This is a picture of our new house in progress....it is only framed so far, but it is about two years in the making and its story is an interesting one...
About two years ago we began discussing when we wanted to move, where we wanted to move, and what kind of a house we wanted to buy. Dallas found out that he was getting a raise and we decided to start saving our money and looking for ideas. We knew that the house we would be moving into would need to be accessible to Grace as well as safe for her. This really whittled down our choices as far as existing homes were concerned. There was a lot in a neighboring town that we really liked, and we lost it by a week. Now that we can look back, we are glad we didn't get that lot. We knew we wanted to build by this point and so I emailed my brother David who has his degree in architecture to ask for advice. He proceeded to offer to design us a house and make the plans for us all free of charge. This was very kind of him as well as a great savings to us. The plans can cost in the thousands of dollars.
We began to throw around ideas via email and we came up with some interesting ideas for homes that are Gracie friendly and good for our whole family. We had our hearts set on a subdivision in the same town we had lost the first lot in. After working on a floorplan for a month or two with David, we found out by calling the developer that no outside builders would be allowed in to the neighborhood. This really threw a wrench into the works and we were back at square one.
On the builder side, we decided to network and find a builder who would build us a house on a cost plus basis. My good friend Erin and her husband had built two homes that way and it seemed like a good way to do it. We would have a lot of input and say in a process like that. We knew of two builders in the area, one of them being the one who built for Erin, and decided to meet with them and discuss our options. The other builder was a member of our church who we had been acquainted with for years. He was at the time employed by a large tract home builder, and was overseeing the construction of several homes. We had dinner with him and told him of our plans. He agreed to do the job for us, and we thought that he seemed like our best choice. The other builder lived farther away and we had never met him, so we decided to go with this guy instead....( I will call him "Fred"). So we began looking for lots. We had our builder and our architect and now all we needed was a lot.
Someone we attend church with was telling Dallas about how he was pursuing a set of lots in an upscale gated community in the same town we had lost the other lots in. He mentioned that they would be at a reasonable price and so we contemplated waiting for him to sell us one. Over the course of several months, we realized that it would be quite a while until these would be available since they weren't having much luck negotiating with the land owner and they hadn't even been developed yet. I couldn't get this neighborhood out of my mind though. One time a few years earlier, we had been playing a little game at Dal's family's house. We said if money were no object, where in the Dallas Fort Worth area would you live? Dallas' answer was the upscale gated community where our friend was developing homes- but at the time it was just a seemingly unattainable goal. We figured everything in there was over million and we would never get a chance to live there, but we sure loved the feel of the neighborhood. It is a golf course community with lots of trees and ponds and is very quaint.
As I was out driving around one day looking at lots that were for sale, I decided to drive into this neighborhood and see what was available and what the prices were. I drove in and in one corner of the community is a little circle of villa homes- meaning zero lot line homes with tiny lots. Some of the people in the circle had bought two lots and built on both, but most were only on one lot. On one end were three lots in a row backing up to a pond with a waterfall. They all had signs from the property company on them and no builder signs in sight. I decided to ask about them at the property company's office across the street. I found out that they were all for sale and within our budget! Two were cheaper than the third, and we found out that that was due to a utility easement that ran right through the back of two of them. One of them had the easement so deep that we realized that you could never build a house of a decent size on it. The one in the middle however, had trees and really struck me. We went over and looked at the lots and decided to put and hold on the middle one.
We told Fred about the lot and he went over to look at it. He was excited, because it was a great neighborhood and the homes were going for great prices. He decided he wanted to buy the corner one and build a spec home in it as well. He put in an offer on both lots because they said that they would give a discount for a multiple lot purchase. They accepted his offer and we were excited because we were getting our lot for 6 grand less than the asking price. He signed the contract on them and we were off and running.
David and his wife came for Thanksgiving that year and stayed with us. We took them over to see the lot and tossed around ideas for the house. He designed us a great home with lots of great features. Suddenly one day I get a call from the property company informing me that Fred had let the deadline to close on the lots expire almost a month prior and they had someone interested in our lot. Legally, they could sell it to them because the time limit to close had expired. I had no idea there was a deadline to close, so this was news to me. I called Dallas crying. I told him that we probably lost our lot due to Fred's negligence. I went over to the property company and asked what we could do to keep the lot. They told us that they could sell it to us, but only for full price since it would not be with the other lot. I signed the contract as soon as possible and even though I was just glad we didn't lose it, I was a little upset that Fred's mistake has cost us six thousand dollars.
We stuck with Fred however, and we sat down with him to talk numbers. He pulled out a budget that was much higher than we had expected. He wanted 15% as his commission as well. We told him that we wanted some time to think about it. As we took the time to do so, we just didn't feel right about using Fred. We decided to meet with some other builders and get their opinions and offers. Dallas' brother and his wife had recently built a home and were friends with the builder and one of his contractors. Well the contractor was named Richard and he had recently gone out on his own to be a custom builder. Dallas decided to meet with him. Richard gave us some great ideas on our plans and said that he would build for us. He normally didn't do cost plus jobs, but because we were related to Dal's brother (who Richard is friends with) he agreed to do this for us. When he saw our desired budget, he said that the only way he could get even close to that is to cut his commission to 10% from 15%. Right then I knew we had someone special. He was willing to take a cut in pay to help us- that said alot about his character.
At first, Richard was a little bit perturbed I think with the lack of detail on the plans and expressed a desire for David to make a set of plans more like the ones he uses on a regular basis. We took and old set and sent them to David to use as a reference. This began the most frustrating and harrowing part of this whole process. I am so glad it is over. First it was trying to get the plans to look the way Richard wanted them, then it was fitting the house on the lot without crossing the easement. After that, we had to get the plans out to subs to make a budget. We spent a couple of weeks picking flooring, lighting, cabinets, etc... and then Richard sat us down and gave us a proposed budget. It was definitely more than we had hoped, but still far less than Freds and at least within reach for us financially.
We took time to think about it and run the numbers. We kind of laughed about this later that in states like California, Massachusetts, or any of those other high priced real estate areas, that we would have to spend this amt just to get something livable! We told Richard that it was a go. We had paid him some earnest money and since then he had been far more eager to help with the start up process- probably since his mind had been eased that we wouldn't bail on him.
Then even more headaches....the city had no elevations or surveys on the lot! That was a major headache. Then we had to find a construction loan. Finally on the fourth bank (the first three did not have the terms we wanted) we closed on the loan. The very next day Richard had his guys out there clearing trees. Earlier in the process I sent Richard a very heartfelt email thanking him for doing this for us. He really went above and beyond for us. I teared up thinking about it.
When we got the loan, we had to get an appraisal on the future home. The appraisal came in almost WAYYYY over what we were paying for it. We were all collectively floored! We would have so much equity in the home- it was amazing. What a blessing. More headaches came, the plans were too big and the house was 6 inches into the setbacks requiring approval from the property company. We got that way before we thought we would and we didn't even know if we would! The garage was too small for code in the town, which was ridiculous because it was still a standard size. When Richard went to the town to argue it, the man in charge was someone he went to high school with! He approved it after Richard pled our case regarding the easement. The electric pole which was to provide electricity to the plumbers had tipped over and fallen down a hill after weeks of rain in the summer and after many dead ends and hours of phone calls, Richard got the city to agree to fix it, but it would take several weeks. In the meantime, we were faced with paying extra for a generator. Richard then thought to call the builder across the street to ask if we could use their t-pole until ours was fixed. He agreed and even said he didn't care if we didn't reimburse him for the overage in cost!
Soo many "coincidences" that saved us from untold headaches and expense...Richard even agreed with us that it seemed that a higher power had to be involved in some way. David's plans had a flaw with the roof line and it hit lower than in the plans in one place requiring a change. That is the latest issue, but Richard thinks we can change it with only minor cost difference.
We stood in the rooms for the first time this week, and after almost two years of heading for this and one year of designing this floor plan, it is finally coming together! It is so surreal. I forgot the part of the story when we sold our house. That is a different entry all together. It was also an amazing process.
We are so blessed to have this opportunity to build a house that is safe for Grace and a nice place for us to settle for the next 20 to 30 years. I am so excited to see how it looks when it begins to come along in its progress!
