Home Construction

[rph08]

Hi folks!

My Wife and I hope to begin construction of our "forever" home over the next year to year and a half. We've got the property, and now we would like to nail down the design and get the architectural plans for the home we want to build.

We have our first meeting with the designer later this week, and he thought it would be a good idea to have some photos or sketches of some of the things we would like to incorporate in the design. I'm reaching out to you all to see if you have some photos of your homes that you would like to share or simply some insight and advice.

This is what we are thinking about:

Roughly a |_| shape with a courtyard/pool between the wings
4 bedroom, 3.5 bath
Single story with a basement
Brick
One wing would be composed of the master suite, my office and my Wife's craft room
The second wing would take care of the kid's rooms and the guest suite
Between the wings would be the kitchen, living room and dinning room, in an open floor plan
10' coffered ceilings in the common areas of the home, trays in the bedrooms
Large front porch (possibly spanning the width of the house)
Lanai on the back of the house that extends all around the |_| shape
The pool, etc would be beyond the lanai and would be approximately 20' X 40'

Ideally, we would like to walk in front door, walk straight ahead to the rear wall and to a 12' glass sliding door that opens up to the lanai and beyond that the pool.

So, I would greatly appreciate it if anyone here has any photos of their home that they would like to share or any insight/advice to offer. Never say never, but I can pretty much guarantee that this will be the one and only home we will build, and we just want to make the right calls from the beginning.

Thank you all for your help!

[JasoninDenver]

Impressed you are looking with the initial appointment a few days away. It took my wife five years to decide how she wanted to remodel our kitchen! I would not be so presumptuous to suggest design tips but we found Houzz.com to be invaluable for ideas.

Talk to your architect first. Contractor second and designer third. I have really seen some designers run the budget to the stars by recommending ideas that were incredibly difficult and expensive to implement.

Spend the money on the mechanicals. Radiant Heat floors, variable speed AC, hot water circulation runs, high efficiency windows. The nicest looking house can piss you off it is not done properly. Make dang sure you contractor agreement nails down these items specifically.

[rph08]

Originally Posted by JasoninDenver

Spend the money on the mechanicals. Radiant Heat floors, variable speed AC, hot water circulation runs, high efficiency windows. The nicest looking house can piss you off it is not done properly. Make dang sure you contractor agreement nails down these items specifically.

Thanks for the reply...HVAC, insulation, etc. are definitely high priority items down here in the deep south!

[bdex75]

We have moved around a lot. And have done many remodels and gut jobs. There are a few things that we have had and then not had where I missed them.
1. Heated tile floors in the bathrooms. We did electric but you could do hot water. We lived in the Midwest and it was cold. This was something I never knew I needed.

2. Pot filler. We cook a lot. And big pots or pasta water are heavy.

3. Laundry in the master closet. Even if it is a small stack it is way easier than dragging laundry all over.

4. Lighting. Lots. LED.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[TheVTCGuy]

Is my room ready?

[Dyim]

I found construction to be stressful, especially if you are hands on/ control freak/ perfectionist kind of person.

Some people don't want to know anything until it is all done.

I would treat the budget and timeline more as a guide than anything.

If in doubt, go for the more expensive option so that there will be no regrets later. Should have, would have, could have...

I wish you the best of luck.

[BNA/LION]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

Is my room ready?

[DonRickles]

Expect the process to take twice as long and cost twice as much, and you'll be just fine!

Seriously good luck, you're at a wonderful time of life!

[DLRIDES]

IMO

Meeting with a “designer” first is a financial disaster waiting to happen. Architect first, then contractor(s).

As far as “designer” goes, I can’t relate.

[rph08]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

Is my room ready?

I'll keep you posted!

Thank you all for the suggestions and comments. This is one instance where time is on our side. While we would love to be in this home within the next two years, it's certainly not a deadline.

The property hasn't been touched in probably 40 years. The only structure still standing is a stone chimney left from an old homesite. The vegetation is THICK this time of year, and there's a lot of underbrush that I want to clean up. There is water on the property that I can hopefully use to build a pond with.

Our goals for the next 8 months or so are to determine the best site for a pond, and how large it can be. Then, settle on a build site, and get the plans finalized. I want to go ahead and establish some fruit trees, maybe some honeybee hives, and a few muscadine vines during this early stage as well.

Again thanks for all they suggestions, and if anyone has any photos they would like to share of brick front porches or covered patios, etc, then I would be very appreciative.

Thanks!

[DonRickles]

Here's a suggestion! If you're planning on building a pond, it would awesome to incorporate a Geothermal HVAC system below it! I installed a open loop system in the early 90's, it's been a winner! Last time I reviewed our savings it was approaching 60k vs a gas or all electric system.

Plus all the other ecological and environmental benefits to our planet!

[dj-dulux]

Don't forget the tech, house wide WiFi, Cat6 and Cat6A to TV points, if using lots of LED then look at running DMX and some form of control system etc.

Good look...

Dupe....

[Wcdhtwn]

If you use Pinterest or Instagram search for ‘house plans’. Especially on Pinterest you’ll get photos/drawings and the floor plans. It might take some searching to find a match for what you want, but it’ll be there and you’ll find a lot of good ideas along the way.

[swils8610]

The house we live in now has an entrance to the basement off of the kitchen as well as the garage. Really handy!
Also put a drain in your garage and a utility sink.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Aberdein]

Choose your architect or designer well. Remember you are building the house you want not the house your architect or designer wants to build. You tell them what you want, don't let them tell you what you are getting. I went through that process and had to change the architect.
For inspiration have a look at https://www.houseplans.com

Remember to include a place for a safe to hold all your Rolexes....

Good luck hope it goes well for you both.

[rph08]

Originally Posted by dj-dulux

Don't forget the tech, house wide WiFi, Cat6 and Cat6A to TV points, if using lots of LED then look at running DMX and some form of control system etc.

What are some methods of providing house wide WIFI? I was going to run networking cable throughout the house, but I hadn't considered keeping it close to the TV locations so thank you for that!

Originally Posted by Wcdhtwn

If you use Pinterest or Instagram search for ‘house plans’. Especially on Pinterest you’ll get photos/drawings and the floor plans. It might take some searching to find a match for what you want, but it’ll be there and you’ll find a lot of good ideas along the way.

Thank you for the link!

Originally Posted by swils8610

The house we live in now has an entrance to the basement off of the kitchen as well as the garage. Really handy!
Also put a drain in your garage and a utility sink.

We don't typically get too many snow days here in Georgia, but our garage is a wreck when we do! I absolutely think adding a drain in the garage is a good idea. It will help with rainy weather too.

Originally Posted by Aberdein

Choose your architect or designer well. Remember you are building the house you want not the house your architect or designer wants to build. You tell them what you want, don't let them tell you what you are getting. I went through that process and had to change the architect.
For inspiration have a look at https://www.houseplans.com

Thanks for the well wishes, and for the link. We've looked through some plans online and in books. Obviously, there's a ton of info out there, but so far we just haven't found what we are envisioning in our heads. A lot of the plans we have seen call for two stories on a crawl space or two stories with a basement and we want just a single story and a basement. Also the backyard area will be level with the main floor, so if we have exterior basement access then it will be on one of the ends of the house.

Originally Posted by DonRickles

Here's a suggestion! If you're planning on building a pond, it would awesome to incorporate a Geothermal HVAC system below it!

I honestly would have never considered this...It never would have crossed my mind, but I'm glad you mentioned it and I'll definitely check into it.

[GB-man]

My advice is to give lots of thought to the windows, their size and placement. Natural light is the single most important aspect of any space imho.

Congrats in advance your home sounds incredible.

[uscmatt99]

Regarding the house wide WiFi dj-dulux brought up. It's worth getting a home automation company or someone who can design and manage structured networks to have some input in the design before or while framing is going up. They can work in tandem with the electricians and HVAC folks to get it done properly.

We have Cat5e terminations in every room that all run back to our router and modem in the basement. It was run in combination with cable. This way, anywhere you'd want a display with streaming devices, they are all hardwired and not clogging up your wireless network.

Cat5e was run to the ceiling of each floor as well for placement of wireless access points. Many of the newer systems can use these in conjunction with plug-in Wi-Fi extenders to get great wireless coverage throughout the home. Only our mobile devices depend on WiFi as anything that is fixed in place is generally on the LAN.

We have super fast internet access throughout the house with no "cold spots". Plan on having to update your modem and router every 3-5 years as technology marches on. Ideally the router should be able to handle commercial applications, not your budget Best Buy model. But having a good wiring system will last for a good chunk of the home's life.

[rph08]

Originally Posted by GB-man

Natural light is the single most important aspect of any space imho.

Thank you. We're not going to build a mansion or a landmark, but what we are absolutely going for is a well built, durable, and COMFORTABLE home. I agree that the size and placement of the windows is very important.

Originally Posted by uscmatt99

Regarding the house wide WiFi dj-dulux brought up. It's worth getting a home automation company or someone who can design and manage structured networks to have some input in the design before or while framing is going up. They can work in tandem with the electricians and HVAC folks to get it done properly.

We have Cat5e terminations in every room that all run back to our router and modem in the basement. It was run in combination with cable. This way, anywhere you'd want a display with streaming devices, they are all hardwired and not clogging up your wireless network.

Cat5e was run to the ceiling of each floor as well for placement of wireless access points. Many of the newer systems can use these in conjunction with plug-in Wi-Fi extenders to get great wireless coverage throughout the home. Only our mobile devices depend on WiFi as anything that is fixed in place is generally on the LAN.

We have super fast internet access throughout the house with no "cold spots". Plan on having to update your modem and router every 3-5 years as technology marches on. Ideally the router should be able to handle commercial applications, not your budget Best Buy model. But having a good wiring system will last for a good chunk of the home's life.

Man, thank you for elaborating on previous comments!

[tmmii]

Couple things I want to make sure I have when I go to build- insulation in the interior walls for noise, a shelf in a closet with several electrical outlets somewhere centralized in the house so I can have my WiFi, camera system, drill battery chargers, etc.

[Brenngun]

I have 2 very sincere suggestions. First is give serious consideration to installing a geothermal system. You will save thousands in energy cost over years of use. Second spend some time on this web page and make sure your architect specs in this product and that your general contractor knows how to properly install it.

https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us/en_US/

[DonRickles]

Originally Posted by Brenngun

I have 2 very sincere suggestions. First is give serious consideration to installing a geothermal system. You will save thousands in energy cost over years of use. Second spend some time on this web page and make sure your architect specs in this product and that your general contractor knows how to properly install it.

https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us/en_US/

As stated above, since the plan is to build a pond, why not use it for their ground source? It's perfect and can be an extremely efficient closed loop system! The use of fossil fuels are so 1900's..... IMO we are quickly moving away from them (not quick enough for me)!

BUT, be sure to have an auxiliary backup system connected, for the extreme days of winter, in colder climates.

[dj-dulux]

Originally Posted by rph08

What are some methods of providing house wide WIFI? I was going to run networking cable throughout the house, but I hadn't considered keeping it close to the TV locations so thank you for that!

I use these professionally for 95% of my domestic work, https://www.ui.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-pro/

Put in Cloudkey, Unifi switch and Security gateway and you will have nice flexible system with isolated guest and even kids wifi.

Also, once you have decent network adding IP based CCTV, connecting TVs etc all dead easy.

Dupe...

[HHIslander]

That floorplan is very similar to ours. Main difference is our courtyard between the wings is much wider and we put our pool in there, we didn't have enough depth to do what you are doing (wish we did!).

Some things we did that really made a difference:

1) Recessed sliding glass doors to outside courtyard/pool area. We had them custom made and they are awesome. It really opens up the area.
2) Bathroom accessible from the outside pool area. It's large and also a changing area. No kids trailing water and, most importantly, people are more inclined to use it instead of the pool.
3) Put a built in hottub with the pool. We love ours.
4) Put in an outside grill/cooking area. We didn't do this when we built it, big mistake. Eventually we put in a grill/cooking/bar area with a TV and it's pretty much where us guys live during football season.
5) We screened in the whole courtyard area. You may consider just screening in the area between the wings, depending on where you live. With the recessed sliding doors, it really opens up the whole first floor during the fall and the spring.

We had a great experience designing and building. Some suggestions, have the architect/designer designate as much as possible before you hand it over to a builder. We had the entire house planned and all decisions made, everything from appliances to door handles to colors, everything. Got a fixed price contract and the builder loved that he didn't have to consult with us on hardly anything at all during the process. Highly recommend going fixed price, not cost plus!!!!

This was the 3rd house we've built. MOST IMPORTANT of all--Do a massive amount of due diligence when picking architects/designers and the builder. The whole process can be fun or it can be hell, depending on who you hire. The cheapest is never the best (we made that mistake once, never again). Ask them for references and call them. Once you decide on a builder, try not to be constrained by time. Take whatever time they say it will take and plan on at least 30% more, just in case. Builders hate to be rushed and rushed work leads to crappy work that will have to be redone and this will also create conflict. But if you see crappy work, make sure they redo it. Managing the contractors and quality is what the builder is getting paid to do, make sure he does it. We had our first whole house repainted because the builder hired some college kids who had never painted before. That's not our fault, he ate that.

Sorry for the length, this post got long real fast. Good luck with it all! Go Dawgs!

[Polarexplorerii]

Originally Posted by CraKaLaCKiN

We built 2-years ago and used spray foam insulation. It was about $5k more than the traditional bat insulation.

The utility bill for 6k sq ft . . . averages $300 during the summer (we have 4 a/c units!). It's as low as $150 for a few weeks in the spring and fall.

DEFINITELY spend the $$ on spray foam insulation!

Holy crap! That’s a big ass house.. Mine is 3200 sq ft and I thought my house was big

[mschafer]

To share a couple of thoughts. Keep it human size, walking for 2min just to get water a night gets old quickly. Think about easy access, elderly, etc. get a workout room for yoga, weights and peloton, make it soundproof, easy to ventilate and heat and cool independently. Have enough storage space for everything. Have a bathroom for each bed room and a guest bathroom next to the entrance for dinner parties, emergencies, contractors. Consider solar, electric vehicle charging, an unattached garage with extra space for toys. Sonos. And look for inspiration online, AD, Elle decor, European design magazines, local houses for sale/open houses, hotels and international solutions...just saw a pool made out of a shipping container installed on a hillside with a huge window to look out. Brilliant.

[Sisniega]

If you decide to make a smart home i can help you with that part !

[rph08]

Originally Posted by DonRickles

As stated above, since the plan is to build a pond, why not use it for their ground source? It's perfect and can be an extremely efficient closed loop system! The use of fossil fuels are so 1900's..... IMO we are quickly moving away from them (not quick enough for me)!

BUT, be sure to have an auxiliary backup system connected, for the extreme days of winter, in colder climates.

How does distance to the pond affect the efficacy of a geothermal system? The pond will be around 1000' away from the house.

Originally Posted by dj-dulux

I use these professionally for 95% of my domestic work, https://www.ui.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-pro/

Put in Cloudkey, Unifi switch and Security gateway and you will have nice flexible system with isolated guest and even kids wifi.

Also, once you have decent network adding IP based CCTV, connecting TVs etc all dead easy.

Dupe...

Thanks again for all your help. I will definitely research this.

Originally Posted by HHIslander

That floorplan is very similar to ours. Main difference is our courtyard between the wings is much wider and we put our pool in there, we didn't have enough depth to do what you are doing (wish we did!).

Some things we did that really made a difference:

1) Recessed sliding glass doors to outside courtyard/pool area. We had them custom made and they are awesome. It really opens up the area.
2) Bathroom accessible from the outside pool area. It's large and also a changing area. No kids trailing water and, most importantly, people are more inclined to use it instead of the pool.
3) Put a built in hottub with the pool. We love ours.
4) Put in an outside grill/cooking area. We didn't do this when we built it, big mistake. Eventually we put in a grill/cooking/bar area with a TV and it's pretty much where us guys live during football season.
5) We screened in the whole courtyard area. You may consider just screening in the area between the wings, depending on where you live. With the recessed sliding doors, it really opens up the whole first floor during the fall and the spring.

We had a great experience designing and building. Some suggestions, have the architect/designer designate as much as possible before you hand it over to a builder. We had the entire house planned and all decisions made, everything from appliances to door handles to colors, everything. Got a fixed price contract and the builder loved that he didn't have to consult with us on hardly anything at all during the process. Highly recommend going fixed price, not cost plus!!!!

This was the 3rd house we've built. MOST IMPORTANT of all--Do a massive amount of due diligence when picking architects/designers and the builder. The whole process can be fun or it can be hell, depending on who you hire. The cheapest is never the best (we made that mistake once, never again). Ask them for references and call them. Once you decide on a builder, try not to be constrained by time. Take whatever time they say it will take and plan on at least 30% more, just in case. Builders hate to be rushed and rushed work leads to crappy work that will have to be redone and this will also create conflict. But if you see crappy work, make sure they redo it. Managing the contractors and quality is what the builder is getting paid to do, make sure he does it. We had our first whole house repainted because the builder hired some college kids who had never painted before. That's not our fault, he ate that.

Sorry for the length, this post got long real fast. Good luck with it all! Go Dawgs!

Thank you! This is exactly what I was hoping to find. Go Dawgs!

[DonRickles]

Originally Posted by rph08

How does distance to the pond affect the efficacy of a geothermal system? The pond will be around 1000' away from the house.

It won't be an adverse effect at all. As the lines running to and fro, are below a certain depth and will remain at the ground source temps. I'd research more about the pump size, flow rates, distance and height/head changes.

[tadbart]

Wow, you've got some great replies here. I skipped ahead to offer this suggestion- If this is to be your forever home, go ahead and build it with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards in mind. Wider doorways, low entry shower, etc. Make it a home you can live in after a broken hip or knee replacement or the need for assistive devices arises.