If this is your first time no amount of software will prepare you for the job, this is really a job for an experienced design build company. If you just want software to help with design choices there are many but an interior designer to help would be worth all the money you will spend on software.

Software doesn't help save money, knowledge does, so here it goes..


1) Contractirs don't care about your beautiful and lavish inspiration pictures. If your home's interiors aren't fully designed prior to quoting, then you are getting quotes for a plain vanilla box. You know how you want the lowest bid? That's what you're essentially getting-- the minimal amout to build, however, you WILL blow your budgets-- all of them, because there's no design work to base accurate pricing on.

2) Most contractors in a given area use the same sub contractors. If I have 3 of the top contractors bid out a house, they will all use the exact same tile guy to calculate the tile allowances. This is pretty standard for most subs, and most subs know what is standard pricing for the hob and the area, so costs to build are pretty much the same. The only real deviation in price comes from your contractor's mark-up.

3) Hirirg a contractor should be based on 3 things, A Can he do the job well, B, What's his mark-up, C, Do your personalities mesh. Going after the lowest bidder is a red herring, and you'll never ever ever hit those numbers. Never.

4) Designers are the only professionals in the job that know what the house should look like when it's done, and WE are the people who care about your ideabooks. Architects can pick finishes, but they're just guessing, since they have zero ifea what your furniture and furnishings will look like, and... they don't care.

5) Architects have zero ifea how much it costs to build the home they designed, so expect revisions.

6) Hire your contractor as early as possible, then gire a designer BEFORE it's priced. If you are getting a quote on just the floor plans and exterior facades, then your quote is based on 50% of the information needed to build your house. Guess where everyone goes over? The interior finishes, or the 50% of your house that hasn't been designed.

7) Find a designer that will design all of your interiors, including the furniture, so they know what the cabinetry and finishes should look like. Builders with a designer won't work, because they don't define the final look with furniture-- which is what your finishes and cabinetry should be based on.

8) Expect design fees to be $20k, or 200 hours. Don't freak out, because IF you follow my advice and hire a contractor early, then, and only then, can the design fees be bundled into your mortgage. That $20k is probably only about 2% of your home's cost. Out of pocket, it's huge, in a mortgage, it's nothing.

9) Tough love: No Pinterest board or Houzz ideabook will make you a designer. We all get countless calls from homeowners who did it themselves, then realize nothing makes sense when they move their furniture in. They all call us in the hopes that paint will fix everything-- it won't. This is your biggest asset, so protect it by doing it right.

I know this goes against everything you've been told, but trust me on this. Contractors all WISH their clients would hire designers. They HATE always having the budget over-run talks, and it ruins potentially great and exciting times. I promise you that this is your best approach.

WARNING: You only get to apply for your mortgage once, and you're basing it in the quote that will never happen. When you go ovef, which you will, then it's out of pocket for the difference.

Good luck, and keep me posted!