North Houston Lake Access

[MJHSupra]

If you have a wet bar area, install or have the area plumbed for an ice maker. They are awesome.


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[RC_Hinojosa]

A hot water spigot in the garage for a hose hook-up.

Find out how many and where the cold water ones will be on the outside walls. Sometimes they will put them in dumb locations or too low to the ground.


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Can you elaborate on the hot water in the garage?

It wouldn't be an issue since the laundry room & dog wash (we have two big labs) would be adjacent....

Gas stub to the extended covered patio is included...

We had already thought of a wine/beverage chiller in the wet bar area but an icemaker would be super helpful.

Definitely gonna have a floor outlet in the great room, outlet and conduit for HDMI over fireplace.

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[TXSurf4]

We just built our's less than 2 years ago so I can look back at my notes but off the top of my head:

Full sink plumb out in the garage for a utility sink is nice.

Excessive Lighting in the garage is a must if you enjoy working in there. I have a total of 6 - 2 Bulb 4' fluorescent lights in my 3 car garage on 3 different switches so you don't have to have all of them on at the same time.

Outlets all over the garage and a couple over your work bench area if you have one. Typically builders will only do 1 or 2 and that is not near enough.

A freezer outlet in your garage if you want to put a fridge out there.

I also put 2 outlets up high near the ceiling on a switch for wall mounted fans in my garage. Texas heat is brutal and they help.

TV set up on the patio.

Pre-wiring for cameras and Christmas lights if you want

Also you should be able to do conduit and outlets for wall mounted TVs so you don't have to drill holes and fish for wires later. That is nice too.

A lot of it is just frills but it is cheap to do now as opposed to having it done after but it can add up $.

Also if you want outlets with USBs just do them yourself as you can buy 3 for the price that they want to do 1.

^Same for cabinet hardware.

[RC_Hinojosa]

I also put 2 outlets up high near the ceiling on a switch for wall mounted fans in my garage. Texas heat is brutal and they help.

TV set up on the patio.

This is awesome...I completely forgot about wall mounted fans in the garage...I want one for sure pointed at the interior of the boat keeping things dry.

Good call on the patio, had already planned on speaker wiring but TV will be nice too.



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[Shoebox]

For the garage, wire it for at least 2 220v outlets - compressor and welder. Even if you don't have one or either now, 220 is good to have.

[TXSurf4]

For the garage, wire it for at least 2 220v outlets - compressor and welder. Even if you don't have one or either now, 220 is good to have.

220s in the garage are great! I did this exact setup with 2, one for my compressor and one for a welder some day.

Also when they do your main run from the box to the house make sure they stay in the utility easement. This is something you think would be common sense but I had to make sure they did because I had seen and still see it done where they do the shortest route from A to B and it cuts through peoples back yard diagonally. So if they ever go to put a pool or anything in the yard they will have to have it rerun at their cost. I told them if I cant build in the utility easement then they sure as hell better keep the utilities in it. They wanted to charge me more because they had to use twice as much cable and had to increase the gauge but I don't remember if that was because of the length or extra 200s or both. Either way I didn't end up paying for it.

[RC_Hinojosa]

220s in the garage are great! I did this exact setup with 2, one for my compressor and one for a welder some day.

Also when they do your main run from the box to the house make sure they stay in the utility easement. This is something you think would be common sense but I had to make sure they did because I had seen and still see it done where they do the shortest route from A to B and it cuts through peoples back yard diagonally. So if they ever go to put a pool or anything in the yard they will have to have it rerun at their cost. I told them if I cant build in the utility easement then they sure as hell better keep the utilities in it. They wanted to charge me more because they had to use twice as much cable and had to increase the gauge but I don't remember if that was because of the length or extra 200s or both. Either way I didn't end up paying for it.

Will add the (2) 220s to my list.

Yeah, the main electrical run is on my list as well. Toll Brothers will route accordingly to accommodate a future pool.

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[MJHSupra]

Can you elaborate on the hot water in the garage?

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My one house did not have room in the garage for a utility sink, so I had the plumber run hot water to the garage so I could hook up a hose. Saves time from running in/out of the house and getting into the laundry room that was located on the opposite side of the house.

My last house had the utility sink. So no issues.

The ceiling outlets are great. I used that for fans and additional lighting.

For lighting, any custom home I built I could pick my lights for the garage.

Back when I built a house in ATL with a ‘track-builder’, they had limited light choices and too many rules on selection choices. So I put the cheapest lights I could pick, then replaced them after I moved in.

Never has a welder, but 220 is a great idea.



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[RC_Hinojosa]

My one house did not have room in the garage for a utility sink, so I had the plumber run hot water to the garage so I could hook up a hose. Saves time from running in/out of the house and getting into the laundry room that was located on the opposite side of the house.

My last house had the utility sink. So no issues.

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I've always been a GoJo/Lava kinda guy but hot water in the garage would be nice.

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[sandm]

we are deciding between me being the general on our next house or going existing or toll brothers in a sub. lady at toll brothers told us their average client spends 100k in upgrades at the design center. as all these guys talk about what to add, just remember it all adds up. I would bet you have 10k just in electrical adds if you chalk up dual 220's and added switches/outlets especially if you jump to a 400amp service from 200.
I found with our last dr horton production house it was easier to go in and snap pics of the open walls and add what I wanted after the fact. running wire is not hard especially in a single level with a crawl. slab adds some complexity but not impossible. most of the new build houses are using cocoon insulation meaning it's in the trusses not on top of the ceiling so when you head up into the ceiling all the wall top plates are exposed making it a snap to add additional wiring. last time I checked a simple outlet was $150.
I made a mistake on the last house I general'ed. framers screwed up and framed for 9ft garage doors. I left them and didn't think much about it. I was used to paying 3k for pair of 9/18ft wide doors and openers. cost me 2.5k extra to jump to 9ft doors. expensive lesson.