Here's a link to a previous post on this issue.

Here is a link that might be useful: Due Dilligence - Questions to ask BEFORE you sign a contract

the problem with that list is many folks, myself included, feel it is over the top. Many builders will refuse to answer some of those questions. It is a good place to start. Pick the questions off there that you feel are important.

Quick interruption for mikeyvon. You stated in another thread ca. is going to the i.b.c residential codes in janurary. Do you know if this is a complete turn around or if it will simply recognize the i.b.c. and apply. I personally hope that it wipes some of the old granfathered ca. codes out of the equasion and that we will be on the same page as the rest of the country. Thanks!

I didn't look at the list and I'm sure there are a lot of good points there, but I can tell you what the biggest issues in our build have been. Communication and a lack of foreman on site.

So, if I ever did this again in the future, I would ask a builder WHO the foreman is for my project and how often I can expect this foreman to be ON SITE. I would also insist that the foreman of the project be involved in ANY and ALL conversations had with the sales staff before the project starts.

We had multiple conversations with the sales team at our builders office, but when the project started, it all got handed off to the foreman who we'd never met and hadn't been part of any of these conversations. Needless to say we've spent a lot of time saying "but the sales team told us...".

Our other issue has been with allowances, and in hindsight I would try to find a builder who would accept a contract that says "any and all allowance items will be quoted directly to the customer and approved by the customer before any work is done". We have allowances for things like electrical and plumbing and we've never seen the quotes these people provided the builder, so we have no idea where we stand on these allowances, and won't until the final draw. That was a mistake on our part.

Good luck. It's a rough process.

sierraeast - i do not know too much about it. I have heard talk and quickly looked at a few websites. Here are two that I have in my favorites that talk about the new code requirements for CA in 2008.

shasta county pdf - has good links and very basic info

http://www.co.shasta.ca.us/departments/resourcemgmt/drm/pdf/Important%20Notice%20on%202007%20codes.pdf

link with Q & A type article

http://aec.ihs.com/news/newsletters/2007/august/california-construction-codes.htm

Thanks!