Somewhere between signing a contract and receiving your keys, you will make several hundred decisions. Most of them arrive on a schedule you did not set, attached to a deadline driven by a trade crew. The homeowners who end up loving their homes are not the ones with the best taste. They are the ones who knew what was coming and decided before they were asked.

The New Construction Selections Playbook is the order of operations Lauren Ashley Design follows on every new construction project. It maps every selection to the construction phase that needs it, identifies the twelve decisions that cannot be undone once built, and gives you the questions to ask about allowances before you sign. It also gives you the checklists and worksheets to carry through every site meeting and showroom appointment.

It is written for homeowners building a custom home they intend to live in for years. It is not a cost-cutting guide, and it is not for spec builds. What’s included:

• The Selections Playbook (25-page PDF): why selections go wrong, the seven-phase decision timeline, the twelve decisions you cannot undo, how to read your allowances, room-by-room selection checklists, six rules for working with your builder, and four printable worksheets

• The Allowance & Selections Tracker (Excel spreadsheet): five tabs that track allowances against actual selections, calculate selection deadlines from your builder’s schedule, flag overages and late orders automatically, and log every change order

Format: A digital download delivered as one ZIP file containing a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet opens in Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, or Google Sheets. No physical product will be shipped.

Ready for a design team? Lauren Ashley Design is currently accepting new build projects for 2026 and 2027. Start here.