The smartest thing you can do is have a lawyer vet the contract.

My DH was a lawyer and he knew enough to have it vetted by a construction/RE lawyer

Great idea, our attorney we use for my business will recommend someone.

Appraisal clause? can you help me with that? If I were a builder I would in no way agree to anything that held me accountable for that a completely custom home appraised for....

Always insist on full access to lien waivers for each sub to be received prior to any next payments to ensure you don't have any surprises...

Port-a-potties. Large dumpsters.

Sorry, that's all I got at the moment, lol.

Thanks, yes I'd read on another real estate related site re appraisal clause being in contract, custom build or not. If for some reason it did not appraise, there needs to be a plan of sorts in place, homeowner wants house and builder wants to be paid. Based on our build, location, finances and a recent group of sales on the island I don't see an issue.

Thanks Virgil big help.

Custom homes often have issues with costing much more than an appraisal. I would not expect any builder to be willing to sign any kind of appraisal clause. That is a Giant Red Flag for any builder. Especially if you are doing cost plus. That allows you the most freedom for your selections, but you also bear the full burden of cost of those selections. A fixed bid, with items that you have specified, may give you heart failure. Heck, a fixed bid, using just builder specified products may give you heart failure. Custom building is not for those who need to find housing on a shoestring.

Thanks, we've actually selected and priced everything from flooring to electrical and plumbing fixtures and all at build direct dot com. We gave the builder all our numbers based on our selections, not allowances. We are supplying our own appliances, ceiling fans and garage door openers etc. Don't want to put those items into a note. Basically we've got a good number for the house based on our selections. We are not doing cost plus, fixed price not to exceed.

Picking seconds and cheepchineseimport materials will keep the costs down for sure. And the quality right along with it. You might want to explore much better materials than that if you have expectations of quality. As in, American made decent quality materials will likely be double the carp that you are looking at. Quadruple in many cases. Ask your builder for local wholesalers who supply better materials.

Rigid inflexibility and ''my way or the highway'' only works if you are n eccentric millionaire prepared to pay for that privilege. It's just a Caution to everyone else to charge a PITA tax.

Contracts are like any other product, if you want more, then you have to pay more. This is the golden rule of contracts, you can't get around it and when you try to it will almost always bite you in the ass. You are wasting your time and money designing a contract that completely protects you. A good contract will spread the risk for mistakes between the parties or offset one party's risk with a higher reward.

First, Virgil gave some really solid things to consider in his advice and I second everything he said. I just want to reiterate something. Most builders will have their own contract, and they are not going to be amiable to your walking in with a contract designed by your attorney. Many, if not most, builders will walk away right then. Remember negotiations are signals, so what signal are you sending when you walk in with a custom made contract? Some builders may be open to you designing the whole contract from scratch but those guys have to be the minority.

Personally, I would take the builder's contract and make modifications that protected the things I really want and then increase the builder's percentage to offset the risk he is taking. Increasing the builder's percentage by a couple of percent (price in a fixed price) will often get you a better house from a better builder and ultimately for less money than trying to squeeze every penny from the builder. Because really he is just going to squeeze right back.

An appraisal clause is absolutely the worst idea EVER! Don't do it, and smack anyone who suggests smartly upside the head. Most quality builders will walk away immediately. If you did find someone to accept this, you are just begging for the law of unintended consequences to bite your backside. If a builder agreed to this then appraisal rather than quality becomes their main concern. You really don't want that. Every builder is going to protect their profit and when something is really out of their control they will overprotect their profit. You are just begging for the builder to cut corners. Appraisers really don't appraise the quality of the construction, mostly just the square footage and sales of similar homes. I see these done occasionally and they are almost always done on lower quality builds the large build on your lot chains love to throw this perk in there.

AIA contracts for construction are another good source, which are understood and respected. Like all contracts, as bry911 suggest, some modifications for your specific project and situation are likely to be needed.

Thanks for all of the feed back, we've got a construction attorney who will review the contract. As long as it's fair all the way around, can't ask for more. Sophie, you got NO clue what we are choosing nor the level of quality and my build. Please keep your highly negative attitude to yourself. Your comments have ZERO value and reading them is a total waste of my time. I personally don't give a rats a** what you think.

PI, I realize that Sophie's comments can come off harsh sounding but she does bring up some valid points. For example, all my appliance and plumbing fixtures were bought by my builder through Fergusons. Ferguson's retail prices are basically retail. LOL. However he as the builder gets a nice discount and he passed those discounts onto me. For example, I saved almost $200 on my kitchen faucet by having the builder purchase it.

Another example is with my wood flooring and my tile. Retail pricing for my engineered wood flooring and tile was several dollars more a square foot than what he was able to get it for and again the discount was passed onto me.

I would consider working directly with your builder to get better quality fixtures and flooring at discounted prices. Build Direct has a few brands that are considered good quality but in reality, you might do better letting the builder use his ability to get a builder discount.

Thanks CP. We DID start at Fergusson's. Actually we are buying our Bosch oven and cook top there. We also selected ALL of our fixtures from there. Using the same selections and with an additional discount from build direct dot com, we are saving a LOT of money. The builder is actually ordering them. Fergussons can't match the price, he tried that route. Same exact everything, same part numbers same manufacturers. We have selected flooring but not from build direct etc. Bosch 36" cooktop and the wall oven will come from Fergussons. They don't carry those particular models elsewhere such as big box stores etc.

Sophie, Build.com sells some of the same materials as the local specialy stores and their warranties. I know because we sourced our plumbing fixtures from them for a better discount than even our builder could source! (We know as he showed us his price, including markup!), and Delta 100% guaranteed the warranty no matter who we sourced them from. Build.com was willing to go check things for code compliance too, etc. Their delivery was FAR better (3-4 days, vs 8-10 weeks!) than our local supplier too!

So try not to bash them too hard?

Yes, have knowledgeable attorney review it.

Some completion clause, my "4-6 month" rebuild was not done at 3 years; weeks would go by as he was working on other projects and nothing was being done at my house.

Don't assume builder will not use cheap materials, before I realized that I needed to do my own research, I ended up with crappy windows, tub, and showerpan. Fortunately I realized it before I ended up with Aristocraft cabinets.

Thank you after having read MANY a story here, I have spec'd pretty much everything out including the company that will install my HVAC. When the day is done and the builder is finished, we are the folks paying the bills and this is not a tract house. Builder is great and has no issues with how we want to proceed.

It's kinda sad that we seem too easily make assumptions about people, and then bash them for assumptions we've made.

PI- You're in Florida. As such, the standard builder's contract tips very heavily towards the contractor, and has very little to protect your side. Your attorney, hopefully, will modify the contract so that you are represented in it, as a client. All within the idea that a clear contractual relationship isn't one that you start out thinking "lawsuit"- only clarity. The best contracts are those that are so clear that the lawyers never get involved again.

Thank you, I will have it reviewed by two attorneys. The attorney I use for my business who is pretty sharp and also a second who specializes in construction contracts, it's basically all he does. As long as it is clearly written and fair to both sides, that is all I would expect. Both sides have a vested interest in being covered and nothing wrong with that.

Homes at the level that are building are not often worried about making appraisals. There is usually quite a large cash infusion to take care of the loan evaluation, if a loan is needed. Just be careful that you do have the cash reserves to make this all work before you get too far into the planning. We have whole neighborhoods of half begun custom homes sitting rotting here because of the recession. And now they are being bulldozed so the boom cycle can begin again.

Good points, we won't have an issue with appraisal or cash reserves. Based on recent sales, plentty of room. We are being cautious, a repeat of the market back in 08 is coming. The bubble will burst again, not a matter of if but when.

I don't know what regulations there are in your state, but here in Virginia, a builder's contract has to comply with the state's contractor regulations. For this reason, I recommend you start with your builder's standard contract and have your attorney (experienced in construction/real estate) modify it as needed for all parties to be comfortable with it.

Thanks Charles.