Building a house -- what should I make sure I get at construction time?

In My Humble Opinion
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I’m in the planning stages of building a house on the Olympic Peninsula (Washington state). I’m soliciting ideas for what I want to include during the construction stage, when it’s a lot easier to do things with wiring, plumbing, etc. before the subfloor goes down and the sheetrock goes up. You can assume that the building codes are met or exceeded, so there is adequate insulation, glazing, etc.

I’m looking for things that cost a few hundred extra, rather than thousands, so a gas range is in, but a metal roof is out.

And nothing too unconventional, because I’m building in a small town without a lot of choices. For example, I like a lot of things about insulated concrete forms, but only one guy within a hundred miles does it. I don’t want to be dependent on one guy, because if he does bad work, who do I get to clean up his mess?

I would also be interested in your experience with things that are heavily hyped, but turn out not to be that effective — including the stuff listed below that I’m already planning to ask my builder for.

Here are a few things I’ve already decided I’ll get:

  • a propane-fueled range and hot water heater, so I have hot food and hot water during a power failure.
    Gas ranges and water heaters cost only a couple hundred dollars more than comparable electric models, and will work during a power failure (in the case of ranges, the cooktop will work; the oven won’t). Natural gas isn’t available in my area, so it will have to be propane. It costs more, but the peace of mind will be worth it.

Of course, the optimal solution is a standby propane generator that automatically kicks in when the power goes out. I’ll get one, but not this year, because it would bust my budget this year, and it doesn’t go behind a wall, so there’s no downside in installing it after the house is finished. But since I do I plan to get one in a year or two, I won’t bother getting a propane fireplace or heat stove now, because they would be redundant once I had the generator.

But even without the generator, I’ll be able to have hot meals and hot showers during a power outage, and that will make a huge difference (we recently went a day without power after a measly 6-inch snowfall, and it was very uncomfortable).

Speaking of hot water, I love long hot showers. By that I mean LONG, and HOT, showers. With a lot of body jets. A 50-gallon tank isn’t enough if we take concurrent or even consecutive showers, but new regulations make larger heaters impractical. And the tankless heaters require electricity, so they’re out.

A couple of cheaper solutions:

  • a tempering valve on the hot water heater. It allows you to crank the heater up to 150 degrees. When that too-hot water comes out of the tank, the tempering valve mixes it with cold water to produce a cooler stream (say, 115 degrees) that goes to the shower. That allows you to use less water from the tank per minute, so it lasts longer – the ads say twice as long, but if my math is right, it’s more like 26%. But 26% is a lot better than nothing, and they only cost about a hundred bucks.

Another idea is an Ecodrain. You connect it to your shower drain, and to the shower’s cold water supply. The hot water from the shower drain gives up heat to the cold water (of course, there is no direct connection; the cold water tubing is wrapped around the hot drain tubing). So the cold water is warmer, and you need less hot water. That extends your hot water duration another 25% or so. There are similar systems that claim higher efficiency, but Ecodrain is the only one I’ve seen that doesn’t require a vertical four-foot run, which I won’t have in my one-story, no-basement house.

There are some things that I know would be very useful, but won’t cost any more to install later than to install during the building process, as long as provisions are made for them. I’ve already mentioned the standby generator.

Another is smart home devices. I would like to wait until more of a standard emerges before I install them, but I want to be ready for them. So I’ll install smurf tubes, and make sure all my switches have neutral wires, stuff like that, but hold off on the devices themselves. As a bonus, I expect future models to cost less for the same functionality, just like TVs and computers.

That said, I would be very, very interested in tips on either of the above, for later use, and especially for tips on preparing for them while building the house.

Flooring? I want a hard surface rather than carpeting, but not genuine hardwood. I’m looking at LVP like Coretec Plus, or laminate like Quick Step. Any experience with those, or something similar?

Same with counter tops. Is quartz worth the price premium over granite?

Thanks for any advice or tips.

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Consider Porcelain Plank Flooring for Kitchen and bathroom. I put some in and it is great to my eye and feel.

Under floor heating.

Consider secret rooms. I put in one for the kids in our 1st house and it was a great clubhouse for them. They and their friends loved it. In the 2nd house I did I put that in plus a bookcase with a hidden door and a small storage space behind that for seldom used stuff.

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Wifi is getting better and better, but man, pulling Cat 6 or Cat 6a to every room in your house (in 2 drops per room if you can) isn’t hugely expensive and gives you noticeably better throughput on anything with wired network capability. Plus it would make it much easier to put in extra Wifi repeaters if needed.

Do a walkthrough right before wiring, to mark exact locations where you want power outlets. And if you’re doing a kitchen island, power on the island really expands how you can use the kitchen.

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I never heard of that, but it sure sounds interesting. Thanks.

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I saw these cables that combine 2 each of fiber, cat6, and rg6 for about a dollar a foot if you get 500 feet.

It’s weird how you normally wouldn’t even think of paying that much money for cable or whatever, but when you think it’s just a few hundred more in a $300K house, you’re tempted to buy everything.

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Wire it for outdoor lighting and a few receptacles.

You say small town, so you don’t want to annoy your neighbors with lights, but they can be very handy in a pinch.

We live in the boonies, and have 5 flood lights that we can turn on at the flick of a switch controlled from both upstairs and down. We have two others on separate switches. Besides the normal outdoor ‘coach’ lights near the doors, and an automatic movement sensor light for the stairs that lead up to the deck/house.

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If you really want long showers install two 50-gallon hot water tanks. Just make to plumb it so one can be isolated or they can be run in parallel or series. Before we became empty nesters we had them set up in series with one set relatively low to warm the water and the next to heat it.

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Gatorade. You’ll need to stay hydrated.

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*Enough skylights?
*Heating coils put down and covered in wet cement for your front walk, or maybe your driveway too (it melts snow and ice)?
*A Garage access door that leads into your house?
*Flagstone patio or deck?
*Hot tub room?
*Brick Backyard BBQ?
*A gas line run from your house underground to feed your in-ground gas grill?
(so no more propane tanks)
*A natural gas generator, so I can still have 100% power (enough for either full Heat or full AC too) when the power goes out?
*A hard-wood floor in your attic with a pull-down access ladder?

  • Heat-Saving insulated Windows?
    *A work bench in your basement that extends the length of One Full Wall?
    *A peg-board with hooks along the full length of the wall above your tool bench to hold extra tools on hooks?

A Friend once told me:

“Look. My job has put me in 3 different states… in 3 different corners of the country… in the last 7 years.
I love my company, I love my job,I love what I do… but… I have built 3 houses… from the ground up… in that 5 years and I have paid for them all. Wanna know what I learned?”
“What?”

[spoiler] "Every single day you will fight for your place at work… and when you are done, every single damn day you are going to drive home.
When you get home… when you roll past the apron and into your driveway? Well, you Better be Happy!
Because if you cut this item out to save money and then cut that item out to save money… you aren’t going to think about all the money you saved when you roll up. You are going to think about what you built.

You are going to stop and pause and look at it. And as God is my witness, you Better Be Fucking Happy with it. Because if you aren’t… well then… what’s the Damned Point!?"

[/spoiler]

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Extra outlets, especially in the kitchen. Also exterior outlets at all four corners of the house.

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I recommend making sure that you get a breaker box with at least 200amp service, if you’re not doing so already. And you might want to run a 220V outlet to the garage, in case you ever acquire an electric car and want a fast charger.

They also have switches for the outside lights (and the indoor Christmas lights) that can automatically turn on the lights at dusk and turn them off at dawn; they have a built-in computer and are programmed with the sunrise/sunset times based on your latitude. But these things can be added later.

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Adequate power to the garage is a good idea, especially if one is a hobbyist. I would also make sure the garage is insulated and heated.

Inside the house, I’d opt for a tankless water heater. It pretty much eliminates the possibility of a flood from a rusted out tank, and provides hot water on demand, especially if you have a circulating pump installed.

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There aren’t a lot on the market any more, but you can find LP point of use water heaters that use batteries for ignition. Here’s one that I found at Home Depot as an example: http://www.homedepot.com/p/MAREY-3-1-GPM-Natural-Gas-Digital-Panel-Tankless-Water-Heater-GA10NGDP/204357301

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Don Aslett is an expert on cleaning and decluttering. He wrote a book on how to " make your house do the housework". I read it. It is amazing, he points out all these little tricks that make a huge difference in time and money spent on upkeep, maintenance and cleaning of your house. The best results you get when you make these choices in the building phase, so you are right on time.

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This is a good one. I already have the 200 amp, but I didn’t think about a car charger. Like I said, I’m building in a small town, and all the stores are only a mile or two from my house, so a little electric car would work very well for me for daily use (assuming they get cheaper in the future).

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I thought of the extra outlets inside, but not outside, so thanks, because my house is going to have more than four corners. And I’ll get extra hose bibs, too.

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Thanks, that looks interesting for Plan B. Plan A is more along the lines of hiring an undocumented housekeeper.

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Another idea; in one hotel room I stayed in, the tub surround was made of solid surface material (Corian or similar product). Cleaning tile grout is a major pain, and installing a tiled tub surround is labor-intensive. So a solid surface tub surround might be less expensive to install and easier to keep clean.

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OP: You would get a lot better answers if:

  1. You tell us the characteristics of the people who would be living there, including their hobbies and other activities. (My wife has an a very active eBay business, my son really likes swimming, I want a big woodworking shop…) and
  2. You show us your tentative plans.