Off Subject (House)

-Get so profesianal prints, a good builder will draw them for free if u hire them to do the house. Most will sit down with u first and rough sketch and give a ball park figure, if u come back inteested they then will discuss plans

- Go to several contractors, and let them know u are. and dont jump on the cheapest. Contractors arent out there just for the fun of it, they're there to make money. If its real cheap, u may be gettin what u pay for. A bigger company may be more expensive, but may have more the propper tools and work force to build quality and effeciantly

- Make sure ur comparing apples to oranges ..diffeent materials can make a huge cost difference

- double check what the general has lined up for subs, and sit down with the subs to discuss what u want, the plumber knows more bout what u need for heatin/.coolin plumbin than the builder does

-and most of all take ur time in the planning stage, changes on paper are alot cheaper than in the feild

good luck

Using concrete is only a problem if you don't plan it right. Remodelling gets more than a little difficult. But with only the shell concrete, you're free to move the interior walls wherever you want. Material cost for a 1600' shell, including roof and floor, comes in at $16,000. And we're talking some serious steel to hold up that 30' free span roof covered with 2' of dirt. Think walk-out basement without the house over it, 350 sq. ft. of glass and a ventilation system. It works.

We spent 2 years looking for the right lot. Looked at plan books and modified a plan with one of the home design software packages for over a year before finding the general contractor. He recommended a great architect to draw the actual plans. The kitchen, lighting, and flooring people our contractor suggested were very helpful. Our contractor and his son did all of the plumbing, electric and trim carpentry (it was winter so they weren't real busy at the time) and had their usual subs do everything else. We had no major glitches during construction, and have had very few problems since.

• Breaktime

Here's one thing to consider about the 15 vs 30 yr loans. As long as their isn't a prepay penalty, if you make 13 payments/yr on a 30 yr loan (one extra payment a year which pays down principle), you'll pay the loan off in 19 years and save tons. The fact that you don't have to make that 13th payment and that the payments are substantially lower gives you some financial flexibility if you need it. Downside, takes LOTS of discipline!

Tools

1. Find plans you like, go see a house built from those plans. Then, DONT CHANGE ANYTHING. Even small changes can lead to nightmares (cost overruns and such), or make the thing completely unattractive to a prospective buyer.

2. Don't get to retentive about it, but consider its sellability when you're choosing all the fixtures, floorcoverings, trim and such. Pick stuff you can afford, and stay with your plan as much as possible.

My friends who are contractors pick a plan, build it, outfit it with appropriate fixtures and live in complete houses within six months of commencement. They're wonderful. Have fun and get busy with your research, you can't know too much before you start.

Tools

Tom

If you run a search you can find many sites.

Here are a couple to get you started

I will link one and the other is http://www.B4Ubuild.com this one will give you additional links.

Hope should give you a place to start. Tom R.

• Houses