Building a House is Expensive!

Of course the lot/house itself is not the least bit cheap, but there is so much more to consider!

Everyone says that you'll go way over budget when you build a house.  We've been pretty good so far, and I still hope that we're going to end up close to what we wanted to spend, but the potential to spend gobs of money is certainly there... and it is very tempting ot fall into the "well, it's easier and cheaper to just do it now" trap.

Essentials: 
I saw something the other day that said that the average homeowner moving into an existing house spends about $4300 in the first 3 months on supplies and home improvements, so this problem isn't exclusive to building new construction... but there are a lot of little things you have to finish with a new construction house that add up quickly.  We will have to:

• Buy appliances (we're given 1200 of credit from the builder)
• Buy blinds
• Buy furniture, we have quite a bit, but it's a big house 

This is in addition to all standard shopping that goes along with a new house purchase.

Construction Upgrades:
There is endless potential for upgrading and customizing the house as it's being constructed.  We're in a situation where the builder is more than usually willing to work us and customize things.   It is clearly easier and in most cases cheaper to upgrade everything now instead of coming back in few years and remodeling, but these upgrades add up quick so we have to be careful.

So far we've committed to:

• Upgraded kitchen cabinet configuration 
• Hardwood throughout the first floor
• Upgraded kitchen sink
• Addition of ceiling fan in the 2-story family room

And we are strongly considering:

• Putting natural stone in the bathrooms
• Replacing the carpeted stairs with wood treads
• Adding some windows to the master bedroom
• Adding additional paint colors (the house comes all one color and we might wnat to change a room or two or add an accent wall)
• Upgrading the front door. 

After Closing: 
After all of this, there is still a lot of stuff we have to take care of after we close:

• Landscaping, the yard will be barren earth and we will need to sod/seed and plan a few shrubberies
• Patios, we want to build both front and back patios
• Kitchen backsplash
• Cabinet hardware

And we don't have nearly the money we need to make the house "perfect" for us now, so we have a few things that we have to remodel or add later:

• Detached garage or shed in the back yard. 
• Hardwood flooring on the 2nd level
• Finish the basement.  

There's a lot there and buying an existing house would probably mean that we could save some of this money.  But, exiting houses often need to be remodeled or fixed... and we're paying a premium to get the house that is exactly what we want.

At the end of the day, we're viewing a house as a home, someplace we have to live and enjoy, not as an investment.  And we have a pretty good handle on the budget, we know what we CAN spend and we know what we WANT to spend.... so far we're pretty close to what we wanted to spend, but I think it's inevitiable that we're going to go a few thousand over budget.  But when you're building an entire house, overshooting your budget by a few thousand, is pretty negligible.  

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