Weeks 2 and 3 – Getting Organized, Meeting Architects, and Lots of Lots

We have spent the last two weeks organizing hundreds of pictures from the multitude of houses that we toured prior to deciding to build a custom home.  This mostly consisted of setting up folders on my computer that organized the photos into general themes such as exterior/elevation, cabinetry, flooring, plumbing hardware, lighting, interior decorating, etc.  Now that we know we are building a home from scratch (yeah!), I also spent lots of time flipping through home décor magazines and browsing design books to find our ideal style (my ideal style, Bill has no style).  I now have a filing system with torn-out magazine pages and fabric swatches.  I think it will be easiest to work with interior designers and Artisan Custom Estates if I have visual examples of my ideas.  This is also ideal prep work prior to meeting with the architect, which is another big theme of the last couple of weeks.

We have now met with two architects that Artisan Custom Estates suggested based on the luxury rustic motif we are going for.  Bill and I both felt good chemistry with both.  We reviewed a number of different custom home plans with each architect, several of which Artisan Custom Estates has built for previous clients, and we picked out a number of features that we would like to include in our plan.  Ultimately, we concluded that we are going to start from the beginning with our plan rather than doing a derivative of any existing plans we saw.  We just like the idea of building a custom home starting from scratch.  We have an especially good feeling about one of the architects in particular and we plan on working with him once we have a lot picked out.  I think we can get a fast start once we know where we will be building.

We also spent the last couple of weekends looking at different Alpharetta subdivisions (Lake Haven at Crabapple, Blackberry Ridge, Blue Valley, The Manor, Echelon, The Oaks at Crabapple, Six Hills, White Columns, Hawks Ridge, etc) and a number of different land listings that Artisan Custom Estates assembled for our review in the Milton area.  I think we are going to build in an existing Alpharetta neighborhood rather than buying and developing raw land; I just like the thought of having neighbors with kids who are somewhat close (somewhat!).  On the other hand, I don’t think we want to live in one of those mega Alpharetta golf course communities or a subdivision with lots of amenities.  I just don’t think we’ll get good use out of it and I’d rather just have a pool in my backyard.  I also don’t want to pay high HOA fees.  We have narrowed things down quite a bit with the time we have already invested but we still have some work to do to find the ideal buildable lot in Alpharetta for our home.  One thing we have learned is that comparing lot prices is not necessarily apple-to-apples.  Some require a lot more work (cost) than others to truly be buildable.

Having already selected a custom builder partner has been important since they have done a lot to help us understand how the options stack up. - Louise