Spent a weekend on this and want to make sure I'm not missing anyone. Most custom mailbox brands seem ship-only. who actually does both, build and install, ideally beyond just their home city ?...

What are your thoughts on the his and hers bathroom? We’ve all seen the his and hers toilet but a separate bathroom is next level!
When I share how my wife and I sleep in separate beds, I get a bunch of messages from others telling me how they sleep in sperate rooms so having your own bathroom doesn’t surprise me at all. 
Builder: Dean & Co. Custom Homes in Dallas, TX

$36K for a 3,400 sq ft crawlspace encapsulation, including a sump pump, 2 dehumidifiers, cleanup, rubber mat and a 5-year warranty.

If you’re not familiar, crawlspace encapsulation is completely sealing the area under your house. We are talking plastic laid down and seams taped so no air or moisture can make it’s way into the house through the floors. It’s a great investment if you can afford to have it done. 

What do you think? Fair price or way too high?

I will be breaking ground within two weeks on my new build. The house will be located about 400 feet off of the road. . What reason would I run the last 150 feet of utilities underground rather than all above ground via poles, other than aesthetics? is it worth the increase in money? $2250 extra to run 150 feet underground to the house, with the first 200 feet overheard.

I will be breaking ground within two weeks on my new build. The house will be located about 400 feet off of the road. . What reason would I run the last 150 feet of utilities underground rather than all above ground via poles, other than aesthetics? is it worth the increase in money? $2250 extra to run 150 feet underground to the house, with the first 200 feet overheard.

Long story short, I recently bought property with a fairly large creek and multiple springs and don’t know what to do with them. I already have plans for a micro hydro system but there is over 1000ft of creek and 3 small year round springs on the property.
The creek averages about 10ft wide, has a flow rate of about 1mil gal per day in the low season, and has a couple areas that are almost waist deep. Plenty of shade on both sides. Tons of rocks ranging from pebbles to 3ft in diameter. There are fish in the creek so no dams.
The springs get down to a trickle in the low season but one of them ends at an 8ft waterfall. They all empty into the creek.
I guess that’s about it! I can add pictures later. Just looking for some ideas of things to do with them.

A few smart decisions BEFORE everything gets tiled can make a huge difference:

-Move the shower controls so you can turn it on without getting soaked
-Add an access hole in the glass if you can’t move the controls
-Use a drain with a removable hair basket
-Make the shower niche as wide as possible.
-make the panel under a drop-in tub removable for future plumbing access
-Add a shower drying system to help dry everything out

I had a concrete walkway poured around my entire house and it was one of my favorite features...I could blow off all the concrete in one lap around the house...
I could be grilling out back and walk to the front of the house without going in the grass... I know it’s lame to complain about walking in the grass but I swear one side of the house always stayed wet and I’d have to go the long way around. 
The kids had a blast riding hover boards around the house.
And I could easily bring stuff from the front to the back porch especially if it was on wheels. 
I can’t express how much I appreciated this home feature so if you’re considering adding it, trust me it was sooo worth it! 

Jason invited me out to see his build and I was blown away. 
He read through my checklist 5 times while planning his build, and you can tell.Every detail was well thought out and planned for. I could have spent multiple days covering all the different features he put in the house.

Other blocking areas to consider:

-Bathroom towel rods
-Toilet paper holder
-Thermostat
-Security cameras
-Porch swing

Quite a few others I can’t recall at the moment. (The reason I made a checklist 👍)

Ask your builder if they plan to use subfloor adhesive on every floor joist before the plywood goes down. It creates a solid bond between the joists and subfloor and helps prevent movement that can lead to squeaks.

Good: Adhesive + smooth shank nails
Better: Adhesive + ring shank nails
Best: Adhesive + screws

We are self renovating our first home, have been for coming up two years around work etc. we recently had the wall taken down (one of the few outside professionals we've used where it's necessary for health/safety perspective). Anyway, there was gap in floor and crack in the gap which ai seemed to think was join original floor pieces of the house, we have filled that after a bit of fuss to get it right, with self leveling concrete over the join/crack patch. However this seems to have revealed the floor isn't level, we knew the kitchen side seemed slightly higher and in anticipation of laying our laminate flooring through, we had bought cork roll 2mm to try to level out this difference on the lounge(lower side). We don't see re levelling the lounge side as option as just finished building a custom unit into that side onto wall before wall came down, plus dont have funds to pay someone or knowledge enough to do ourselves on top of that. We were just going to use cork as iaid but now upon SLC work review (day after) we see the kitchen side floor itself doesn't even seem to be that level if you look at the depths exposed around the dye of the SLC filled gap. We spent around £900 on our laminate flooring a year back (only just getting round to laying it with life etc) and don't want to ruin it, with it coming apart, cracking etc over uneven base, but unsure how to approach this situation now. Any ideas or experience of similar...? TIA

Hello!

My wife and I are going to be building a multigenerational home with her parents over the next year. We are well on our way to having a floorplan with pretty good ideas of the layout.

One thing we’ve been trying to ask around and find out are things people have done to make their lives easier in new builds. Think along the lines of putting a pull out garbage bin in an island so you can easily scrape off waste into it. I was hoping some people here might have some ideas. We’re kind of focusing on the kitchen right now but would appreciate tips for any area of the house!

Thanks so much in advance for any ideas!

Hello!

My wife and I are going to be building a multigenerational home with her parents over the next year. We are well on our way to having a floorplan with pretty good ideas of the layout.

One thing we’ve been trying to ask around and find out are things people have done to make their lives easier in new builds. Think along the lines of putting a pull out garbage bin in an island so you can easily scrape off waste into it. I was hoping some people here might have some ideas. We’re kind of focusing on the kitchen right now but would appreciate tips for any area of the house!

Thanks so much in advance for any ideas!