Custom Home - Must Haves?

[spike camp]

Slop sink in garage.
Pre wire for hot tub.
Pre wire for back up generator
Bench in showers
Rain shower, shower heads (wall and ceiling heads)
Good toilets, elongated bowls.
Fire place that uses fans to push warm air into other rooms.
Tankless water heater

 

[welch01]

I work for a home builder and we build about 80 houses per year, hit me up if you have any specific questions.

A few things I thought of off the top of my head:
-Tankless Water Heater (especially if you have kids)
-Additional sound insulation at interior walls (especially if you have kids)
-Solid core door for your bedroom and/or other bedrooms (especially if you have kids)
-Cat6 Structured Wiring (where I live all the new subdivisions are going to this, not sure how many places are still using Cat5e)
-Pre-wire for a Wireless Access Point (WAP). Should be cheap and will help the overall performance of your WiFi throughout the house.
-Double Oven so you can cook pizza and wings at the same time
-Have the cabinet company put in the built in trash and recycle bin.
-Garage utility sink
-Additional and/or big lights in the garage

I will also say make sure you know the cost of fencing and blinds before you get into this. They can both be pretty expensive and come at the end when you the stress can be a lot. Like I said, PM me if you have questions.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

A dedicated workout room if that's your thing. We have a room in our basement with space for a squat rack, rower, pullup bar, kettlebells, etc. I knew we would be putting rubber horse stall mats down, so we didn't finish the room with nice carpet like the rest of the basement.

 

[Broomd]

Some things I did...

Hot and cold water bib outside. We use the hot all of the time....
Franklin Subdirive for well--no water tank, no pressure tank.
Doggie door that runs out the house through a closet via a tunnel into a half acre fenced area.
Tempra Stiebel On-demand hot water heater. Mine's electric, juice is cheap here in ID. It's a godsend, no endless cycling of natural gas or electric.
His and hers shower heads....in master shower.
Cork floor coverings....feel great, never cold.
Wired for gennie with dedicated gennie shed.
Icynene spray-in foam insulation. We practically heat our home with a candle.

Shop with the two lean-to's as you mentioned. You described my shop exactly..

 

[timberland]

I love the new low profile LED fixtures that can go anywhere in sheetrock or under cabinets, etc.

 

[30338]

May have been mentioned but couple of other things:

I have hot and cold water hose outlet in garage.
Garage is fully insulated and drywalled.
LED lights under cabinets in kitchen were nice.
We have dogs, so entire upper floor is all tile. After 6 years with 3 big dogs, zero wear anywhere.
Stub out electric and water lines from your house. Built a barn and it was a pain the ass doing after.
Basement floor is stained and sealed concrete. Did it myself for a total of about $250. So easy and flood proof. I live in a desert so flooding no big deal but cheap and easy.

 

[tanker]

Things I am glad we did:
All LED lights
Dedicated backup propane powered generator
Spray foam insulation
high efficiency wood burning fireplace
Outside hot water
Big pole barn/shop
Tall/cathedral ceilings

Things I wish we would have done:
More storage/closets
Water to pole barn(going to fix that)
On demand water heater

 

[BeaverHunter]

Outdoor shower with dual shower heads, preferably with at least some privacy. Boss let me use his cabin for my honeymoon with my wife that had a kick ass outdoor shower with dual heads. I won’t bore you with the details but needless to say it got used that week. A lot.

 

[Mt Al]

Two dish washers, one to the right, one to the left of the sink. Soooo wish I would have done that.

Depending on where you live, all side walks and the portion of your driveway close to the house and garage: put in hydronic tubes for snow and ice melt. The tubing is relatively cheap even if you don't plumb it to a boiler. I put it in a sidewalk 10 years ago and will be connecting it to a boiler this summer.

If you do wood burning: think out the logistics of where you're going to store the split logs, bring them in the house with minimal mess, take out the ashes, etc..

The rest of these suggestions are going to cost me a lot of money!

 

[go_deep]

Wire up way more outlets than you think you need. Beyond what code requires.

 

[coast range]

Hot water plumbing to the outside areas for comfortable cleaning of kids and etc.

Yes this. Hot water mixing valves outside. Game changer.

Also as mentioned above don’t skimp on the bones of the building. You can not reinsulate very easily. I paid dearly but spray foamed my entire house. One small fire for a couple hours heats our entire house for the day. So nice


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[Bl704]

Things I like in my current house :
+9' (or taller) 1st floor ceiling
+Laundry/mud room between garage and house (strip down if need be) with easily cleaned floor
+Recessed lighting in kitchen and LR.
+Storm door on front
+High garage ceiling (10')

Things that'll be in my 'next home'
*More storage
*Backup power & transfer switch
*flood lights on back roof eaves
*Heated Bathroom floors
*Gas line to the back of home (patio/porch/backyard kitchen or whatever)
*Master bedroom downstairs
*Wide door/hallways (helpful in injured, indigent, greeting older)
*A real kitchen range hood with exterior vent

 

[Bobbyboe]

To the guys with spray insolation, what size are your exterior walls? 2x4 or 2x6? Also, how much more does spray cost to conventional?

 

[Jstumbaugh]

Hmmm I’m in the heating/plumbing/ac design business. I also built my dream house 3 years ago. In my house I wanted:
Radiant heat in the floors
Central ac
Spray foam insulation
No carpet- hardwood or tile everywhere
Central vacuum
Walk in tile shower
Towel warmer tied into the radiant
Bathroom in the basement
Gutters tied into footing drains
9’ ceilings
Fireplace
Covered porches
Propane/nat gas plug outlets for bbq- never run out of gas again.
Automatic back up generator
Double oven
Motion faucet in the kitchen
We have a walkout basement with a garage under the house.
I also put a walk in cooler in the detached garage for hanging game.

let me know if you have any questions or need more details on an idea.

 

[Ranger619]

Floor drain in the garage. Our current garage doesn't have one and it is hateful in the winter.

 

[Mt Al]

To the guys with spray insolation, what size are your exterior walls? 2x4 or 2x6? Also, how much more does spray cost to conventional?

Part of my house has batting, new part has spray insulation, all walls are 2x6. I don't know exactly how much more it was, I think around $4.000 more. However, I asked the insulation install company to give me a guestimate of the increase in R value related to the decrease in how many BTUs to heat the new part of the house. I then crunched numbers: financing the additional $4K over the 20 year note compared to the decrease in cost of utilities. It was a very good savings, so I went with the spray in insulation.

My experience only.

 

[Reburn]

Didnt read everything.
Tankless water heater must have for me.

Spray foam is awesome if you actually plan on honestly for sure staying 10+ years. Otherwise with the cost now its a waste if your going to move in 5 years. 2x4 walls is fine for spray foam. 2x6 doesnt get you any better honestly and increases your door cost.

 

[30338]

Another thing and may have just been our builder. He really did not have a lot of lights in large rooms around the house. We literally doubled the lights in the basement trophy room that he had planned. It works great now but would have been a hard correction after the fact. Pay close attention to where your lights are and if you have enough.

 

[DroptineDC18]

Can’t add anything of value but a timely post as we are in the infant stages of this as well. Tagging to follow along.

 

[wapitibob]

36” wide, full cabinet depth, butcher block cutting board on heavy duty drawer slides. Best thing EVER in a kitchen.