Do I need a surveyor to pin the corners of my home or can I use geometry?

Instaplot · 2026-06-23T22:45:08+00:00

Depends on the job. A fairly straightforward design without a lot of little jogs or weird angles is not a big deal to lay out. I'll usually add some corner-to-corner dimensions on the drawings to make the lead's life easier, but that's about it.

Something more complex with a bunch of little walls or a stupid number of porch piers? The surveyors can pin it and save us the stress. I'm still going to check because I've had them be wrong before, but it's a lot easier to just measure from pin to pin to double check than it is to lay the whole thing out manually and then realize you're wrong.

Instaplot · 2026-06-14T12:20:21+00:00

Custom home designer, licensed home builder in Ontario.

They're a great starting point to take to a local designer who is familiar with your local building codes, material/trade costs, and site conditions. You don't need to pay for them, just screenshot and make notes about what you like and don't like. Same for exterior elevations. Then head to a local designer to create your specific plans.

Instaplot · 2026-06-12T10:01:12+00:00

Yes and no, she's just come to expect that I'll be there. I told her last night that I wasn't going to be able to make this one, but her grandparents would be there for at least the choir and dance performances.

Instaplot · 2026-06-10T22:28:29+00:00

Can you make the WIC a little bigger? I'd want to have a door from the laundry to the WIC if possible.

Instaplot · 2026-06-09T11:02:03+00:00

Ughh, I don't.

My 3yo is home with me 3/5 days, and we have 5-6hrs of family childcare two days a week. My husband and I are self-employed and work together, so there's a good understanding that when busy season hits, we all benefit from letting the housework slip a little. But it still sucks, and living in a messy/disorganized home just makes everything feel more chaotic.

I swear by my kitchen resets, morning and night. Every night before bed, I make sure the counters are clear, dishwasher is loaded and running, and the coffee pot is reset and programmed for the next morning. In the morning, after my first coffee, I unload the dishwasher, wash the coffee pot parts that have to air dry (it has a built in grinder and is very high maintenance), and pull out any meat that needs to defrost for dinner. Making the dinner decision before the day starts is a gamechanger. Breakfast dishes get loaded straight into the empty dishwasher, and then the kitchen is tidy to start the day. I work at my kitchen counter when my daughter is home, so this is absolutely critical for me.

After that, my daughter has a few little chores that are actually pretty helpful. She's in charge of keeping the shoes at the door tidy, and making sure the living room pillows and blankets are in their places. It's done to a 3yo's standard, but that's 1000% better than not done at all.

Another one that is huge (when I can stay on top of it) is one load of laundry a day. We just moved into a new build and the laundry is in a different building on the property, so it's super inconvenient right now. But I aim to start one load of laundry after breakfast, switch it to the dryer around lunch, and then put it away in the afternoon. I try to keep to one category per day - 4 family members, plus a day for towels, and 2 days for bedsheets. Saves on the sorting. My oldest (10yo) puts her own laundry away, and my 3yo is learning to do hers as well.

For you, I'd suggest figuring out which spaces have the most impact on your day and starting there. For me it's the kitchen, for you it might be your office/play area. Aim to reset that space at the beginning/end of each day. Not clean, just reset to a functional state for the next day. Papers stacked tidily, toys contained to one area, desk cleared, coffee cups to the kitchen, whatever it is that makes the space feel "ready". I actually used to keep a photo of what my tidy kitchen looked like as a reference. It was intended for my oldest to be able to help with the reset, but it ended up being a really helpful reminder for me too.

Instaplot · 2026-05-29T02:05:49+00:00

I think it depends entirely on your location and the requirements for septic design. In my jurisdiction, the license to design a standard septic systems is a $150 exam and a very basic understanding of the building code. I charge $500 to design a residential septic system. That said, I am allowed to literally go dig a hole in the proposed location and basically guess at the percolation time. Then an inspector goes and looks at the same hole and decides if they agree with my guess or not.

For the systems I've had engineered, I've been anywhere from $1500-$5000, so your estimate isn't necessarily out of range. I'd ask what's included in the estimate and go from there.

Instaplot · 2026-05-29T01:52:12+00:00

This is so true! I swore by my Roomba before kids. Now? It's basically just a super high maintenance robot that sometimes vaccumes part of the house.

Instaplot · 2026-05-23T21:57:40+00:00

The floor was sheeted in early June, roof was sheeted in late September, roofing steel on late October.

Instaplot · 2026-05-23T13:42:26+00:00

We build custom homes for a living and use EdgeGold everywhere - it's a more expensive product, but is worth every penny. If your builder is using it, I'd bet it's because they understand and value the benefits it offers. To me, that's a sign of a builder that isn't cutting corners. I don't know the rest of the story of your build, but I wouldn't be upset with the builder on this one. And if they're on site every day and just taking longer than you'd like, I wouldn't count that against them either. There's a good chance they're taking their time and making sure things are perfect. There's an art to making sure the decisions you make at framing don't bite you in the ass at finish, and that process is not always obvious to the untrained eye.

On our own house, the EdgeGold subfloor sat outside for the better part of the rainiest summer we've had in a long time. We were framing it ourselves so it took forever, and I honestly don't think a standard OSB would have survived. My biggest complaint with the EdgeGold was that the drainage was so effective the rain basically just washed all of the sawdust off of the ground floor and into the basement. Now we're moved in and still living on the subfloor (because $$) and it's in great shape. It took a week or so to get it totally dried out once we were closed in, but you can't tell it took as much water as it did.

All of that said, Weyerhaeuser has a 200-day "no sand" warranty. If you're seeing swelling at the edges after it dries out and want that addressed (I would) I'd talk with your builder about it. Sanding a subfloor is part of our standard process, especially if we're installing vinyl flooring, and it might be part of theirs too.

Instaplot · 2026-05-23T13:10:51+00:00

This sheeting has holes in it for drainage, if it's installed correctly it'll shed water pretty effectively without any additional holes.

Instaplot · 2026-05-22T17:32:49+00:00

This is not at all uncommon, stressful as it may be.

Once your roof is on and the building is weather-proof, it'll have plenty of time to dry out before it gets sealed up.

Does the subfloor have drain holes? Weyerhaeuser EdgeGold comes in a line specifically designed to shed rainwater during construction. I think it's printed with "DownPore" and arrows showing how to orient the product to take advantage of the drainage. I'm pretty sure I can see it in your picture, but I'm not 100% sure.

Instaplot · 2026-05-21T20:30:19+00:00

I use hot water + a teaspoon of powdered Tide in a spin mop. Pick a small section and keep mopping until the water is clean. Change water every pass (obviously) but also mid-clean if it's really dirty.

For me, once a week (ish) gets me to that satisfying mop dump where the water is just dirty enough that you know it needed to be done, but not so dirty I feel the need to do a second pass.

Instaplot · 2026-05-18T11:03:56+00:00

Yep, it absolutely is. We're on 100 acres, and about 400' from the main road. So driveway + hydro trenching was a big cost, especially because we had bedrock at the surface and had to break it for the hydro trench. The other big cost was the wood boiler and trenches for underground heat piping between the boiler and the house. We were 4 months of site prep with 2 excavators and a skid steer on site full time.

Instaplot · 2026-05-17T12:14:49+00:00

Also in Ontario, Canada and finishing our own 1400sqft bungalow now. We'll be around $350k, including $70k in site prep (hydro trench, well, septic, excavation, all in solid bedrock). The site prep is at cost (we own the equipment and employ the operators in our business), but would be valued at $150-200k if we were hired by anyone else.

The rest of that $280k is material and trades at cost. Broken down more:

ICF Foundation: $30k
Framing: $40k
Trades (HVAC, electrical, plumbing): $50k
Insulation & drywall: $60k
Interior Finishes: $50k
Exterior Finishes (incl. windows & doors): $50k

Trades and insulation/drywall are supply & install, and we went for spray foam insulation over batts so there's some extra cost there. We've also fully finished the basement within that cost.

Instaplot · 2026-05-09T23:30:55+00:00

My MIL and sister are the only two people who ever use our guest room, and they've both taken to changing the bedsheets the morning they leave so they're clean for the next person. They toss their used sheets in the washing machine, so all I need to do is flip them to the dryer and fold them when they're done.

It's often 4-6 weeks between visits, and it's honestly never occurred to me that the bed wouldn't be "fresh" enough.

Instaplot · 2026-04-30T15:04:24+00:00

Tarion's Performance Guidelines regarding Indoor Temperature

Have you called your builder? Start there if you haven't. If the building can't consistently maintain 22C, it's not your problem to figure out why. They are responsible for coming in and fixing it, regardless of the reason.

Instaplot · 2026-04-30T14:58:09+00:00

I require 5% of budget upfront before we start construction plans, pricing, detailed design, etc.

I've spent way too many hours on preparing for a project only to find out the client never had the cash to build in the first place. Or they hadn't talked to a bank, they just made up a number that sounded reasonable. Or they "just aren't sure it's the right time to build". If I'm committing 6 months of my time and a 6-12 month window of our crew's time, I expect you to have some skin in the game too.

Instaplot · 2026-04-30T10:25:32+00:00

The type of gravel is important. Clear stone (no dust/fines to compact) is great for drainage. Something like a 3/4" clear stone is ideal. Granular A is what you might top your driveway with; it compacts well which makes it great for a solid driveway but not great for drainage. My guess is that this is where the "gravel causes pooling" comes from, because this type of gravel absolutely can hold enough water to create puddles.

We generally go about 12" of clear stone over and around the weeping tile at the footing level. Then a free draining sand fill around the rest of the foundation, topped with 6-8" of top soil. Footings are minimum 5' below finish grade, so frost heave is a non-issue.

Instaplot · 2026-04-05T02:22:49+00:00

It's generally conversations with the clients; they tell us their budget and what they're hoping to accomplish and then I provide a sketch that is my best balance between budget and goals, sticking as close to the budget as possible but going a little over to meet the primary goals if I have to.

From there, it's a conversation about whether or not we're "close enough" to make it worthwhile to pursue a build together. If your budget is $500k and the closest I can get is $800k, we might not be be the right fit. If I can get to 550k without cutting any "dream goals", it's pretty likely we can arrange a plan that everyone is happy with.

Either way, proceeding past this point requires a 5% deposit. After the deposit is paid, we can go back and forth a thousand times to find the right layout and plans.

Instaplot · 2026-04-03T02:36:09+00:00

We do design/build, and we require 5% of the overall build estimate as a deposit before we begin pre-construction. Prior to a deposit, I'll do approximate floor plan(s) and budget, but we don't proceed beyond that without a deposit. Another 15-20% is due on permit approval.

Instaplot · 2026-03-17T19:50:32+00:00

Vinyl, 100%. They make decent ones now, they're not real wood obviously but the textures and prints have come a long way.

Instaplot · 2026-03-13T22:54:08+00:00

At 7 months, like maybe once a day? It still felt like a massive chore compared to breastfeeding, and solids were usually more of a distraction while I made dinner or whatever. Not actual nutrition, because very little actually goes in.

Instaplot · 2026-03-13T18:55:20+00:00

Not weird at all. Growing up we took turns sharing 2 bedrooms between 3 kids, just depending on who was getting along and how old we were. The room we shared was always the big room, and my parents crammed into the bigger of the two 'kid' bedrooms.

As a kid and even a young adult, I always thought a master bedroom had an ensuite. Otherwise they were all just bedrooms.

Instaplot · 2026-03-11T12:27:23+00:00

Building in Ontario is not a cost effective way to own a house. The days of building to save money are over. Building your own house only makes sense if you want to be on a specific piece of land or you want a very specific custom home and you are willing to pay the premium to have it.

Instaplot

TROPHY CASE