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Introduction

As you read this book, you most likely have the seed of a dream taking root in your mind. Your current home isn’t all it could be. You’ve been daydreaming about a different place — one with more land, one by the water, or one with a gourmet kitchen. You’ve trolled the open houses in your area, but none of the homes really lights your fire or seems to fit your lifestyle or your family. You want something that feels more like you.

The only way to get a perfect house “fit” is to design it specifically for you. Whether your new home is a month away from completion or ten years down the road, you need this book.

In our work, we’ve seen plenty of people like you tackle the process of building a custom home. For some, the process is challenging, but enjoyable. For others, a custom-home project becomes a nightmare that leaves them short on cash and long on anxiety. We understand the process and what it takes to move through it with as little stress as possible. In this book, we provide you with the very best advice our many years of experience have to offer.

No matter if your dream consists of a simple $250,000 house in the Midwest or a multi-million-dollar mansion in California, Building Your Custom Home For Dummies is for you. This book can help you turn your dream of a custom home into reality without losing your shirt or your sanity. With this book (and some hard work and perseverance on your part), your dream of building, owning, and living in your very own custom home can come true.

About This Book

Thousands of parts and hundreds of tasks go into a custom-home project. This book doesn’t tell you how to install a toilet or hang a door (other For Dummies books cover those topics in detail), but it does tell you everything you need to know about building a custom home from scratch. Where do you start? Who is responsible for what? How much will it all cost? These questions — and hundreds more — are what this book answers, and all in an easy-to-use reference that you can take with you anywhere.

The great thing about this book is that you decide where to start and what to read. It’s a reference you can jump into and out of at will. Just head to the table of contents or the index to find the information you want.

Sidebars (text in gray boxes) and anything marked with the Technical Stuff icon (more on that later in this Introduction) are skippable. You may notice that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it appears in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

We wrote this book with some thoughts about you in mind. Here’s what we assume about you, our reader:

 You’ve been sketching your custom home on napkins or doodling floor plans during business meetings. You’ve looked at your current home with a critical eye and have, at least once, sighed and muttered, “Someday… .”

 You’re drawn to home-improvement stores, television shows, and books.

 You’re desperately looking for a comprehensive guide that demystifies the home-building process by focusing on the information important for you the homeowner to know.

 You’re willing to do some soul searching in order to get your custom home right. You (and any significant others you may have) have decided that the only way to get the perfect home is to start from scratch.

 You don’t live in a “money-is-no-object” world. You want to make educated financial decisions regarding the budget and long-term financing of your custom home.

 You want to be involved with the process, but you’ll rely on professionals to help you when you need it. Professional help may come in the form of a financial adviser or loan officer, an architect or designer, a plumber, or a landscaper. You’re willing to assess your strengths and weaknesses and seek help when necessary.

 You’ll hire a contractor in some capacity. We provide some small tidbits of information if you want to be your own owner-builder, but the majority of this book focuses on building a custom home with a contractor.

 You have the ability to keep an open mind and consider new approaches and information, even when they seem at odds with what you’ve always been told about the custom-home and financing processes.

Icons Used in This Book

To make this book easier to read and simpler to use, we include some icons in the margins that can help you find and fathom key ideas and information.

The Tip icon highlights expert advice that will help you save time and money in the home-building process.

The Remember icon highlights important information to store in your brain for quick recall at a later time.

Avoid mistakes by following the sage words of advice that appear next to the Warning icon.

Although the information marked by the Technical Stuff icon may be fascinating, it’s not critical to understanding the topic at hand. Feel free to skip it if you’re short on time.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the book you have in your hands, you can access some helpful extra content online. Check out the free Cheat Sheet for tips on finding the right contractor, design elements to consider, and more by going to www.dummies.com and entering Building Your Custom Home For Dummies in the Search box.

Where to Go from Here

The process of building a custom home isn’t linear. Not everyone starts with the purchase of a piece of land, for instance. Some people go to an architect first to help them create a floor plan. Others may jump right in with both feet and be halfway through construction before they realize they need to borrow money in order to finish.

So, to reflect the nonlinear process of building a custom home, this book is decidedly nonlinear as well. We organize it so that you can dip in wherever you want and still find all the information you need. If you’ve already bought land and met with an architect, but you don’t know how you’re going to pay for the project, for instance, go to Chapter 8 to read up on financing. Not clear who does what on the job site? Flip to Chapter 7 for information on general contractors and subcontractors.

If you’re not sure where to go first, you may want to start with Part 1. It gives you all the basic information you need to understand the process of building a custom home. From there, you can skip to the chapters that cover the subjects that seem most fuzzy to you now. Rest assured that when you’ve read those chapters, you’ll have a better grip on the home-building reality.