Build the right house - the west facing afternoon sun is not pleasant.

What direction does your lot face?

I would NEVER build a west facing house

Location location location.

“Basically the already constructed house would be priced above what we were quoted for new construction.” I wouldn’t count on that.

The lot faces mostly north. A slight tilt to the west. We are concerned about the winter winds being chilly. Not much afternoon sun on the lot right now.

Now...meaning In the winter. We have only owned the lot a few months so we haven’t watched sun throughout the year. It’s something I’m having a hard time visualizing.

Really appreciate all the feedback. We have talked to several builders in the past few weeks and they give the same range. Assuming they are taking into account lumber, as all have mentioned how drastically it has increased.

Agree that the construction figures you are quoting are likely very much under what the reality will be to build. I've never seen construction figures include landscaping at all for a custom home. Even in the production type communities the landscaping is generic and extremely limited to "builder landscaping". Never seen custom home estimates (general estimates like you are quoting) include fencing of any sort, much less a gate. In fact, I would be very surprised you get anywhere close to the $225-$250/sf price on new construction unless there is a major market downturn when you build.

I don't think you are comparing apples to apples. It's tough to do when you don't have the information you need to make an informed decision. Is there anyone in the area that has just finished building a custom home that you can speak to about the material and labor price increases during their building experience? I hope others on Houzz can write about what is going on now with their own recent building experience.

To your question: IMO view and location over house. A house can be modified (typically) but you can't change it's view unless someone comes in behind you and blocks the view and that's not a concern for your situation.

Edit: Have you supplied plans and specs to the builders for a quote or is this just a basic "what will it cost to build X size house" type question to the builder?

Eventually you’re the one that has to make that decision. At the end of the day it’s all about the view! Have you met with anyone on remodeling the existing house?

We have not met with anyone on remodeling the existing. We don’t have plans or specs to build yet. Everything is preliminary at this point. I downloaded the Sun Seeker app after a few comments about the west facing sun on the constructed house. That was good info, as I see from April - September that house would get full on evening sun. There is a covered patio, but I still think that could mean sun entering the home and hard to find a shady spot on the patio to eat dinner.

My husband thinks our lot doesn’t have as preferable view and sun, but I think we aren’t seeing all the sun factors since we are in the winter right now.

OK, except sun angles dont apply same to everyone, everywhere. Here in the snowy north (WI) only the hottest months of July-Aug. would be a concern and a few strategically placed mature trees on the lot can reduce a house's temps by as much as 10-20 degrees. The rest of the time - glorious view of sunsets over the lake and the warm sun streaming in the windows on a wintry January day like today would more than make up for the hassles and air conditioning costs of summer. The too hot in July patio would be PERFECT on one of those glorious golden Indian summer days in October.

Maybe make a list of all possible shortcomings of the lot with the house and take it to the remodeling forum - for example if the sun baking the patio in summer is a problem, get an estimate for building a pergola structure over it and a large reflective shade cloth (Aluminet) to go over it during the hottest months. These are incredible - can reduce solar heat by as much as 80-90%. Or a free standing summer house in a shadier spot?

Anything you find is going to have its shortcoming - so the questions to ask are 1) is it really a problem or am I just afraid it is (a lot of times things turn out to be no big deal) and 2) if it is a problem, can it be corrected and at what cost.

Living on a cove beats open water any day of the week - you’ll have nice calm water versus boats zipping by all day - think about swimming peacefully versus not - if your lake allows docks, trying to get your boat into your dock with all the waves is tough, versus docking your boat in that nice calm water in a cove - unbeatable. We lived in a cove and it was wonderful - our friends who lived on the open water were so jealous of our quiet peaceful water.

Good point. But neither location allows for a dock. And there is a cliff line, so there is not walkable access to either. So in that respect, the access to the water is virtually the same. But seeing/hearing the boats zipping by would be more outside of the cove.

I would take the wrong house in the perfect location, no question. Buy the house, live in it for 6 months, then plan renovations with the money you saved once you see what the actual pain points are.

If you don't have plans or specs, the construction cost is not likely to be accurate

If you built new, would you have to have a more complex roof than your neighbor?

The existing house looks awfully close to the edge of the cliff. What do you know about erosion over the long term in that area? I'm thinking of a picture I saw this month of a house falling into Lake Michigan after years of erosion.Of course that one was built on sand, and yours looks like it's on stone, but still . . . how many feet is it to the edge?

Anne

You have quite a conundrum, and I'm going to add another consideration. The lot next door may not be for sale now, but there is a risk that someone could buy it at any point and build a house that could block your view and your light.

I would suggest the existing home in the good location. Some of the deficiencies of the existing house can be dealt with if you get creative.

I would live in it for a year before I did anything. This will allow you to determine what is a need and what is a want. I always come up with better plans if I live in the space first and stare at it for a while.

Would the addition of a communal hot tub and outdoor kitchen with pergola or shaded porch help with your needs? With a hot tub, you won't need a bath tub in the house. If you must have a hot bath, why not have one under the stars with a glass of wine and some nibbles? How about an outdoor fireplace? A good designer, kitchen planner or architect could revamp the interior kitchen design to make it more efficient. With the addition of an outdoor kitchen, you add additional capacity and potentially won't need as large a kitchen.

You can always add a buried propane tank to the property, if you want gas service.

Most of our living at the lake is done outdoors. Once the coffee is made, we are outside. We only go inside when the sun goes down. Then, it's off to bed. We don't do a lot of indoor living unless it's raining. I'd concentrate on the outdoor space and see if you can adapt it the structure with a great outdoor plan.

I would suggest that you contact or if you have a realtor that you rent houses in two different areas. One on a cove one on the open water. Being on a cliff mean little access to the water unless you can receive permission to build steps down to it. Most lakes you will have to have propane, a septic system and perhaps a cistern or well although some like my FIL's place did put in a sort of public water system. It was a well that pumped water into a tank for pressure and periodically was closed for health reasons.

Much would depend on if you are planning on living there year round or just as a getaway place. I would second the live in it for a year before making major changes as sometimes things that you initially want such as the drinks station become more of a hassle than they are worth. They do make rolling bars depending on what you call a drinks station.

You can change the house; you can never change the location.

Achaea, wise words.

we bought our lake house and have done many renovations to it. The only unfixable issue it the kitchen. It faces west and when cooking dinner I can’t stand the heat! Even with A/C. I bought inexpensive roller shades and have to pull them down!

Build then you can have almost everything on your list and no more remodeling and headache. I just moved to a house I built it is down size since I retired but had everything I wanted even for my
Older years. Though the process is not easy but the end is worth it.

I might add especially you need 4 bedrooms and I would not settle on 3 that’s a big factor to consider

sell your lot, buy another one in a better location, and build there

I think it's important to figure out and number the priorities, so you know what items are deal breakers. For instance, is it a deal-breaker not to have gas? Or is it, like, priority #66?

BTW, you may be saving the planet by using electricity instead of gas. In a sunny lot, you could probably solar-generate, too.. If it were me, this would be a very important consideration.

******

Does your square-foot per new construction reflect the price of the lot? Otherwise, you'd be comparing apples to oranges. And the lot on the cove with the existing house sounds like it would be a much more valuable lot.

Lil b said “I downloaded the Sun Seeker app after a few comments about the west facing sun on the constructed house. That was good info, as I see from April - September that house would get full on evening sun.”

we have a lake house with a southeast back. A little hot in the mornings. But we love that by midday the house and the grounds in the back are pleasant.

we rented a house on Lake Michigan with a west back a few years ago. Lots of glass and a pretty bad ac capacity. It was a greenhouse. Absolutely miserable. I would never build or buy a house with a west back.

are you sure that either of your options are ideal. You didn’t mention your age or your family status. Are you in a hurry? Can you wait and not rush into making a decision? Maybe the perfect or almost perfect house will come on the market. You can always sell your lot.

We have a house on an island in a lake and it faces west. There's no air conditioning. In the summer the house stays cool in the morning and mid day but the lake, deck and dock are in sunlight all day. The sunsets are spectacular.

Its on a small island with paths instead of roads so we often walk the shore line and see about 80 houses in every possible orientation. It may matter if you like to be on the water or just near water.

I don't know what its like in the winter when it can only be reached by walking over on the ice but I have little interest in frozen lakes.

Its been in my wife's family for 60 years and we added a second floor about 20 years ago. Its no longer possible to do that so I recommend doing it before the zoning becomes more restrictive. With the grandkids we will soon need a bigger dock.

I'd take the worse house in a better location. I'd also ignore anybody arguing against a west-facing lake house. That's where the sunsets are. The best spaces I've inhabited with water views, from Florida to Minnesota, have faced the water to the west.

As someone who is on the edge of completing a 1 year gut reno, please save your time, money, mental health, and relationship and just buy a house or wait to build after this pandemic is over!

In my experience, every trade in the PNW construction is overcharging for everything and the price of materials are through the roof due to issues with importing materials, skilled labor taking off work to collect unemployment, folks hoarding materials, and for some time the fires that impacted domestic materials. I've also had multiple subcontractors (plumbers, tile, millwork) just stop showing up to work mid-project because they found more expensive work. It was also really difficult to lock-in a siding person and a framer! Trust me, construction right now is heart wrenching and exhausting AND my construction time doubled b/c all of the aforementioned problems.

Lastly, this is a good time to buy a home b/c mortgage rates are so low.... Not sure they will be this low next month.

I would select the imperfect house in the perfect location. A good architect can do wonders. I say this based on my experience with buying based on location and renovating the MEH cottage into a wonderful getaway.

View.

Water view ;)

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/gallery/2021/feb/02/travel-photographer-of-the-year-2020-in-pictures#img-9

As someone else mentioned...what is not for sale now.....could BE for sale at any time. I think that is a pretty important consideration to keep in mind. And it sounds like a pretty fair list of negatives. Do some wallet-pondering. If you can overcome the negatives with rehab/addition, whatever.....then maybe go for it. Start a nest egg so you could acquire the adjacent land if it ever came up...or do some judicious screen planting now. Good luck!