What is the single most important decision I will make in building my new house?

Choosing the person who will build it. A great design, superb location or dramatic view won't compensate for structural defects or poor workmanship.

What does the cost-per-square-foot figure mean?

A builder quoting cost per square foot is averaging over the entire house. The builder doesn't mean that every square foot in the house will cost exactly that amount. What any specific square foot costs depends on what's in it. A square foot in your kitchen, bathroom or home theater will cost a lot more than a corner of your living room that's merely "raw space."

I have a modest budget. Should I look for the lowest cost per square foot I can find?

A builder quoting you unusually low cost per square foot isn't necessarily offering a terrific deal. To get the low figure, the builder may be using inferior materials and subcontractors known for shoddy workmanship.

Why do houses cost so much?

The biggest ticket item in any house purchase is the land. So where you decide to build your house will have the single biggest impact on its price. The shape of your house also will affect its price. A simple box with a simple, single-pitch roof is the cheapest to build, but most people think it's boring.

How should I pick a lot?

Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure that you can build on the lot. The view may be fantastic, but the logistics of getting equipment in place may be impossible unless you're the U.S. Army or Bill Gates. Bring in a custom builder to advise you. If you're buying a house in a subdivision, bring in a landscape architect to advise you on grading and drainage so you don't end up with a small lake in your backyard after every downpour.

Is it worth big bucks for a great view? Will this increase my resale value?

A great view can make living in your new house even more wonderful, but in most cases you're buying the lot, not the view. If view protections are not in place before you purchase the land, you will be at the mercy of neighbors — or their builder-developer — to not build or plant anything that will affect your view.

Do I need to engage a private home inspector? Can't I just rely on the local municipal building inspector?

Private home inspectors and municipal building inspectors look for different things and have different priorities. The municipal inspector will be checking for building code infractions and not be concerned with quality. The same code applies to all houses within a given jurisdiction whether they are modest in price or cost more than a million dollars.

The private home inspector is looking at quality as well as code issues. This person is a second pair of eyes to make sure everything is in order code-wise, but also concerned with items that will cause problems down the line if not addressed during construction.

I have a king-sized bed, two side tables, two large dressers, and an entertainment center. I don't think this is an unusual amount of bedroom furniture. But when I look at many furnished models, I only see a standard-sized double bed, even when the room is large enough for a much bigger one. Often times there's no dresser at all. What gives?

It may be that it was impossible to move a large bed into the room. In many new houses today the stairs are narrow and U-shaped, and hallways are narrow. This can make it impossible to get a large piece of furniture up the stairs, even when you have an experienced moving crew used to maneuvering in tight spaces.

When there are no dressers, it's often an indication that a room is not that big. Leaving out the dressers and putting in a chaise longue can make a room look more spacious, as well as suggest that it could be used as a sitting room.

My husband says I'm nuts for wanting a huge TV, that our family room isn't large enough for one. How large does the room have to be?

Hey, a lot of programs are more fun to watch on big screens. But a super-sized TV requires a large viewing area, so make sure that your family room is big enough for the big TV and all the other stuff you want to put in it. As a general rule, you need to sit back a distance at least twice the diagonal dimension of the television screen. If the screen is fifty inches, you need to sit back at least a hundred inches or about eight and a half feet. Many people say that sitting this close still feels like you're on the front row in a movie theater, and you may want to sit ten or twelve feet back.

I imagine that our new family room will be the center of family life. Is there anything I can do so that it will accommodate all the stages my family will pass through?

When our daughters were little, I used to wish our family room had a large closet that I could cram all their toys into. Then there were the years with the Barbies, dollhouses and board games. Now it's blankets and pillows so they can watch television in comfort, and there are always books, videos and CD's lying around. If there is a common thread through all these stages, it is that storage is essential to keep any order at all. The kids will definitely bring stuff in there. The way to keep from going crazy is to have a place to put it, whether that's a closet, or base cabinets and bookcases, or all three. If you have the space, a cabinet for each child can be ideal.

Will attics ever make a comeback?

In some parts of the country they are reappearing as builders raise the roof pitch for aesthetic reasons — and buyers see the potential for storage or finished space. Also, attics never disappeared in areas where builders don't routinely build basements.

After several weekends of touring models, I have concluded that whatever I buy, I won't have enough storage space, even with a basement. Why don't any of the builders include a pull-down stair and some floorboards so I could put stuff in the otherwise unusable attic?

Since most buyers are not interested, most builders don't want the extra hassle. Creating a small attic-storage area looks simple enough, but the builder would have to reinforce standard roof trusses because they aren't sized to hold any floor load. Also, the builder would have to add wiring because you want some light up there. Code requirements may call for other refinements that would add to the hassle, as well as the cost.

I'm looking at a town house. The builder has a large "laundry closet" on the second floor. This seems odd to me.

Actually, it's a lot more practical to have a laundry on the second floor because most of the dirty laundry is generated there. When you have the washer and dryer on the same floor, you avoid a lot of trips carting laundry up and down the stairs. If the closet is only big enough for the washer and dryer, you might consider buying models that stack. That way you can also have room for a laundry tub for washing hand washables and working on stains before putting soiled clothes into the washing machine.

My builder is offering an optional foldout ironing board in the laundry room. What do you think?

Personally, I hate ironing. The only way I can make myself do it is to set the ironing board up in the nicest room in the house, preferably one with a view and a television. If you can imagine yourself ever ironing in a big closet (which is generally what a laundry room is), then it might be a good idea. But for me, never.

Maybe it seems silly even to think about this. But what could go wrong with a garage?

In some new houses, the stairs leading up to the house from the garage project out into one of the parking bays, making it useless for car storage. When the stairs are in the wrong place it is an oversight, but not one you want on your house, so check to see where they are as your house goes up.

Can you offer any useful guidelines on sizes of garages?

To accommodate two cars plus your garbage cans, recycling bins and maybe a bike or two, you need at least 19 feet in width and 21 feet in length. To be able to open the doors of one car without hitting the other, you need a width of 24 feet. If you have gardening equipment, you may need a length of 24 feet. And, if you have unusually large cars, say an SUV and a van or a Chevy Suburban, you may need even more length and more width. You also want to make sure that you can clear the garage door as you drive in and out.

Once you've zeroed in on two or three builders, the best way to find out if your cars and all the other stuff that you plan to put in your new garage will fit is to "test park" your cars in the garage of a house that is nearly finished.

I want to get the latest smart wiring for my home office, but these things constantly change. How can I stay on top of it?

The best strategy — not only for your office but for your entire house — is to "future proof" your smart wiring network. A low tech but effective method is to install a two-inch plastic plumbing pipe from the central control panel (usually in the basement or utility room) to the attic space under the roof. From the attic, a network installer can easily drop new wires into the second-floor rooms below. New wiring for the first-floor rooms can be run up from the basement. If you plan to finish the basement, ask the network installer who's putting in the system now where to locate ceiling access panels for servicing or changing the system in the future.

If I can pick any exposure in the house for my office, which do you recommend?

I would go for the one with the best view, and then invest in window treatments if necessary.

Every new house I see has linen closets that are a joke. You can hardly fit in anything besides washcloths! Where can I put my linens?

You make a good point. Most new houses that I see have "token" linen closets, which means that you will have to find some other place to keep your bed linens and towels. One possibility is your bedroom closets, especially if you install a California Closet type storage system. (California Closet is the most well known, but there are a number of companies that make closet storage systems.) With such a system, you can nearly double the amount of stuff you can store in a closet.

Will attics ever make a comeback?

In some parts of the country they are reappearing as builders raise the roof pitch for aesthetic reasons — and buyers see the potential for storage or finished space. Also, attics never disappeared in areas where builders don't routinely build basements.

After several weekends of touring models, I have concluded that whatever I buy, I won't have enough storage space, even with a basement. Why don't any of the builders include a pull-down stair and some floorboards so I could put stuff in the otherwise unusable attic?

Since most buyers are not interested, most builders don't want the extra hassle. Creating a small attic-storage area looks simple enough, but the builder would have to reinforce standard roof trusses because they aren't sized to hold any floor load. Also, the builder would have to add wiring because you want some light up there. Code requirements may call for other refinements that would add to the hassle, as well as the cost.

The same architect has done quite a few houses in the neighborhood where I am planning to build. Those houses look nice, but when I met the architect at a housewarming, things did not jell. What should I do?

You will be working with your architect very closely for as long as two years, and you need to be VERY comfortable with that person. If you didn't like the architect when you met him or her socially, I would keep looking.

What about the builder? Do I have to like my builder personally?

Trust your gut. Of course you should check out a builder's bona fides and look at his or her finished houses before hiring. But, as with the architect, you will be working very closely together for two years or more. As one builder said, "it's like being married," so if you're not comfortable, keep looking.

Where do I begin in planning about my dream house? I've been waiting for this moment for years, but now that it's here my mind's a blank.

If you haven't been perusing shelter magazines or the real estate and home sections of your newspaper and visiting new-home communities, start now. It'll give you a handle on what's out there and suggest possibilities for your house. I would also spend time visiting Web sites of several home-plan companies. It's another way to get a feel for what's happening in home design. Also, you'll develop a sense of what you get in "2,400 square feet" and "3,000 square feet," and so forth.

Every time I go to the grocery store, I see plan books in the checkout lines. Is this a good way to get a design for my new house?

Home-plan services can be a great way to buy a design if you have a limited budget, but you should plan on spending several hundred to several thousand dollars to refine the plan for your building site. (The plans are designed for a perfectly flat site, which is almost never the case.) Also, your plans will need to meet local building code requirements. By the time you factor these costs in, you may want to look at other alternatives. Hiring an architect to design your house from scratch will be the most expensive way to get a design, but it will be tailored to your building site, your budget, your aesthetic preferences, and your lifestyle.

How "far out" with design can I go?

It's your house; you can build whatever you want. But a word of caution is in order. At some point you or your heirs will be selling your house. If you build one so unique that few buyers are interested, it will be harder to sell than if you go with something a little more mainstream. This is not saying that resale should become the tail that's wagging your design, only that you don't want to build a house that becomes a white elephant.

What's the difference between custom and production builders?

A custom builder constructs one-of-a-kind houses, often one at a time, and is willing to build plain or fancy. The custom builder may provide the design, or you may hire an architect or buy an off-the-shelf, pre-drawn design from a home-plan design service. A custom builder's price covers only construction costs; you buy the lot yourself, wherever you want to build.

A production builder (as tract builders prefer to be called) does not offer the anything-you-want smorgasbord and will build only the plans offered by the builder's firm.

Construction materials and finishes will be of the builder's choosing, but you can pick colors and patterns. A production builder will not build just anywhere, but buys a number of lots in one location and sells house and lot as one package.

Another big difference between the two types of builders: Custom builders charge more. On average it's about twice what production builders charge, and you pay the lot cost on top of this.

When I tour model homes, I avoid the sales agent because I'm afraid I'll be trapped into signing a sales agreement. Am I being paranoid?

Some sales agents are intimidating, but most are very friendly and want to be helpful. They know that no one buys a house without visiting at least three or four times. After the fourth visit, however, the agent might ask you how serious you are.

My builder offers a ton of options. Some would give us additional space, but most are for more expensive finishes. Which should I choose?

As a rule of thumb, I would say you are better off getting the extra space now because it will be harder and much more costly to add it later. With finishes, such as kitchen countertops, you can simply remove one and install another. But having said that, I urge you to think over how much you will actually use the extra space. For example, I frequently see optional sunrooms, and I always wonder how useful they are.

My builder offers about sixty choices of carpet. How can I make an intelligent choice?

To get a carpet that will wear reasonably well, you will likely have to upgrade two or three levels. You will also need an upgraded pad. As you move up in carpet grades you will discover that the number of color choices increases. In general, a neutral color that goes with your furniture is a good bet. A lighter carpet color will make a space look larger, but it also shows the dirt more. If you have kids and pets, factor them into your choices.

My builder offers several choices for the exterior finish of the house. I can get a brick front and then finish the sides and back with something less expensive. Am I being cheesy to consider this?

Not at all. In most new subdivisions today, almost every house with a brick front has something different for the sides and rear. When you find out how much it costs to have brick on all four sides, you will decide to do what all the other buyers on the block did.

I want a deck. But my spouse wants to spend the money on a finished basement instead. What do you think?

Well, one way to look at this quandary is that in most places in the country you can only use the deck for part of the year, but you can use a finished basement every day. In most cases, a builder's charge to finish a basement is much less expensive than bringing in someone later to do it. Adding a deck later will cost about the same as now.

I know that I need more lighting than the builder offers in the base priced house. How can I tell what I will need?

Try to visit a furnished model at night. During the day, the large windows that everyone wants will flood the house with natural light, so it will be hard to figure out what additional lighting is required.

What's the difference between custom and production builders?

A custom builder constructs one-of-a-kind houses, often one at a time, and is willing to build plain or fancy. The custom builder may provide the design, or you may hire an architect or buy an off-the-shelf, pre-drawn design from a home-plan design service. A custom builder's price covers only construction costs; you buy the lot yourself, wherever you want to build.

A production builder (as tract builders prefer to be called) does not offer the anything-you-want smorgasbord and will build only the plans offered by the builder's firm.

Construction materials and finishes will be of the builder's choosing, but you can pick colors and patterns. A production builder will not build just anywhere, but buys a number of lots in one location and sells house and lot as one package.

Another big difference between the two types of builders: Custom builders charge more. On average it's about twice what production builders charge, and you pay the lot cost on top of this.

If we plan to add a deck later, do we have to plan for it now, as our house is built?

In some instances, builders frame a house one way when they are building the deck and another way when they're not. If you delay on the deck, make sure you find out from your builder how he is framing the backside of your house where you want to add the deck. You need the framing information because that will affect how you frame the new deck and support it. If the deck is not framed properly, it could collapse.

What is "building green"?

It means building in a more environmentally sensitive way. A green builder tries to make the finished house as energy efficient as possible, often going beyond local building code requirements. Green builders emphasize healthier indoor air and avoid products that can give off gases containing volatile organic compounds (VOC's), to which some individuals are very sensitive. Green builders also practice resource conservation, both in the selection and manufacture of construction materials. They tend to favor materials that require less energy to manufacture and can be recycled when their useful life in your house has ended.

Do I need to engage a private home inspector? Can't I just rely on the local municipal building inspector?

Private home inspectors and municipal building inspectors look for different things and have different priorities. The municipal inspector will be checking for building code infractions and not be concerned with quality. The same code applies to all houses within a given jurisdiction whether they are modest in price or cost more than a million dollars.

The private home inspector is looking at quality as well as code issues. This person is a second pair of eyes to make sure everything is in order code-wise, but also concerned with items that will cause problems down the line if not addressed during construction.

How should I pick a lot?

Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure that you can build on the lot. The view may be fantastic, but the logistics of getting equipment in place may be impossible unless you're the U.S. Army or Bill Gates. Bring in a custom builder to advise you. If you're buying a house in a subdivision, bring in a landscape architect to advise you on grading and drainage so you don't end up with a small lake in your backyard after every downpour.

Why do houses cost so much?

The biggest ticket item in any house purchase is the land. So where you decide to build your house will have the single biggest impact on its price. The shape of your house also will affect its price. A simple box with a simple, single-pitch roof is the cheapest to build, but most people think it's boring.

I have a modest budget. Should I look for the lowest cost per square foot I can find?

A builder quoting you unusually low cost per square foot isn't necessarily offering a terrific deal. To get the low figure, the builder may be using inferior materials and subcontractors known for shoddy workmanship.

I know that I need more lighting than the builder offers in the base priced house. How can I tell what I will need?

Try to visit a furnished model at night. During the day, the large windows that everyone wants will flood the house with natural light, so it will be hard to figure out what additional lighting is required.

My aspiring rock star children are thrilled we're going to build a bigger house because they can have a place to practice. But I work at home and worry that the noise will be overwhelming.

There are several steps you can take to address this problem.

First, get your children to agree to restrict their music making to one room. Then, when you develop a floor plan for your house, try to isolate the music room by placing neutral room functions such as bathrooms and closets between it and the other rooms such as your office or the master bedroom.

Second, when your house is still at the framing stage, have the builder place batt insulation-the same kind that you'll be using on the exterior walls-in the walls and ceiling of the music room. Some manufacturers make an acoustical batt insulation specifically for this purpose Some tests, however, have shown that while acoustical insulation works well with upper frequency sounds such as speech and song lyrics, it's less effective in dampening the rumbling base sounds of hard rock.

Third, add an extra layer of gypsum to the walls and ceiling inside the music room and to the shared walls of any adjacent rooms. Usually this will affect the way your builder installs the trim around the door and window, so you'll have to cover the additional cost of this as well as the second layer of drywall.

Fourth, use a solid core door instead of the hollow core ones that most builders use for interior rooms. This also will cost a bit extra.

If you are apprehensive these steps won't be enough, you could also consider the same treatment for your office. Incidentally, on the off chance that it might be too quiet when your rockers are at school, you can get a white noise machine to add some comforting neutral sound.

When I visited a new-home construction site last weekend, I saw really odd-looking joists holding up the floors. They aren't what I have in my house (built in 1950). Is this builder cutting corners and using cheap substitutes for good lumber?

Almost everyone makes that assumption the first time they see these odd-looking beams; I did myself. What you saw were probably "TJI's" or "I-joists," which look like steel I-beams made of wood. They're actually more expensive than simple sawn lumber, but most builders prefer "TJI's" or "I-joists" because they're stronger and dimensionally stable. They won't warp, twist or shrink, which sawn lumber will as it passes through annual heating and cooling cycles.

Is it hard to find a "green" builder?

Almost every jurisdiction now requires builders to follow the Model Energy Code, and every builder makes houses more energy efficient than 10 or 15 years ago. For example, in most areas of the country, most builders install windows with two panes of glass. Many builders make their houses more energy efficient than local codes require. Large national firms, in some of their divisions, and small, locally-owned builders are focused on this.

I want to visit the site every day. Is that a good idea?

Of course you want to visit the building site to watch your house go up, but every day is overdoing it. You won't see that much change day to day, and you may start obsessing about minutiae like why one stud has three nails and another has four. (It's because one nail was bent and didn't hit anything.) If you visit once or twice a week, you'll be able to measure progress.

What is "building green"?

It means building in a more environmentally sensitive way. A green builder tries to make the finished house as energy efficient as possible, often going beyond local building code requirements. Green builders emphasize healthier indoor air and avoid products that can give off gases containing volatile organic compounds (VOC's), to which some individuals are very sensitive. Green builders also practice resource conservation, both in the selection and manufacture of construction materials. They tend to favor materials that require less energy to manufacture and can be recycled when their useful life in your house has ended.

Is it hard to find a "green" builder?

Almost every jurisdiction now requires builders to follow the Model Energy Code, and every builder makes houses more energy efficient than 10 or 15 years ago. For example, in most areas of the country, most builders install windows with two panes of glass. Many builders make their houses more energy efficient than local codes require. Large national firms, in some of their divisions, and small, locally-owned builders are focused on this.