I generally always will have everything planned out before even touching the game. Starting off by drawing out plans and then designating rooms and working out how the basic furnishings with be laid out. I like to know the dimensions of spaces, etc, but then will adjust to the game limitations. I love the challenge of finding a floor plan and then "simming" it.

I'm a bit of an architecture geek, so have notepads and sketchbooks full of plans and ideas.

I don't usually build houses-- that's why I come here :D. But, when I do, not much thought is put into it. I hurriedly build the houses and save the furnishing for later. My houses are also themed since my neighborhoods are, too. For example, I love building Second Empire-themed houses, but Art Deco/Art Nouveau and Beaux-Arts take the cake for my favorite types of architecture.

I don't.

My houses tend to be...rectangular. Plain. Simple. Easy to play. No odd-shaped rooms or floorplans - I play with cutaway walls and I hate having a front wall up because it's only the side of a room and not of the whole house. No stairs blocking my view of a room; they either go along the back of the house, or I use the spiral stairs.

I always build before I move a Sim in, even if I'm building with a specific Sim in mind, so I can place a copy in the lots and houses bin for the next family that has the same needs. Kitchens and bathrooms may be included in the basic build, but nothing else.

I tend to build cheap houses for poorer Sims, so whether it's a 7x7 one-bedroom bijou residence or a two-storey, four-bedroom house for the Ottomai or similar, they're very much bare-bones. I'm very generous with bathrooms, though, so my Sims don't have to queue and guests don't have to go upstairs!

I don't usually build from scratch. Much of the time, I use a pre-built house, whether a Maxis one or one I downloaded. Sometimes I choose one of the pre-builts entirely for the shell, completely gutting and redoing the interior. I have no qualms about changing the layout, the walls, the floors, the furniture, the roof, etc. Occasionally, I might add on to the floorplan if I'm reasonably sure I won't mess up some CFE-based section of the house.

The times where I have built from the ground up, it's mostly been experimental by-the-seat-of-my pants type of thing. It's also usually because I don't want a flat lot or to preserve the already present geography, which would get flattened by placing a house from the catalogue. Sometimes I have a general idea of what look I'm going for, other times I just start slapping things down to see what comes of it XD . I try to remember to put in little bump-outs or vary the sizes of the rooms. At some point, I do tend to put in temp furniture so I can check that I've left room for everything. I'm not very good at eyeballing the total space needed. Cabinets, appliances, lighting, and plumbing at the very least are put in. I do like there to be some basic furniture (bed, table, chair, couch) because I have no 20K handout so it gives me a better estimate of the total money a sim needs to live in a particular house.

Bathrooms must have windows. All rooms must have windows. Kitchens have to have a door leading to the outside, or at least one very close to the kitchen. (These are building rules in SA - and I tend to build according to those and somehow find it hard not to knock down a wall or two (or three) if these are not present in a downloaded house).

Pick a certain architectural style, whip out the graph paper and draw the floor plan.
Sometimes it's a place where I've been to and I'm drawing from memory. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like inside the building and draw from there. I draw the exteriors and general shape of the building - what the roofline will be, what windows to use etc. If I don't have those build items, I'll download them. Once I'm happy with the design, that's when I'll build. I build and decorate at the same time, completing the look and feel of the building room by room.

If it's a starter, I don't furnish - just fit.

If I feel lazy, I'll go on Pinterest and make a floorplan playable.

Sometimes I'll build a big foundation, almost the size of the lot, assuming the house is going to be on a foundation, place all the downstairs furniture and then put walls around it, and then trim the foundation to the walls (and then use Lot Adjuster if necessary to move the house and/or resize the lot). That way I know everything will fit!

I am more of an apartment builder than residential house one. Or a dorm builder. Then again, I would not call myself a builder.
I will either base my plan on some places I myself lived in, or any typical ugly building that yells..apartments!
Though I might not make it ugly...
Building for an apartment lot and a residential lot is quite different. Many things to take into account. Will bedrooms touch? What should be usable by all?..Will there be a community garden or not? Should I add a pool...
Since I have a good idea of what it should look like before I start, I will wait until almost done before placing furniture and deco in. Double bed is always the exception, I must be sure it fits on both sides to be usable.
I made a washer & Dryer combo long ago, so I will make room for a laundry room, but not systematically. The realistic aspect for me, will be according to what type of sim might buy that house.
I might add realistic environment for a gardener, or a mechanic, an artist etc. And about laundry..not every sim bothers. There are laundromats..right?

I will always build first, then move sim(s) in once the lot is all done.
I know no one who had to sleep outside because they bought an empty lot and had no where else to live..while the construction was happening. So why my sims should?
Unless I have a specific story for a sim...
I do not clutter much. I did not create many cluttering items either. Which reminds me, I should.

With apartments..there is no *leaving room for expansion* I have to decide before I start building.
So either I will build small units for single sim or a young couple, either I'll build some family-type units.
Family-type units must have some kind of playground equipment, or at least..room to play outside for children.
Same will apply if I build a dorm. Will it be for a single sim per room/unit? Or will young adult couples might want to move there..
Will they have it easy? or will they have to do everything themselves..A cook, or a kitchenette?..Both?

Building is fun.