Yep. Current house is build #3. Like others have posted in this thread, we did not really understand the building process (it was a semi-custom plan that we tweaked) on the first shot. Too many dumb mistakes (penny foolish) to list. In our first house, we were so concerned about the dreaded mortgage that we went waay too conservative on the budget. Within 2 years we spent $25k and a ton of sweat equity labor to make it closer to what we really wanted. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Our experience is identical too ccoombs1. Our second house came out very nice as we knew what to include. Grad school changed the plans on staying in that house. Have you ever met a rich grad student? :) Thank god that's over.
Our current build is very similar to our first house with all the mistakes corrected.
We have learned to despise the upkeep of wood/PT lumber. I'm very picky about not having wear marks too my front door. This house will have granite steps front & rear. No deck, but a patio.
Upstairs laundry. I workout 6 days/week training for triathlons, cross country so it generates a lot of laundry. Our current build will have a second floor laundry and there should never be a reason to carry a clothes basket up and down stairs.
More outlets than I could ever need. Cable TV outlet in kitchen for an under cabinet TV for my wife. Extra water spigot.
Sconces in the entry hallway for a more distinctive look.
More powerful bathroom fans.
Framed and finished hallway corners. Other than in the bedrooms, there are no corners in the house that are just drywall & mud.
Taller baseboard trim.
Gas fireplace. Soooo much cheaper to add when house is new.
Quality flooring. First house had contractor grade stuff that was total crap.
Upgraded furnance. Current build is near top of the line with several energy efficient add-ons. Cold start boiler with indirect tank and outdoor return.
Grilles in the windows. Out first house had the snap in kind. They were Andersen but the snap in grilles just sucked.
Current build will have flood lights to illuminate all four sides of the house. First house was front and back and the sides were like the dark side of the moon.
Master bathroom. First house was two full baths but no Mbath. This is something we'd never buy a house without again.
I could go on for an hour about how we hosed up our first build.......