It's been more than six months since we first began the process of hunting for a builder for our dream home project.

Like many couples, we were afraid of it turning into a nightmare home project.

And, in the beginning, it was stressful. We had no idea what we were doing, and we¹re still learning as we go.

As mentioned in columns of Sundays past, we checked out our finalists with the Better Business Bureau, the Manitoba Home Builders Association, and through word of mouth.

One source I've recently been made aware of is from the Government of Manitoba. You can search out activity in the Provincial Court system of any builder, company, or owner registered in Manitoba. The Web site is a fully searchable database that is constantly being updated.

A disclaimer, much like the one I used with BBB searches: Just because a person or company has been sued or counter-sued, doesn't mean they are automatically unreliable. It's up to you to check out the builder further and ask them about the incident(s), and then it's up to them to set your mind at ease.

Next to determining the reliability of your builder candidates, the question I've most often been asked is, "How do I know if I can afford our house?" Believe me, that's a question we've asked ourselves on many occasions. While your bank may pre-qualify you for a large mortgage amount, it¹s wise to explore whether that amount will really be feasible when you tack on things like car payments, child support payments, vacation accounts and pet grooming costs.

Back when we built our house in Calgary a few years ago, we went with the sage advice of, "Go for the biggest house you can afford, so when you sell, you'll get the most out of your investment." While it all worked out in the end, we had some weeks where our menu looked something like:

Monday: Kraft Dinner.
Tuesday: Kraft Dinner with chopped up wieners.
Wednesday: Kraft Dinner with white cheese sauce.
Thursday: Kraft Dinner with tomato sauce.
Friday: Special - Kraft Dinner with hamburger.

One of my tools in determining whether we're financially worthy of being considered for a mortgage is at the TD Canada Trust Web site (www.tdcanadatrust.com and then click on planning, and click on Total Debt Service Ratio).

The deal here is, above and beyond finding out your projected mortgage payments, you can figure out all of the other costs associated with daily life and get a true picture of what you can afford.

Simply put, the Total Debt Service Ratio measures your gross monthly income versus your total debt obligations, including loans, car payments and credit card bills. They say your TDS should total no more than 40%, but a number closer to 25% means more room for financial emergencies down the road. Another excellent site is at Royal Bank (www.royalbank.com/calculators/bah_calculator.html). They have all of the critical tools on one page - you can click on any of the following: How much can I afford?, Mortgage Calculator, Personal Budget Calculator, and Gross Debt Service Ratio. These are all very handy in helping to determine a realistic budget for your dream home.

The Gross Debt Service Ratio differs from the TDS in one simple way - it is a calculation that determines what percentage of your income will go to monthly housing-related expenses.

In order to figure out your GDSR (you're going to be going around the office dropping acronyms like a banking pro after reading this column) you enter your projected amount of principle and interest payments from your mortgage, your projected amount of monthly property tax, your monthly heating costs, and of course, your gross monthly income.

When you hit calculate, you're given your GDSR, which should be somewhere below 32%, according to Royal Bank.

While it's fun to consider what kinds of gargantuan mansions you'd like to build, it¹s wise to input the real figures into these calculators and budget on the conservative side just to be safe.

While I LOVE an occasional bowl of steaming-hot Kraft Dinner, having to live off of it is another matter entirely.