Building Your Custom Home For Dummies

YOU DESERVE A HOME THAT MEETS YOUR SPECIFIC NEEDS AND DESIRES!

If you find yourself dreaming of the perfect patio, the ideal kitchen, and inviting rooms where you love to spend time, it might just be time to start building! With Building Your Custom Home For Dummies, you won’t have to feel intimidated as you plan, finance, and oversee construction on your new oasis. You’ll learn what it takes to build a custom home, including which pros to call and when. This updated edition also covers the latest in real estate and home construction trends, including smart homes, green building, and banking options.

It's more important than ever to live in a home that’s truly how you want it, truly your own. Now is the perfect time to get started—if you’re still in the dreaming stage, this book will help you identify your style and articulate your vision. If you’re further along in the process, you’ll benefit from checklists and pointers on reviewing architects’ plans, evaluating contractor bids, flipping the home you build, and more.

* The latest guidance on building a beautiful home on any budget
* New ideas for high-tech homes with low carbon footprints
* Step-by-step instructions for securing financing, hiring architects, and finding reliable contractors
* Advice on how to invest your home-building budget wisely and plan for the future

Building Your Custom Home For Dummies takes you from finding the perfect homesite through laying the foundation to framing and finishing—in the friendly Dummies style you can trust.

KEVIN DAUM is the award-winning author of six books, including ­Building Your Own Home For Dummies.

JANICE BREWSTER WEISER has written extensively on custom homes and is a former editor of Log Home Living magazine. PETER ECONOMY is a Wall Street Journal best-selling business author and ghostwriter of more than 100 books. ANNE MARY CIMINELLI is an author, editor, and ghostwriter. Introduction 1

PART 1: GETTING STARTED WITH CUSTOM-HOME BUILDING 5

Chapter 1: The Custom-Home Process in a Nutshell 7

Chapter 2: Preparing for the Process 21

Chapter 3: The Land Grab: Selecting the Perfect Site 39

Chapter 4: Defining Your House Style 61

PART 2: ASSEMBLING YOUR TEAM 81

Chapter 5: Architects and Design: Time Spent Is Money Saved 83

Chapter 6: Engineers and City Folk: Approval Bureaucracy Made Somewhat Easy 109

Chapter 7: All the King’s Men: The Contractor and Their Cohorts 125

PART 3: ALL YOU NEED IS DOUGH: FINANCING YOUR CUSTOM HOME 141

Chapter 8: Cash Is King: Borrowing to Your Advantage 143

Chapter 9: Knowledge Is Power: What You Don’t Know about Construction Loans Can Hurt You 157

Chapter 10: Qualifying: It’s the Bank’s Way or the Highway 179

Chapter 11: Show Me the Money: Flowing Cash through the Project 203

PART 4: HAMMERS AND NAILS: OVERSEEING THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS 219

Chapter 12: Excavation and Foundation: Getting a Solid Start 221

Chapter 13: Framing and Rough: So Much Goes behind Those Walls! 237

Chapter 14: Heading for the Finish: The Devil’s in the Details 261

PART 5: ALL THE AFTER STUFF 287

Chapter 15: Making a House a Home: Moving In, Furnishing, and Using Smart Tech 289

Chapter 16: Taking It Outside: The Art of Landscaping and Hardscaping 297

Chapter 17: Making Your Nest Egg Financially Sound 313

PART 6: THE PART OF TENS 321

Chapter 18: Ten Common Custom-Home Mistakes and How to Avoid ’Em 323

Chapter 19: Ten Great Ways to Lower Construction Costs 329

Chapter 20: Ten Common Stuck-in-the-Middle Problems and Their Fixes 337

Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Build Sustainably 345

Chapter 22: Ten Helpful Custom-Home Resources 353

Index 359