re: Things to ask home builder before signing a contract?

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make damn sure they don't use fiberlgass batt insulation.

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Why?

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Why?

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because it is an outdated product that is next to impossible to install properly. It gets pinched at wires, j-boxes, pipes, etc. Every pinch creates a thermal short and essentially ruins the performance of the insulation.

There are many great options these days that are better than fiberglass batt for little to no extra cost. I'd recommend looking into the following:

Walls:
- dense packed Blown cellulose
- BIBS (blown in blanket system) fiberglass. make sure a minimum of 1.9 lbs/cubic square feet for blown in pressure/weight.
- Wet blown cellulose
- Wet blown fiber glass (sometimes called SPIDER insulation)

Attics:
- blown cellulose
- Blown fiberglass

cathedral cielings or sealed stud cavity ceilings:
- BIBS
- Wet Blown cellulose or fiberglass
- Open Cell spray foam

Not that my opinion is better than any others but I'd highly recommend staying away from closed cell foam, too. It is too rigid and while initial installs of closed cell foam give phenomenal performance, they don't move with wood structures as the structure expands and shrinks throughout the seasons. This causes the very hard closed cell foam to pull away from the studs and create gaps in the envelope and reduce performance.

you could get a cost plus, where its more transparent, whatever you want plus 20%. Put a deadline in the contract and penalties for each week not finished.

Ask them how change orders are made, what happens if they are not made as marked. Just make sure all change orders are in text and signed, dated.

dont trust their budgets for lighting, etc. ask them for an itemized list and go to home depot and price it yourself. They may give you a budget and you go to their preferred lighting store, and find your options are limited even though you got the "middle tier budget"