5 Pieces of Advice to Avoid Disappointment When Building a House

For us, we tried to focus on several spaces in our new home design. Having built-in systems for organization and storage was one priority and fireplaces were another. Not only do fireplaces add warmth and ambiance to a room, but we have found them to be an extremely functional feature living in Colorado with cold winter nights.

We chose to install four fireplaces in our new house because we knew exactly how we’d be using the space and saw a need for all four—really! By installing fireplaces in various locations throughout the house (a Cosmo in the master bedroom, a TRUE in the great room, a SlimLine 7X in the basement rec room and a SlimLine 5 in the home office) we will be able to efficiently heat up the rooms we plan on spending the most time in, instead of turning up the heat throughout the entire house.

This process is so much longer than you ever imagined. We were initially told 8-10 months for construction, but in reality, we’ll be looking at a minimum of 12 months. Our delay is due to a variety of factors (looking at you, global pandemic!), but knowing that delays happen is something that everyone building a home should come to terms with early on. If possible, try to keep your current living arrangements flexible, which’ll reduce stress when your move-in date (inevitably) gets pushed back.

Before going through this process, I had virtually no knowledge of construction timelines other than the obvious parts like framing first, then roof. I was surprised to find out we had to make decisions regarding fireplace design very early in the process. Do you want a fireplace? Traditional style or modern? Are you going to hang a TV over the fireplace? Will there be a mantel? Each one of these seemingly little design details can totally change the installation and ventilation requirements.

We were leaning toward a modern, linear fireplace for the master bedroom, but hadn’t made any decisions beyond that before going to the fireplace showroom (we worked with Rio Grande Co., one of the largest fireplace distributors in the Denver area). The consultant walked us through the various options for each room including ventilation requirements. She explained that if we wanted a television or art mounted above the fireplace without a mantel, we needed a venting system that would manage the heat. When planning your fireplace wall(s), I encourage you to think through your vision including the fireplace style, mantel, TV and artwork during the initial design phase.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed at the sheer volume of choices you’ll need to make during this process, so it’s helpful to have your builder assign you a few pieces of “homework” at a time. Having a firm grasp on the timeline of your build will help you make decisions in the best order so you can focus on smaller chunks at a time and avoid unnecessary delays or overwhelm.