Building a Home: Tips from Sharla

I am recovering. From what you may ask? I didn’t have a baby, but I kind of feel like I did! We’ve been in the process of building our new home, since June 2010, to be exact—and we just moved in a month ago.

I told Eric that we should write the entire house off as Continuing Education, but he sweetly reminded me that it wasn’t accredited C.E., so therefore, not a write-off. But, it was a great education for us and I am confident that both Eric and I are better Realtors now, understanding firsthand, the process of building. . . Which included finding a lot, tearing down a house, working with the local municipality for approvals, working with architects—including my brother which was a highlight, making all the selections and collaborating with our builder and subcontractors to build our new home.

I could write a book on the whole ordeal but instead thought I would share with you the Top 3 Lessons I learned about building in the last 2 years:

1. Choose your builder like you are choosing your spouse! You need to communicate with each other really well and trust each other because there will always be issues that you’ll need to work out together. Case in Point: Our kitchen island required 2 slabs of granite and when they were installed, they didn’t match. I asked Tom (Tom Ryan of Ryan Homes, Inc.) if he’d want that in his house and he replied, “Nope, I’ll fix it!” and he did.

2. Get input from everyone! My brother, Dave, is an Architect in Sioux Falls, and he and I spent weeks going through our plans together. We also got input from our friends and clients which resulted in some great ideas for our home. Case in Point: What looks like a bookcase is really a Murphy Bed in our main floor Office. It’ll turn the office into an extra bedroom on Holidays when our whole family stays for the weekend.

3. Build a Book. I called mine “The Book of Broken Dreams” because most of my ‘great ideas’ came from upperbracket homes . . . so we couldn’t afford them. Our builder was really creative and together, we would come up with a solution that Eric & I could afford and gave us the look we wanted. Case in Point: I love the look of wood moldings and wainscoting but it’s very expensive. So, we framed millwork around drywall to create the same look.

If you are considering building a new home, we can definitely provide some insight into the process.  Give us a call and we'd be happy to discuss it with you.  We'd love to hear from you, our readers.  What things did you learn during the building process that would help others as they build their new homes?  Please share in the comments.

Our Best,
Sharla & Eric