Building Do's and Don'ts? (construction, vents, expensive, Realtor)

[themaster]

Anyone help me compile a list of sage advice for building a new house, I'm a first time builder but seen my family do it 5-6 times now and so I have at least one semi-expert to call on..

I'm a technology buff, so I'm automatically going to integrate a lot of modern and pre-future technology into my build with research time may take up to 6 months.. once I have my lot

For example.. I don't plan to and never likely will use analog telephone lines for voice calls, I already use voip and cells exclusively but I know that if I come to sell the house a buyer may be detracted to note there's no phone lines to any of my rooms..

Things I'm thinking of doing for the house (that I know off)
- Speakers for the bathroom + fog mirror
- Computer controlled heating/ac if available/affordable (and maybe the possibility to close vents electronically)
- Modern instant water heaters (electric or gas) not sure yet..
- Commercial Washer/Dryer
- Industrial type toilet (if I can pull it off)
- Dust free home possible?
- Ability to winterize in 5 seconds? (I'm talking no heat with chance of freezing temperatures)

So if anyone has any sage advice from choosing a lot w/ tap fee's to construction and landscaping.. Thanks in Advance!

[Michelle Morris]

The best advice: Use a Realtor!

[poconoproud]

I agree that you should put the phone lines in the home. You may sell someday, and that feature will be important to future buyers.

Are you planning on building a completely automated home? Even semi-automated adds a lot of dollars to the build cost. If budget is not a concern for you, that is great. I try to tell people to think about the things they really need, before they think of what they want, because building a home gets expensive fast.


home building technical information resources builders construction remodeling innovations has a lot of information that you might be interested in, and is a good place to start your research.

[DMenscha]

Are you building this to sell?

The relative cost of running phone lines to a room is nothing. Make it CAT 5 or 6 and the telco can use it if need be. You would also be using CAT 5 cable for the controls to the devices you want to maintain.

I think the industrial (I'm guessing you mean commercial) toilet idea is awful, but there are very high tech toilets available that fit in the home.

Inline water heaters are the most efficient and gas is even more cost effective than electric.

Commercial Washers and dryers are just bigger and probably overkill for a residence.

HEPA filters are available for dust free environments.

Speakers throughout are now common in higher end homes. Wire the TV area for home theater. Mount the speakers low in the bathroom so they wont be affected as much by the steam.

The place where you can go commercial and not worry is in the kitchen with a 6 burner gas range and monster refer.

Quick and dirty and worth every penny you paid for the advice

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by MikiJayne

The best advice: Use a Realtor!

A realtor for what?

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by themaster

Anyone help me compile a list of sage advice for building a new house, I'm a first time builder but seen my family do it 5-6 times now and so I have at least one semi-expert to call on..

I'm a technology buff, so I'm automatically going to integrate a lot of modern and pre-future technology into my build with research time may take up to 6 months.. once I have my lot

For example.. I don't plan to and never likely will use analog telephone lines for voice calls, I already use voip and cells exclusively but I know that if I come to sell the house a buyer may be detracted to note there's no phone lines to any of my rooms..

Things I'm thinking of doing for the house (that I know off)
- Speakers for the bathroom + fog mirror
- Computer controlled heating/ac if available/affordable (and maybe the possibility to close vents electronically)
- Modern instant water heaters (electric or gas) not sure yet..
- Commercial Washer/Dryer
- Industrial type toilet (if I can pull it off)
- Dust free home possible?
- Ability to winterize in 5 seconds? (I'm talking no heat with chance of freezing temperatures)

So if anyone has any sage advice from choosing a lot w/ tap fee's to construction and landscaping.. Thanks in Advance!

Include phone lines, the cost is nothing to install them while building, but to add them later would be a pain. Consider dual phone jacks on the wall, 1 for phone, 1 for network connections. I use only VOIP myself now but not a chance I wouldnt equip my home with standard phone lines.

Make sure you build in clear access from floor to floor to easily add new lines and wires for things like security systems etc.

Zone heating, especially if its a larger home, to cut down on heating costs.