My parents build their house in like 2014 in CT and my brother did in 2019 in CT as well, so not exactly MA. I am shopping for a house right now. For them they lived there for a while and had zero major maintenance issues. Their roofs,and utilities are brand new, their heating and cooling is ridiculously efficient. I am comparing it to shopping for used house, where often you find bunch of things that need to be replaced. Also, all the layout and cosmetics changes are up to their standards. My parents have extended raise ranch and it's great. My brother has some colonial with multiple walk-in bathroom and bunch of cool build in gadgets. One issue that my parents had was a tiny leak in the roof which was promptly fixed by contractor who build their house. Since then zero issues.

On the other side, their starting price was whatever the contractor wanted which is already higher than used homes. With their additions and changes, the price went up even more.

From my personal perspective, it is worth it but not as your first home. I am looking to buy my first home. I am learning about homes and i will learn about maintenance. I am also going to learn about my actual needs.

One thing of note, be super involved in the process. If you don't check on the building status the contractor can screw you over. You can find your own contractors but they would need to adhere to the schedule.

A YouTuber is building a house in MA and this is part of the saga. https://youtu.be/y3NVDqH39CE

Don’t be fooled… when building you can customize things, pick whatever colors, finishes, fixtures but you will pay significant price with your mental health and your wallet. At first it’s fun picking out flooring… but three months later…. After 1000 decisions…picking out door knobs, cabinet pulls, light fixtures will be truly painful and you will second guess all your decisions. Also note, unless you go with a top tier General contractor, you can expect multiple delays and cost increases… check your GCs references and expect the build to take about 2 years. I’ve got personal experience having built my home in 2019…it was the most stressful and unpleasant experience I have survived to date.
People visit and say “You’ve got a beautiful home”. And I say thank you but secretly hate it because the build was so traumatizing.

Decision fatigue is real.

Basically everybody I've met who has built their own home says: it was the worst experience of my life and I would never ever do it again.

I think if you have stupid money and unlimited time, it might be less stressful…like a second or vacation home…but that’s not the case if it’s your primary residence

My family is currently looking for a builder in MA. I know we’re at least a little crazy to be trying to build a home right now but we see the potential long term value in building vs. buying an existing home. Hoping we can avoid nightmare scenarios with a solid CG and being heavily involved in the process.

That's cool video, I am watching, thanks for sharing

This state is already so built up, I wish more people would renovate or tear down and rebuild over existing houses

I used to work for a residential new construction builder. I would never ever build my own house. It’s a nightmare of unending choices and delays.

Whining about being able to afford a custom build in MA, wtf

I was replying to the OP. We had a house fire in 2017 and had to rebuild.

I have thick old fir in my roof - why would I replace it with tiny fast wood that new roof trusses are made from? Sure, adding a second floor is great, but there is a lot of embedded carbon and exclusive old growth wood making the box of the house strong and resistant to wind...