Anyone willing to share his experience and insigths about building a vacation home?

In a search for perfect water, I am close to buying a lot on a private lake in northwest Illinois.

Staying within budget means keeping a vacation home on this lot to not more than 1,500 square feet and making it pretty much a do-it-yourself project.

With respect to experience, I gutted and rebuilt the kitchen and first floor bathroom of my primary residence, hiring a licensed electrician to provide direction and check on my work, and put a new roof on a larger home. I have three sons (ages 22, 20, and 14) who are pretty good with tools. I have the basic power tools (table saw, compund miter saw, drills, etc).

I'm inclined to hire a contrctor to excavate and put in a full basement. Am debating buying a prepackaged home kit vs. buying materials from a building supply center such as Lowes and working from a set of blue prints.

Ranch style is an easier build, but for a few more bucks on the same size foundation a cape cod offers second floor space where my kids' friends can drop their sleeping bags for the weekend.

This will be the biggest project I've undertaken. Not wanting to end up over my head, I need to know what should be consider during the planning phase and the common mistakes to avoid during the build phase.

Many thanks. - Deerfield