Before embarking on a project like this you need to be very, very realistic about budget, and your own tolerance for chaos. You can be the most organized project manager on the planet, and you will be amazed at how out-of-control things can get.

I think most people build a home because they want it to be “exactly right”. It won’t be. Truly. In the one-hudred-kazillion options and decisions, some of them will be dead wrong. So you need to be somewhat philosophical about that issue. There are just too many contingencies, personalities and variables to exercise complete control.

That being said, a couple tips:

First, your contractor makes money on change orders, so keep them to an absolute minimum. He low-balled you to get the contract. Half-way through the project, he’s hurting for money. The only way to get more from you is to high-ball the change orders.

Second, really, truly examine and understand the bill of materials. It’s tough if you’re not in the building trades because you don’t know, for instance, that you want OSB rather than plywood for sub-flooring (or vice versa). How would you know this? It really helps if you have a knowlegable friend or relative who can walk you through the bill of materials. Before you break ground is the time to make corrections and upgrades to it. Remember, your contractor low-balled you to get the contract, so it’s VERY likely there are some items on the bill of materials that are below the quality you want. As an example, our bill of materials included nails for the sub flooring. My DH decided we wanted the sub-flooring screwed down to minimize squeaks. You can walk the entire length of the house and not have the floor squeak, but we paid extra for that upgrade, mid-stream.

Third, I advise against acting as your own general contractor. You will likely pay more in the long run and, just as important, your project will take longer. Tradesmen will work for a licensed contractor before they’ll work for you (because the licensed contractor can give them repeat business) so you will end up waiting for work to be done.

Fourth, lots of contractors go into business because they don’t want to work for someone else. That does not confer magical project-management skills upon them. So, for instance, they may ask you to make decisions instantly that they might (with better planning) have given you weeks or months to make.

Good luck!

For your future house, do consider including that all power outlets, and other outlets like cable connections, are around waist height and not close to floor level. Its a simple thing that will make life easier for you when you are too elderly to bend and retain your balance

We had planned on being in this home with children for many years, but will be empty nesters in about 4 years. When we built, we asked a lot of elderly people what would make their lives easier. Wider doorways, lever handles, one floor living, easily accessable storage, few if any steps, and materials that are easy to clean are things we took into consideration. Our home isn’t one level, but the master bed/bath, laundry/mud, living, kitchen, and dining rooms as well as access to the screened porch and deck are all on the main floor. We have wood floors throughout that are less labor intensive than daily vacuuming would be, and they won’t need replacement.

I’ve learned sooo much about organizing through this process, as I somehow ended up as the person in charge of all the planning/scheduling. No matter how long someone says it will take to do something, always plan on it taking 50% longer – there’s always stuff to do if the time-estimate stays on schedule (which, thus far, has yet to happen). Remember to plan days to PLAN – when stuff goes wrong, you’ll need some time on the schedule to re-group moving forward.

Whatever your total budget, knock off 20% and plan for that – the extra will be needed for all those “surprises” you didn’t anticipate. Even knowing we were going to replace wiring/plumbing, I was AMAZED how many “unexpected” expenses came up in both those areas.

If you’re living in the space while you remodel (not something I would recommend!) be sure to schedule time into the overall plan for moving things around. You don’t want the plumber showing up at 8:00 only to realize it’s going to take you 2 hours to move all the furniture out of the way.

I cant wait to check out the forum and see what’s being discussed!