Exactly. Hey everyone. Let the pros to the pro stuff ok?
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Buying 4 acres to build a home on. Any Advice/Suggestions/Warnings/Do's & Don'ts?
- Thread starter CobraJohn01
- Start date
Exactly. Hey everyone. Let the pros to the pro stuff ok?
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A joint check agreement with the GC solves that potential problem.
Gas generator will be on my must have list when we move out to our property in Dickinson. You in the Commons?
So you don't trust a GC to pay their subs, but you'd open a joint checking account with them.
If you hire a GC to contract your job without checking their references, then you are a dumb **** that deserves the ****ing you are about to get. Their job quality and references experience will speak for themselves.
I greatly appreciate all the input you all have been giving. To get about halfway caught up:
Never thought of that regarding the roof always being in the shade. I think we're going to clear out enough trees that are close enough to the house so that hopefully won't be a problem. In regards to the clearing, my cousin is going to do the clearing since he has access to the equipment for free, so we're going to try to be careful to clear enough for the house and have a decent sized yard without thinning out the wooded buffer around us for privacy and separation from the neighbors/future neighbors. Figured he can always come back at a later time and clear more if we decide we need to make more room for something. Good call on the generator. Hadn't thought of that.
What would you consider "regularaly" in regards to topping off? Yearly? There's only going to be 3 of us and it would primarily be for the stove. I'm not sure how quickly you can burn through that. Was going to go with an electric tankless heater, but not 100% yet.
1. You've got me intrigued about the spray foam, but I'm also a little scared by how much more expensive you're saying it is. How hot/cold does it get where you're at? I'm near Charlotte, NC so it gets pretty warm in earl-mid spring and gets pretty hot during the summer. Winters, compared to the Ohio winters I was used to, aren't too bad relatively speaking. But I'd be happy to save money on heating costs if the extra cost of the spray foam makes it sensible.
2. How much more expensive is a metal roof? We really like the looks of them. Any issues with it being "louder", like when it rains and stuff?
3. For sure!
4. This is what we were thinking of doing. Is one unit enough for a 3BR 2 BA house of maybe 1800 or so sq ft? Wasn't sure if there would be a need for multiple tanks? We were quoted around $3k to have one installed in our current home. Is it significantly cheaper than that to go tankless when building vs the traditional style?
Our land was already perked as well by the previous owner, but I don't think we want the home site exactly where their perk shows it, so we'll probably get another one done. No existing well unfortunately. I can imagine the wrong builder would make it a terrible experience. We're already a little uneasy about the process and we haven't even started yet. Any idea how much cheaper your asphalt was than concrete would have been? 50% savings? More? We're thinking our house will be around 120' or so back from the road, so it won't be a huge driveway, but I know concrete can get expensive.
Never thought of that regarding the roof always being in the shade. I think we're going to clear out enough trees that are close enough to the house so that hopefully won't be a problem. In regards to the clearing, my cousin is going to do the clearing since he has access to the equipment for free, so we're going to try to be careful to clear enough for the house and have a decent sized yard without thinning out the wooded buffer around us for privacy and separation from the neighbors/future neighbors. Figured he can always come back at a later time and clear more if we decide we need to make more room for something. Good call on the generator. Hadn't thought of that.
What would you consider "regularaly" in regards to topping off? Yearly? There's only going to be 3 of us and it would primarily be for the stove. I'm not sure how quickly you can burn through that. Was going to go with an electric tankless heater, but not 100% yet.
1. You've got me intrigued about the spray foam, but I'm also a little scared by how much more expensive you're saying it is. How hot/cold does it get where you're at? I'm near Charlotte, NC so it gets pretty warm in earl-mid spring and gets pretty hot during the summer. Winters, compared to the Ohio winters I was used to, aren't too bad relatively speaking. But I'd be happy to save money on heating costs if the extra cost of the spray foam makes it sensible.
2. How much more expensive is a metal roof? We really like the looks of them. Any issues with it being "louder", like when it rains and stuff?
3. For sure!
4. This is what we were thinking of doing. Is one unit enough for a 3BR 2 BA house of maybe 1800 or so sq ft? Wasn't sure if there would be a need for multiple tanks? We were quoted around $3k to have one installed in our current home. Is it significantly cheaper than that to go tankless when building vs the traditional style?
Our land was already perked as well by the previous owner, but I don't think we want the home site exactly where their perk shows it, so we'll probably get another one done. No existing well unfortunately. I can imagine the wrong builder would make it a terrible experience. We're already a little uneasy about the process and we haven't even started yet. Any idea how much cheaper your asphalt was than concrete would have been? 50% savings? More? We're thinking our house will be around 120' or so back from the road, so it won't be a huge driveway, but I know concrete can get expensive.
You don't open a joint checking account with them. You do a joint check; i.e. write the check to the GC in the amount the sub's requisition and have it sign it over to the sub/vendor. We do do this when our subs aren't paying their labor/vendors. Don't do this from the start. It's done if the GC isn't paying his bills. This mitigates any risk of liens..
Depending on the layout I would do 2 smaller ones vs one large one if the bathrooms and kitchen are on opposite sides of the house.
I put a tankless electric heater in my lake house. It was under 600 for the kit, breakers and wire. I installed it in a couple hours with adding the 3 new breakers, I even used the left over wire and moved to a better spot a couple years later when we added a new master bath. Whoever quoted you 3k was the I didn't want to do it price. They cost a little more than a tanked unit but shouldn't be more than a 500 upgrade cost. A plumber will buy a tanked unit by the truckload and they cost him next to nothing.
One thing my parents learned when they built their house, was to chose a company familiar with the area.
There was pretty much one company that did the wells where they were building, and another company about 40 miles away bid $15k less. The GC was trying to stay within budget and opted to save the $15k and it ended up costing an additional $47k between having another well drilled and cistern installed.
There was pretty much one company that did the wells where they were building, and another company about 40 miles away bid $15k less. The GC was trying to stay within budget and opted to save the $15k and it ended up costing an additional $47k between having another well drilled and cistern installed.
Plan on the most efficient ductless heating pump/ ac heads...
Electric Hybrid water heaters!!!
Electric Hybrid water heaters!!!
Yeah I want to explorer these ductless systems. Would love to stick one on the garage too so that I can do stuff in there in the middle of summer and not melt. Lol. What's an electric hybrid water heater? Never heard of these.
Good lord. I didn't even know wells got up to $15k, let alone SAVE that much from one bid to another. I was under the impression a well would be around $3-5k. That's shocking.
It's a wealthy area, so that will be part of it. And the well depth was pretty deep if I remember right, somewhere in the 700' range or maybe a little deeper.
Yep I am, just moved here back in September from League City. Best place I could find to have trees and a couple acres but still within an hour driving distance from the base I'm stationed at.
My wife and I looked at that place before we bought our property. It's really nice out there. We just weren't ready to build at the time.
My wife and I looked at that place before we bought our property. It's really nice out there. We just weren't ready to build at the time.
Hybrid water heater is definitely for you being in Carolina. It uses heat inside house to heat the water in tank. Then as waste product it throws out a/c air into that specific room, so technically its a dehumidifier also...
Check you local electrical company website. I purchased my Rheem 50 gal tank at home depot. $1200.00 then I received an instant $600 rebate. It was cheaper than regular water heater, but the difference in price to run it is amazing!!!!
Research it.. No brainer and you can use ductless heaters to heat the house/garage and it's also the same principle as the hybrid water heater… Cheap cheap!!
Sorry to hear that. Can't imagine getting into a project and having it run over by $100k! What would make your home fireproof? Only thing I can picture is it being made out of cinder blocks or something and a metal roof?
Good point. Never thought of that. Not sure yet if our place will be sitting a few feet up off the ground due to crawl space/basement, but it's definitely something to keep in mind.
Thank you. Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is going to be a stressful experience, but I just hope the payoff is worth it at the end!
Start socializing you plans with a builder now to understand the cost per square foot in your area, it can be shocking.
My well needed to be 570 feet deep, that will crush your “budget” .
If you can have city water and sewer and pass, your making a bad decision.
My plan was 240 per square for just the house due to the strict energy codes and dumb ass floor plan-too many corners
My well needed to be 570 feet deep, that will crush your “budget” .
If you can have city water and sewer and pass, your making a bad decision.
My plan was 240 per square for just the house due to the strict energy codes and dumb ass floor plan-too many corners
I was gonna do concrete/brick walls, metal studs and beams, and probably a poured concrete floor like they have in office buildings. Plus my goal was to utilize 'hurricane' doors and windows. They are not that much more money, but they are sure worth it when the bad weather hits, which it always does at some point!
I've got full basement, no problem keeping the windows up higher. On the windows, another thing I did in a full bath was I used a smaller sliding window, set so that it's about 5 feet off the floor. It still gets plenty of light and air, but if there's a female in the bathroom, she doesn't need to worry about any 'exposures'. It's a great little privacy feature IMHO.
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25 years ago I built a house on the Shenandoah river. We drove golf balls into it off the building lot. The well was being drilled as the house was being built. Three different Drilling companies tried and gave up. The one that got the closest to bedrock broke the 350 ft of 6 inch casing just shy of the bedrock. They pulled out after setting the pump that pushed 5gpm for 6 months to clear the water to just see through a sample. The house was done but couldn't be occupied, due to the water. It all worked out in the end, but could have lost the house if it was financed.
Take nothing as an absolute.
Take nothing as an absolute.
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