Things to consider before building a house

forgot more:

  1. wiring for automated blinds/curtains
  2. wiring for custom cabinet lighting (when you open the doors)

there’s a whole lot more to consider if you want a nice custom pool, so I’ll leave that off the table. I don’t think I’ll want to maintain a pool when I’m older anyway.

Oh, since this is basically a ‘dream home’ thread. Hire an architect to ensure the thing looks like a decent enough house, especially the facade. If the three car garage is half of the facade, you have 28 roof pitches, and the brick covers the front of the house but not the back, what are you even doing?

Bonus points for a slate roof, proper dormers, dentil molding around the eaves and so forth.

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Might consider the insurance costs if you’re in an earthquake prone area, though.

I would add, in terms of layout design, consideration for rooms requiring plumbing to be “close” to each other.

Well, you certainly couldn’t have one without current!

First things first:

  1. The Ground.
  2. The View.
  3. The outside noise and air.

Once you’ve decided on the plot, make sure all you want can be physically done without too much added expense.

Addendum:

Depending on capacity of the backup power supply, consider separate “essential” and “nonessential” electrical circuits in the house, allowing for the possibility for parts of the house to be de-energized when the public electrical service is down. Put non-essential gadgets, particularly those that are phantom loads, on the non-essential circuits, and only have the “must-haves” on the essential circuits.

In my father’s retirement community, there were one or two “red outlets” in each apartment. When the power went out, only the red outlets had power from the community’s emergency generator, in order to prolong the ability to power in-room medical devices.

Yes, it’d be nice to have the ability to run everything indefinitely, but if you’re planning on how to survive a 2-4 week power outage and start thinking about the amount of fuel you need to store for such a contingency…

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What, no pool boy?

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“I just liked to watch him clean the filter.”

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meh. More rooms more hallways and more crap just means more cleaning

Ensure a point of egress, particularly for safety but also if you ever sold, it needs one to be considered a bedroom (at least, in my state this is true, unsure if it varies.

Do your bathroom the way you want the first time. Combo bath/shower? Walk-in? Waterfall? Two shower heads? Do it right rather than change it.

Same with the kitchen. Get the appliances, the setup, the storage you want. You’re dropping a few hundred thousand, do it correct the first time.

And in addition to running ethernet everywhere, to a panel in the basement where your internet connects, I think a big deal is to put outlets/hdmi type of blocks whereever you’re putting tv’s so you don’t have wires hanging down. We did a retrofit to hang our master tv on the wall and running all the soundbar/hdmi/power cords behind the drywall took an hour or two with the electrician. And I’m still not 100% happy with what’s there.

I don’t think resale value will be a big factor in building a dream house. It’s kinda a given that I’ll almost certainly lose money because I like weird architecture and configuration.

What are we talking here? What’s your preferred style? Modern, gothic, Italianate, Greek revival, MCM, Tudor? Stone, brick, wood, what kind of materials are you working with here?

That hot massage therapist who I won’t say her name because she had a Google alert for that last time had a hidden passage between her upstairs home and downstairs business via a secret bookcase door thing. It was legit.

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A chimera of things. I wanna be able to have different elements in different spaces. So, all of the above.

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full ensuite bathroom for every bedroom. Or at least the first 3 BR. As some one living in a 1bath house with 4 people for 10 years, I would love this.

also, not a house feature but, no neighbors. zero.

Bathrooms do add a fair amount to the price. I like a Jack & Jill bathroom for two bedrooms to share. For a 4 bedroom house I’d probably do 3 full baths: a full bath for the master, a Jack & Jill for 2 more bedrooms, and then 1 more full bath… either en suite or just open to a hallway depending on the layout of the rest of the house… it might need to serve as “overflow” for the Jack & Jill… or not if there are other bathrooms elsewhere.

For 5 bedrooms probably 2 en suite, a Jack & Jill, and one more that opens to a common hallway.

More bathrooms is also more cleaning and toilets get grubby whether they are being used or not. But I do like double sinks in all full baths… just makes it easier when everyone needs to brush teeth & wash faces at the same time.

Would you build it with straw, sticks or bricks?

Walk-in whirlpool tub with grab bars

Drilled well

Waterfall/koi pool/swan pond

Balcony off Master BR

Space for wheelchair-access elevator

Aquariums in entry

I was going to say definitely definitely definitely no jetted tubs. They are a major PITA to clean.

Get a hot tub for outside and regular still bathtubs for inside.

Grab bars or the ability to add them later never hurts.

Queen Anne with turrets, spiral staircase with slide to lower level inside the turrets