[substanger]

Hey all!! I know there is ALOT of "LIFE" experience on this website just due to the number of members and people who frequent this website.

My wife and I are meeting with a home builder this afternoon to talk with him about building a house using one of his floorplans. We saw one of his houses and met with him briefly that day, and liked what we saw.

Anyway, just wondering what are some good things to ask him during the next few weeks before he actually begins construction. We're not planning on signing anything today, just meeting with him to narrow down cost and how close he can get to our max price on the house we like. I've searched the net a little on what to ask a builder and have come up with some pretty good basic questions like:

1. Interest rate increase during build/contract and earnest fees.
2. Where and when we choose cabinets/tiles/fixtures/carpets/ and how we establish how much we can spend according to the price of the home.
3. Warranty
4. Termite treatment (we're getting a VA loan)
5. Appliances
6. Heating and cooling systems efficiency/heat pump.
7. What landscaping is including.
8. References in the neighborhood we're building in and can we speak/see their homes as well?
9. Service after construction. (What if settlement cracks develope on drywall after construction, how fast will you come out to repair??

Did I miss anything? My wife and I built before, but the first time, we REALLY didn't know what to ask and didn't really do our homework, so the experience was rather bad, to the point where we're really leery about building again, but here we are 10 years later, considering building again, except this time, it's for real. The other house we built was only an $80,000 house. This house is over $200,000, so you can imagine our uneasyness.

I APPRECIATE ANY AND ALL COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS!!
Craig