In 2006, we bought our first house. And we were just fortunate enough to be in a position to afford building a house. I even had a page set up on my site so our families could follow the build progress.

I remember going into the process, I had a lot of questions. Mostly about our ability to afford it and make sure everything came out the way we wanted. I think we came out alright, and we learned a few things along the way.

Below is a list that includes those things, as well as some additional tips for building a house that might be useful to others in a similar situation.

A buyer’s agent is not always necessary, if you have a good builder. But even if they aren’t necessary, they are still helpful.

Guttering all the way around the house is a must, and well worth the investment.

Don’t have the build schedule end in a hot month, because that’s when they do the landscaping and the plants will suffer. This was a combination of a west-facing garden and hot, humid climate.

Make sure the landscapers “roll the sod” after they lay it down, otherwise you will have grooves in your lawn. :squint:

If possible, make sure the driveway slopes down toward the street, otherwise water will pool next to your foundation.

Electricians have no idea what the carpenters are doing, and they never learn. Without fail, there are always light switch boxes placed too close to the door frame to allow for molding.

If you like to work in the garage, make it bigger. I don’t care what size it is to start with, make it bigger.

Be picky. A house is probably the single most expensive purchase you will ever make. You are paying for the right to be annoyingly anal retentive about the product you are going to get.

No matter what the Window Blinds/Shades salesperson says, you don’t need blinds on every single window. Some will be fine without them, or with your own window coverings.

For appliances, and other big purchases, shop in the scratch & dent and closeout area. Plenty of good stuff there.

I think this will be a running list that I will continually update from time to time, as I think of new things to add. Not all of these things are mistakes that I made. Some of them are mistakes that might have been made by the builder had I not pointed them out ahead of time. But hopefully all of them will serve as helpful tips for building a house.

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