So you're going to build a new home - how exciting!  Before you get to work planning that new home, it's important to consider your site and how it will affect the design of the home.  Below are eleven questions to ask yourself as you consider the design of your home and how it will fit on your property.  

These questions apply whether you've already purchased a lot or are just starting to look at properties.  If you already have a property, then these questions should help to determine the location of the home on the site and its layout.  If you're looking for property to buy, use these questions as you evaluate whether a given piece of land would suit your needs, particularly if you already have a floor plan that you would like to use.  

• Where is the sun - in summer and winter? This is especially important if you plan to build a passive solar home or use roof-mounted solar panels but also affects how much sun - good or bad - you'll get in the house throughout the day.
• Which direction do the winter winds come from? The summer breezes?  
• Where are the views you want to enjoy and those you want to exclude? 
• Are your neighbors’ homes visible? 
• What other buildings or features do you plan to build on your site? 
• Which parts of the site are most/least noisy? 
• Are there any features of the site, such as vegetation or rock outcroppings, that you want to preserve?
• How will you access the building site from the road, and what will you see as you drive along your driveway?  
• Are there areas of the site that tend to be wet or carry surface drainage, or that should be avoided for other reasons?  
• Is your site flat or sloping?  If sloping, is it a gentle or steep slope?  A flat site is ideal for slab on grade construction or an unexposed basement, or if you want a home that spreads out horizontally.  A moderately sloping site works well with a walkout basement.  A steeply sloping site works well with multiple levels and calls for a more vertical arrangement of levels and spaces (although keep in mind that there can be additional expenses related to site work that come with a steep site).  
• Does the house size that you’re considering - including driveways, parking areas and outdoor living areas - fit well on your lot?

These questions and others are part of my Home Planning Guide, which is available for free download.

Here are photos from a home I designed for a recently retired couple who relocated from Omaha, Nebraska.  Their beautiful 80 acre site is situated in the Town of Moscow near Hollandale, Wisconsin.  

The living room, kitchen, sun room and master bedroom suite are located on the first floor, and the floor joists were recessed so that there are no steps from the garage or the entry porch into the house.  There is also an elevator which connects all three floors, in order to make it easier for the homeowners to "age in place."

The walkout basement is currently unfinished, but there are plans for additional bedrooms there in the future.

The second floor is dedicated to a hobby room, which has windows in all four directions and a balcony for viewing the landscape and wildlife.  There is an additional balcony located off of the kitchen as well.

The sun room is spacious and well-suited to taking in the views as well as entertaining, and it can be closed off from the rest of the house with french doors.  The living room feels cozier and more intimate.

The gently sloping site works well for a walkout basement, and the house is nicely integrated with numerous retaining walls and plantings, which the homeowners are in the process of installing.

This project is titled "Boscobel Country Home #1" because it is, by coincidence, one of two homes that I've designed for two separate clients, who have properties in the same development outside of Boscobel Wisconsin.  The two clients both contacted me in the spring of 2014, within a month of each other.  

The clients for this project are from the Chicago area, and construction of their home was completed in 2017.  The general contractor for this project was Richard Kinney of Knapps Creek Builders in Blue River, Wisconsin.

The clients requested a home inspired by a famous fishing shack in Rockport, Massachusetts called "Motif No.1", shown below.  I hadn't heard of it, but according to the New England Historical Society, it may be the most-painted building in the United States.

This will be a vacation home and eventual retirement home for my clients.  They purchased most of their cabinets from Ikea, and many of the furnishings for the home were acquired from thrift stores.

In last month's blog post, I discussed how you can go about finding and choosing a general contractor for your project.  This month will explore the contract for construction itself.  First let's look at how contractors typically get paid.

HOW CONTRACTORS GET PAID
The most common way that contractors bill for their work is with a fixed-price bid which includes the cost for labor, materials, products and markup (the contractor’s 20- to 25- percent fee, which pays his overhead and his salary) for each phase of the job.  

Some contractors prefer to work on a time and materials (T&M) basis.  Instead of a set price, they charge as they go for the cost of labor and supplies, plus a markup.  Working on a time and materials basis, you pay only for the hours worked and the materials used, but it means less certainty about the final cost of the project.

The T&M contract may be especially appropriate for a project where there are a lot of unknowns,  such as a remodeling project where you’re uncertain what the contractor may find once he starts opening up the existing house.  An unscrupulous contractor can use a T&M contract to work slowly and pad his fee, so never sign a T&M contract unless it has a price cap (T&M, not-to-exceed contract).

THE CONTRACT
Once you've selected your general contractor, he or she should present you with a contract.  For the protection of both you and the contractor, always have a written contract. It should be clear and concise and should lay out all of your expectations and understandings about the job.  Do not sign anything until you understand it all. You may want to have your attorney review the contract before you sign it.

The contract should include:

• the contractor’s name, physical address, phone number and license number
• the scope of work, as detailed in the architectural drawings and specifications, including each material used and each product’s model, size and brand.  If some materials will be chosen later, the contract should say who’s responsible for choosing each item and how much money is budgeted for it (allowances)
• the itemized bid (if you are using a fixed-price contract)
• estimated project start and end dates 
• any agreements you’ve made (e.g. when the workday starts, who is responsible for getting necessary permits, or whether the contractor is responsible for trash hauling and clean-up work)
• a statement explaining any warranties on materials, labor or services (be sure you understand any exceptions or limitations)
• the payment schedule for the contractor, subcontractors and suppliers
• how changes orders are handled
• a requirement that the contractor obtain lien releases from all subcontractors and suppliers

In addition you should get a list of subcontractors and proof of insurance.


THE PAYMENT SCHEDULE

A contract for construction should include a payment schedule.   The contractor may ask for an initial down payment.  After that, the contract should call for progress payments - that is, installments made when certain predetermined parts of the job (framing, mechanicals, drywall) have been completed to your satisfaction.  Never let the dollars get ahead of the work, so that you’re not paying out money for work that hasn’t been finished.   The final payment (retainage) should be at least 10 to 15 percent of the total cost.  
Before you sign off and make the final payment, check that:

• all work is complete and meets the standards spelled out in the contract
• the contractor has given you all of the product manuals and warranty certificates
• you have proof that all subcontractors and suppliers have been paid (via lien waivers)
• the job site has been cleaned up and cleared of excess materials, tools and equipment

The general contractor should give you lien waivers each time he is paid, as proof that he has in turn paid his subcontractors and suppliers for their labor and materials. If you pay the general contractor, but he fails to pay his subcontractors or suppliers, the subs or suppliers can put a lien on your home.

KEEP RECORDS

Before, during and after construction, keep all paperwork related to your project in one place.  This includes:

• copies of the contract
• change orders
• any correspondence with your home improvement professionals
• a record of all payments - you may need receipts for tax purposes

Keep a log or journal of all phone calls, conversations and activities.  You may also want to take photographs as the job progresses.  These records are especially important if you have problems with your project - during or after construction.

I'm currently working on the design of this Craftsman-style house for a site overlooking Shell Lake in Washburn County, Wisconsin.  My clients came to me with a design that had been drawn by a designer at the local lumber yard, and while they were happy with the layout, they were not satisfied with the outward appearance of the house, which didn't resemble their inspiration pictures.  

One difficulty with using historic styles to build current-day houses is that our size expectations are different than they were in earlier times.  The original bungalows and craftsman-style homes were typically much smaller than new homes built today, and it can be difficult to achieve the same look and proportions of homes from foregone days while also expanding the amount of space within the house.

I improved the original design by paying careful attention to the details that give a home of this era its character.  The revised design uses window sizes and groupings that are more appropriate for homes of that era, as well as period details such as decorative brackets, exposed rafter tails on the front porch and head trim bands that extend beyond the sides of the windows.  

While leaving the first level floor plan mostly as-is, I narrowed the house a few feet to subtly improve the proportions of the front facade and moved the first floor bathroom and side entrance to a bump out on the right side of the house.  I grouped and moved the windows on the front wall to create a nicely balanced facade.

The second story plan was totally reworked.  By moving both bedrooms to the front of the house, I was able to achieve an attractive symmetrical arrangement of the windows on the second floor.  The second and third bedroom closets grew from 4' to 6' long, and the upstairs family bathroom went from a 1/2 bath to a full bath. This was achieved without increasing the overall square footage of the second floor by increasing the wall height of the upper floor, which created more usable space.  

Due to an attention to proportion, scale, balance, symmetry, hierarchy (for example, windows on the upper floor should generally be smaller than windows on the lower floor) and appropriate period detail, the revised design is both more beautiful and more functional than the original.

One of the challenging parts of building a new home or even doing an addition or remodeling project is that there are so many choices that must be made.  You may have been planning your home project for years and already know exactly what you want.  If not, your architect or builder can likely recommend suppliers that they like to work with.  Showrooms can be terrific places to see what's available and how prices compare, and knowledgeable sales people can educate you about product differences.

The internet can be a great resource for ideas or even a source for purchasing materials.  However, keep in mind that if you purchase a product on-line and there's a problem with it after it's installed, it may not be covered under your builder's warranty so the cost of labor to replace it may not be included in your construction contract.  

Here is a list of products that need to be selected on a typical project.  There may be additional selections needed for your project.

I am currently working on construction drawings for a new home near Readstown, Wisconsin.  My clients will soon be empty nesters, and this will become their full-time home after they retire in a few years.  

On this site, the best long distance views and sun exposure throughout the day are to the southeast, and so all of the public spaces, including the screen porch and deck, as well as the master bedroom, are lined up along that side of the home.  

The garage is tucked under the house in order to make use of the site slope and also to reduce the amount of basement space.  With the exception of the guest entry / mud room, all of the living spaces are on the upper level.  A covered patio on the opposite end of the house from the garage is sized so that it could be used as a single-car carport in the future if the clients find that walking up and down stairs becomes too difficult.

The 3D floor plan below shows the arrangement of the public spaces and master bedroom along the southeast side of the house.  A den, guest bedroom, second bathroom and laundry occupy the northwest side of the house.  

The living room includes a 10' ceiling and large window grouping flanked by built-in shelving and a window seat.  It is divided from the kitchen by a partial wall which helps to define the two spaces but allows some visibility between them.  In place of a formal dining room, there is a dining nook with built-in seating, which is given a sense of separation by a partial wall and a 7' ceiling height.

The long 3D section through the house, shown below, clearly illustrates how the utilitarian spaces (garage and basement) sit below the main level of the house.  It also illustrates how the ceiling is highest in the center of the house (the living room) and steps down towards either end.

It takes a team of people to bring a construction project to life, including a lender, architect, homebuilder, material suppliers and government officials. Others may be involved as well, depending on the project.
 
LENDER
 
Many people who build a new home will borrow money from a bank, credit union or mortgage lender to fund their project.  The lender will decide what they can afford to borrow based on their monthly income, existing debt, anticipated home-related expenses, and credit score.  The lender will be interested in the value of the finished home because they don’t want to lend more than what the house can sell for.  They will want floor plans and elevations and will have the design of the prospective home appraised to determine its value. A lender will usually require that the borrower contribute a percentage of the cost of the home in the form of a down payment.
 
For an existing home, equity that has been built up may be borrowed against to fund remodeling or an addition to that home, in the form of a home equity loan.
 
Before approaching an architect or builder, it’s helpful to meet with a lender in order to know how much can be borrowed.
 
ARCHITECT
 
The architect will design your new home, remodel or addition and may also guide their client through the bidding and construction processes. 
 
HOMEBUILDER
 
The builder actually constructs the new home, remodel or addition.  The builder and their crew will likely do some of the work themselves but will also subcontract out parts of the job that they don’t have the in-house expertise to do.  Trades (subcontractors) that are frequently “subbed out” include concrete, cabinets and other millwork, electrical, plumbing and heating/cooling, as well as specialties such as sound or security systems.
 
The builder will have a contract with each of these subs, and the lender will likely require lien waivers from the builder, showing that the subs have been paid for their work. 
 
MATERIAL SUPPLIERS
 
The builder will typically have certain material suppliers that they like to work with. The homeowner will likely have little to no involvement with the supplier of materials such as trusses, lumber and sheathing but may work directly with suppliers of cabinets and counters, floor finishes, and plumbing fixtures, who may have showrooms where homeowners can view their products.
 
MUNICIPALITY, COUNTY AND STATE
 
The local municipality, county and state will also be involved in the project by way of ordinances and code requirements.  The municipality will usually have rules about what and where you can build on your property.  The county may have rules about private sewage systems, and building near flood plains, bodies of water or wetlands.  The state has mandatory building standards in the form of the Uniform Dwelling Code. Depending on the nature of your project, a building inspector may be required to inspect the project at certain stages of construction.
 
 
The project team may also include the following: 
 
INTERIOR DESIGNER
 
An interior designer can help with the selection of cabinets and countertops, flooring, tile, light fixtures, and plumbing fixtures  (although an architect may also help with these selections).  An interior designer can also help select and purchase furniture, window coverings, and paint colors.
 
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
 
A landscape architect is a specialist in the grounds surrounding the home.  They can help with the design of patios and other outdoor paving, trees, shrubs and flowers, decorative or retaining walls, outdoor lighting, and water features. 
 
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
 
Depending on the structural complexity of a project, a structural engineer may be involved. They will usually be a subcontractor of the architect.
 
ENERGY MODELER / CONSULTANT
 
The services of an energy consultant may be included on projects where the client has a strong interest in energy efficiency.  The energy consultant can work with the architect and builder to suggest the best ways to build an energy-efficient home and may do energy modeling to predict the energy performance of a new home, possibly modeling different floor, wall and roof assemblies.
 

Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to that question.  Building costs can vary widely depending on the home design, materials and details used and even location.  Here is a Fine Homebuilding article I've found which does a great job of discussing some of the decisions which can affect the price of a new home.  It appeared in issue #259,  the Spring / Summer 2016 issue of Fine Homebuilding.

​If you're building in the country, don't forget to add the cost of a septic system and well as well as a driveway.
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