building a new home, where would you spend your money? (1 Viewer)

[Lee L]

Phillip, definitely ask the foreman or super on your actual house. Those guys are usually pretty cool about it and do not have as much of an interest in spouting party line about it as long as you make sure they will not catch flak from the project managers.

I bought a Pulte house a few years back and at the time they did not even offer a speaker pre-wire yet they made me sign that I was not allowed to do anything. After I got to know th eguy pretty well and when I could tell teh house was gettin gto the end of the electrical rough-in, I asked him when "a good time to come by if I wanted to run a little bit of wire but not get in anyone's way or get anyone in trouble" and he told me when they were planning on doing the insulation and then drywall. I went in the night before the insulation went in and everything was good to go.

I would suggest taking good pictures and to short the remote end of the wires together and tape them up good. That way you can use a toner or rig up a light bulb and extension cord to run power through the wire, then you can use one of the stud findes with the power sensor to help find it.

 

[Philip_G]

How did you get to know the guy? I had a friend that did the same thing and I've always wondered.
Did you just stop by all the time and talk to him or?

 

[Keith Mickunas]

It really doesn't take much with these guys. They'll turn a blind-eye if you don't mess anything up. If you stick with HT stuff they probably won't care as it's all low voltage and usually the codes aren't as strict. And do it when they're not around. One thing is that they are liable if you get hurt since it's their property until you take posession so they don't want to see you climbing around in there.

If you just drill holes, they might notice it and fill it with that liquid foam stuff. In my house they sealed most of the holes the wiring went through on the exterior walls or going to the attic.

 

[Lee L]

Philip,

Pulte had a meeting at the very beginning before we started where we met the superintendent and the PM for the house to go over the options one more time (after the meeting in which we actually picked them out) probably as much to make sure the super knew exactly which options went in what house as anything else and of course it was all touchy-feely how they wanted us to be happy with the process, etc.

After that, since we lived relatively close, my wife wanted to go by all the time so we stopped and chatted with him a few times in the afternoons. Most of the time, these guys have 5-10 houses going at any one time so we did not see him every day. However, since he and all the other supers out there had to work late most nights doing paperwork etc, they are there after work and of course can't just sit around watching your house to make sure you don't run the wire and this makes it easy to turn a blind eye.

One thing I thought of is when you do run you wires, if you go between floors or though the bottom or top plate in any wall, make sure you put firestop caulking around the wire and down into the hole. You should see that all the other electrical has it, it is usually pink or red and keeps your house from failing inspections, makes it safer in the unlikely envent of a fire and keeps your stuff from standing out to the casual observer. You can by it at Lowes or Home Depot.

 

[Tim Fennell]

Our builder was the same way. We got stuff done mostly the way we wanted. He gave us lighting at his cost and 2 brick chimneys at his cost. He almost hit the ceiling when my wife said she wanted real wood shutters. He complained he was going to have to paint them. Yup, we paid for that but it was a non-negotiable item for my wife. He even asked me if I could talk her out of it. I smiled and said I picked my battles carefully and that was not one I was going to go to war for...

I think the place we upgraded most was the kitchen. We went for custom cherry cabinets and under cabinet lighting.
The house has about 1800 sq feet of wood flooring with tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. The house is a cape so the 2 bedrooms upstairs have carpeting. We picked it out ourselves and had it installed by the dealer.

The other upgrade we got - without really thinking about it was topsoil. He got a deal on unsifted loam and brought in about fifteen 18-wheel dumptrucks ( We have about 1 acre of grass ). The guy who has been doing landscaping work this year said he's never seen grass with roots as long as ours and everwhere he digs he sees 4-5 inches of topsoil... It makes such a difference around here where watering bans are commonplace.

Lastly we ended up putting the garage under the house. The attached garage would have made the house over 100' long. By getting the garage underneath I have a 28x31 garage which has 10-12 feet from the front bumper of the car to the wall. Nice for lawnmowers and such.

Tim