The number one mistake, hands down, that most people make when building their home is not allowing enough time to get through the process, Dun-slope especially for those people who are acting as an owner-builder and building without a general contractor. If you are buying a piece of land and wrapping its purchase into your construction loan, Dun-slope then you must be sure you allow enough time to get to closing on your construction loan before your land purchase contract expires. Do not let the seller or the seller’s real estate agent pressure you into a 30 day contract. This can be tricky, as most sellers and agents have no idea of the construction planning process you will be going through. Dun-slope As mentioned, this is tricky. Dun-slope The complicated part is that often you will not finalize your home plan until you decide on the land. Usually, this is due to the uncertainty of the foundation plan – does the land slope or is it flat. You will need to decide quickly if you do not already know this answer. And to make matters worse, Dun-slope when the clock is ticking towards your contract’s closing date, you will often be pressured to skip a step or let some of the budgeting and bids slide. Dun-slope This is construction project suicide. Proper budgeting is vital to building a new home. Even if you are hiring a licensed general contractor to do the work for you, you will need to take the time to flush out the exact budget and sign a proper contract for all of the work to be done. If you cannot get more than 60 days on your land contract, you will need to have much of your budget already in place. This means committing to a home plan as early as possible and getting as many of the bids that are not dependent on the lot ahead of time. Then, you can focus on just the remaining items to complete the budget. You will now be able to complete much of the planning while you are shopping for land. You can even decide to only shop for land that is flat or sloped or that meets whatever other requirements you may have. Once you have a lot, a home plan and a budget, you will still need to complete the rest of the loan process. You will work with your loan officer and loan processor to provide the required documentation to complete the loan. While the appraiser and closing agent are doing their jobs, you will need to submit any remaining income documentation, asset statements, or other requested information. You will also need to arrange your insurance and permit applications during this time. As you can see, you will be busy. This is the trade-off for the chance to build the exact home that you want. Opening the door to your basement after a heavy rain and finding 6 inches of water covering the floor is a nightmare for sure. Unfortunately, this is played out all to frequently in homes all across the country. Sure, basement waterproofing can cure the problem, but first you should get a handle on what is causing the flooding in your basement before you begin looking at solutions. Here are 3 big reasons behind the problem. This is one of the big reasons behind flooding problems in any basement. It generally occurs due to one of two reasons. First, the home has been built in area where it should not have been quite frankly. The terrain surrounding it may be higher and causes the rain water to come right down into your home. This may surprise some, but something as simple as a clogged rain gutter can be another cause of water coming into your basement. Debris such as leaves, twigs, bird nests and many other things, can quickly clog up the gutter channel and cause water to flow right down the foundation.