garage as a workshop and storage unit. Your garage can serve all these purposes with a little planning. When designing your garage, think about storage access as well as the space. You want to get to everything while avoiding obstacle courses or throwing out your back. Consider dumbwaiters for storage above. If your space includes a workshop, take into account ventilation and noise when designing the home interior.

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The fact that you don’t have an infinite amount of money to be spent in the new home building process means that you’ll probably have some limitations on what you can build. Even if you have more money than you need for the project, you still want the house to maintain its value and potentially appreciate.

This means that you have to take three factors into consideration when planning the size and shape of your new home, these being desire, taste and value. You want to build a house you want for your needs, you want it to have aesthetic appeal, particularly to you, and you want to make sure the house is built in such a way to maintain its investment potential.

Determining The Right Square Footage of Your New Home

 First of all, you need to figure out the right size for your new home, that is the right square footage.  Of course if you’re using alternative construction methods such as building a shipping container home, the approximate size of your home may be predetermined for you.  Otherwise, three major factors dictate the appropriate square footage for your new home:

- You need to establish your family’s needs. For example, do you have elderly parents living with you who need a downstairs bedroom or does your wife want her own separate walk-in closet in the master bedroom?

- You need to adhere to zoning limitations or covenants (neighborhood guidelines). Many design rules set limits on how big and how small of a house can be built on a particular lot. You may also encounter limits on the house’s ground floor. These guidelines may impact other decisions such as the need for more than one story to meet your square footage needs.

- Your need to keep in line with your budget. You’ll need to design a house that not only fits your family and the lot but also fits your budget as well. Many of these calculations go in circles, so start with the house you want and see if it fits based upon local estimates for building costs, which you can get by talking to a few contractors.

The more square footage you build, the more the house will cost, so efficiency is important. At the same time, skimping on rooms can reduce utility and make for unpleasant living. Calculate the total square feet of the rooms you have picked. You can figure on adding another 10 percent to account for hallways, cabinets, and closets. This total can give you a basis from which to start your estimate. Other factors to consider may include unfinished space like basements and garages.

Most people prefer houses that are familiar, functional, and comfortable, which means many people may find your new home to be a nice place to visit but they wouldn’t want to live there. If buyers aren’t interested in your house, lenders will shy away as well making financing difficult. If you design your house with resale in mind, talk to local real estate agents and your architect about the expectations of most buyers in your neighborhood. You don’t have to build your new home exactly for them, but at least you can consider them in your design decisions as you move through the process.

When it comes to the exterior style of your house, you might need to take some other factors into consideration. Some local guidelines require specific architecture styles for the neighborhood. Some design review committees or neighborhood covenants may actually dictate the type of siding to be used and colors to be painted as well as the house shape and size. The key is to pick something that suits the neighborhood and your taste. You can choose from many examples of exteriors in plan books and on the Internet.

Also, remember that architectural extras such as peaked roofs, dormers, and balconies can increase costs. Exterior materials have an impact on cost as well. If the neighborhood guidelines allow it, for your new home you’ll have to choose between siding, stone, or stucco as well as roof material choices like slate, tile, or metal.  Try to be practical and consider your budget when determining the house shape and size.

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• SHAPE AND SIZE OF HOUSE

First of all, you need to tackle the foundation issues. If your house is on a slope, then the engineers are going to give you limited choices in how to place the house on the building lot. You’ll have to follow very specific requirements for grading, piers, or other specialized foundations. If your topography is far from flat, you may want to consult an engineer early in the design process. Constructing a foundation can be complex, and you need to discuss it with the architect or engineer during the house design process.

When it comes to the orientation of the house, it’s just a matter of preference, so think whether you like the sun in the morning or in the afternoon. Too little sun can make the house seem dark and dank. Too much sun can be energy inefficient and weather the house prematurely. You need to consider other directional factors, such as wind, noise, and city lights, that can negatively impact your home.

Natural Advantages of the Building Lot

Many people building custom homes have some natural features that can add to their home’s beauty. You must take advantage of these natural elements in the design and placement of the home, focusing on the following:

- Foliage: If your lot is in a rural area with plenty of natural landscaping, consider natural growth patterns for beauty and easy maintenance. High trees and bushes can afford you privacy, but clearing tall brush and cutting back trees may give you unexpected views.

- Mountains: If you have a larger lot in a mountainous area, decide to be on top of the peak or shaded at the foothill. Or you may simply prefer to stare at the neighboring giant.

- Rocks: Small groups of stones or even large boulders can make for a dramatic effect depending on where you place your house. In some rural and mountainous areas, designers have built spectacular homes with boulders in the house making the home unique and saving the cost of demolition.

- Trees: Trees provide shade and beauty. They can also be a nuisance with dropping leaves and fruit. Like boulders, some old magnificent trees can be incorporated into the home’s design.

- View: The right view can significantly increase your home’s value and beauty. Try to optimize views for rooms where romance, relaxation, and entertainment occur.

- Water: People pay premiums to live by the ocean or near lakes and rivers. Take advantage of these aquascapes, but be wary of flooding issues by checking flood maps with your engineer.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that reconstructing landscape and waterways or removing huge trees and boulders can be costly and in some cases environmentally damaging. When making significant changes to the elements, work with your engineer to create proper site drainage and insure the soil will remain stable with few erosion problems. Otherwise your house could slide down the hill or be buried by mudslides. Look for ways to take advantage of what was naturally provided on the building lot.

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Architects can take a stock plan you have seen in a magazine or on the Internet and simply modify it to fit your needs, or they can help extract ideas from your mind and create a whole new home to meet your dreams. Some people want to be fully engaged in the entire experience and use the architect as an interpretive tool, expressing what they see completed in their own mind, while others simply want an architect to design a home based upon their thoughts and needs.

If you work for a living, are raising a family, or don’t have the slightest inclination to take the time to figure out design, construction, and building codes, then an architect will be a welcome addition to your custom home team of professionals. Despite their seemingly high cost, architects can save you time and money by bringing their experience to the table. Their insights on functionality and government bureaucracy can save you months of time and thousands of dollars.

Things to Consider before Working with an Architect

Finding the right architect is sometimes difficult, but here are some ideas that can make it easier for you:

- You can drive through neighborhoods of custom homes looking for houses that strike your fancy and then ask the owners about the architect.
- If you’re lucky enough to have many friends with custom homes, you can ask for referrals from them.
- Search on the Internet.

Plan to have several discussions with two or three different architects so you can choose the right one for you, and don’t forget to touch the following topics:

- Aesthetics: You need to see if the architect can create something that suits your taste. Ask to see many of her prior designs. Ask for introductions to the owners. Go to the completed houses and see if the floor plans make sense and are comfortable for you.

- Experience: You want an architect that has designed many custom homes and is familiar with the process. A commercial architect who specializes in office buildings may be looking for the next new challenge, but his lack of residential experience could create problems for you down the line with builders and planning departments. An architect needs to have a minimum of 15 custom homes under her belt to be considered for your project.

- Local knowledge: An architect with local knowledge and experience can save you from costly battles and exercises in futility, as every municipality and planning department is different in the way they process custom home plans. Some are more bureaucratic than others.

Most custom home architects are small businesses; they’re shoestring operations without huge profit margins. They tend to be overloaded with work and less concerned for your time frames than you may be. The more successful the architectural firm, the busier it will be. You need to manage your expectations and the process.

Architects generally charge in one of three ways (or a combination of all three for various stages of the project): on an overall percentage of the build, on an hourly basis, or on a fixed-price basis.

The first way of billing is on an overall percentage of the build. This method can range anywhere from 3 to 10 percent of the total project costs, not including land. In some high-end projects, architects may charge as much as 20 percent, equaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. You need to evaluate the value of the architect’s services that you receive in exchange for your hard-earned money.

The second way of billing is on an hourly basis. Hourly rates vary widely depending on the firm you engage, its experience and reputation, and its location.

The third way of billing is on a fixed-price basis, where your architect quotes you a firm, all-inclusive price for the entire job. On one hand, this option can be beneficial to you because you know exactly what your architect will cost, but an architect may underestimate and you may suffer when he feels he has already put in too much time. Therefore, you need to think twice if you consider working with an architect.

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If you are not satisfied with the construction techniques mentioned before, you might want to consider alternative construction methods. Some of these building methods are age old and recently rediscovered; others have become viable and more widely available by recent technological improvements. There is a wide variety of such alternative construction methods, among them being the following two viable options:

Straw bale homes

Straw bale construction has a great ability to create highly energy-efficient homes. After the bales of straw are stacked into walls, they are coated outside with an earth-based material and a stucco finish is usually applied and then the inside of the home is finished with plaster, and then completed as any other home.  Cob houses employ a similar technique and both are viable green building choices.

Straw bale homes usually have thick walls and gently rounded arches. They offer their owners great efficiency and a quiet interior. Bales resist damage from fire, mainly because of their density. Insects don’t seem to be a problem and moisture issues aren’t of great concern as long as the bales are well dried before construction and kept dry until they are finished on the exterior.

Rammed earth homes

Rammed earth homes use a natural material to create a cozy home with thick earthen walls. In this type of construction, your wall contractor mixes screened (sifted) soil with cement and water, and then pours it into wall forms built on your site. The crew then uses pneumatic tampers to compress the earth mixture in the form. After the mixture sets, the forms are removed and the 18- to 24-inch walls are complete. The walls can be left as is, colored with pigments, or sealed with stucco.

Due to their thick, solid walls, rammed earth homes enjoy increased energy efficiency and quiet interiors. Solid, natural material walls paired with a heating system that doesn’t require blowing air provides an ideal home for those with heightened sensitivity to chemicals or synthetics.

A great advantage of rammed earth homes is that raw materials are widely available and very cheap, but the labor involved adds to the home’s cost.  Of course can be a DIY home building project if you have the time to commit to it.  Doing the work yourself can result in a very affordable home.

Tips for Choosing Alternative Construction Methods

 If you decide to employ an alternative construction method or material for your custom home, there are some things that need to be done in order to make the process easier, such as:

• Do as much research as possible. Look for magazines and books describing the process and check out our home building resources.

• Get help. Enlist the aid of experienced home builders or suppliers.

• Attend workshops and alternative home building seminars. Many producers or home building schools offer workshops and seminars, which are particularly valuable if your home will be a do-it-yourself project. Knowing in advance if you have the skills and persistence to tackle the job is better than finding out too late.

• Look online. The Internet provides a lot of information on an array of alternative construction methods.

If you’re interested in green building construction, you’re probably also concerned about the energy efficiency of your home.  Plan ahead so that you can incorporate wind, solar or other green energy solutions into your home.  You may be interested in taking a look at this guide for DIY wind and solar energy systems.

Moreover, you can find financing for a home built with alternative construction materials. Start by talking with the company that’s helping you build the home. Its previous clients have faced the same situation, and they may be able to offer sound advice. You can also search online for lenders who frequently make construction loans. Having complete plans for your alternative construction, information on the building system from an experienced builder or home producer, and a clear idea of the costs of your project can help ease a lender’s mind and make your alternative construction project that much more appealing to a loan underwriter.

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Common Construction Materials

Houses usually use old-fashioned wooden studs — long, thin boards used throughout the framing process. These are very popular for the following reasons:

- Most framers have the necessary tools (hammer, nail gun, saw, and so on) to work with wood.
- Wood is mass-produced and costs up to 30 percent less than steel.
- Most subcontractors and laborers know how to work with wood.
- You can alter wood-framed walls relatively easily in the future.

Steel framing is commonly used for office buildings. However, it is finding its way into more residential construction projects.

Although steel isn’t for everybody, it does have a few advantages over wood:

- Steel offers the greatest strength for the lowest price of any other construction materials.
- Steel is inorganic. Galvanized steel doesn’t burn, warp, rot, split, crack, creep, or get eaten by termites and other creepy crawlers.
- Steel is dimensionally stable. It doesn’t expand or contract due to moisture.
- With steel, you have less scrap and waste (2 percent for steel versus 20 percent for lumber).

The benefits and disadvantages seem about equal for each method, so it comes down to what makes the most sense to you and your contractor, the price, the climate, and other considerations. After you find a contractor you like and who you can afford, ask for references
and check out his work firsthand.

Even more, you might even consider building a log home, as it brings a variety of advantages:

- You have a range of log home styles available to you.
- You’ll end up with a custom home that is distinct and filled with character.
- The thickness (also known as thermal mass) of logs offers good insulation and helps the home retain warmth in the winter and remain cool in the summer.
- Many log home owners say their homes are quieter inside than conventional homes.
- The rugged good looks of a log home make it fit naturally into a variety of settings, from prairie to woods and from lakeside to mountaintop.

As you research log home options, you’ll find two basic types of log producers. Most companies are manufacturers that mill their logs using machinery. The end result is logs that are uniform in shape and dimension. The remaining log companies call themselves handcrafters. As the name implies, these companies employ crew members who use chain saws, or sometimes even hand tools, to shape the logs for homes one at a time.

Most log manufacturers and some handcrafters sell log packages. A log package assembled by a log producer will most likely come with fasteners to hold the logs together, pre-cut notches to interlock the logs at the corners, some kind of insulating material to place between the logs, sealants for weatherproofing, and instructions for your contractor (or you) to put it all together.

Another wood alternative to the log home would be the post-and-beam or timber frame home. A frame of substantial, interlocking timbers supports timber homes. The timbers may be held together with pegged joinery cut out of the timbers themselves or fastened with bolts or metal plates. Unlike log homes, from the outside, timber frame or post-and-beam homes can look like any other home.

If you don’t like the options mentioned above, you might want to consider a system approach, in the form of system-built homes, which are homes produced in a factory. Today’s factory-built or system-built homes come in many forms, but fall into two broad categories:

- Modular home: Built using pre-constructed sections of the house, called modules.
- Panelized home: Built using pre-constructed wall, floor, or roofing units, as well as all other components of the house.

Such homes come with some advantages of their own, including:

- System-built home plans are as flexible as conventional construction homes in that they can have one, two, three, or more levels, gourmet kitchens, finished basements, brick walls, and fireplaces. And, no, they don’t have wheels.
- Pre-building in a factory saves time because workers aren’t delayed by weather or lack of available construction materials.
- The volume of building at the factory means workers can be concentrated in one place — painters can stay busy in a modular home factory shift after shift. They don’t have to travel from job site to job site or wait between jobs.
- Inspectors in the factory ensure that work is done precisely to plan and with closer tolerances than on a job site.
- Best of all, you’ll likely save money by choosing a modular or panelized home.

When choosing the construction materials for your new home, you must consider which of them best suit your style and budget.

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The aspect of your new house is very important, and you must get to know your house style preferences and limitations before designing it. If you don’t have an exact look in mind, you might want to try finding your inspiration elsewhere. Drive through neighborhoods, take pictures of homes that strike you, and then compile an image that suits you best.

If you can’t find a variety of homes nearby to photograph or aren’t impressed by the homes you come across, head to your local bookstore to stock up on a variety of magazines and books for inspiration. Look for general home magazines, specialty home magazines, regional magazines that cover your area, or books that help you identify architectural styles. When studying them, take note of what speaks to you: Is it a particular color or material? Window size, shape, or grouping? Shutters? Dormers or roof shape? Collect your clippings in a three-ring notebook or expanding file folder. Soon you can define your own personal style.

Another important thing to be considered is your local house style, as regional house styles typically evolve as a sensible response to a local climate, making them wonderful guides for what kind of buildings will work and what kind won’t. Even if you want your custom home to be unique and make a bold style statement, you don’t want to own the neighborhood laughingstock.

Furthermore, legalities, in the form of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, can significantly impact your home, so do your homework before buying land. You must read the CC&Rs’ fine print before you buy your lot. Policies set out by homeowners’ associations or local jurisdictions could restrict many aspects of your home, such as:

- The height and size of your building
- Its proximity to a body of water
- The building materials you can use and your home’s exterior colors
- Your ability to raise livestock
- The types of vehicles that can be parked on-site.

Some associations strictly enforce their restrictions. Others are more lenient. The upside of these kinds of restrictions is that they apply both to you and to your neighbors. If you don’t like these kinds of rules and regulations, you’d better buy your land in a different neighborhood.

Professionals to Help with Your House Style

If you still can’t decide on a house style, or you and your spouse can’t agree on a house style, it’s time to call for professional help, that is to ask for input from an architect or designer. This person will ask questions about your lifestyle and then suggest a house style that’s common to your area or make the case for something more unusual. When talking to such a professional, you need to:

- Openly discuss your budget. It wastes your time and the designer’s if you hedge about how much you want to spend on your home.
- Offer honest feedback. If your designer seems to be veering off track, say so. The goal for everyone involved should be to create the best possible home.
- Keep an open mind. Don’t dismiss an architect’s suggestions without giving them some consideration.

If you decide on hiring an architect or home designer, you must ask yourself if you can afford their charges. The fees these professionals charge typically fall in the range of 10 to 15 percent of your project’s total cost. If you can find a plan in a book that suits your needs as well as your lot and your neighborhood restrictions perfectly, you don’t need an independent designer. However, they can act as your advocate in a confrontation with a contractor, can save you from spending money on a product or material that simply won’t work in your area or in your home, and can create a home that truly fits your house style and the land you worked so hard to find.

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Step 1: Determine your offering terms and price

First of all, you must determine a price in your mind of what you’re willing to pay for the property. You also must decide on the length of time until closing as well as any other necessary terms, such as your desire for the owner to loan you the money in what is called a seller carry back.

Step 2: Present the offer and negotiate buying the land

You have to complete an offer form accompanied with some sort of good faith deposit check from you. The deposit amount can be anywhere from 1 to 3 percent of the purchase price. The check is deposited in an escrow account upon acceptance of the offer and held in escrow until you close the transaction. Also, you and the seller can negotiate the deal through subsequent documents called counter-offers.

Step 3: Make an application with your lender

After you have determined which lending approach is right for you, you’ll fill out a loan application with the lender of your choice. The lender orders an appraisal from a certified appraiser. Then, your lender will give you a good faith estimate (GFE) of all the closing costs associated with your loan and the purchase transaction.

Step 4: Open escrow with an escrow company or attorney

The term escrow means depositing money and property with a neutral third party to be disbursed upon completion of all terms of a related agreement. The escrow period can be anywhere from 30 days to 6 months depending upon the needs and negotiations of you and your seller. Your real estate agent helps guide you through the closing process.

Step 5: Do your due diligence

You can now complete any research on the property that couldn’t be done before the offer. Also, make sure that the property meets your needs relative to size and value. If you have concerns
about the land, such as building restrictions or guidelines, you may want to add contingencies to the offer that allow you to pull out of the transaction if your research results are unfavorable.

Step 6: Execute the paperwork and bring in the money

As soon as your loan is approved, you need to bring your cash to escrow and sign the loan documents.

Step 7: Close escrow and take title

The title insurance company provides you with a deed to the land and a policy insuring that it is yours. The title company pays the seller the money due and records any documents and deeds related to the transfer and new loan.

When buying the land, you can use a bank or find other land loan alternatives, such as having the property owner loan you the money or carry back paper, or using private or hard money, coming from private investors who specialize in making loans on real estate. You must weigh your choices really hard and make the decision that suits you best.

Contractors, consumers, architects, and many others often tell you that you must pay off your lot before you get a construction loan. However, paying off the lot isn’t a good idea unless it’s absolutely necessary, and here are a few reasons to keep a loan on your land until you’re ready to build:

You need cash on hand to fund your project. If you run out of money because you put all your hard-earned savings into your land, your new home can become a nightmare. Having cash in your pocket is your best protection for keeping your project moving along.

Money put in is expensive to get out. Few lenders refinance a land loan; most only let you replace an existing loan. That means that after you put money into the land, it’s gone forever.

Cash reserves are required for construction loans. Banks want you to have cash on hand before they give you a loan, the amount varying from bank to bank.

Fending off the taxman. As long as you finish the house as a primary residence or second home, you should be able to deduct the interest and points paid on the loan. That means the government will pay a good portion of the payments for you to keep cash in your pocket.

Buying the land is an important step in the custom home building process, and you must be careful in making the perfect choice to cover your needs.

First of all, you have to differentiate between a piece of land and a lot, since they are not exactly the same. A building lot or finished lot is a piece of property that is ready for building a house. It may or may not have all the utilities (gas, electric, water, sewer, telephone, and so on) at the site, however, they usually aren’t far away. On the other hand, and is a catchall term that people in the construction industry use for any piece of property without a finished, habitable structure. Land can be commercial, residential, or agricultural. Raw land or undeveloped land is terminology that most people in the construction industry usually use, referring to land that isn’t ready for building.

The obvious choice is to look for a building lot, as it speeds up the process and is a whole lot cheaper in the end. This is mainly because you can find a good loan more easily with a building lot, you’ll likely pay a lower down payment, and you’ll have to spend less to prepare the property for building. Raw land can be more difficult or more expensive to finance because it usually requires additional work (often, significant additional work), such as putting in roads and utilities, before building can begin. It implies getting approvals and permits, building roads, extending utilities to the building lot, drilling wells, if necessary, and more.

The building lot you choose in the end must meet with your desires and also retain its value in the future, if not appreciate. Factors such as location and amenities can make a lot undesirable. Consider many factors when deciding on the right location for your building lot.

You must take into account not only your own lifestyle, but also the factors that will impact your ability to resell the finished house. You need to decide how you want to live in your home and also make sure you talk to a real estate professional to understand the market demand of a particular building lot. Finding the right building lot requires sleuthing and persistence. Your best resources are using the Internet, utilizing experienced real estate agents, and taking your own initiative.

If you have searched online, worked with an agent, driven the neighborhoods, and still haven’t found your dream building lot for sale, you may need to take a more aggressive approach. If you find any piece of land you like, then contact the owner and make an offer.

Value of the Building Lot

Next, you need to carefully evaluate the particular building lot and find out its true value, mostly by examining amenities and utilities. The relationship between utilities and your building lot can have a significant impact on the lot’s value. Be sure to explore the cost of installing utilities and amenities before you buy any building lot.

Nearly every city and county attaches building restrictions to land when the land is first put into development. This is called zoning. Zoning determines many factors you must consider, including:
- The type of building you can put on the land
- The lot’s minimum size
- The number of dwellings or units you can build on the lot.

Considering the planned size of your house when purchasing the building lot is important. You can’t build any house you want on any lot. You’ll probably face restrictions set by the city, county, and sometimes the market. Doing your homework on the limitations of what can be built on a building lot can keep you from making costly mistakes.

Buying vacant land isn’t the only option for locating a custom home. Many people opt to buy a small or dilapidated house and tear it down or add to it significantly. Doing so can be an excellent way to move into a new home but still have all the benefits of an established neighborhood. In this scenario, you must consider a bunch of new factors, such as demolition costs, neighborhood tolerance, and all the financing pros and cons before purchasing the building lot.

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The home builder’s main job is to manage the workflow and project materials and make sure everything is happening in a timely and workmanship-type manner.

The home builder’s main responsibilities are as follows:

- Obtain the final permits
- Manage the production schedule
- Source and buy the materials
- Hire and manage the subs
- Keep the site safe and clean
- Manage the inspections
- Manage the budget
- Keep the consumer informed
- Effect quality control
- Problem solving.

When putting your plans out to bid, you want at least three home builders to bid on your project if possible. The trick is making sure you can compare the bids to each other. The surest way to make sure that all bids are assuming the same materials and labor necessary is to specify all the materials required for the project before you put the plans and specs out to bid. Having all these decisions clearly made in the beginning helps to avoid ugly misunderstandings and surprises later in the project.

Choosing a Home Builder

Before choosing a home builder, you must carefully examine three characteristics of the bid, that is cost, craftsmanship and compatibility.

- Cost: The cost comparison becomes plain when the home builders return the bids. You need a clear picture who is working on the lowest margin or who has access to the lowest cost labor and materials.

- Craftsmanship: This part is important in the long term. Look at other houses that the contractors built. Don’t forget to talk to the people living in the houses to find out what problems, if any, they have experienced with their homes. You want to know that the house is built well and will offer you decades of enjoyable living. Also, don’t forget to ask the home builder about his workmanship warranties. Warranties usually last for ten years, but can vary.

- Compatibility: This is the most important aspect to consider, and yet the most difficult to identify. You need to pick the home builder that will work best with your style. Figure out what sort of experience is going to make you happiest and find the home builder that can meet your needs.

Interviewing is also an important step in selecting your home builder. You need to make sure you not only ask the right questions, but also use effective methods to get the answers you want. Here is a list of some interviewing techniques that are guaranteed to help you find the best contractor for your job:

- Let the home builder do the talking. If you’re doing more than 25 percent of the talking, then you’re the one being interviewed. Have a standard list of questions for each interview that allows the contractor to tell you what he’s like to work with and what services he provides. Let the contractor explain to you why he wants this job.

- Let the home builder tell you what he wants. Ask him open-ended questions about his ideal project and the worst project he has ever had. Delve into details about his likes and dislikes, as nothing is worse than an unhappy contractor during the home building process.

- Give him problem scenarios. You want to know how he deals with problem situations. Create stories of nightmare situations and ask him how he would handle them.

You need to have a good building experience to enjoy your home fully when you finally move in. Don’t assume that contractors are all the same. Pick the home builder that makes you feel comfortable and secure and then communicate, communicate, communicate.

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Solving Budget Problems Generated by Landscaping

One of the most common encountered sources of headaches is represented by landscaping (“accessorizing” the property with trees, shrubs or pools) and finish work (applying crown moldings and installing built-in-home theater systems). These two usually take the most time and money to be completed. What is ironic is that they bring the least amount of value to the appraisal, which could challenge the construction loan in terms of:

• time – A standard loan program imposes the establishment of a time frame during which the construction to be carried out. If the borrower exceeds the set “deadline”, the lender is entitled to charge penalties that can reach quite hefty amounts. Therefore, don’t let yourself slowed down at the very last part of the process, because it would be a pity to finish the overall work and get stuck with “petty” matters;
• value- You have to carefully calibrate the efforts exerted in the direction of finish work and landscaping. An investment of $50,000 in this respect adds a maximum of $20,000 to your property’s appraised value. Applying an LTV of 80 percent to this sum, the lender can offer you $16,000 toward the $50,000, which leaves you to complete the difference with $34,000 out of your pocket. Are you really willing to incur these expenses?

In case your budget runs thin, you are advised to keep your finish materials to a minimum. However, you have to make sure that they are at least of the approximately same quality as those used in the houses from the neighborhood so that there won’t be any appraisal problems. Don’t worry about postponing because you can always upgrade and modernize your home later in the build process if you have the necessary cash or the related expenses come in under the budget. Delaying doesn’t necessary mean giving up. If you are truly committed to the idea of investing in extra finish, then keep in mind that it is not about what but when you spend.

Moreover, landscaping can be entirely eliminated from the budget because lenders do not require it for completion. “Equipping” your property with spas, pools or gardens doesn’t render any contribution in terms of dollar-to-dollar value but, instead, it can drag out your project for months. It is better for you to pay these expenditures out of your own pocket after the construction loan is closed.

Another major budget problem may result from the possibility of running out of cash before the completion of the build. Since this is the last thing you want to happen, your cost breakdown must be as realistic as possible or even a little bit overestimated. If the bank is unsure about your budget, it is likely to ask for a higher loan amount or more cash if the option of a bigger loan is not possible.

Overestimating is in your best interest because it allows you to cushion unanticipated costs and also receive extra funds that can be lucratively used for other expenses, such as land reimbursement or upgrades on finish materials. As long as the loan meets the lender’s LTV and LTC guidelines, the overestimation will be accepted.

In conclusion, it is better to engage in a bigger loan program than to run out of money midway through your project. You can protect yourself from unwanted surprises by carefully solving budget problems.

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The overall custom home budget is subject to various changes during the building process, usually growing rather than shrinking. Budgeting at the beginning of the custom home process involves balancing out the cost of the house with what you can afford. However, the house may require more money than you have, which you can’t figure out until you design the house and so on. The best method is to evaluate the two issues separately and then work to a compromise.

If you’re financing this project through a lender, then the lender’s budget takes precedence over yours, so you need to get the two in line as soon as possible. The home lender will heavily influence your home construction budget by determining an amount to lend you.

Custom Home Budget Key Issues

 The best way to create a custom home budget you can live with is to work with your certified public accountant (CPA), financial adviser, and loan officer to assess how all factors will impact your finances. There are some key issues that need to be discussed and taken into account, such as:

- Cash on hand
- Capital gains issues
- Current tax bracket
- Diversification of assets
- Intended length of time owning the home
- Long-term investment strategy
- Property appreciation
- Tax deductions for interest and points.

Thereafter, you need to arrive at a comfortable payment that a loan officer or loan calculator can translate into a loan amount. You also need to speak to a loan officer that is a qualified construction loan specialist to be assured you meet construction loan qualification. After you have a loan amount, you need to account for the cash available. Cash is your surest way of keeping a custom home project running smoothly. Don’t forget to include money you can take out of your existing house through a credit line or refinance. After you have decided how much of your cash you want to spend without being reimbursed by the construction loan on your project, add it to your loan amount estimate for the total estimate of your custom home budget.

A good way to manage your budget is to use the “dollars per square foot” technique. Since there is no specific widely accepted definition for this, you have to define dollars and square foot the same way for each person you work with. Then you can make sure everyone is on the same page in every relevant conversation.

Square footage for this purpose needs to include all living space enclosed by walls that is completely finished. Your definition of square footage needs to include the square footage
for the following:

- Bathrooms
- Bedrooms/closets
- Den
- Dining room
- Family and great room
- Fully finished basement
- Guesthouse
- Hallways and entryways
- Home theater and/or game room
- Kitchen/laundry room/pantry.

Now that you have a total square footage number, you need to define the dollars necessary in the budget to define dollars per square foot. Include here labor and  construction materials costs for all the living space mentioned above. You don’t want to include all the construction costs in this dollar amount; many costs need to be evaluated independently, such as:

- Financing
- Hardscaping (unattached decks, pools, fences, and so on)
- Land
- Landscaping
- Soft costs (permits, plans, and fees).

Here is an example of how a preliminary custom home budget sheet should look like:

Funds available

Add your available cash and the loan amount for your total custom home budget.

Cash                                  $175,000

Loan amount                     $650,000

Total budget                    $825,000

Cost-to-build

Add all your costs together for your total cost.

Land                                               $200,000

Soft costs (permits                          $40,000
plans and fees)

Hard costs                                      $424,000
($160 per 2,650 Sq. Ft.)

Financing                                       $35,000

Landscaping                                  $40,000

Hardscaping                                  $25,000

Total Cost                                    $764,000

Remember that it’s very important to always keep an eye on the custom home budget, since any miscalculation of costs can prove to be a disaster in the process.

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The first thing you need is a central place to store all the original paperwork you’re about to accumulate, as each transaction creates its own set of paperwork and you don’t want to drown in all that paper. You not only need to store all this paperwork, but you’ll also need to easily retrieve it throughout the home building process.

The main categories needed in the filing step of the home building process are as follows:

- Architecture and design
- Contractor communication
- Contracts
- Financing
- Invoices
- Land purchase
- Materials information
- Paid receipts
- Permits and approvals
- Subcontractor communication
- Warranties

In order to avoid pile-ups and confusion, it is recommended to use a permanent and portable system, such as the following efficient, step-by-step method for having pertinent information at your fingertips whether you’re at home, in your office, or at your construction site:

1. Create a loose-leaf binder with dividers for the categories in the previous list.
2. Decide after looking at each document whether you may need it at the site. If so, make a copy.
3. File one copy in your file system at home.
4. Place the other copy in your binder in the corresponding category to the home file system.
5. Review your binder each day, adding the necessary documents from your file system.

Computers are essential in organizing your custom home building process, and e-mail can be used to store and share invoices, designs, pictures, and memos. If you don’t currently use e-mail, take the time now to figure it out. Doing so can make your custom home building process run more smoothly.

Proactive communication is probably the single most important factor for a successful custom home. Always carry a mobile phone with you so you can be easily reached, and be prepared to respond to messages promptly. There are also some other gadgets that can greatly improve efficiency, if you know how to use them. A personal digital assistant (PDA) is a small handheld computer that can store all your phone numbers as well as your calendar. PDAs cost from $100 to $500 and can transfer information back and forth from your computer, which helps if you’re communicating by e-mail or managing your calendar electronically. Smartphones combine the functions of PDAs with a fully functional mobile telephone. They’re pricier and bulkier than regular mobile phones, but they allow you to combine the functions of two units. Check with your local cellular phone provider for details.

Another important task is managing your finances and you need to keep track of every dollar spent as you go, in order to avoid running out of money in the middle of the home building process. It is recommended to set up a separate bank account early on for everything construction-related, to remove confusion and allow for easier record keeping. Keep a file for each vendor and tack down invoices and receipts in chronological order.

If you know how to use a computer, managing your finances becomes a whole lot easier. You could manage your finances with a simple bookkeeping ledger book, but you can keep track of money in and money out in all the different categories of the build smoothly and efficiently with the help of an accounting software program during the home building process.

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People starting a custom home building project need to get organized before beginning the process. They must sit down and assess how much time they can put aside each week to focus on the project, and to consider making a specific day each week their day for working on custom home stuff. Also, they need to clear a space in your office or home to be the center of operations, in order to always know where to find what they require for their project.

Questions before Starting a Custom Home Building Process

Before even starting work on the project, people must consider some questions that are important in laying out the plan. These questions include:

- Where do I want to live?
- How long do I want to live in this house?
- How will I find land?
- How much money do I have to spend on this project?
- How much extra time do I have to put into this project?
- How do I find the right resources to design my house?
- How do I find the right resources to build my house?
- Is my marriage/relationship strong enough to survive this process?

All these questions are very important and must be answered before committing time and money to this project, as they will form the whole structure of the process.

The location and the amount of time you intend to spend in the new home are very important as they must tackle with issues of accessibility and architectural planning. You must take into consideration factors like commercial locations in the area, the kind of education you might want for your children, or the distance to your area of employment. Also, the period you intend to spend in the house is important for deciding the number of rooms and their specific use.

Also, you must manage your money and time very carefully during the whole process, and you must be aware that there will always occur unexpected situations in building a custom home, situations that will require extra money or time. Therefore, you have to leave some room in your budget specially for such cases.

Finding the perfect lot for your new home is also very important, as you need to make sure that it satisfies the requirements of your house and that you can actually build it on that particular piece of land. Moreover, you must make sure that it has all the utilities that you need, or that they can be installed there.

When choosing a style for your house, you must study the issue very carefully and make sure that it satisfies whatever needs you may have, not just aesthetically-wise. Then, you need to find the materials best suited for the job, and also select very carefully any team of workers you might need in the process.

You must remember at all times that there isn’t a single person that can give you all the information you need to prepare for this process, and contractors have one perspective on the process, while architects may have a completely different one. You must do your homework and interview as many people as you can who are or who have been involved in the process, as by talking to professionals and consumers and asking them to share their experiences, you can begin to get a clearer picture of the custom home building process ahead.

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