Can We Close?

The last few weeks have been waiting to get a closing date from the bank, or at least that’s what we thought.  After finalizing the price, submitting the executed contract with the builder, and ordering the appraisal for the bank, I was hoping that last week we would get a committed closing date.  Two items popped up: one is that part of the three acre property is in a flood zone, so the banks are insisting on flood insurance.  Our property is quite sloped, and we’ll be a good 30ft above the flood zone, and that’s obvious if you look at the topo map of the property with our proposed location, but I still have to pay several hundred dollars to get an actual survey of the property done.  Thanks bureaucracy.

The other issue is larger, after going this far with one particular bank, they’re now telling me that since I have a “cost plus” contract, I need to be able to show an additional 10% cash in reserves in case of overrun.  That nature of my job will have me collecting another 10% over the course of construction, but I cannot show it before closing.  I’m speaking with other banks now to see if that’s an industry standard, or if a particular requirement of the bank I’m working with. So far, my original second place bank (actually had a lower interest rate all along) has said they don’t have the same requirement.  At this point, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Worst case is I’ll have to go back to a “fixed price” contract with my builder, and affectively pay him an additional 5% for him to carry the risk of overruns. There’s some attraction to the builder carrying the risk, but I don’t like the loss of control.  Regardless, this week has come and gone, and I don’t yet have a closing date.  Crossing my fingers for next week, but I imagine I’ll get a date the next.

A Smarter Home

How smart should your home be?  Part of what I’m looking forward to in our new home is adding some “smart” features.  I’m a bit of a techy, so I’m excited to figure out the right balance of a traditional and smart home.  In the mean time, I’m doing a bit of testing in our rental house.  As I explore my smart house options, I have one guiding principal, my wife (or a visitor) shouldn’t notice the difference.  Meaning, if you’re not using the “smart” features, it must function as normal. For example, all smart lights should be operable by a switch without anyone noticing they’re smart.

Since I can’t do any real changes in the rental, mostly what I’m testing now is smart lighting, and I’ve hit several brands:

Belkin Wemo Switches, Senors and Bulbs: I’ve had a Belkin Switch hooked up to my coffee maker for months, but a few months ago, I added their LED bulbs and motion sensor to the mix.  I have to say, the Belkin stuff was the most reliable and worked what seemed to be flawlessly once it was set up.  The technology piece of it was executed really well.  I had it set up this way: I’d manually turn on the coffee maker from my phone when I woke up, so it’d be a fresh as it could be when I got downstairs.  On coming downstairs, the motion sensor would see me and dimly turn on two of the LED bulbs and another switch connected to a nearby lamp.

Again, the tech worked well, but I have returned all but my coffee maker switch and sensor for a few reasons:

  1. I’m really picky about color temperature of any LED bulb.  Although I’d say these had pretty good color, I saw them as a little green, and they were especially noticeable when compared to an incandescent. For an LED to work in my house, it has to have the same feel as an incandescent, and I admit it’s been a difficult road to find one. As a side note, one of my very favorite non-smart LED bulbs is also the cheapest…I cannot tell the difference between the Ikea LED that was 4 dollars and an incandescent.
  2. Although the Wemo system is great for what it is, the eco system seems rather small (but growing here in 2015) when you’re building a house from scratch. I’ve got the freedom to add smart outlets, smart dimmers, three-way dimmers, and other gadgets built in.  The Wemo ecosystem is more focused on a retrofit.

Wink and GE Link Bulbs: Wink has gotten a very bad wrap due to some (I assume) early glitches over the last year.  I’ve had Wink working GE bulbs for a couple of months now, and I can say I’m really impressed.  There are a couple of advantages of this setup:

  1. Since Wink has really been slammed on Amazon and most of the initial online reviews spoke more of potential than execution, the Wink hub is easy to find on sale.  I got mine off Amazon for 15 dollars, but Home Depot often has deals if you buy a few GE Link Bulbs.
  2. The GE Link Bulbs are awesome, not only are they currently almost half the price of the Wemo Bulb and Hue Lux (about $15 instead of $30 as of Spring 2015), their color temperature is awesome.  These bulbs are warm enough that it’s hard to tell which is which when comparing to an incandescent.  They also dim really nicely.  I’m a big fan of the performance, color and price of these bulbs.  They also look really cool if you have them in a lamp shade that’s a bit see-through with the light on.  They produce a sharp point of light instead of filtered light through a frosted glass bulb (but without, it seems to me, the shadows associated with clear-glass incandescent bulbs) I haven’t tried the new (as of Spring 15) Cree 4flow, which are supposedly great too at the same price, but it’s hard to stray away from GE Link (UPDATE: 3/10 – I bought a Connected 4Flow.  I’d still say GE Link has better temperature, but Cree is close. I think for smart bulbs I’ll stick with GE, but for bulbs that are not smart, Cree will be the winner, because I can’t find the “dumb” versions of the GE Link).

Philips Hue: I’m a little embarrassed to say I bought these, but I did.  I used the excuse that my kids would love the changing colors, and we could have family dance parties (we have), but really I bought these premium items because I couldn’t resist.  I’ve wanted them from day one, and I didn’t have kids at that time.

I’m not disappointed.  Even if you don’t want dance parties, with Hue, you don’t have to worry about whether or not the color temperature is right for you, you can even change it throughout to day.   For example, I have them set to come on downstairs in three lamps as I wake up.  They come on initially very dim and very warm, perfect for me to pour my coffee and sit down to read.  As the sun rises and the natural light starts to come in, the lamps get way too orange, so I have a “Full Daylight” setting that they stay on for the rest of the day that mimics a traditional incandescent (although it could mimic the outdoors if I wanted it to).  At about 7:30pm, when we’ve got the kids to bed, the lights change (over a 10 minute span, so it’s not even noticeable) to a slightly warmer, slightly dimmer “Warm Evenings” setting.  I even bought an extra bulb for the kids room to double as a nightlight and an indicator of when it’s time to get up (the light changes to pink when they’re allowed to get out of bed).

So with all this testing, what is my plan? I don’t really know.  But it’ll look something like this: All lamps will either have a GE Link (or Cree if they’re better somehow, although I’m not sure how) or a Philips Hue if needed, but at 4 times the cost of a GE, it’s going to be only where I just can’t live without the prospect of an instant dance party. I also plan to have Hue Strips for my under cabinet lighting, simply for the changing color temperature factor. (UPDATE 3/10 – I bought a set of Friends of Hue Lightstrips, but they don’t have the same base LEDs as the bulbs, and therefore cannot reproduce the same warm and cool whites. They’re mostly for vivid accent colors, so I don’t think they’ll work for my under cabinet lighting).

My can lights, and they’ll be plenty, will probably not be smart bulbs, but rather dimmable smart switches, since I can get non-smart bulbs for half the price of smart ones and control them with a Lutron switch or similar.  Another reason is all the Smart Bulbs I’ve come across default to full on after they lose power.  That’s good when you want to reset them with a switch, but bad when the power goes off in the middle of the night.  Bedrooms will all have smart switches instead of bulbs. I’ll try some Wink/Quirky smart security as well and plan to install one Kwikset Kivo as well as Nest thermostat.  I’ll also do some sensors for specific things (pantry light, dim night light in the bathroom, etc).  I’m sure I’ll throw in a few smart outlets too (automated coffee, Christmas tree, etc).

I’m hoping that the main control panel for these will be Wink, as I love the idea of putting the Wink relay touchscreen by the bed and the garage entry to control the whole house at the touch of a button. I’ll update more as the plan comes together, but it’ll be a balance of cool features, traditional operation if need be, and cost.

Now to the Bank

We did work out a compromise with our builder that got us back to what we thought was reasonable.  We removed the Central Vac, downgraded to fiberglass insulation, stepped the brick to follow the grade instead of having a level brick water table (I think this looks better), moved from 300amp to 200amp electrical, and removed the $3,000 dollar stand alone tub. We’re hoping to add the central vac and tub back on our on dime during construction, but now we have contract price within 2 or 3% of what we expected.

Now it’s time to go get our loan.

A Way Forward

Over the last week, we’ve been able to find (in our opinion) a way to get us back to close to our original estimates—not without giving some things up, and picking up some of the slack.  I was always planning on doing the built-ins as I am a woodworker myself, but not all of it.

We’re also compromising on the spray in insulation.  Would have never thought it would have such an impact.

Is It Worth It?

We’ve done a couple of rounds with with the builder tweaking the floorpan and picking different types of construction options (kind of insulation, roofing, windows etc).  We met with him today to discussed the updated pricing, and we were surprised and disappointed that our price has increased by over 20%, well beyond what we’re willing to pay.  Thankfully, our builder went line by line and explained the differences over his initial estimations.  I’ve included his reasoning below.  You can see it all makes sense, so we’re headed back to the drawing board to see if we can come back to close to the original.  If not, we might have to stop the whole thing.

  1. Planning stage is about the same
  2. Site prep has increased due to the information that came back from John and David.
  3. Foundation has increased (not as much as previously thought) from the elevation information that I received
  4. Framing is about the same.
  5. Roofing is more because there is metal on the front porch.
  6. Ext. Windows and doors is about the same (moved the doors to allowances). There are less windows but more doors.
  7. Exterior Veneer increased quite a bit due to the brick.  The previous estimate was all hardi with “some” stone on front.
  8. Plumbing is about the same
  9. HVAC is less due to less sqft
  10. Electrical increase mainly because we added 4 more can lights and increased the amps from 200 – 300.
  11. Low voltage added the Central Vac
  12. Fireplace is about the same
  13. Insulation was fiberglass but increased due to the foam.
  14. Drywall is less due to less sqft
  15. Interior Trim is less due to much fewer built-ins, no shoe mold and no crown.
  16. Paint increase a little mainly because our painter has increased his price in the last 6 months but it is close.
  17. Specialties increased due to more exterior door knobs, additional glass in the shower, and added screen porch
  18. Exterior Areas increased because I added the concrete driveway and pad in front of garage
  19. Job Costs is about the same
  20. Allowances
    1. Front door increase because it includes all exterior doors
    2. Lighting is less due to less sqft
    3. Plumbing fixtures is the same
    4. Floor covering is about the same
    5. Cabinets is more because there are more cabinets
    6. Countertops are about the same
    7. Appliances are about the same
    8. Added a stand-alone tub
    9. Garage doors is taken from ext. doors and windows and made an allowance

Where Should We Put This Thing?

Progress has been slow with the Thanksgiving holiday and our family being under the weather, but we’re still moving forward.  Our builder sent us a revised floor plan and the first elevation yesterday.  It’s quite exciting to see the vision come together.  We’re both beginning to settle into “This is really happening”.

I spent a good deal of time walking our lot the other day.  Although it’s a very generous three acres in a great neighborhood, the slope and shape of it make the placement of the house less than obvious.  Essentially, the lot has street on three sides: the neighborhood’s central roundabout is on one side, and a road off the roundabout curves around the other two sides.  Additionally, the lot is sloped such that the high point is where is reaches the roundabout and it dips probably 40 feet to the bottom, where there is a small stream that cuts off about a half acre.  We’re excited about the stream and all the land, but we cannot decide where to place the house.  The video below shows the slope along the road that wraps behind the property.

Flooring

These would look incredible for our farm-house feel, but i can't imagine cleaning.
These would look incredible for our farm-house feel, but i can’t imagine cleaning.

Spoke with the flooring supplier today.  They’re saying they can create any look we might like. 5.50/sq foot for a mix of #3 and #2. We’ll see. My wife has in mind very rustic, so we think that’ll work.  She’s actually drawn to photos of rough sawn-stock floors, but we’ve agreed that although it’s the rustic we’re looking for, cleaning would be a pain.

 

Slow Pace

Since we have so much time before we want to start, and much of the stuff we’re discussing with the builder is usually after the build begins, the process has been slow. Over the last month, we’ve been browsing selections and working on refining the floor plan, and we’re getting pretty close to where we want to be.

We’ve discovered that it’s easy to get close to selections–we can pick the one or two candidates or the “type” of thing we want, but without the pressure of a deadline, we’re slow on making the final decision.  I don’t expect that will be a problem once we get into deadline mode, but so far, we haven’t been able to finally choose much.  We after a month, we’ve decided at least our strategy on appliances, flooring, cabinet style, and interior and exterior doors.  There’s a local builder overstock type place that can get me 12-lite exterior fir french doors at $1,500 a set.  These doors are beautiful, and I think it’s going to make the house.  My builders estimate was $4,500 on the front door door and about a grand for the rest.  Since we need 7 sets of french doors, we’re happy we found that deal.  That overstock place also said that I should get my trim and cement siding there, but I’m not as convinced my builder will be ok with that. We’ll see in our next meeting.  One place we are saving money on the estimates of the builder is on tile.  To us, there’s a “standard” tile that works fine, then there’s the premium tile that’s a natural product at 10+ dollars per sq foot.  In our case, the premium is definitely not worth it.

Ae we finish up the floor plan. We’re excited that fall is here.  The leaves will soon be completely off the trees, so we’ll be able to better figure out where to place the house.  The property is 3 acres on a corner lot, and we’re having trouble deciding which road we want the house to face.  With the lay of the lot both ways have advantages (more on that another time), but we won’t be able to tell for sure until we can get back there after all the leaves fall off the trees.  After looking at property for about a year, I can conclusively say that it’s much, much easier to evaluate a lot in the winter as opposed to summer.

Check out the builders surplus places I mentioned if you’re in the area: http://www.buildingmaterialsurplusatwoodstock.com

http://www.theliquidatorsatcumming.net

Need 4 sets of these, and 3 about a foot larger. Probably 20-30k in doors at retail.
Need 4 sets of these, and 3 about a foot larger. Probably 20-30k in doors at retail.
Proposed location for facing the house toward the roundabout.
Proposed location for facing the house toward the roundabout.

 

Selections Meetings Before Contract?

We met with our builder yesterday to discuss the house plans.  They’re a local design/build company, so they had drawn up some plans based on what we had said we wanted.  We were surprised that we very quickly were able to get the plan to what we think is 95% done in just a few minutes. In addition to that, our builder allowed us to begin the selection process.  Although normally they would not allow selections before the contract was signed, they are allowing us to move forward with the selections before we go under contract.  We wanted to do this because we want our contract to include the specific cost for items we want instead of allowances.  Our builder will do cost plus fixed price or fixed price contract.  Being risk averse to big changes, we want to do fixed price, but we don’t want to get far down the road after we signed a fixed price contract and realize our planned allowances are way too low, so we’re doing our selections now.

The First Steps

 

Another shot of the front of the lot facing the roundabout. Notice the fencing, I have to pay to complete it down the rest of the road (about 600 ft)
Another shot of the front of the lot facing the roundabout. Notice the fencing, I have to pay to complete it down the rest of the road (about 600 ft)

We want to move in in Sept of 2015. Our builder estimates it will take 6-8 months, so we plan to start in January/February.  Mild winters here in Atlanta make that possible.  Since we have several months before we get going, we are going about our contract with the builder differently than most.  Instead of assigning random “allowances” for our fixed price contract, we are working now, before contracting, to choose everything, and we’ll get everything by model number and price in the contract.  That will protect us from a budget perspective because we won’t get surprised and suddenly fall in love with cabinets that are three times our allowance.

Although we’re picking everything out before hand, I don’t expect it will reflect exactly what we use.  We’re thrifty shoppers and expect to find things on craigslist, overstock warehouses, antique markets.  In the house I just sold while we build, I had personally installed double 12-lite solid fir doors that I found at a local flea market for $75 dollars a piece.  They were a great find.  I have an app on my phone now that alerts me if any of my target items come up on craigslist (right now only searching for my pro style 48in range), and I’m holding aside money to directly purchase something if needed. There’s also a local overstock warehouse that I’ve bought from before where I believe I can find some deals. The agreement I want to reach with my builder basically says the fixed price contract includes all of the selections in the whole house by model number; however, for a certain category of items we’ll define, I can substitute items I source and receive back the money we were going to spend on what we previously defined.  I just have to let him know before they need to order it, and I’m responsible for making sure that it’s at the site on time.  My builder wasn’t born yesterday, so he’s not going to allow me to do this with most things. I’m not going to tell him where to buy his 2x4s, or shingles or even finish items like hardwood floors that can be a huge pain to install if the quality is not up to par (this one I know from back-breaking experience), but for items like appliances, countertops, cabinets, lighting, and landscaping let’s define the “worst case” scenario now and if I find something better in the interim, I’ll let him know and we can use it instead.  We haven’t formally agreed to this in the contract yet, but have agreed conceptually.

With all that in mind, we’re excited for next week because we are meeting with our builder for our first selection meeting.  We also plan to cover some of the finer points of our floor plan that they are drawing for us.  I’ll update with how that goes.