My suggestion is to go to open houses for highend homes in your area and see what they have to offer. Pay attention to the kitchens, bathrooms and overall attention to detail.

You may want to look into in-floor radiant heat. My dad put it in and loves it. Basically it's a series of hard, plastic tubes that run through the floor. You can have different zones to shut heat off to a certain area. The tubes are virtually indestrcutible and they will be set in a layer of concrete about 1 1/2 inches thick. The advantages are that you have no air blowing around and it is much more even and you save a lot of money. The disadvantage is it takes a while to heat up the house if it's a vacation house or something.

My dad has his house wired so he can call in from his main home and turn the heat on or off. Up or down. He can turn lights on or off.

What about solar panels in an inconspicuous spot?

I'm all about saving the environment if it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Since you will be building it wouldn't cost as much as trying to retrofit some of that stuff. Maybe go online and look up energy conservation or talk to your electric company for references.

Good luck,

Devildog

High end homes are generally not built on slabs and are custom floor plans rather than production. Production homes are fine and have many innovative designs, but the floor plans are limited and are changed by doing mirror images and additional upgrades or options. Most of all, above average homes are built where value comes from things like prestigious neighborhood, views, and sometimes convenience to urban centers.

Look for features like complex architecture, tile roofs, real siding (no panels), wood windows, use of custom built cabinetry, built in refrigeration, commercial appliances, slab granite counters, high end finishes and moldings, built in sound systems,large lots, views, location, location, location.

What costs a million where you are may be a mansion, but here it is a nice house. In our neighborhood, homes start at $700K and go to 2-1/2 million. In San Francisco a small fixer-upper can go over a million. So really, all things are relative, and location, housing demand and lack of new building sites are more important than features.

Greetings,

You don't mention if you already own your lot.

I'm not a real estate pro; just someone who's learned from a mistake in the past.

My humble advice: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Forget the fru-fru. A lot of those "high end homes" will have several jacuzzis, extra home theaters, etc. All nonsense, in my opinion. Buy the best NEIGHBORHOOD you can afford.

I also say, build what YOU want! Build for YOUR lifestyle. You can seldom go wrong putting extra money into the kitchen--but this is all the more true if you like to cook and entertain there!

My opinion, it's not a "dream house" if it's someone else's dream!

Please keep us posted!

Best of luck, and best regards,

-k2 in CO

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