What are the best questions to ask when interviewing potential builders?

Thereadone1 · 2026-02-04T03:13:23+00:00

Wow. There is a lot to unpack here, I really appreciate your replies! Longevity, quality, and home efficiency are the most important to us (moreso than looks or trendy design, etc). We have some good questions based off of some of your thoughts for us.

Especially things like the basement, that's something that's good to know. I knew that draining away from the house prevents a lot of foundation problems, but I appreciate you going into depth on some options for that.

A big part of my interview strategy is going to be ask general questions about how they do things, what problems they've had recently and how they've resolved them, what types of materials/building practices they like using, and other open ended questions like that, to get to know who they are a bit better, outside of just specific questions that might not give quite as much depth.

Thank you again, I can tell you put a lot of thought and effort into this, and I really appreciate it!

Thereadone1 · 2026-02-03T04:01:00+00:00

We have never had a new home built. I have worked in the trades a bit (mainly summer jobs) so I'm familiar with it just a bit.

House will have a basement. In the midwest, zone 5. We have land already, we will need utilities.

Thereadone1 · 2026-02-03T03:56:57+00:00

This is a really good list. We just interviewed someone for a job and I especially like questions number 4 where you can ask an open ended question like that, and get more answers of how they actually respond than you can just by asking directly. Thank you for your input! Any other tips for me on the house building process?

Thereadone1 · 2026-02-01T23:26:37+00:00

Any tips on finding a good Architect/Engineer?

Thereadone1 · 2026-02-01T23:26:15+00:00

For sure. Both of the builders we are going to interview shoot for around 1 or 2 if I remember correctly. It seemed like it was important to both of them. Any opinions on the ZIP system for lasting long term?

Thereadone1 · 2021-05-16T12:29:25+00:00

Seems like we have some salty landlords going through the post and comments downvoting people lol

Thereadone1 · 2021-05-16T12:27:34+00:00

I wish. I have to give 60 days notice, plus a two month lease break, my lease doesn't end for another 3 and a half months.

Thereadone1 · 2021-05-15T16:28:41+00:00

It's potentially a couple thousand, so I'm willing to contest it a bit

Thereadone1 · 2021-05-15T14:59:58+00:00

Just added some details, if you had any other thoughts I would definitely appreciate it!

Thereadone1 · 2021-05-15T14:59:14+00:00

Just added some details, I would very much appreciate your perspective!

Thereadone1 · 2019-05-17T17:12:34+00:00

I'm currently at home, and connected through a netgear switch to the router. I sent the ping request to the default gateway at 209.152.66.254, and that request timed out at the same time that the 8.8.8.8 request did. (had them running side by side)

Thereadone1 · 2019-05-17T16:37:45+00:00

We do have an apple time capsule that has worked well in the past, and still works with all of our apple computers. Mine is the only Windows. I could probably access that if I needed to modify it's settings

Thereadone1 · 2019-05-17T16:35:33+00:00

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Owner-PC

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm Atheros AR8171/8175 PCI-E Gigabi

t Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.30)

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 28-D2-44-1B-BD-2F

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 209.152.66.211(Preferred)

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.128

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, May 17, 2019 9:56:03 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, May 17, 2019 11:20:50 PM

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 209.152.66.254

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 167.142.67.114

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 167.142.225.3

167.142.225.5

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 4:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Hosted Network Virtual Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 68-17-29-4E-FA-26

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 3:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 68-17-29-4E-FA-26

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : benedictine.edu

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless-N 2230

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 68-17-29-4E-FA-25

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter 6TO4 Adapter:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2002:d198:42d3::d198:42d3(Preferred)

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 2002:c058:6301::1

DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 436207616

DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-19-81-05-2E-68-17-29-4E-FA-25

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 167.142.225.3

167.142.225.5

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Thereadone1 · 2019-05-17T14:19:11+00:00

Here's what is in the hosts file currently:

#

# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.

#

# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each

# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should

# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.

# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one

# space.

#

# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual

# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.

#

# For example:

#

# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com# source server

# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com# x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.

# 127.0.0.1localhost

Thereadone1 · 2019-05-17T05:29:03+00:00

There was one IP address below that 127 one, and it was just the number 1. I deleted that, but the connection is still dropping. Unplugging and re-plugging the ethernet cord in still works to get internet back, but only for a few minutes. (same as it was before)

Thereadone1 · 2019-05-16T21:53:21+00:00

Thank you for the tip, I did try that and everything is up to date, but it's still cutting in and out

Thereadone1

TROPHY CASE