Building a custom home in the middle of a corn field is a complex process. There are no utilities and the quality of the underlying ground is uncertain. Decisions must be made where to place the home to maximize the view, also the placement of the driveway along with the well and septic. We carefully chose a general contractor who has the right kind of experience and reputation building a quality, energy efficient home. Prices among sub-contractors vary greatly, as does opinion. We spoke to four well drillers before finding one that made sense in response to our request for a deep well. The plumbing contractor initially selected by the builder tried to rip us off by refusing to warranty our water heater unless we signed on for his $1000 water softener. He was quickly replaced - how could one know the need for a water softener for a deep well prior to drilling and testing? We've selected a few other sub-contractors based on previous good experiences, and for the remainder, we our trusting our builder's recommendations.