Find the Lot, then design the house -Summer 2007

After deciding that we would build a custom home, we first set out to find a lot. We had long since decided to move to Maumelle, about 15 miles northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas.

We quickly discovered that choosing the lot first was the right decision. Maumelle has many hills and several odd shaped lots so many house plans won't work on just any lot.

Kris and I found a corner lot on a cul-de-sac that provided the opportunity to build a house with only one neighbor within 100 feet of our house - a rarity in most subdivisions.

Once we found the lot and began to work on a house plan, we discovered that our plan would likely not fit on another lot in town, so we secured a lot loan and purchased the lot in July of 2007.

THE BEGINNING OF A PROCESS

Spring 2007 - Since we were married in 1998, we have talked about having a custom house built for us. Both of our parents at various times had houses built, as have multiple friends and acquaintances. Some have more happy stories to tell than others, but the horror stories have never scared us from the project.

We have listened to the bad experiences of others away and tried to learn from them as we approached our own project. This Blog will serve as a chronicle of our experience, In hopes that others can learn from our mistakes, and so that we will have a record of our own mistakes, should we decide to take on such a project again.

During the past weeks we have looked at available home for sale, and haven't found anything that we really love. Every property that we have found in our price range requires a lot of work to get it to a place that we would be happy with it.

Our dream of building our own home was one we always thought would be fulfilled in our second or third home. Now we have decided that building our first home may be the best option for us.