Builder Meeting. Pre-Construction

My dad started asking me a lot of questions about the foundation and various other things...."ummm, I don't know dad" was the answer to all of the them, so I told him I would set up a meeting with the builder and he could ask away. I also had some questions cooked up that I wanted to ask, so this was going to be productive! I e-mailed Mickey (Michael Barnes Custom Homes) and he got back to me right away with his availability. The meeting was set for the following Wednesday after work. I ended up having a bout 3 pages of questions and changes I wanted to make to the original plan...and here they all are.

-Cinder block coated on inside and out to waterproof-how do you seal the block?

Black tar/spray from loaded in a truck from Murfreesboro

Blocks filled with concrete every 6ft and on all corners

-Will you dig down for footers till find something firm and bring in dirt or gravel?

Ground is scraped, footers are poured and gravel is then brought into crawl space area for plastic to go down on top of. Scrapped dirt is used to back-fill around foundation

-Does the crawl space have to vent per code?

Yes, per code crawl space must be vented

-When do we decide exactly where the house is going to be?

The septic area will be staked out and sectioned off with mesh fence, can then go to the land and put 4 steaks in a basic square to show where we want house to be built. House/driveway/sidewalk must be at least 25ft away from the septic area.

After we decide where house will be then the driveway will be constructed. After that they will start preparing the area for the footers/foundation.

-Will the house have hurricane straps?

Yes, there will be clips strapping the house to the foundation and also clips to stap the roof to the framing down to the foundation.

-Window allowance?

Depending on the window size $200-250 per window

Allowance is for single hung, upgrade to double hung about $100 per window

Windows are Low-E but not Argon gas filled, upgrade for that is about $25 per window.

Brand used by builder Ply-Gem

-Rot proof frame for doors? Says in contract metal doors is the framing metal too.

The framing for the outside doors is “rot proof”.

Mahogany door is allowed at about $1,700

Back French doors allowed at about $700

-How much of the 6.50 a sqft for hardwood and 25sq. yard for carpet is install and how much for the actual flooring?

The hardwood flooring itself is allowed at $4.50 per sqft with install of $2 sqft

Carpeting itself is budgeted at about $22 sq yd with install of $3 per sqyd.

-20k for all counters and cabinets installed—does this allowance include the bathrooms and laundry area? Does this include all the cabinets pictured? This is enough for all pictured standard from Timber and Grade 1 granite.

Yes, allowance is for all kitchen bath and laundry

Allowance should cover all cabinets pictured, Tier 1 grade with Standard finish at Timber

Allowance should cover grade 1 granite from Modern Granite; sink will be included in this as well with an allowance of $200 for kitchen sink and $50-60 for vanity sinks.

-Tile flooring in all wet areas, baths, and laundry $3.00 sqft is that installed or just for the tile? Same with shower tile allowance ($3 and $6 for deco).

This allowance id for the tile itself, install is not factored into this allowance

This also includes back splash tile for the kitchen

-4k light fixture allowance is that installed or just for the fixtures themselves

Does the plan outline where lighting should be or do I need to decide that?

Lighting will be in the middle of rooms and 12 recessed lighting is included and can be placed wherever you like. To add more recessed, the cost is $75 each light.

Most people do upgrade their lighting package and spend an average of 1,000+ on additional fans and lighting.

-How much to add an extra exterior outlet?

Additional outside outlets are around $75 each.

-How much is budgeted or allowed for the HVAC units?

I would like to upgrade from 13seer to 18seer for the downstairs unit and possibly the bonus.

A formula is used to calculate the allowance for this, the install could be the same no matter what unit. A quote will have to be obtained from HVAC installer to upgrade from 13seer to 18seer.

-What is the allowance for the floor vents, the company that makes the bamboo flooring I am considering makes matching floor vents.

Allowance for basic brown metal floor vents is around $6 a vent.

Some custom vents need to be installed at the time the flooring is installed to cut around them properly and this will add cost to flooring install.

-What is the allowance for vanity mirrors?

Basic 3 sided beveled edge strip mirror is allowed at $3 a sqft

-Says wood columns on front and back porch. Do fiberglass ones cost more and are they less maintenance?

Columns are cedar wood and painted. The columns should not rot if kept painted.

-How much should we budget to make back porch screened in?

Adding a screened in porch will be 5,000, 2 doors out and ceiling fan

-How much extra is it going to be to make the shower bigger instead of having the tub in master? No glass/no door shower 1 Shower head, 1 shower hose and 1 rain head on ceiling.

This should be a wash depending on the cost of the fixtures you choose.

-Kitchen hood and actually vented outside

Venting the hood outside will be an extra $150, the hood should be covered in the appliance allowance

-Built-ins for entertainment unit where fireplace shown on plan.

Built in-s or out-s run about $1,200 for a 6ft unit, $200 a foot

-Surround sound wiring for bonus room?

The wiring for just the bonus room is about $500

-Concrete patio staining for back patios?

-How much to add a bathroom over bathroom beside the study?

Adding a full bath is about 5,500.

-Exposed beams in living room?

Adding 3 exposed cedar beams in living room is about $1,500.

-How does it work if I want to use my own Subs? How will I know the allowance for certain jobs and if someone I know will be able to do it for less?

Just have to get quotes and ask him how much the job is to compare.

Example $2.80 sqft for electrical, this does not include the electrical fixtures, $325 per fixture for plumbing, this amount does not include the fixture itself just labor.

Changes discussed and given to Mickey 1/22

1.)    No angled walls in kitchen and study

2.)    A closet and no desk in the hall by back bedrooms

3.)    Closet in back bedroom by patio to mirror adjacent bedroom, closet to be along the wall and not corner as shown per plan.

4.)    Siding door instead of French doors by nook

5.)    Screened in Lanai area, 2 doors and ceiling fan, per Mickey estimate of $5,000.

6.)    No tub in master, large walk in shower with extended wall and no glass. Per Mickey this would be a wash between no tub and larger shower, only extra cost would be if pick out expensive fixtures.

7.)    Full bathroom upstairs, per Mickey would not be approved for extra bathroom, could plumb for it and add later 5,000 for half bath and $325 for shower plus cost of the actual shower stall and shower head.

The Land

We finally found the land!

We started out looking at homes that were on the market but had a hard time finding a house in our budget that was not a cookie cutter home in a cramped neighborhood. We wanted some space and privacy! The homes on 1+ acres that we looked at were either old and outdated or in the middle of nowhere. We are currently living in the downtown Franklin area and even though we are 5 miles from the interstate it can take 20+ minutes to get there. We LOVE Franklin, our parents are close by and the school systems are amazing, it is the perfect little town for the family we plan on starting in the near future. I grew up in the area and my husband has lived here long enough to realize how wonderful it is. And we are not the only ones who think Franklin is the place to be, CNN Money agrees that Franklin is one of the "Best Places to Live in the US"! People are drawn to the area which also mean lots of traffic and that has got to be the worse part about living in Williamson County. The infrastructure is just not meant to handle the daily commuter and school system traffic, they are working on it, which is causing a cluster F**K right now but should be better eventually (EVENTUALLY!). Why they have decided that EVER route in and out of Franklin needs to be under construction at the EXACT same time...I do not know! Funding or potential loss of funding, bad planning...who knows but it sure is a mess right now. Okay...I'm ranting. Back to the finding the land. After our agent, Jane Phiffiner, set up showing after showing, I think she realized that we were not going to be satisfied with the current inventory of homes for sale. She tried old homes that were updated on bigger lots, new homes on nice sized lots, old homes under our budget with lots of potential for updating but nothing was satisfying us. I guess we didn't realize that our checklist was going to be so hard to fulfill. She finally suggested we talk with the builder that some of her other clients had used and were currently building with. After one meeting I was sold, who doesn't love the idea of having a brand new home that was made just for you! Soooo….next step was to go to the bank and see if we can make this happen and how the “construction loan” process works. CONFUSING, that’s exactly what it is! Thankfully I previously worked in banking and had a very close friend that worked directly in lending, she hooked us up with a great loan officer (Travis Smith at People’s State Bank in Nolensville, TN) and she was there with us for the whole process. Once we figured out how much cash we needed (15% of the total cost of the land and construction) we had a good idea on how much we could spend on the land and building the house. Then we started looking at lots, that was not easy either. PICKY, PICKY, we are PICKY! And we should be, we plan on living her for a long time, raising our kids here, making this our dream home. We looked at lots that were exactly one acre in upcoming neighborhoods, we looked at wooded area that were 3-8 acres, we looked a land on the North, South, East and West sides of Williamson County. The one acre lots in neighborhoods were too cramped and came with strict rules as far as what the house had to look like along with deposits for Architecture Review Committees, association fees, rules on what type of fence you can have, square foot minimums, landscaping requirements. NO THANKS! Raw land was a challenge as well…location, plot maps, soil tests, septic costs, was the lot level, were there additional cost for clearing trees. After looking at many potential sites for the new house we finally found a lot that already had a plot map, soil tests, septic map and was perked for a 4 bedroom house and was in the ideal location. It was located on the West side of Franklin 5 miles from the interstate, anyone who is familiar with the area know that traffic on the West side is nothing compared to other areas (anything off Mack Hatcher, Lewisburg Pike, Concord Rd, Nolensville Rd, Wilson Pike and in Thompson Station or Spring Hill—if you hate traffic STAY AWAY from these roads/areas!) The land use to be a dairy farm once owned by Ann and John Beasley who passed away and left the farm to their three daughters; Ann (Cothran), Sue (Fryer) and Lymn (Rhoades). Before Ann passed she sold two plots (that I know of), one plot is about 6 acres and was sold to former TN Titans player Rocky Calmus. The other lot is also about 6 acres and was sold to a very friendly guy named Buddy Tate. We met Mr. Tate while out looking at the land before we purchased it, he was there with his two children that appeared to be in elementary school. He was very friendly and as far as neighbors go, we think he will be a good one. Mr. Tate has owned his lot for a few years and plans to build a house on it soon, he is in the landscaping business and has planted TONS of trees on his property. There are hedges on his property line, willow trees and pines on the road front portion. His lot is looking good! He has even turned an old feed silo into a little “cabin” with electricity, a couch and he has a fenced-in garden all set up. On one side of us is the Beasley farm house, which they plan on selling and the other side is Mr. Tate’s lot, next to his lot is Rocky Calmus and his existing home. Rocky’s house is very nice and looks like it has been there for a few year, we have not met him yet, he is now in the landscaping business as well. My dad and I plan on going out to the land this weekend to take down the fence along the road and clear a spot for the new driveway to be constructed. The land is not much use right now but it is a nice place to bring the dogs to for exercise, and the hubs and I like to image what it will look like when it is OUR HOME!

SOLD to US!! YAY!! 

The land...not every exciting to look at yet.

Pictures of the house plans!

Pictures of the house plans!

The Fulgum House - Franklin, TN

 We are turning the "exercise room" into a room for our dogs. There will be a door to the outside and a fenced in area just for them.

The MAN CAVE area, this is all for my husband and we are adding a full bathroom up here in the "Alcove" area. Lucky husband, I will probably never see him again!