You have to pay difference in cost. He just doesn’t nickel and dime you for everything. He’s one of the best builder in Dothan by reputation and it shows. He’s done a great job.

Find a really good home builder and do a "Cost Plus-Fixed Fee" or Cost Plus-Guaranteed Max with Fixed Fee" Contract. Don't do a builders fee that is a % of the total.
Make sure the estimate is a legit estimate, not lower just to get the job and then you get hit with the real costs. That's the risk with Cost Plus....owner assumes all the cost risk but it also allows you more control that any other contract. This will help you have better line item control and subcontractor cost control over the entire project. Plus you can carve out anything you may want to do yourself very easily, contractually speaking.

If your wife has specific taste get ready...we moved in ours in December I contracted myself it was super stressfull it's been a lot easier and simpler if I didn't have to deal with her luckily my grandad had all equipment and did sure work I ran my own water line from rd and saved 3k u had underground power it was 900 for about 100yrds from pole they'll set 2 for free if alabama power..

A good builder who is aware of his actual costs can take care of small changes. This helps build good relationships. If he waits until the end of the project and tries to hit up the customer with change orders it can destroy a good relationship.

Also, a builder will take stock of their customer when deciding whether or not to charge for small changes. If the customer is a PITA, the builder will be less inclined to be generous. I think builders should be charging a fee on COs. If he contracts to build a house for 300K and the customer adds work which increases the price to 500K, he should be paid a fee for the additional 200K in work. You can't stay in business if you do work at cost.

All depends on where you’re a at. The most aggravating part for me has been dealing with the fracking bank. Some of those folks have ZERO common since.

Don't skimp on site prep. Know exactly where your house will sit, where the driveway will go and where any outbuildings will be, BEFORE you cut any trees or move any dirt. Get the water flowing the direction it needs to go before you build. It will cost more up front, but will save you time, money and aggravation at the end.

I had a GC tell me after talking to me about what I was putting in the house and he told me I should be able to build it for $85/sq ft. It won't be cheap built, structurally sound with good foundation and roof. I'm a simple man, I wont have granite countertops or high dollar crown molding everywhere. Putting a bunch of high dollar crap that you don't need, is what drives up the cost of building a house and this usually involves a woman. Have a house with a simple gable roof and 4 corners without dormers and that will save you tens of thousands of dollars. I had another GC tell me that each corner you have on a house would cost $6,000. Dormers were $4,000 each. I've never understood why people want a house with 6-8 corners with rooms jutting out everywhere and 5 different roof levels.

I'm being petty I know, but y'all quit using the term GC/General Contractor in reference to residential home building. Unless a builder is both a GC and a Residential Home Builder...just say builder or contractor. GC has specific meaning which rarely applies to home building. (Exception-certain trades)

Ok, homebuilder. I was always led to believe the guy who handled everything was a general contractor.

Exactly this was an absolute in our floor plans. There is not a wasted inch in our house, gable roofs, 8ft flat ceilings, and simple floor plan. Saves a lot of money. I tried to explain this to a buddy who was building one a few years ago with 10ft ceiling and vaulted stuff everywhere, dormers, cut up roof etc. You can build a much bigger house for less if the design is right.

Yea, most people have stuff that serves no purpose, except to drive up the cost of their build. Its their money, they can do what they like, but then they tell people how expensive building a house is, when it could have been a lot cheaper with the same amount of room.

Exactly correct. Design and finishes can really drive the per square foot cost either up or down. A person who is ok with nice but simple could upgrade the important things that make a big impact on efficiency and comfort and maintenance (specifically windows,spray foam insulation (and encapsulation if a crawl space) or standing seam metal roof) while reigning in costs on other areas and come out way ahead. I will definitely be building at some point...going to be a nice simple rectangle with deep porches on front and rear.

My drafting teacher used to say that I should design mobile homes. He was an architect and loved to design totally useless, wasted spaces. I created floor plans that made use of every inch. That irritated the hell outta him.

Architects should be required to work on a framing crew for a minimum of 3 years before they are allowed to be licensed. They are the world's best at designing monuments unto themselves with crazy compound angles, roof lines, tie-ins etc that are virtually unbuildable. Wasted space???? Dont even get me started. I cant remember his name but some idiot architect down here designed a house on the beach that did not have a straight wall in it. Everything, and I mean everything in it was designed as a gently flowing curved walls. The only straight sections were where the doors were framed in. He supervised the construction. You couldnt have paid me enough to build that one.

Well, realtor came by today and gave us a favorable outlook on selling so gonna put her on the market and see what happens

If you can go to the site every day and look around, take notes, see if anything is amiss or not exactly what you wanted or asked for, do it.

We found numerous things that our sub was doing that we asked about. Also asked for some specific things, like more wall outlets in certain rooms or flooring in the attic for extra storage space that we wanted. He balked on those two things and we insisted; with the wall outlets he actually said "You already have one on each wall, so you don't need any more." I almost lost my chit and said, "This is OUR house, NOT yours and unless it's some kind of regulatory issue or safety issue I don't care what you think we don't need. We're paying for it. Put them in."

Once you get to that point about wiring, think about where your furniture and such will go in the den, bedrooms, kids' playroom if you have one, the garage or work room, etc. You can see all that in your mind, roughly, and then ask for outlets high or low, extra outlets, light switches and such.

Good luck with the buil and congrats!

We did the same on outlets. I actually went through the house with red spray paint and marked EVERY location I wanted an outlet. In addition we ran cat 5 cable and coaxle to multiple spots in every room.

After the electricians were done I went in and wired both dens for surround sound with in ceiling speakers and junction boxes for hookups to the AV system. Didn’t cost much money.


If you don’t do anything else I would make sure to put outlets inside or above you kitchen wall cabinets. Makes adding under cabinet lighting much easier

Already stressing and haven't even cleared the lot off . My father was a custom home builder for about 35 years in our area, he'd always tell folks up front building a house is one of the most stressful and trying things on a marriage. My wife , I and my father survived it. I suspect you will too.

Tip, make decisions well in advance and try not to make changes . Don't do things like moving walls after they are up, changing colors after the painter has put up a coat and such. That slows down the whole process and cost $.

Communicate well I told my painter to include porch ceiling in price of exterior paint well my wife decided for tongue n groove and forgot to tell painter to stain so it's painted now