Buying a Home: Build or Purchase Used?

I spend a fair bit of time reading at a renovation/home building forum. Building a home from scratch, to exacting specifications, with very particular issues about things like energy - i haven't read too many positive threads by the home owners or the general contractors. I probably couldn't count the posts and threads pulled due to truly foul language and venom related to this subject. Anyone who's lived through a renovation knows it's hellish. This kind of project seems to go to another realm entirely. About the only thing that could make it worse is if one of the couple knows, or is related to, a general contractor, or building specialist.

I have friends who've done renos and new builds. They, to the last pair, have said they'll never build new again.

I am sure there are people who have had their own home built without any difficulty. I guess they're usually to happy to post at Taunton, or tell their friends.

LOL! Rather my impression, too.

The other complication, of course, is that he is retired and leading a life of gentle leisure - with way too much time to hatch complicated plans, while she is working full-time as a hospital neuro-psychologist, and in private practice, and studying for a Phd!

I mean, she is mad, of course - but you get the idea...

In this area, I'll yield to Beth - yet, if they are going for something like passive solar, retrofitting is rumored to be it's own special hell.

Smart siting relates of course to the specific site plus some truths about geography.
Whether retrofitting would make sense would relate to how the house was sited in the first place. Many houses are stupidly sited, recent or older.

Dare I mention that houses are moveable? One can reangle them, given the room to relocate.

All new is generally less expensive immediately than remodelling.

New construction is often rather, ah, tawdry, but can be thoughtful. I run into the totally unthoughtful kind fairly often, and the thoughtful kind rarely.

Environmentally sensitive houses can be piss ugly.

One needs to deal, if one can afford it, with a bright forward looking architect. who can both help and listen. While I say if one can afford it, it saves money in the long run. Usually, or often.

To Ehbeth - yes, indeedy, this is a stress point in marriages. I remodelled personally three times -
once, in my twenties, when my mother was sick and I need to fix and sell the house to pay for her care (which it turns out I needn't have, but don't get me started). I did most of it myself, along with a plumber and a friend of a friend.

With my new husband and our new old house, and that one lasted for decades.

With my husband, changing the circulation within the rooms, moving the kitchen, rearranging bathroom.

All of those went along fine, including the last, when we knew much more what we were doing.

Alas, we broke up not long later. Midlife crisis for him, unrelated to remod. But stress ain't helpful.

As a design professional, I have many meetings with couples as clients. I really should tape record them. Makes me wonder how anybody stays together ever. Wide divisions, or "whatever he/she wants"...design hell.
No, I don't do building design, but I do do site design. Same scenario.

Any elaborating on the retro-fitting hell, Roger?

New houses are so.... so.... new! Sterile. Unloved.

OIn the other hand, if they were going to retrofit efficiancy, I'm just as glad that they haven't got their hands on this drafty old pile that me and Mrs. SP inhabit. Been here two years this fall... if we don't at least gt some insulation in before winter I'm not sure how we are going to pay for the heat. Last year was a bear.

I guess some efficiency would be good...

Both building and remodeling can be a B-I-T-C-H. Step #1 has to be to sit down and agree to the scope of work. Trying to make an older home "energy efficient"can be a total waste of time. It may cost more than what the house is worth to begin with and as much as people talk about energy efficency, most people still aren't willing to pay for it when it comes time to buy a house.

I tried to come up with a plan to make my last house energy efficient but ended up scaling back the dreams when the realities of cost set in.

Even though I had been a carpenter for several years, it has taken me 7 years to complete remodeling thuis house. I'm 2 doors, some painting and a few other small things away from finishing. I have no children so I did all the work myself except installing the heatr/AC and floor tile. The house has been almost gutted and redone.

Hanging drywall on the ceiling is so much fun and it is always a joy to see what surprises you may find when you pull out old drywall. Our second bathroom was our kitchen for 2 months. When you looked in the master bath all you saw was the basement for another 2 months. Replacing about 60% of the plumbing because the fixtures and pipe joints on the old pipes are rusted solid is a thrill. (You drink bottled water and flush the toilets with buckets of water).

So, I would highly recomend that a person remodel rather than build. Especially if you would like your marriage to end rather quickly and don't mind using drywall dust rather than salt on your food. If I had paid to have it done it would have cost more than a new home. Another note. If you do not own a truck and there is not a dump near by, don't even think about the "Fixer upper's Dream house". If you pick up a hammer and look for the on/off switch, that's also a good indication that you should stay away from remodeling. Painting and wall papering are fine. Sweating copper pipes and running wiring are another thing. Also note that electricians and plumbers probably make more money than you do. That's worth considering. I have always lived in areas where building codes are almost nonexistant. Note that some areas require then to change door locks. It looks like fun on This Ole House. You are only dealing with restoration for an hour a week. That's not the way it works. Count on friends helping out about twice. I've also spent well over $1000 on new power tools. Well over!

Another note: If people come to your house and say "Oh, I see you are doing the work yourself!" That usually means whatever you did sticks out like a sore thumb.

We're moving sometime in the next 6 months. I'll post a picture of a new, let me say it again, NEW house.

A positive point is that my heating and cooling bills are less than $100 a month (total electric bill) and we only really use the AC in July and Aug and have the heat on continuiously for about 3 months. Let's see, I'll have saved enough to have paid for the bigger table saw, and radial arm saw and other stuff about 3 months before I die. That's a plus!