re: Building A House - Where To Start?

I think buying instead of building would be cheaper unless you want an ultra luxury home.
With that said, we built our home 13 years ago that we live in today.
I went to Lowes and bought a couple of home plan books, found the one we liked most and took it to a designer and he did up the plans for us.
We ended up spending about 12% more than we had planned with our builder, mainly our fault. He gave us a budget for fixtures/cabinets and such, and what we ended up wanting cost more every time. Be aware that if your builder gives you a budget to go pick out your fixtures and stuff, you will likely spend more than that once you are at a showroom looking at what you will live with for years to come.

I would like to buy a piece of land and build again. Make sure you get items you want in it for sure and do some research on what things people have put into their homes that you haven't thought of. I know there are threads periodically on the OT for that.
For instance, a couple of things I like. I had the plumber put in hot and cold faucets in my garage near the garage door. I bathe my dogs outside and have hot/warm water available to me, also for washing cars sometimes it comes in handy.
Another is that my home is a ranch on a basement. I ran a 2 1/2" PVC from the basement to the attic. If I have to run a new electrical line or cable I can get from the basement to the attic easily. Things like that.