No fears but be sure to take your time. You will feel pressure from your builder, architect, GC, dealer, etc to get things moving but don't relent. Take the time to make sure the design meets your needs and your budget. Make sure that you are in control, it's your house and money.

The first step would be designing for the actual home site. Until you have the land, you won't know what would be the best fit. The house should be designed for the climate, the site conditions, and your personal wants and needs. As was said- take your time. I had the luxury of having our land through an entire year to see what effect the changing seasons had on sunlight, and was able to be sure I wasn't building in a spot that fills up with water every time it rains. I was also able to put some study into which trees to keep. Many people just bulldoze a clearing and put up a stock plan with little regard to the actual site.

I never feared the build process as it was something I'd wanted to do for a long long time. Don't forget that you will have lots of help along the way. Rely on the experts...especially at suppliers... as you go along and do your research. If you're not happy, then try a different person. Some sales folks are far more helpful than others. You'll have lots of decisions to make, but you'll make them with confidence once you've explored the possibilities.

Be clear in your own mind about your own expertise. For example, when working with our architect, he certainly knew more about structural and design issues with building a house, but I knew more about our lifestyle and what was important for us to receive from the house.

Be organized. I had a "blue book" ... notebook with tabs for each room and space, filled with the plastic pouches into which went samples, brochures, sketches, ideas, inspiration pictures, business cards, etc. That went with us to every meeting with the architect and every trade so we were all literally on the same page.

Look for inspiration...I had pics for inspiration for each room and for the exterior which I had culled from magazines and on-line resources or photos of house I'd taken. We also spent time going to open houses and model homes to get design and decorating ideas. It was very helpful to be able to walk into, say a lofted ceiling family room or a great room or a small powder room and get the feel of the space in 3-d.

I shared this a couple of years ago, and you may find it helpful...

Here is a link that might be useful: from inspiration to reality

I was never afraid of the design process. Designing a home is actually FUN. it's easy to erase mistakes or try different options and see which one you like best. It might get frustrating at times because you and/or your architect can't quite seem to get your "vision" down on paper... or you discover that some of your "wants" conflict with other "wants" so you have to make hard choices about your priorities. But, IMHO, the scarey part doesn't start until you break ground and every single change costs $$$$$$.

Take your time designing and have fun with it!

And be sure and post your drafts to this board where you will get an amazing amount of advice from other gardenwebbers who run the gamut from highly trained architects and builders to folks who have successfully designed and/or built their own homes to folks who have lived with certain designs and will warn you of the problems they've experienced with them to other newbies who are thinking deeply about issues often quite similar to the ones you're grappling with. Some of the advice will be great and some of it not so great. And, ultimately, it will be up to you to decide which advice works for you and which advice you are going to ignore.

But it never hurts to have literally dozens of pairs of interested eyes looking over a plan. Much more likely that way that someone amongst all those eyes will notice that you've got two doors that are going to constantly bang into each other but that there is a simple fix.... or that you have forgotten to leave any place in the master bath to hang a towel bar...or that you have no place in the entire house to store a vacuum cleaner. Seriously, there are thousands of details in a home design and even the best architect can sometimes overlook one or more of the smaller details that can make a huge difference in how a house lives! Take advantage of the expertise and interest of members of this forum.

It's not the fall that kills you. It's the landing. ;)

Wow! Thank you everyone for all of your great advice! We will definitely be sure to keep all of these suggestions in mind if we do decide to pursue this option.

I agree with buckthorn_cortez - create a program document.
We did one, much like they described, and it really helped us nail down what we wanted, AND helped describe to others our tastes, our uses and chosen finishes for each room, etc. It's the standard every house plan you review can be judged against.

There's a great book others have referenced, that really helped for this, if I think of it I'll post it...

there was no fear in our design/build, dh and i only had one disagreement whether some slate was to be square or rectangular make sure you are designing for yourself and not what other folks are saying is popular now...don't get caught up in trends, they change quickly
it's easier if you have a "theme" modern, victorian, cottage, arts and crafts etc and don't get stuck looking at things that would not suit that "theme"

sit back and enjoy your build.......

I'm now just getting excited at the prospect of building our next home!

This post was edited by Lexi_123 on Wed, Jan 7, 15 at 14:39

Absolutely no fear. If you design things yourself, assuming you have required skills and knowledge, you can design to your precise requirements, budget and liking.

Years ago I designed everything using pencil and paper, including 3-D drawings. Then in later years I'd still design using pencil and paper, however duplicated my work using Microsoft Paint, adding color and markings etc. Then along came affordable 3D design tools and I've never looked back. Designs have been so perfect requiring close to zero changes when finished; almost like what you see on HGTV.
Software with superb rendering and visualization tools make designing almost a breeze.

My problem is, being an engineer, much of my work requires very high degree of precision. As a child, my dad, also an engineer, beat the crap out of me if I used the wrong tools or did anything less than perfect by his high standards. As much as my wife hates it, I apply the same degree of unneccessary precision to my personal design/buidling projects. It just takes a little longer but looks amazingly perfect in the end.

We met with our contractor quite a lot initially to let him know of changes and get the plan finalized. After that we communicated a lot by email. That saved us trips and the contractor time. Also, it gives us a written document on changes, add ons etc. Same with our KD. I created email folders for each.
Labeled them, house build, kitchen emails etc. I also have one for house build pictures. Don't forget to take pictures as the house progresses. We even took pictures of the empty lot still with the for sale sign on it.

Most of all enjoy the ride!

It is natural to have some fear and hesitation prior to tackling a full custom build. It may seem daunting sitting down with professionals with a blank sheet of paper that will eventually turn into your dream home. However, as others have stated, make sure you are not pressured and are in position to enjoy the experience.

Make sure you are following your timeline, not theirs.

To provide some insight into my experience... We have never owned or built a home before tackling our dream home project. Naturally, we were nervous in the beginning. We bought our land (1.18 acres) in July 2013 and did not break ground until Dec 3, 2014. We spent at least 12-14 months designing with our architect and design team.

I highly recommend starting a full custom project with all of the critical members at the table from the beginning. We fully vetted and researched our builder, architect, and interior design team prior to the start of design.They have been involved form the beginning and now we understand that was absolutely the right decision.

Since my wife and I had zero experience with homes or construction, we wanted to move slowly in order to fully understand the process and implications of the decisions we would be making over the course of the project. If any of your design and construction team do not agree to move at your pace, then they are not the right team for you.

I can't tell you how many hours we spent in meetings where our professionals were just educating us on design and construction prior to making a decision. This level of understanding and cooperation helped ease our fears and make us feel comfortable with the process.

I know this is a long thread, but well worthwhile reviewing...it's a list of small things that get forgotten until it's too late...thoughtful things that make the house much better that should be considered when building. If you scroll down, I believe there's a spreadsheet that helps organize all the ideas.

I think you'll find it helpful as it will give you confidence that you've thought of *everything* as you go through the process. But don't let it overwhelm you. Understand that it is a process ... the walk of 1,000 miles that begins with a single step... so you don't need to decide everything at once. Instead you will focus on big decisions first and then whittle it down to specifics for each room, each trade, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Small Things....

5 months designing, from concept to finished blueprints. Did them all myself, just hired an engineer to stamp it. That being said, I've been dreaming about building my own home since I was 5 years old, so I've been giving thought for many many years as to what I want. When I met my FH, I was already largely through my design process, but he loved it (which is how I knew he was the one for me).

I was always a little worried about something I designed not turning out, but since we did everything DIY, even digging our own basement, all the foundation, rafters, framing, septic field, like everything but drilling the well and mudding (because we're not insane...but we watched the whole time), doing this level of DIY meant we were able to change tons on the fly.

For example the original plan the stairs were L-shaped, and when we went to build them decided to go U-shaped. We rearranged the front foyer walls as we built them, and also rearranged all the main floor plumbing. We removed the 2nd bedroom closet, did built-ins instead of false walls in some areas, changed doors and door locations...really, we kinda used the plan as the basis but adapted it as we saw it all come together, which was awesome. A lot of the things we changed, I would have been disappointed with if we hadn't.

We had tons of pinterest inspiration boards and really visualized ourselves in the page as we went. We really haven't made a single bad choice, and now that we're done, a lot of our worries were for naught. And the things we should have worried about (granite installer), we didn't even expect!

Enjoy the design process, imagine yourself in the house, sketch the different rooms, get a 3D program, read books, visit other homes, and just daydream a lot. :)

Annie.

Little things. You are absolutely right. We are exactly at that stage, validating and revalidating my design. Despite having done it times before, needs, desires and quality/price of products change every year.