BUILDING YOUR HOME

Jackie and Kent Reese looked over plans for the 2,800-square-foot house they will build in Old Hickory Estates at Jackson.

Hopes and dreams are taking shape daily in city lots and along country roads. New homes in various stages of completion give hint to the dwellings they will become.

How many of them are dream homes?

In a sense, "There's no such thing as one that isn't," said Dan Clements, a contractor and builder and one of the "sons" in Clements and Sons of Cape Girardeau. That's because each owner will bring to that new home much more than boxes of belongings. After all, it's the hope for the future the move represents that helps make the house a home.

But it's a long journey from talking about building to the moving part.

Rodney and Pam Sievers are somewhere in the middle of that trip.

A custom-tile layer with his own business, Sievers spends most evenings through the work week at the site of his and his wife's new home in Jackson -- and that's after seeing lots of new homes during the day. He and Pam will do most of the finish work on their home after it is under-roof.

Taking a breather in the glare of late afternoon sun, Sievers gave this advice: "You want to be sure and get a good, reputable contractor."

And one of the best ways to do that, he said, is simply ask around; talk to people who have built homes.

Clements agrees: For the project to work smoothly there's got to be communication and trust. "I tell my clients it's like a third person entering a marriage for six months," he said.

Six months is the average time it takes to complete a home, from the point the basement is dug, Clements said. "A small home can be done in three months, a large home may take nine months," he estimated.

Jackie and Kent Reese are looking forward to getting to those early construction stages. "We're real anxious to get it started," Jackie Reese said.

The couple last week were in the bidding stages with their second set of house plans. Their initial building plans, which Jackie described as a combination of two house plans, just didn't work out, she said.

Though the Reeses have built other homes in other communities, this is their first custom home, she explained.

Sticking closely to complete plans could save some headache, she said.

If plan-book plans are being considered, she advised: "Really study it, so that you would only have to make small, interior changes. Then I think I would get with a builder to see what they think. Then I would send off for them," she said.

An interior designer who owns her own business, Reese also advises taking a close look at room sizes and how that will coordinate with furniture long before building begins. Furniture templates prepared to scale come in handy here. "You place all your furniture in the house plan to see how it works," she said. "Before it's built is the time to move that wall out a foot."

Clements said contacting a builder before ordering plans or buying a lot is a good idea. "If the house and the lot match up, everything goes along real smooth and there's no extra foundation work and no extra dirt work," he explained.

Kent and Tonya Koch know all about that part of the building process, along with most every other step. "My husband did all the dirt work," Tonya Koch explained.

From start to finish, the Kochs did much of the work on their home between Gordonville and Burfordville. Plus, said Tonya Koch, "We had a lot of family help."

The Kochs and their two young children moved into their new two-story home in June after spending many long hours working on their house long after the regular workday was over. With children ages 5 and 2, that meant taking them to the site. "That was the hardest part: bringing them up here every night," reflected Tonya Koch.

The Kochs waited until their home was completed before they moved in. "I was afraid if we moved in before that we'd never finish," Tonya Koch said. Nevertheless, she said, there's so much work yet to be done, like finishing the basement and landscaping.

While the Kochs built on property that has been in the family, many people either don't have that option or choose to live in other locations.

When buying property to build on, there is plenty to consider. At the beginning of the building process, "probably the first step would be to go to the bank and let the bank prequalify you on how much money you can think about spending," reasoned Art Blaylock, broker with the Jackson office of Coldwell Banker Blanchard & Associates Realty Inc.

Location points to consider, Blaylock said, include what utilities are available. "If outside the city limits, you'll want to know about homeowners associations and the ramifications. In any subdivision, you'll want a copy of subdivision restrictions," he said.

Plus, he said, "You have to look at not only what's there now, but what's projected to be around you."

When it's time to make decisions about aspects of the home, the more input from the owner -- and the more the owner educates himself about what he wants in the house -- the better, Clements said. "The more they participate as far as input into it, the more the house is going to reflect them and not the builder," he said. "Hopefully, when they get their furniture in, they can look around and say, 'It's just the way I want it.'"

Tonya Koch said their new home with the green roof comes pretty close to the dream home she and her husband envisioned when they were first married. "This is going to have to be as close as we're going to get, because I don't want to ever do it again," she said. "I'm satisfied."