chEFFs Dream Home Build

Went and looked at a house in Arlington to get some ideas. Liked the overall look of this house. We're going with this exterior look. House has an unlimited budget tho. We do NOT! Peace

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Needless to say we've moved a lot of dirt over the years. And the trees have disappeared. Peace

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ChEFF said:
Opinions Matter. And there are a lot of them. Whats your thinking on rising costs of lumber / materials? Build or not to build? So many people have delayed their build based on rising costs of materials. Our lumber package has risen $40k. And our construction loan did not have the extra $40k in it.  And then you have this rising costs in existing homes. Our house will sell right now for a lot more than it would have two years a go. Off Set themselves? Are we looking at permanent cost increase? Or will the 2x4's come back to reality? Whats your thoughts? Peace
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The recent price increases are due to a shortage of truckers, there's plenty of lumber, it's just sitting at the lumber mills or distribution points. Eventually prices will drop. Not down to pre-covid prices, but a lot lower than they are now. I was wondering why you chose to build a house now. A lot of custom home builders have canceled their contracts recently because the customer wasn't willing to pay more and they weren't willing to eat the losses. Their contracts had clauses in them to allow them to cancel if prices increased.

Have you considered a different construction method? Traditional stud walls leak heat through them via the studs themselves. There are a lot of alternatives like 3D printed concrete where the inner wall and outer wall are isolated via spray foam. Other companies mix the dirt excavated on site with straw and form bricks, making a thick adobe wall with a lot of thermal mass. Both methods are cheaper than current lumber costs and will save huge amounts in heating/cooling bills.

This guy built a 11,840 sft castle in one week. 3 stories, balconies, etc.



 
This builder is out of Austin, TX. Robotic concrete construction. Much cheaper, since there aren't any carpenters involved and the robot works 24 hrs a day, builds the entire house in a week or less.



 
3 hours ago, Lord of the Dunes said:

This builder is out of Austin, TX. Robotic concrete construction. Much cheaper, since there aren't any carpenters involved and the robot works 24 hrs a day, builds the entire house in a week or less.

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Thats amazing. Today my plumbers left because it was too hot to work. I wonder if the machine complains about the weather? Peace

 
Rough In the plumbing before the slab is poured. The guys were off by a few inches on a couple spots. You should have seen their faces when they had to move some of the shiitter pipes. This has to be EXACT! Once the foundation is poured, it's Final. Peace 

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ChEFF said:
The one question we're not going to hear....."Where's the Sihter?" Peace
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That reminds me...

my old neighbor has a wife and 3 teenaged daughters. He moved from a 4br 3ba (with 4 sinks) house to a 4br 1ba house with larger bedrooms.

I ran into him a couple of weeks after he moved and asked him how things were going. He replied, "Horrible! I had no effing clue how much time women spent in the bathroom in the morning!! I gotta get up at 6am to sh1t, shower and shave then all hell breaks loose with 4 women fighting and screaming! I gotta hire a contractor to add 2 more bathrooms or we're never gonna survive!"

I guess he didn't plan on that!      :lol:

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
That reminds me...

my old neighbor has a wife and 3 teenaged daughters. He moved from a 4br 3ba (with 4 sinks) house to a 4br 1ba house with larger bedrooms.

I ran into him a couple of weeks after he moved and asked him how things were going. He replied, "Horrible! I had no effing clue how much time women spent in the bathroom in the morning!! I gotta get up at 6am to sh1t, shower and shave then all hell breaks loose with 4 women fighting and screaming! I gotta hire a contractor to add 2 more bathrooms or we're never gonna survive!"

I guess he didn't plan on that!      :lol:
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What idiot builds a 4br , 1ba house.  Even my Great Aunts house that she has owned sense 1948 that has a kitchen so small two people can hardly stand in it( People were a lot smaller back then) was built as a 2br, 2ba and they turned  the garage into another bedroom and built a 1/2 bath in it so there are 3 toilets two tubs and 3 sinks in that tiny house.

4 bedrooms and one bath the guy was an idiot for even letting his wife look at it. 

 
Our design is a one bedroom house, With Two (2) living quarters attached. So when you're spending the weekend and need to get up in the middle of the night, you won't be running down our hallway. You have your own hallway! I'll get the floor plans on here when I learn how! 4 bedroom 1 bath, With girls?....Just shoot me! Peace 

 
MONEY!! Everyone has to talk money when Building a Dream Home. The point being, when the project was guesstimated we (my builder) bid HIGH. Our financial NAZI said....."Don't come back asking for more" That was before the CRAZY prices and availability hit the markets. Lumber packages! Electrical Wiring etc etc etc....Remind you, the builder we chose I met on the golf course. We know the same people. Everyone I know who knows this man says he's a great guy, builds a great home. It turns out over the past 2 years he is exactly that. Also, I've always said, if I'm going to spend the money give it to a friend. Why support strangers families? Of course, there are some friends I wouldn't want to participate (We all have them). Builder and I met this morning to finalize our Window Package (Thanks SYBIZ) BTW......There are some very talented people on this site who know their shiit! You were huge help! Appreciate you stepping up and leading me thru the process. There are a million options in windows, sure makes the decision much easier with knowledge behind your choices. back to the MONEY! There hasn't been a single draw from this project yet. And since so many things have changed, we need to discuss finances. Were you a Cost (+20%) or a fixed Cost? Is it fair when the lumber package increases $50,000.00 does the builder deserve the extra $10,000.00? See where i'm going with this? One of the things you learn about people and their character is talk MONEY with them. You will know the difference between a money grubbing HO and an honest legitimate person. A nickel and dimer or a person who just wants to do people right. When you do people right, the money will be there! Another reason why we needed to discuss MONEY, his wife handles the business side of the company. And with the little amount of time i've spent with her, it's been a bad gut feeling internally for me. Like she's out to screw us for every dime in this project. A Completely different feeling when i'm dealing with him. I'm not the guy to break off a friendship and business relationship, but I can see where his wife could cause that to happen. I started out the conversation letting him know, "We Want YOUR COMPANY To Get the Amount Needed in This Build!" And then HELP US in every other category. Please let your wife know, we're not trying to screw YOU out of any MONEY! This guys been building homes for 30 years. Don't think he's been married to this woman 30 years. And did I mention I don't play golf with her either? She could be the dagger in the heart of the Dream Home Build. To make a long story short, he said exactly what I wanted to hear. Just like everyone told me about him. Great Guy totally fair man. Just like I thought of him too. They started out at a (Cost+20%). and with all the changes he said, We'll take the original number quoted and "CAP" it at an (18% Max) number. Everything over is out of our pocket. After the conversation was over, I'm comfortable with the decision made re: MONEY talk. And I had to throw in "Make sure and let your wife know!!" Peace     

 
When the wives get involved with money it gets ugly.  Just last week and not on your scale. 

 
I took some of the teachings of my step-dad more serious then others.

We he purchased his home, he made sure his brother lived closer to their mother  than he did.

We he remodeled his house, he scheduled to be out of town on business as much as he could

When I purchased my home, I made sure I was not the closest to my moms house and was far enough she doesn't do the pop in.

When I remodeled my house with the Ex, I was working out of town and only would come home for the weekends.

Step-dad told me , even though he was out of town most of the time while the remodel was going on they still almost didn't make it thru the project.  Said it was the toughest times of there marriage. 

 
MWB said:
I took some of the teachings of my step-dad more serious then others.

We he purchased his home, he made sure his brother lived closer to their mother  than he did.

We he remodeled his house, he scheduled to be out of town on business as much as he could

When I purchased my home, I made sure I was not the closest to my moms house and was far enough she doesn't do the pop in.

When I remodeled my house with the Ex, I was working out of town and only would come home for the weekends.

Step-dad told me , even though he was out of town most of the time while the remodel was going on they still almost didn't make it thru the project.  Said it was the toughest times of there marriage. 
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Genius.

 
I think I'll fly to San Diego Thursday@ Peace

 
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