My house was built in 1955. It has 3/4" solid wood walls (no need to anchor hooks or hangers), solid wood floors, a 1" thick solid wood roof (no plywood), 18" centers for my roof beams, a solid wood attic floor, and almost all of the wood in the house is tongue-and-groove construction.

It probably weighs double what a new house of comparable size weighs but it's solid through and through.

 

if you have rats, you got bigger problems....

 

-proper hangers for joists.
-2x6 construction, not 2x4 (sign of a good builder)
-screws in floor boards (not nails) - screws take longer to install.
-10" I-beams in basement, not 8" (regardless of load of house)
-ductwork that doesn't protrude below beam level.
-flush flooring throughout home when using diff. flooring materials from room-to-room - i.e. you don't want jumps or dips when going from hardwood to tile to carpet, etc.

 

When I will buy a house, I'm thinking I'm going to hire someone to build it. It will probably cost a bit more, but it will be done right.

 

that's a misnomer....

unless you are there to supervise the process constantly, you will have the same issues that all builders face - workers that cut corners.

and you're right....it will cost more.

 

In the last 6 years I have built three places.

First was a new townhome at the beginning of the boom. Small builder, pretty nice job.

Three years later I built a house with a giant home builder in the middle of the boom. Orrin Thompson (division of US Homes). Lot of house for the money, poor build quality. Awful customer service. I don't see their name around here anymore and they were a huge company. I think they may have changed names in this market because of bad brand image.

That led to the most recent build, at the tail end of the boom. Pulte home. Very good quality and customer service. Very happy with it.

But now my back hurts from moving so often so I am gonna stay here a while.

 

You can only do this when you run with the floor joists. At some point you have to run perpendicular.


Quality of windows, doors and cabinets are a big deal too.

 

When you go custom, you actually have a say in the types of materials that are used and no worker will go against what the builder says when it comes to materials.

 

With the big home builders, you go to a design center and have a meeting with staff to pick everything out. Siding, trim, woodwork, cabinets, faucets, shingle color. Everything. It takes about an hour. It takes about three if you bring a woman.


Then basically they feed your floorplan into the computer and it spits out a bill of materials. Almost the whole thing is dropped on the lot in one big shipment and they slap it up. Anything that can sit out and get rained on.

Almost zero customization allowed.

Hey can I have an upstairs laundry? Not if it is not in the floorplan you picked out. Can I put a window here? Nope.

But the cost stays down and a bulk home builder can still do an excellent job, it is just kept inside certain parameters. If you want something unique, custom builder is the way to go.

I save the unique for the basement and get creative when finishing the fun space.
I do it with top notch stuff. Granite counters, stone tile, cherry woodwork, a couple levels of raised floor in the home theater. The top two floors are plain, but you get a blank slate in the basement to do whatever you want with. In my case, home theater, game room, gym. Currently in the drywall stage..........my back is killing me.

 

that's not what i meant....not talking materials

what happens if the guy uses 5 less nails for each stud?

that's what you have to control....the labour...not the materials.