With the start of September comes the start of school and for Kevin and Rosanne the return to work. So lately it has been hard to have our daily walks over to the house to see the progress of the house. However, since Kyara, Matteya, Ariel and Mia have school right beside the house they have been able to keep track of any new developments.
Over the past few days we have witnessed the completion of the roof,
the addition of piping (and the stacks on the roof) as well as
the connection of the water from the city lateral.
All that being completed in the basement allowed for the pouring of the cement floor in the basement.
So our house continues to move along with the hope that this week will see the delivery of our windows. With the installation of the windows will come a new phase of the construction of our house. Our house will be considered to be "closed in" and thus will allow for the indoor work to be done - that is the electrical, piping and installation of the dry wall. As well, we will see the exterior of the house come to life with stone, brick and lots of Hardie Plank.
It is a very exciting time, but also daunting as we continue to make decisions on the style of stairs, light fixtures, door hardware, kitchen cupboards and various other items.
One of the reasons that people like to build a home with a custom builder is that they can make choices on the:
- design of the house
- exterior of the house (brick, stone, stucco, siding)
- tiles
- paint colour
- roofing shingles
- cupboard design and colours
- and much, much more
Yet, one of the reasons that people decide not to build a home with a custom builder is that they do not want to make all of these decisions.
So depending upon on your personality and the family dynamics building a home can be for you or may not be. For some a completed home is what is best suited for them.
For us the design of the house originated with us. Rosanne began by putting her ideas down on paper, talking to Kevin and then checking with the girls on the overall design of the house. Then the plans were taking to an architect - in our case Rijuis Home Design - and worked with them to take our ideas and make them come alive. In our case the architect was extremely helpful by taking our ideas and family needs to then design our home.
When designing your home it is really important to know what you want. This can be done by going to open houses, checking out friends homes, going through design books and working with the architect you have choosen. If your plans reflect what you want then you will have a price that will allow you to negotiate the mortgage that you need.
Often when people build a home they will complain about the "hidden costs" or how new costs come up. Usually what occurs is that a family wants to add something - something that was not considered when you designed your house, and that something costs money.
After this we took our plans to various builders and then decided to work with Lucchetta Homes. At this point the decisions become more practical as they are based on what we like and the budget that we have. Your builder will budget "allowances" for cupboards, sinks, door hardware, staircases, paint colours, lighting fixtures, exterior materials, etc.; if you do not stay in your budget then it will cost you extra. So when you negotiate with a builder be sure that your allowances are reasonable and that you stay within your budget.
For example if you want a beautiful fire place that will cost
$10 000 or more, as an example, then tell your builder what you want. That way it is in the contract and not an additional charge. (We were fortunate with our builder that the allowances were realistic and that if we stay under the allowance we will get the money back - not all builders do this though, be sure to ask if you negotiate with a builder.)
So how did make our decisions. Research, research, research. We went to many stores, checked out materials on line, called friends who have recently built or renovated, took pictures of things we like in friend's homes or in Open Houses, drive by homes that have exteriors that you are interested in - including looking like stalkers when you are comparing the Hardie Plank on a house with the samples a strore has given you, or ask your builder of things they have done in the past.
For us we have had a lot of help from Lucchetta Homes (Rob, Ed, Lou, Mark and Rhonda) as well as sales representatives and friends with ideas. Remember, in the end it is your house, that your are paying for and that you need to be happy with.
