My experience has been that the PUD / subdivision approach is the most popular because it's "streamlined". If you want to 1) be in a neighborhood 2) want a style of house that is popular in said neighborhood and 3) want the convenience of a "package" - then doing a builder inside a neighborhood is the most straightforward.

The limitations here are on style (usually you have architectural review boards that have to approve designs, or - it may be so limited that you only have a few approved designs), limitations on how custom you can get (although that varies with each builder and often if you end up with an architect or simply a designer / draftsperson altering some stock plans.

Of course there are exceptions, but they will be based on the builders willingness to stray from what is comfortable for them.

If you want to be not in a neighborhood (perhaps with acreage), or using an infill lot, have very specific design requirements (like want a true Craftsman or Modernist home) and aesthetics, then working with an architect is the "right" path.

We did what you did first and although our house was "designed" from scratch using a designer, then sent to an engineering firm - it was in no way as "custom" as I was expecting - as the builder had anticipated a certain level of finishes (like painted pickets / stained handrail in my contemporary house!) Basically - we took our design about as far as we could in a 50 home neighborhood that only had 10 approved builders. So now, we're going 100% custom, with an architect and very specific needs / aesthetic. The only architectural review is us! And our restrictive covenants are a 2 dog MINIMUM... LOL...

Go first with the best architect you can find. They can help you sort out your needs and select a site to accommodate them. This may help:

http://howdesignworks.aia.org/casestudy-architectsservices.asp

What Virgel said!

Our personal approach skipped the step of asking the architect to visit and assess the lot before buying, but that's a great idea. There are no builder captive/builder owned subdivisions in the area where we are building so none of the lots we considered were builder owned. Our steps so far have been: (1) identifying the lot then doing our due diligence by pouring over the, plat, CC&Rs and the design guidelines for the subdivision; (2) purchasing the lot; (3) interviewing and retaining our architect; and (4) seeking recommendations on builders from various sources early in the design process interviewing and selecting a builder who happened to be one that our architect recommended we interview. Hopefully we will be ready to break ground by late summer!

We are wanting to break ground by fall or late fall. Weird time to start, but we will put our current house on the market in early '17 and then hopefully not be in transition too long. We expect the new home to take 7-8 months for construction. This will allow our daughter to finish out elementary school in her current school. I have narrowed my architect search and several references point to one architect. I am going to call him tomorrow and see about an hour consult, as Virgil suggested.

I also believe I have narrowed the builder to two choices and my gut tells me we have a odds-on favorite. We will have some negotiating to do on the lot, but I think it's doable. The builder we really like says he can get us a lot in about any neighborhood in the area and its better for him to buy the lot -- Some sort of builder to builder horse trading?

I appreciate all the advice.

This is a good post because my husband and I are doing the exact same thing. We found a lot but have not bought; we have a meeting with a builder to get an idea on the cost of the floor plan we want first before we do anything. I will definitely be following this post.

Of course there are exceptions, but they will be based on the builders willingness to stray from what is comfortable for them.

We are buying our lot from our builder. He is the only builder for the lots where we want to build. However our only limitation are we can only build on 35% of the land, we must have a front porch and if we want the garage facing the same direction as our front door, it must be set back from the front of the house 15' from the front of the house.

Our builder is a true custom builder and allowed us to design a house exactly how we want it. If we had wanted we could have used one of his plans, but we decided to work with his draftsman to design the house we wanted. IF I had it to do over, I would have hired an architect because it would have saved me months of hassles trying to get the draftsman to understand what I wanted and needed.

As it turned out, we lucked out with our builder. All past customers are very happy with what was built for them. (Yes some have had some problems but those have been fixed in a timely manner.) And his pricing seems to be within reason for the level we're building and the neighborhood.

We are wanting to break ground by fall or late fall.

LOL. I first put a deposit on my land a year ago in March 2015 and also expected to break ground by fall of 2015. If I'm lucky, we'll be breaking ground this June. Make sure your plans are exactly what you want before you break ground. It's one of the most important steps because it's a lot cheaper to make a change on paper vs doing a change order.

Over the years, we have looked for a property to purchase in our kids school district and last year we lucked out. I found it on a Thursday, applied for a loan on Friday, talked with the credit union on Monday, sent additional paperwork in on Tuesday am, got loan approval Tuesday afternoon, made offer on Wednesday and mutual acceptance on Friday. During the week and until closing, we did our due diligence and checked everything we could on this property. We had talked with a architect designer years before about another property, so we talked with him again and he looked into the lot, as well as a builder friend. They both let us know that this is a good lot to build our dream home on. Our lot is not in a development, but in a established neighborhood with older and newish houses.

I thought we'd have to wait a couple of years before we could even start the design/build process, but I found a loan that we could qualify for and so we started to meet with the architect in May 2015. Our architect, while quite boastful and can get off topic, was good to work with. Unbeknownst to us, he designed my coworkers home 30+ years ago. We got our final plans in February and have had them out to bid. At first and not intentionally, it was 6 builders, but then it ended up being 3. One kept in contact, asking questions and sending me to vendors to pick out items. After 2 months, we finally met to go over numbers. While the numbers were quite over our budget, we talked about where we could save $ and we plan to do the detached shop and basement in phases. Being able to move in and breath for a little bit is what we will focus on initially. This builder we are going with was recommended by the architect and positive feedback from his references. The other 2 builders, seem to constantly tell me that they are close to getting us some numbers, but we needed to make some decisions to move forward with our home.

We are hoping to start this July or August. The process of finding and buying the lot and working with the architect have for the most part been pain free. The waiting is the hardest part so far. I'm sure when everything is ready and we break ground there will be a headache or two, but so far so good.

Everyone's timeline is different. I don't think it's unreasonable to break ground this fall if you get your ducks in a row ASAP.

We bought an infill lot in August, first architect meeting in September, and broke ground in January. Our builder thinks July is a reasonable move-in goal (but everyone's aware it's a moving target depending on weather and such.)

One thing we are doing to keep the process moving is always have our decisions made in advance. Not every single decision was made before breaking ground, but we are always one step ahead of the game so we are never the reason the project has to come to a halt.

We also pay our bills within a day of receiving invoices, with a hand-delivered check. Maybe our architects and builder would have gone above and beyond for us anyway, or maybe they are doing it because of this detail? Who knows, but they are all awesome! The attention to detail and insistence on "getting it right" from our pros is amazing.

Everyone's timeline is different. I don't think it's unreasonable to break ground this fall if you get your ducks in a row ASAP.

This may be a challenge for me/us. I am in the eastern hemisphere about 1/3 of the time, so progress and planning often happens slow.

So, Stupid question time: What is a person called that designs insides of houses? Interior designer? I thought they just did furnishings, arrangements and colors? We want to find someone that can help us put together tile, carpet, wall color, trim and paint finishes and such. Last time we built, it seemed like we visited about every kind of showroom (lighting, plumbing, flooring, paint, etc) imaginable and picked things we liked, that didnt necessarily coalesce well. I think this is an interior designer, correct?

Interior designer is correct. :)

Don't know if you saw this thread I started which links to a blog written by an architect in OH. He has some really excellent advice and I know one of his blog posts talked about interviewing builders. I didn't link that one post but I'm sure you can find it.

Link to thread with links to blog

I don't think breaking ground by fall is a problem as long as you don't let that timeline desire interfere with your design process....so when push comes to shove design time trumps break ground time. Don't rush the design just to meet that timeframe you hoped for. I mean once it's built it's pretty permanent. You can easier break ground a little or a lot later vs. trying to redesign a house after it's built.

It seems for most that part took longer than expected for a variety of reasons and not at all related to build size. Ducks in a row or not they all have to follow suit.

We hired an interior designer that helped with everything from shingle and siding selection to wall paint, cabinets, flooring and accessories. Money well spent and we had a modest build compared to many on here. She was great to bounce ideas off of.

If I had my druthers I would use a single designer, e.g. an architect who also does interiors.