1. “Do not seek things to be centered or have symmetry; they are only lazy ways to achieve balance. Seek balance. If being centered or being symmetrical was such importance, you would eat with a fork in each hand. (yes I am preparing for the 2019 year in quotes, while giving good advice at the same time. Balance you know).”

2. “Is that what this forum became: quote central? Good designs... NO. Solutions.. NO, Best interior finishes.. No not that. "Hire an architect for all your needs" and quotes .... YES.” A comment on last years list here https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5578504/2018-the-year-in-100-quotes#n=15

3. "How would you find YOURS in that maze?" Reply: "The same way you find your home in any US tract.... use the garage door button until a door opens."

4. A great home approach and entry is like a meeting at a party. The host leads you to a group or a person with which you have something in common, references those things, and leaves you to get to know each other. This homes approach doesn't leave you knowing where the party host is located at all. Instead you first see the sumo wrestler at the buffet table, with no one else in sight.”

5. “The whole thing [the elevation] looks a little busy to me. Reply: Busy? It looks like a small German town.”

6. “The new term for the house that OP posted is warty, meaning a series of "growths."

7. "...I’m getting that you are an architect. If your client insisted on a rectangle, how would that conversation go?” Reply: " Pretty much the way this conversation has gone.”

8. “This is not a cake shop. You ask for free design advice but want to restrict the content. I would expect to be well compensated for that kind of service.”

9. “So many of the folks who come here saying "fix this for me" don't realize that they are often asking for 8-12 hours of concerted effort, even if the pros here had ALL the info necessary to do a good job of it. Which is never available.”

10. “It's usually possible to detect the effort of a skilled hand in a house design. Things just seem to fit together with little effort. Of course, a great deal of effort was probably required.”

11. [The OP] is rather new here, and mistakenly believes he or she is the first person to battle the status quo. In reality, there is always a [the OP], and it always goes the same way, they get upset about the feedback they got and decide to champion the innocent from the evils of criticism.”

12. “When someone gets annoyed with the comment "get an architect". "Get a pro to help you". "Get a designer, a kitchen designer a bath designer whatever designer". Why? Because we'd really love to see your happy/smashing/thrilling results, rather than read your OH WOE IS ME post- six months, or a year from that original post. ........when we annoyed the hell out of you."

13. “I’ve done it before [built a custom home], one thing I learned is that there is always something or things I would have changed, no matter how carefully I thought it out. But that’s okay, nothing is ever perfect,.. & I have better things to obsess about.”

14, “Sleep evades me. I hate waking up in the middle of the night panicked over my choices: tile, carpet, paint, appliances, doors, lighting, counters. The backsplash choice is driving me nuts!”

15. Thread title: “Am I The Only One Who Second Guesses Decisions?” Reply: “Yes, you are the only one who second guesses. No, wait. Maybe you're not. I'm unsure.”

16. “Technically my husband is second guessing the design, and I'm second guessing my husband. Or is that third guessing?”

17. “My sister is always telling me how she wishes her husband had opinions on house stuff. I'm like, ‘No, no you don't. I have a husband with an opinion on everything; at least you get everything you love and don't have to compromise on or abandon ideas.’ "

18. “Omg building a home I had the same issue with my.spouse. They can be such asses.. Reply: Honey, when did you join Houzz?

19. “If your husband is an engineer he can probably draw up your plans and maybe even pull the building permits but you might spend more on marriage counseling :-) We will need the guys with black and white striped shirts if my architect hubby and I ever design a house from the ground up lol.”

20. Thread title: “How has building a house affected your marriage/relationships? Comment: “I found that conspicuously cleaning my .357 revolver kept arguments to a minimum.”

21. “Please tell your husband to stick to what he's been trained to do and get an architect who is trained in creating a house that will live well and work for you”

22. “Hubby will have a large work shop situated off in the distance on the garage side. He used to always just disrobe in the garage and run thru the house.” Reply: “Uh...that's a bit more information than we need to know here...”

23. Thread Title: Building a Home and thinking of all the decisions. Any checklists?

Comment 1:

Checklist:

-Architect

-Builder

-Beer, Wine, or Liquor

Comment 2-Therapist

Comment 3:
Marriage councilor

24. “I feel so very blessed to have the money to build this home and to get what materials I wanted. I do look around and think to myself ‘did I really need that?’ In the end I do know none of these things are going to make me happy. It's who fills my home and the life we live there that make us happy.”

25. “A home is more than just rooms.”

26. “People talk a lot about dream houses, but sometimes a dream house isn't all marble floors and a backyard swimming pool or 5000 sq feet of space. Sometimes it's living comfortably and affordably in a good area, and enjoying a retirement that allows you to enjoy life, restaurants, travel, and friends. The dream life is more important to me than the dream house."

27. “Designing and building a house is not like building with Lego; one does not design a floor plan, then select an exterior elevation and put the two together. I'm not an architect, but I know enough about it to know it just doesn't work that way!!!”

28. “A house is like a water balloon. You stretch it this way, and it gets skinny that way. You push it that way, and it gets fat this way. The balloon changes shape. But so does the water in the interior. You can’t concentrate on the shape of the balloon without realizing that the water inside has to match the balloon on the outside.”

29. “The exterior form follows the interior form. Home design isn’t paper dolls where you paste on an outfit on top of a flat one dimensional object. A house is a 3D doll, with 3D doll clothes that fit differently than they look like in a drawing.”

30. “You employ an Architect or Designer to show you the possibilities you then decide the value/worth to you of those possibilities.”

31. “The three most dangerous words in design are "Whatever you want". The three best words are : "How about this?" “

32.“We have a section of hooks on a wall in our mud laundry room and it usually looks like a game of "how many coats can I hang here". “

33. “If you buy an old house you'll never be done renovating it.”

34. Thread title: “What details do you expect in 1 million dollar construction? Appliances, custom cabinets, doors?” Reply: “Definitely appliances. Like an oven.”

35. “Money makes almost anything happen. Lack of money dooms even simple projects.”

36. “We contacted an architect, who turned out to have designed [a house] with no budget at all. We haven't met yet but most likely we are going to hire this architect.” Reply: “Oh man, I find myself suddenly daydreaming about designing a house with no budget at all.”

37. “I'm glad my wife doesn't know about floor mounted tub fillers. We are about two episodes of HGTV away from bursting the budget.”

38. “Limited budget should be the reason for good design, not an excuse for mediocre design.”

39. Thread title: “Long term homeowners…what would you tell your younger self” Reply: “I would tell my younger self "please don't cut a hole in your roof with a chainsaw while standing on a saw horse" Other than that, it's turned out pretty well.”

40. “Well, this is my first and last house build, and we're doing the best we can with the resources we have. I realize that is frustrating for people helping me. I wish I'd known more before we started, but I didn't know what I didn't know. This Houzz forum has saved my sanity. Thank you for bearing with me.”

41. Thread title: “Classical architecture is still alive” Reply: “It may be alive, but if you'll look around, it's barely hanging on with life support. A house has become more of a way to impress your boss than a way to shelter your children. The gaudier and more full of Mr. Potatohead attachments grafted on to it, preferably with a material change for each, the more "impressive" it becomes.”

42. “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface ofthe deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the architecture. And God said, “Let there be architecture,” and there was architecture. God saw that the architecture was good, and he separated the architecture from the track houses. God called the architecture “good,” and the track houses he called “boring.”
And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”

43. “No one can see your house or understand what it needs from a brief internet post. All you can get are broad brush suggestions. If you want realistic help, hire an in person Designer.”

44. “Crowd sourcing advice on structural issues isn't a good idea.”

45. " ‘You cannot adhere strictly to rules no matter what the internet says.’ Always remember, this advice came to you on the internet.”

46. “Let me see if I understand this correctly...you said the builder said hanging anything from the garage ceiling voids the house warranty...and you're asking strangers here on this forum if it's OK to hang something from the garage ceiling...do I have it right?”

47. “I’ve seen first hand nitpicking at its finest from people who thought they were experts from google university.”

48. “People who do not operate in a world where knowledge is nuanced and complicated do not understand what they do not understand and they think their Google search puts them on the same footing as the experts.”

49. “Anyone can be a pro on Houzz.”

50. “In NO build or remodel, does your budget go nearly as far as you believe it will. Print that BOLDLY . Do it right now. And start eating pasta, lots of it”.

51. “The bay windows seem unnecessary“ Reply: “Laundry rooms seem unnecessary because you can always go to a laundromat, but some folks just like to have a laundry room. Some people just like to have bay windows”

52. “A building site has a lot to do with the design of a custom home...or it should. Houses and sites should be tailored to each other. That's just one of the problems with generic plan factory house plans.”

53. “Your ‘talented and creative’ architect has not yet earned payment.”

54. “I am working with an architect but it seems I’m having to do much of the work myself. :/ I don’t have much else to say about that.”

55. “Just because everyone else does it, doesn't mean it's a good idea.”

56. “My thought: If you can logically articulate WHY a certain rule should be broken, you're probably right. If you're falling back on "that's how it's done in this area" or "it suits how my family lives" or "I like this style", you're probably trying to talk yourself into something bad.”

57. “Scale and proportion are everything. ..................no matter what one shall do, do it well.”

58. “We determined our window height by the ease of the dog standing there and looking out.”

59. “People cannot even SEE good designs anymore. And some confuse simplicity of structure with good design. That's just the opposite side of the coin as complexity being considered good design. Simplicity is to be strived for, but it doesn't automatically create good design. Nor does complexity. Nor does homage to classicism. But classicism done shabbily and with little attention to detail is still likely to be closer to "good" than any oversold mill plan.”

60. “Dang, I wish I had software to draw this up." Reply: “Do you have a HB pencil and some paper?”

61. “Are you certain he’s a licensed architect, not a draftsman or designer? It can be hard to tell initially for homeowners, as a friend says, ‘Oh, you’ll love my architect,’ so you assume someone is an architect who in fact isn’t.”

62. “No actual professionals were involved in the harming of that space.”

63. “Whomever created this should have their CAD privileges permanently revoked and sent off to diesel repair school.”

64. “There's a wide gulf between knowing how to use a CAD program and being a good, experienced architect.”

65. “Pencil & paper is a tool. A computer program is a tool. Tools are used to draw. Minds are used to design.".

66. Thread title: “Self contracting app/software for home building.” Reply: “Stock up on alcohol. And Advil if you are going to do some things yourself to save money.”

67. Comment: “And please explain why anyone needs a shower 8' long unless it's to have an orgy inside.” Reply: “An orgy, given the right circumstances, could be all kinds of fun! Especially in a shower. Maybe that's the intention?”

68. “I hate it when people try to erase the original details "for resale". Ownership of an older character home is a stewardship for future generations. No one will miss these 00's gabled monsters. Every older home who has original details destroyed deserves a wake.
It's killing your grandmother to try to force her to be Hannah Montana.”

69. “The bitterness of low quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is long forgotten.”

70. “Know your strengths. You are where the buck starts. Reply: “And stops”

71. “I would be concerned buying a house plan from someone whose main guarantee is that "We GUARANTEE to meet state building codes". Sigh. Of course they do, it's the minimum and it's a requirement.”

72. “I should've been spending my free time on here long before I got to where I am, but I'm happy to be receiving this advice before the process got any further.”

73. “A mistake I often see architects making is too much focus on a grand view. The grand view is enhanced if there are some intimate views as well.”

74. “I'd greatly appreciate some feedback on our new build (pics attached)! Do you like it? What would you change? Is anything odd or weird? Layout flow good or ehh? Room sizes good or so so? Constructive criticism, praise, thumbs up, thumbs down ALL WELCOME! I am a nervous wreck about finalizing our plan. Lol.” And after a week of responses, none whose ideas where accepted by the OP: “I took months thinking of our needs and wants and how it relates to layout in both the floorplan and plat.”

75. “This whole thread is a painful series of completely wrongheaded assumptions and fake facts that rejected any help from anyone who knew anything better. It's DIY heart surgery with a local and a medical textbook. It can only end badly over budget and badly built. Which is sad. Because there was SO much good advice ignored.”

76. “I appreciate all of your feedback. I couldn’t sleep, totally stressed. Yikes. My plan is on hold until a better design is put together.”

77. “This is the only [elevation] that they have provided us with. I would post the floorplan but to be honest you people have scared the shi* out of me.”

78. Comment: “Post the 1st and 2nd floor plans for best ideas.” Reply: “I've posted floor plans here before and it's always a harrowing experience."

79. “Nobody leaves this place unscathed. Nice job @Architectrunnerguy” (A comment about one of ARG’s posted designs).

80. “Okay, I am a little nervous to post, but I like the feedback (kind of)!”

81. Thread title: “Getting cold feet on our new construction plan! Please help! And the OP reply after all the responses: Wow! This is brutal! But I do really appreciate all of the helpful comments.”

82. “Building a house, like many things in life - is a series of tradeoffs. And the whole is more than the sum of the parts.”

83. Thread title: “Is this drywall poorly done?” Reply: “Looks like they tapped and mudded over one of the workers.”

84. “Houses don't sell as well when they have Dying rooms.”

85. “I suppose the best way to go about it is to have the structure infected by a structural engineer.”

86. “Cost/SF is a really lousy metric; it gets builders and clients in trouble all the time.”

87. “I tell my clients that if they're trying to follow current trends, they're already too late.”

88. “There’s another backstory to this saga, because we were originally working with a different architect, and a few weeks after he started working on our plans he had a heart attack.”

89. “Our roof is obviously a hip roof. this is very common in our area. The architect that designed the plans told us that the builder normally hands the elevations to the framer and he designs and builds it.”

90. “Well...What usually happens is a client will bring in a floor plan with an area they're not quite happy with. It's like a loose string in a knit sweater, pull on it just a little and the whole thing unravels. Usually all I have to do is let them spot the flaw and pull on the string.”

91. “Many regret getting old without having saved enough, still others regret getting old not having lived enough.”

92. Thread Title: “What's the difference between general contractor and home builder?” Reply: "A builder is a GC with a PR firm."

93. “What an innocent you are! If you’re going to build, it’s highly recommended that you become skeptical and jaded as rapidly as possible.”

94. “Using an on line source to select a general contractors (and which charges a fee) is the most ***ine and expensive method possible, not to mention the least informed and risk-laden approach possible. A savvy 10-year old kid could produce an expert listing, including reviews that would knock your socks off.”

95. “Another thread where the house has already been framed and the owner wants to try different decorative materials to alter the "style" of the house. There should be a separate forum for the last minute, Mr. Potato Head approach to architectural design.”

96. “There are no reliable rules of thumb in construction.”

97. “Think of building a house as childbirth. Horrible experience, but worth it at the end”

98. Thread title: “How to document house building experience Reply: Some house building experiences are documented by complaints, affidavits, briefs, depositions, trials, and appeals.”

99. “It’s spelled Hoazz. That’s how my autocorrect insists it needs to be spelled and I’m done fighting with it over a word that doesn’t exist. Stupid name anyway.”

100. “Seriously..................you can't make this stuff up.”