Overchoice

The multitude of choices and how you make decisions is a huge part of a custom home build especially when you are GCing it yourself. Sometimes you have many choices but not much time to make a decision. Other times you may have limited choices but more time than you really need to make a decision. You can become completely paralyzed by all these choices. Sure it sounds like fun to have so much input, and sometimes it is but after a while it gets daunting and exhausting. No pressure, but many of the decisions you make are expensive and final. You are going to have to live with them for a long time so choose wisely.

We purchased our home plan a year before we bought our land and started to build. In that year we spent hours and hours researching and collecting infrastructure and finish ideas for our home online through Houzz and Pinterest. I like to joke that I had a Pinterest board for everything even the type of nails we would use to frame the house! The year of research was like a decision boot camp to prepare us for the building of our home!

When we were applying for the construction loan and I was on maternity leave running around trying to get a building permit. We were also making most of our finish decisions. We tried to build in as many of the upgrades we wanted upfront so we could set a realistic project analysis/building budget. Typically when you build with a builder or developer they set your finish budget for you and anything over that budget you are responsible to pay for out of pocket. A builder will try to maximize his/her profit so the budget they set is typically based on inexpensive finishes they can purchase in bulk. What you would call "builder grade"

The best advice I can give is not to get hung up on the little details. Everything can't be perfect. You have a 1000 different styles to choose from for every single item in your home. Do you really need to obsess over the perfect door knob or window trim? How often will you be starring at those things when you are living in your home? You have to be realistic about what you can you afford? You have to make wise choices about where you spend your money. You may find that you have champagne taste and a beer budget.

One day I spent 3 hours with an amazing local lighting designer developing a lighting plan and schedule. Interestingly enough there is an art to choosing light fixtures. I knew what style fixtures I wanted but I needed a professional to determine the size and to ensure that the fixture would illuminate the space appropriately. Ex: A barn light casts light down while a lantern casts light out.

Not only did we choose the actual fixtures themselves but we determined the placement of every light inside and outside the house. I was then able to use the lighting plan to get electrical bids. And when we chose an electrician he used the lighting plan to do all the rough electrical. Money well spent!

We must have clocked at least 20 hours choosing all of the bathtubs, cabinets, and fixtures for the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry rooms. I spent more hours than I can count at a local tile store obsessing over the tile for the laundry, mudroom, kitchen back splash and bathrooms. Finally we spent countless hours getting 3 different kitchen designs before we settled on one. We have learned to be confident in our choices. Once you start second guessing yourself it can spiral out of control.

The choices and decisions are daily sometimes hourly! Last weekend I had to meet with our electrician to chose the location of every light switch, outlet, cable internet and telephone jack for the entire house. We literally walked from room to room magic marker in hand and he marked the walls as we made decisions. I also had to make a decision on the number of switches for each room specifically how I wanted lights to turn on. Ex: In the bathroom you can have one switch for the fan, one switch for the light, one switch for the light and the fan to turn on.  And these are decisions that need to be made immediately so the electrician can finish his rough work and move on to his next job.

The pay off for all the planning, research and time spent making decisions is seeing it all come together!