New Construction-advice

I would have moved into an already established neighborhood not one that is half established. Not having side walks with kids is a huge problem.

This is not about what to put in the house, really my opinion doesn't matter. The best advice I got was to take pictures of the walls before you drywall. That way you know where all the wiring and plumbing is if you ever want to make changes to the house.

I wish I had requested my stove exhaust fan be vented to the outside at the outset. I didn't think of it, until after the roof was on (this is really early in the process, lol) and it would have required a few hundred dollars to have them come back and rework the roof to accommodate the exhaust. It would have been simple and practically no $ to do it from the get go, compared to making it a "change order". I just wasn't quick enough.

So, as much as your husband (if he is like mine) will moan and groan and tell you that it really isn't necessary to do this (or at least not NOW): Sit down with a pad and pen and write down every single detail that you want to do/not do. Keep the list handy so you can add to it. It's "the little things" that make a house you like into a house you love.
For example: Multiple switches for light fixtures-- do you want to be able to flip the light on from different entrances into the room? Do you want to turn on your flood lights from the front door, the back door, or some other location? (I have the switch to my "porch" lights on the garage inside the garage--I just didn't think about it and left it the way they had it on the plans. Well---If my garage door is down I can't see if they are left on or not. And there are 2 switches (one by the interior door inside the garage and one by the exterior door from the garage to outside) so I can't tell by "up" or "down" if they are on or not. I have to put the garage door up OR go completely outside to see if they have been left on.)
Another example: telephone jacks/electrical outlets. Assuming you will have a landline... Many people have a single "base" and multiple extensions that just plug into an electrical outlet (no jack required)--so it doesn't really matter where the jacks are. Right? WEll... the base station usually has the answering machine attached and THAT one requires both the phone jack and the elec outlet. If you want to wall mount that unit in your kitchen, you'd better be sure you have an outlet near the phone jack. Or you'll be out of luck.
Do you want lights inside all your closets? They aren't usually "standard". But they are really nice to have when you are digging to the back of a shelf looking for something.

What sort of decorating do you do at Christmas? Will you need electrical outlets above your bookcases to light lighted garland? Where will your Christmas tree go? If you do a live tree, you don't want a heating vent to be blowing directly on your tree.

What side do you want your pantry door to open to? Make sure it has a light in there.

Here is one thing that I just LOVE that we did: I have a long island in my kitchen. Instead of having the whole thing be cabinets underneath, I had one end made into bookshelves (for my cookbooks) and the other (away from the stove) made into a wine rack.
Another favorite thing: all our showers have slide bars for the handheld shower head. That way the kids can direct where it needs to go, and it is/was MUCH easier for me to rinse my daughter's very long hair in the bathtub. My dad (who is over 6' tall) can raise the showerhead all the way up and not have to crouch/slouch to rinse his hair. And my MIL (who is about 5'1") can lower it to suit her.

If you don't know where to start, think about all the "little" things that annoy you when you are doing something around your house now. Bringing groceries in from the car ________ really is in the way/bothersome. Doing laundry ______ is inconvenient. When you hear a noise outside at night, what would make you feel better/how do you check it out? (what sort of lights, where do you want to access the switches, what if you are asleep in bed).

I also insisted on solid core doors for all the bedrooms and bathrooms. My husband often has to retire for bed before the rest of the household, due to his work schedule, and when he closes our bedroom door and turns on soft music or the TV quietly for white noise, we can watch loud movies or whatever in the family room and he is totally unaware. Or I can bang dishes around in the kitchen cleaning up and he is not disturbed by it.

And if you weren't planning on it already, get exhaust fans in your bathrooms. It really helps cut down on mildew issues and damp bathroom odors (and other odors, too, lol).

Added:
Since someone mentioned window coverings... I wanted to add what we did. We contacted a window "guy"..(ha ha, don't you love how specific)... basically he was a guy who "does" window treatments. He happened to be a rep for a particular brand, but did all the measuring and installation himself as an independent rep. So we talked with/met with him a few times and had him come out to our property BEFORE we moved in. He took some measurements and made recommendations about what he thought we might like in that location. Then he came out again near the end once the interior paint was dry (with color samples). He remeasured everything and then received the custom treatments (all blinds of some variety, pleated top-down/bottom-up shades, some with black-out added, some roman shades, some for french doors, etc) about 3 days before we were scheduled to move in. He came out and installed them in the last 2 days before we moved into our house. It was fabulous! The day we moved in, I had something on every window in my house. (Our first house I was stuck taping newspaper to my windows- and you can't take it down until the window treatments arrive/are installed so you can't see out. And there are SO many other things you really need to spend your time/energy on besides THAT).
Our first home, it was just me and hubby and not such a big deal. This time, we had 2 kids and 3 bedrooms that needed privacy, not just one. And my hubby had an overnight shift that same night. So "our" first night in our house, it was just me and the kids (and our dog)- no hubby. LOVED having those blinds up already!

ive bnever bought one buti watchpeople buy them on tv allof the time. basically it doesnt hurt to ask for most anything. soif the model has a wall someplace that youdont want or vise versa ask them to do the opposit. you want wider windows ask....the worst they can say is no. make sure you get a warrantee and have someone not affiliated with them doyour inspection. checkout the yard too of the lot you are buying when they are done building and make sure the lawn is nice without trash or rocks everywhere and have them lay sod or you'll be finding rocks in the yard for years.

oh my biggest thing i hate about any house is having vents (a/c, heating) on the floors. if you can get the vents on the ceiling or on the wall near the ceiling i thinkthats best then it doesnt matter where you put your furniture...i hate having to decorate around them.

One thing is to ask about water sources, etc. and see if you need a water conditioner if there's a well, or other things that seem like "add ons", but in the end are a LOT easier to wrap into the mortgage than buy later one. $7 a month doesn't hurt as much as $4000 in one big chunk after you've already moved in. (ouch...personal experience). If there is an attic, find out if load bearing and if you can use it for storage. Get quality windows and doors. (Saves money down the road) HAVE FUN!

If its a neighborhood on well water, make sure that they dig the well BEFORE they start building, and that any damage to the well is on them.

Tour the models and make notes about your likes, dislikes. Lots of times there are additional floor combinations available just by move a wall slightly to the left or right.

If I had it to go back, I would have really put my foot down more, and not let the builder get me "excited" in order to blind me to corners they were cutting. I wouldn't say there is a specific area they cut corners, but they just seem to rush through. The fewer hours they have to pay laborers, the more $ they make. So, for example, they will have your whole house textured and pained in 2 days. That's just stupid and it WILL be sloppy work. Every time I mentioned to the builder that they seemed to be rushing and I was concerned with the quality he would point my attention to something he knew I loved about the house & it worked to get me all happy & excited again >:o(
I say go through each space and picture you and your family using it. Stand in the bathroom, and picture where your stuff will go, etc. And don't think "well Ill get over it" about ANYTHING!
GOOD LUCK!

I have a friend who just built a house a few years ago in Warrenton. This is what she told me:
1. Don't get any upgrades.
2. If you can get away with not installing a kitchen or floors, don't.
3. Contact a kitchen place and have them do your kitchen.
4. Ditto for the flooring -- much cheaper.
5. DO get as much square footage as you can afford.
6. Insulate all the exterior walls AND all the interior walls and ceilings. They don't like to do this, but it makes your house much warmer AND much more soundproof.

The company she worked with to build her house wouldn't let her leave the floors at the subfloor level, so she chose the cheapest carpet they had. The day they gave her the keys, she ripped it out and the hardwood floor guys came and did her flooring.

So - that's my advice.
LBC

Watch a few episodes of Holmes on Homes. You will learn a lot and hear what others did wrong.

Put SOMETHING over the windows THE VERY DAY you move in. I didn't and within a couple weeks we got burglurized. They were building houses around us and could see right into our window. Cant prove it was the workers but know it was. The dollar store table cloths work great because they are lightweight and stick to the windows well with blue painters tape (won't leave goo or peel off the paint). Yes, hideous but effective unitl you get something permanant. Or use sheets. But seriously... they need to go up the very day you move in