Home Building Suggestions

[SonofaBish]

Well, some of those that know me are aware that I'm building a home... I had one place all picked out, but then I've changed my mind for several reasons... one being that the garage was only 20'x20' ... my truck is 19' long!!!

Just looking for some advice from some of the guys on here that own there own home. All the paperwork is being pushed through on the property - 2 acres in westmoreland county - so in the meantime, i have a ton of decisions to make...

basically, What would you have done if you could do it all over again? Interior, exterior, etc. I've been polling everyone i know, b/c i want to make sure i'm happy. After a long time looking, i've picked out another place, but before i make a final decision, I wanna be sure its right.

All of this hard work is the reason I sold my car, and i know i'm NOT going to regret it in the end - as long as things get done right!

Gimme your thoughts!

[94svtcobra]

Are you building an attached or detached garage? if you have the funds I have always liked the idea of having a two car attached and the a larger detached so I could have somewhere to keep the project type cars. Big kitchens and a good number of bathrooms are a plus as well great for resale value longterm, also having my first two story I wish I had a bathroom on the first floor, but the steps are good exercise lol

[Viper_ed]

As soon as I can find a piece of propety I like, I plan on building. Going ot go with a ranch stlye. Footprint will be around 4,000 square feet, but it will have a fully finished basement, so liveable square footage should be between 7,500 and 8,000 square feet. It's going to have 2 seperate garages, each 28' x 40'. I figure one to work in and one to park in.

I also plan on building a 20' x 20' vault underneath the master bedroom to be the safe for all my guns and double as a saferoom in the house. It will have a vault door to access it form downstairs as well as a set of stairs behind a second vault door in the master bedroom closet for quick access from upstairs. Only thing I'm still researching is what I'd have to do to put a 50' indoor pistol range in the basement.

I have all the ideas in my head at this point and plan on building and finishing the entire house myself, so that alone will save a ton of cash. With all the permit BS you have to go through, I guess I'll have to pay someone to draw up all the plans.

[SonofaBish]

Are you building an attached or detached garage? if you have the funds I have always liked the idea of having a two car attached and the a larger detached so I could have somewhere to keep the project type cars. Big kitchens and a good number of bathrooms are a plus as well great for resale value longterm, also having my first two story I wish I had a bathroom on the first floor, but the steps are good exercise lol
The place I'm 95% certain i'm going to build is a 4 bedroom, 3 full bath, with 2 car attached garage... The garage is decent sized, but luckily it has its own roofline, so it can be made bigger without any trouble.... Its a 2950 sq. ft. place, so its got some good size....

It has 3 of the 4 bedrooms on the first floor, along with 2 full baths... the 4th bedroom is upstairs with a very large loft that overlooks the vaulted "great room."

[SonofaBish]

Very nice Ed!!!

I do plan on finishing the basement in this place as well, but not right away - i don't have the funds for that... the first floor is 2100 sq. foot, so once i get to finishing the basement down the road, that will add some nice size as well....

I'm not sweet enough to have a gun vault under my room tho! lol :goodidea:

[94svtcobra]

sounds like a nice floor plan :goodidea:

[Hawkeye]

Make the garage as big as you can possibly afford. Mine is 22 x 32 and it still isn't enough. Also, make sure you get heat in the garage as well, as it sucks working in the cold. Mine is detached.
As far as other things I have 1 and 1/2 baths, I will definitely need 2 full baths and the 1/2 as my girls get older. Wire more outlets, phone jacks, and cable outlets than you think you need as you never know where you may put the tv's etc.
Laundry chutes or first floor laundry are great time savers.
Don't waste any space on a "formal" living room, make a BIG family room instead.
My 2 cents....

[GOT SVT]

who is your builder?

is this in a housing plan or by itself??

[THE BIG KOALA]

I See In Your One Post Your Moving To Upper Burrell Look Me Up When You Move Im From Vandergrift

[SonofaBish]

who is your builder?

is this in a housing plan or by itself??
It is out in the middle of the woods... I was actually under contract with a home that was in a housing plan, until it failed to pass home inspection. I only did it because it was a smokin' deal - but i'm glad it fell through, b/c in the 10 months i spent looking for a home, i never wanted to be in a housing plan....

I'm currently bidding two different builders. The one I still have yet to see his work, but the other does great work and is going to be buildilng my brother's home. He also has done a ton of work as far as going to the Twp building and getting permit applications, etc. and getting questions answered - questions that i had been asking about for 2 weeks on the phone, and no one wanted to give me an answer. His assertiveness is making me lean toward him...


I See In Your One Post Your Moving To Upper Burrell Look Me Up When You Move Im From Vandergrift

Well, actually i'll be even closer to you sir... The place i almost bought was in Upper Burrell twp, but i'm now building on a piece of property in Washington Twp. :thmbsup: look forward to seein' the car!

[SonofaBish]

Make the garage as big as you can possibly afford. Mine is 22 x 32 and it still isn't enough. Also, make sure you get heat in the garage as well, as it sucks working in the cold. Mine is detached.
As far as other things I have 1 and 1/2 baths, I will definitely need 2 full baths and the 1/2 as my girls get older. Wire more outlets, phone jacks, and cable outlets than you think you need as you never know where you may put the tv's etc.
Laundry chutes or first floor laundry are great time savers.
Don't waste any space on a "formal" living room, make a BIG family room instead.
My 2 cents....
thanks for the suggestions!! much appreciated! :goodidea:... interestingly enough, that's exactly how this place is set up... no formal living room, just a large, vaulted family room that they are calling the "great room"

[wick]

Brent, If you are building out that way, look up Dominic Ricciuiti. He builds fabulous homes. He is a friend and where I used to work, we did all his excavating work. He does everything from plans to individual homes. Windy hill in Plum is one of our/his sites. Cant remember the other one on New Texas road but that was huge. It can give you an idea of building styles.

[SonofaBish]

Thanks Rob - i appreciate it!

[89 vert]

Think about installing radiant heat tubing in your garage floor as well as the basement, you can hook it up later when the funds allow. You would spent under a grand for all the materials to install it. There is nothing better that working on your car with a heated floor or walking on your finished basement floor in your bare feet. All it would consist of is laying flexible plastic tubing over the mesh with 8-10 inch spread. Also 2 furnaces and 2 ac's will give you maximum comfort on your floors. Have your plumber install a water line above your cooktop. You can fill all your pots for cooking, its pretty cool, just my 2 cents

[wick]

Thanks Rob - i appreciate it!


:goodidea:

[85stang]

Think about installing radiant heat tubing in your garage floor as well as the basement, you can hook it up later when the funds allow. You would spent under a grand for all the materials to install it. There is nothing better that working on your car with a heated floor or walking on your finished basement floor in your bare feet. All it would consist of is laying flexible plastic tubing over the mesh with 8-10 inch spread. Also 2 furnaces and 2 ac's will give you maximum comfort on your floors. Have your plumber install a water line above your cooktop. You can fill all your pots for cooking, its pretty cool, just my 2 cents
idont know about the water line above the stove, but the heated concrete floors are a must for any new build. yhe floors stay warm and it radiats so the basement/garage is a constant temp. my boss put it in his basement and its amazing.

[DAN - O]

Brent, If you are building out that way, look up Dominic Ricciuiti. He builds fabulous homes. He is a friend and where I used to work, we did all his excavating work. He does everything from plans to individual homes. Windy hill in Plum is one of our/his sites. Cant remember the other one on New Texas road but that was huge. It can give you an idea of building styles.

Dom Riccuiti does amazing work. I went to school with his sons and have been to multiple homes he has built! From the house he lives in to just random homes he has built are SWEET! Rockland Manor is probably the other homes wick was talking about off of New Texas Road. Just throwin my 2 cent out there.

[wick]

Dom Riccuiti does amazing work. I went to school with his sons and have been to multiple homes he has built! From the house he lives in to just random homes he has built are SWEET! Rockland Manor is probably the other homes wick was talking about off of New Texas Road. Just throwin my 2 cent out there.


Thats it!!!!! Rockland. My old company did the site work there.

[wick]

Hey Dan, there was one more that we did the final phase on which linked the rest of the phases together. It was at the top of a hill and went up to the left and straight. Cant think of what it was either. Thats been 9 years ago. HAHAHA

[Silverhatch]

Thats it!!!!! Rockland. My old company did the site work there.
Wow! "Fabulous!":rofl:

[wick]

Wow! "Fabulous!":rofl:


Huh? You lost me Brian...

[smoked88lx]

I'm in the new home structured wiring bussiness, and con not stress enough how important it is to wire the house properly the first time, it'll only be opened up once , you should have at least 2 rg-6's and 2 cat5e's per room, for bedrooms and common areas, and you should really think about a whole house audio system, if you are into music or having parties, it is so nice to have music in every room, and lastly, home theaters are now becoming very affordable, and if you have one you will have no reason to go to the regular movie theater because your house's system will look and sound better, if you need any help let me know......

[Silverhatch]

Huh? You lost me Brian...

Just seems funny that you used the word fabulous, thats all.

[SonofaBish]

I'm in the new home structured wiring bussiness, and con not stress enough how important it is to wire the house properly the first time, it'll only be opened up once , you should have at least 2 rg-6's and 2 cat5e's per room, for bedrooms and common areas, and you should really think about a whole house audio system, if you are into music or having parties, it is so nice to have music in every room, and lastly, home theaters are now becoming very affordable, and if you have one you will have no reason to go to the regular movie theater because your house's system will look and sound better, if you need any help let me know......
Well, see this is the type of stuff i'm looking for... never in a million years would I have thought of this - i guess partially because I have wireless, so CAT5 isn't something i'm going to think about...

Thanks for the thoughts!

[Hawkeye]

I'm in the new home structured wiring bussiness, and con not stress enough how important it is to wire the house properly the first time, it'll only be opened up once , you should have at least 2 rg-6's and 2 cat5e's per room, for bedrooms and common areas, and you should really think about a whole house audio system, if you are into music or having parties, it is so nice to have music in every room, and lastly, home theaters are now becoming very affordable, and if you have one you will have no reason to go to the regular movie theater because your house's system will look and sound better, if you need any help let me know......

X2
Even if you don't built a complete home theater, you should wire your main tv room for the rear and side speakers, so you don't end up having to run/hide wires all over the floors and behind everything.

[smoked88lx]

Well, see this is the type of stuff i'm looking for... never in a million years would I have thought of this - i guess partially because I have wireless, so CAT5 isn't something i'm going to think about...

Thanks for the thoughts!

even if you dont need it for your home network, it is a extremely versitile wire, you can carry, voice, data, audio, video, signal, just about anything over cat5e, in my bussiness it is a life line, and with cat5 , most things are possible......

[smoked88lx]

X2
Even if you don't built a complete home theater, you should wire your main tv room for the rear and side speakers, so you don't end up having to run/hide wires all over the floors and behind everything.


Yes, prewire whenever possible, even if you will never use it, bury the wires and take pictures of it someday you or someone you sell the house to may want it.......

[2001GTTT]

these are some awesome ideas, never wouldve thought about the heated floors or water line for cooking.

[89 vert]

Something else thats pretty cool, have your electrican install plugs near all of your windows that are controlled by a 1 switch. All of your christmas lights can plug into the plugs. It will save you from going from window to window to turn on whatever you are putting up.

[SonofaBish]

Thanks guys!!! this thread will be a big help when those stages of the build come around!

[wick]

Just seems funny that you used the word fabulous, thats all.


HAHHAH Oh. Thanks...

[SonofaBish]

So... I guess I'll see you guys' opinion on what place I'm going to build... I'm about 95% certain i'm going to build the one, but I'm still searching around everywhere I can to see if anything else catches my eye...

Obviously, there are thousand's of plans out there, but there are a few specific things I would like.

I have the option of building an absolutely enormous place that is modeled after something like a Ryan or Maronda home.Now, these houses look huge, and I can get a very large place, b/c they are cheap to build... Square foudation + really basic square layout + 6x12 roof = really cheap per square foot.. however, i feel like there's no character with one of those places... There's something about them that i love from the outside - probably the fact that they look so damn big ... but the inside is 1 square room after another, all the same size.... I know some people that have places liek this, and they really like them, but i'm fearful that i'll regret not building a place with more 'character.'

So below is some pics of the place i'm possibly going to build... its got everything i was looking for... its pretty large (2900+ sq. ft.), has a first floor master suite, a decent garage that can easily be made bigger, a second floor loft w/ balcony that overlooks the vaulted "great room" (family room), etc... The floor plan layout of the kitchen leaves a little to be desired, but kitchens can be easily moved around within the dimensions....
The place doesn't have that "dominating" figure that the homes described above have, but I think its just more ..... "homey" ... if that make sense...

what do you guys think? I like it alot! :D

[stieny]

I like the openness of the main living area. I think it looks like a real nice place although I'd definitely decorate it differently. :)

Looks good though.

[SonofaBish]

I like the openness of the main living area. I think it looks like a real nice place although I'd definitely decorate it differently. :)

Looks good though.
thx Kevin :goodidea:

[yeahloh95]

i am looking at getting or building a house this year too where did you find those pictures ?that layout is awsome .whats the master suite look like?

[pRojekt02GT]

Do away with the bright interior colors..other than that, looks amazing.

[SonofaBish]

i am looking at getting or building a house this year too where did you find those pictures ?that layout is awsome .whats the master suite look like?
Troy - check out www.houseplans.com .... I've looked through a TON of different sites, and this site seems to be the easiest to navigate, as well as having the most options to narrow down your search by... Furthermore, its one of the only sites that doesn't jam up the browser for a few seconds as it loads each page - i don't know why, but that drives me insane. This house is plan # 137-188

I REALLY like the place as well - those pictures are from the website i listed above - its really rare for houses on there to have actual pictures, so don't expect that very often - usually sketches are all that's available.... As i said, i really like the layout, and it has pretty much everything I was looking for. There aren't any other pictures of the inside, so I don't know how they intend the master suite to look. Myself, I have some changes for how the master bath would be set up... Also, I'm thinking I may move the staircase to the other side of the kitchen, for aestetic reasons, so that it can be a part of the wide-open, vaulted family room.

As for the color schemes - i'm a numbers guy, not an artsy guy - i don't imagine stuff like that real well, so the colors and decorating will be primarily done by suggestion from my g/f and family members/friends...

[stieny]

As for the color schemes - i'm a numbers guy, not an artsy guy - i don't imagine stuff like that real well, so the colors and decorating will be primarily done by suggestion from my g/f and family members/friends...

Come see me at SW. I'll take care of you. :thumbsup:

[blkp42e]

another thing to look into getting is places you will be putting flatscreens pre-wired to keep the plugs/jacks hidden in the wall behind the mounting bracket. Also, cat 5 run from those locations to nearby closets for Infrared repeaters so that you can run your cable boxes/dvd player/surround from a closet. also, id try to at least get 1 or 2 outlets in the closets..... sounds dumb, but if you plan on putting your electrical equiptment out of the way in a closet, you will need the power

[jaa55]

I like the way our house is laid out, only down fall it has it only has a single garage in it. but we have a detached 3 bay so that fixed that problem. it has a loft that over looks the living room. 3 full bath rooms it should be a 3 bedroom-5bedroom. we turned two into one large room with a bar and lounge. and the other into a large laundry room. so its 2 bedroom now. the kitchen has a bar thats connected with the living room. it has a large deck around the front, one balcony from the loft and another deck on the rear of the house. I think its called a chalet, its like an A-frame but the eves don't come the entire way to the ground. I wish i had some pictures of it. we pre-wired for surround, subwoofers. if youre builing a new one better wire for 7.1 surround we only planned on 5.1 at the time. wiring extra coaxial cables in a room would be a good idea, my TV is permanantly stuck on one wall because of where my coaxial and surround hook up is.

[jaa55]

this is it

http://www.creativehouseplans.com/images/mini-chalet.jpg

[cam303]

What kind of prices have you got for building this house?

[SonofaBish]

What kind of prices have you got for building this house?
I'd rather not share that....

[SonofaBish]

this is it

http://www.creativehouseplans.com/images/mini-chalet.jpg
Like I said in the original post, I'm 90% sure i'm going to build that one, but I'm reconsidering a place that is similar to yours!! Partially because its a bit smaller, and thus is going to be a bit more affordable... Found out yesterday that the final cost on the place I want to build came in just a tad over budget - not necessarily enough to make me NOT build it, but also not sure I'm comfortable with the allowances that the builder is alloting me for certing things.... therefore, I am reconsidering...

Great lookin place!

[jaa55]

thanks, ill have to get some actual pictures of it this weekend. its a little different than the chalet in the picture but you get the general idea :thumbsup:

[Christine57]

I hope you also checked around in Westmoreland County, which city, twp., has the lowest taxes. And, God bless you when you build in Westmoreland County, they now have the same code as Allegheny County. Before I sold my Mom and Dad's house after he passed, the inspector came and found 7 things that I had to do, before THEY would let me sell it. Good Luck!

[SonofaBish]

I hope you also checked around in Westmoreland County, which city, twp., has the lowest taxes. And, God bless you when you build in Westmoreland County, they now have the same code as Allegheny County. Before I sold my Mom and Dad's house after he passed, the inspector came and found 7 things that I had to do, before THEY would let me sell it. Good Luck!
I don't have a whole lot of options - I work in downtown pittsburgh, so its not like I can pick and choose where I want to live in the county.... However, i have researched it a ton, and I'm pretty well set on where I'm going to be. The township is a royal PITA, but thats mainly because they have stuff set up so that NO ONE can put a housing plan in the area - they want to keep it very rural .... too bad they screwed it up for everyone when they put those ordinances in.....

As far as taxes, Westmoreland coutny is high, but nowhere near as high as allegheny.... I did a lot of reasearch on this since its a huge deciding factor on how large of a home I can afford to build... taxes in westmoreland are about 75% of what they are in most municipalities in allegheny county.... either way, i'll still pay more in taxes than my parents do in Indiana county, and they have property worth twice what mine will be worth...