Introduction 1 Part 1: Getting Started with Custom-Home Building 5 Chapter 1: The Custom-Home Process in a Nutshell 7 Chapter 2: Preparing for the Process 21 Chapter 3: The Land Grab: Selecting the Perfect Site 39 Chapter 4: Defining Your House Style 61 Part 2: Assembling Your Team 81 Chapter 5: Architects and Design: Time Spent Is Money Saved 83 Chapter 6: Engineers and City Folk: Approval Bureaucracy Made Somewhat Easy 109 Chapter 7: All the King's Men: The Contractor and Their Cohorts 125 Part 3: All You Need Is Dough: Financing Your Custom Home 141 Chapter 8: Cash Is King: Borrowing to Your Advantage 143 Chapter 9: Knowledge Is Power: What You Don't Know about Construction Loans Can Hurt You 157 Chapter 10: Qualifying: It's the Bank's Way or the Highway 179 Chapter 11: Show Me the Money: Flowing Cash through the Project 203 Part 4: Hammers and Nails: Overseeing the Construction Process 219 Chapter 12: Excavation and Foundation: Getting a Solid Start 221 Chapter 13: Framing and Rough: So Much Goes behind Those Walls! 237 Chapter 14: Heading for the Finish: The Devil's in the Details 261 Part 5: All the After Stuff 287 Chapter 15: Making a House a Home: Moving In, Furnishing, and Using Smart Tech 289 Chapter 16: Taking It Outside: The Art of Landscaping and Hardscaping 297 Chapter 17: Making Your Nest Egg Financially Sound 313 Part 6: The Part of Tens 321 Chapter 18: Ten Common Custom-Home Mistakes and How to Avoid 'Em 323 Chapter 19: Ten Great Ways to Lower Construction Costs 329 Chapter 20: Ten Common Stuck-in-the-Middle Problems and Their Fixes 337 Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Build Sustainably 345 Chapter 22: Ten Helpful Custom-Home Resources 353 Index 359.