1. How do I help keep electric costs down? My house is all electric, no gas line at all.
a - I've been setting the ac at 80 and sometimes have dropped it down to 78. A few nights it got to low 70's outside so I did the open windows thing overnight. How do I prevent rain from being a headache with open windows?
b - Open to any other tips. We are good about keeping lights off in unused rooms. Haven't gotten a real bill yet but just want to start off on the right foot. We have dual zone air so sometimes at night I turn off the ac downstairs since it tends to remain cooler with the open space.
Do you have deep roof overhangs? I don't, so whenever I have the windows open during rain I periodically walk around all four sides of the house to check that the water isn't coming in (if the window bug screens are mostly dry, then I assume it's okay; otherwise I close the window).
I plan to add eaves when I replace the roof, which will hopefully not only let me keep the windows open in more rainstorms, but also improve the passive solar design. On a new house, I'd hope/expect it to not need such modification...
With this being a new-construction house, I hope you got energy-efficient appliances. That means, preferably, a heat pump (not AC and separate resistive heat), a heat-pump (not resistive) water heater, an induction (not resistive) cook top, and of course Energy Star fridge, dishwasher and washing machine.
Ideally, you'd have solar and/or geothermal HVAC and/or hot water, but that's unlikely. (To be honest, the best time to ask about this would have been before the house got built, but of course it's too late now...)
2. How do I get decent grass?
a - my house is a new build and has new sod. How do I get the grass to take good root without being overly wasteful with water?
b - I looked at reel mowers but not sure I'll really get one. What's a reasonable price to spend on a gas powered lawn mower?
A friend of mine let me borrow his 2 year old Craftsman lawn mower. I brought it to the house and it wouldn't crank. I changed the spark plug and was able to get it to start when we poured gas into the cylinder. It'd die after a few seconds. I returned it to him. I believe he spent around $400 for the lawn mower.
Another friend recently purchased a Honda lawnmower for around $600. He brought it over and cut my yard for me after the first law mower failed. Honestly, it was a super nice mower and did the job very quickly and efficiently. I feel like this is a ton of money for a lawn mower though.
Do NOT neglect watering your sod until it has fully established itself! The best way to keep your grass decent is to
start with decent grass, and not screw it up. Fixing a lawn that was previously neglected is a lot harder (a fact I've been learning the hard way...).
There's no reason even a new mower has to cost tons of money. I got the cheapest side-discharge gas mower at Lowe's this spring on sale for $100, and it's fine. (No facepunches, please; I have too much crabgrass for a manual mower to be reasonable.) The main thing about gas mowers is that they have to be maintained properly, and I can 99% guarantee your friend's Craftsman wasn't.