Compromise (dun dun duuuuuun)

Unless you have a wheelbarrow full of money, one of the first things you learn on a house build is to compromise on stuff  (because sweet baby Jesus, it's expensive). 

One of our earliest decisions was that this wasn't our "forever home" (take of that what you will; our first house was a "2 year house" that we stayed in for 8 years). In some ways this makes it easier to compromise on things that we couldn't really afford to do (solid gold toilet, stripper pole in the lounge, stripper accommodation). In other ways, its harder as you have to consider resale (albeit in a few years) so you can't do anything too unique that'll make it harder to sell later. 

After messing round with single house plans, we decided to do a home and income (herafter H&I) for a couple of reasons. The first was that rental income can be used by the bank to increase the amount you can borrow. The second is that a H&I can be easier to sell down the track. 

We've compromised on a few things, but we've been careful to not skimp where it's not so easy to remedy later (additional insulation and so on). We've also made the doors in the back house wider so it'll be easier to convert to wheelchair friendly later on should the need arise (probably not for us; but a future buyer). 

We're hoping that anything we've had to "skimp" on, we will be able to improve later as we recover financially from the build (have Imentioned how expensive it is?).