I should note that while this is my first time building a house, I did build the apartment/condo I'm currently living in. I learned a lot from that experience - I learned that while the salesman selling you the property may seem nice, once he has your money he's less inclinced to be helpful. I learned that you can't always trust people when they say they're going to do something - you need to have a photocopy of everything in order to go back to them months later and remind them of what they promised. My hope is that with this new house, I'll be better prepared to face the challenges inherent in such a prospect.