I really hope someone hasn't already started a thread like this. I did a search but sometimes my searching skills are lacking. Anyway, over the past 9 years after I came out of my Dark Age, my wife noticed that I have formed some habits I must follow when building a new set. The first thing is that I MUST be watching something related to the set I am building. For example; when I first got back into Lego it was because of the Harry Potter movies and sets. I must have watched POA about thirty times based on the number of HP sets I own. When I transitioned into Star Wars then it became those movies until the Clone Wars came out. Recently I have branched out to a few non-licensed themes and I have had to go hunting for something to watch which was somewhat connected, like for Alien Conquest I found the Halo TV show and Starship Troopers. Tonight I will be enjoying some Lone Ranger sets and 3:10 To Yuma.

Another part of my ritual is a cup of Chai and a cloth. The Chai because it's awesome and the cloth for my hands because for some reason they sweat while I build sets. IDK.

Oh, and my wife just reminded me that I have her put on my stickers because with her small hands she is way better at applying them than I do.

So what routines or habits do you have when building new Lego?

I do the watching thing too. Even right before I go shopping. (I was going to go get TMNT sets but then I watched Hobbit AUJ and got Goblin King and stuck with Kraang Lab for TMNT. Shellraiser will have to wait.)

Yeah, a lot of my purchases are motivated by what I am watching at the time. TMNT was the big one for the past few months, but the Lone Ranger sets came along and now Stockman's Mech and Shredder's Cycle are on the shelf waiting for their turn. I find that I have been doing that a lot this year. Buying sets but running out of time to build them so the just pile up.

Sometimes I do the watching thing, I did it with the POTC sets.

Other than that I usually just build the set. I must have it completely sorted first before I even open the instructions, because I'm usually one to jump the gun and get angry over a "missing piece" thats usually just hiding somewhere .

When I build, I have to have music playing. Just helps me focus on the build, can't watch TV, can't sit in the quiet and build.

I cannot watch any TV while building. I must have complete focus on the build. I do not sort the pieces by type or color, just in piles grouped how they came out of the bags (inner baggies separate from outer baggies) unless the set is just too massive for that. No one can touch the set besides me until the set is finished. I must finish the build in one sitting (with a tiny break if needed) or I don't get the full joy from the set. I also keep a cloth close at hand for sweaty palms as well (I thought I was the only one! ).

I like to lock myself away and do it in silence. I also swear a lot more while building then I normally do.

I must finish the build in one sitting (with a tiny break if needed) or I don't get the full joy from the set. I also keep a cloth close at hand for sweaty palms as well (I thought I was the only one! ).

A fellow hand sweater! It can be kind of annoying to have to wipe them off every other brick or so. I almost never finish a set in one sitting. The joy of fatherhood means never having more than a few minutes to yourself. Once it took me a month to finish a set.

I like to lock myself away and do it in silence. I also swear a lot more while building then I normally do.

That's awesome! Nothing like putting bricks in the wrong spot to bring out the sailor in you!

I don't have any particular habits except putting the bags in piles, much like Penkid11, separate all bags. I usually have TV on, but that's because I watch too much TV.

Well, I usually build the minifigs first and stop in the middle of building to gloat over there awesomeness!

And I pick out the interesting or " new" parts into one pile.

Also, my sister says Im weird because, when I get a new

set and open the box I in hail deeply and say "Ah, the smell of a new set!"

When I was a kid my routine was to flip open the front flap and stare at the awesomeness for a bit (I guess I had a lot of patience for a kid!). Then I'd carefully crack open the seal and slide out the parts tray. I'd sort out the special parts, build the minifigs, etc. Then I'd start ripping open bags and dump everything into one pile of bricks. These numbered bags are for the weak, you haven't built Lego until you've hunted for a 1x1 flat dot brick amongst a pile of similar color bricks for an hour I would build in silence in the living room, and then parade the model around to show my family when I was done.

Today, I build at my office desk, with some music going in the background. Desk space is limited, if I'm going to get back into the Lego hobby I'm thinking I need a dedicated space.

Also, even though the bags are numbered in today's sets, I still dump them all in a big pile to get the full Lego experience from my childhood!

I have a tendency to convert building a set into a race. If I can't build it in fifteen minutes I wonder whats wrong with me (or think I must have spent way too much ).

And then I sit it on my desk until I find a suitable opportunity to part it out (another operation done at racing speed!).

I usually spend ages going back and forth between my room and the office getting bricks and spending ages searching. Oh the joys of not having all LEGO bricks in one room and not having them nicely sorted. Otherwise I usually just put music on.

I also build to music, although I try and match the music to the build.

So the Indy sets are the Soundtracks, as are SW. I used The Mummy for Pharaohs Quest and the usual Christmas hits for the Winter Village.

i can't think of a good one for trains though....

Generally a lot of my building is done with one or more of my siblings, so I've come up with a number of elaborate techniques for dividing up steps. We alternate steps for the most part. If there is a callout for "2x", "3x", etc, we tend to divide those between us regardless of whose steps they are on (but any remainder goes to the person whose step it actually is). Sub-steps are considered a "part" of a builder's main step if they lack individual piece callouts. If they have piece callouts then they are treated as individual steps, but the person whose step it starts on builds the first sub-step in the sequence, and after the last sub-step when regular step numbering resumes, that builder gets to attach the resulting subsection. "Trades" can be permitted if certain interesting pieces or builds only tend to fall on one builder's step: so, if a set has two fancy windscreens on my step, I might let my brother attach one of them, and then he'll let me attach one of his more interesting parts on a later step of his.

Overall, it's become a bit of an elaborate routine, and I imagine I'd struggle a great deal building a set with someone I haven't been building with all my life!

When building Hero Factory sets or other small/simple sets, I tend to build on my own, and build in order according to the instructions. But when rebuilding a set I've taken apart I might just use my memory or pictures of the set instead of the instructions. Generally it's only building a set for the first time that has an elaborate routine attached to it in my experience.

I never watch anything, partly as my desk is set at the back of the TV, and partly as the desk is too small (or too filled with LEGO) to fit my laptop on. Most often I have some music on, specially when I'm alone to build. Another habit that I have (and don't like) is that when building MOCs, I'm always left with a pile of unsorted bricks (the sorting boxes in even fuller than last time... ).

Generally a lot of my building is done with one or more of my siblings, so I've come up with a number of elaborate techniques for dividing up steps. We alternate steps for the most part. If there is a callout for "2x", "3x", etc, we tend to divide those between us regardless of whose steps they are on (but any remainder goes to the person whose step it actually is). Sub-steps are considered a "part" of a builder's main step if they lack individual piece callouts. If they have piece callouts then they are treated as individual steps, but the person whose step it starts on builds the first sub-step in the sequence, and after the last sub-step when regular step numbering resumes, that builder gets to attach the resulting subsection..

Overall, it's become a bit of an elaborate routine, and I imagine I'd struggle a great deal building a set with someone I haven't been building with all my life!

That..that is awesome! And sounds super hard. For a family of ADHD children that may have lead to death or at least fighting. Does anyone build with their kids? I have a 3yr old with another one on the way and I have been trying to get him into building with me. Duplo right now because anything smaller has a habit of being crammed into a major orifice.

I usually sort until I have some kind of order I can understand. MOC or set, I always sort.

Background is often nothing, but sometimes I have the news or Travel channel on TV, I don't usually watch while building, I just sometimes like a little background noise, sometimes I don't.

I usually build in no more than 2 to 3 hour time blocks, maybe no more ha 4 hours in one day.

Andy D

I usually plug my earbuds in or like everyone else have some show or sports game playing to multitask, which sometimes causes me to miss steps but oh well. Occasionally for certain licensed sets (eg. LOTR, Batman) I have the movie from which the set was based on playing just to compare it to the source material or for kicks.

That..that is awesome! And sounds super hard. For a family of ADHD children that may have lead to death or at least fighting. Does anyone build with their kids? I have a 3yr old with another one on the way and I have been trying to get him into building with me. Duplo right now because anything smaller has a habit of being crammed into a major orifice.

I build with my 4 year old all the time he has a little bit of motor skills issues and could barely get 3 bricks together 6 months ago but now he can build the great vehicles line pretty much all by himself! But yeah we love building together. As for my habits I need music and I have to sort everything before I start. Need to be at my desk with tons of light and a drink. I'm always hungry when I build but too afraid of getting bricks greasy

I'm not sure it counts as a "ritual" but, I usually alternate building and organizing pieces with lecturing, chasing or physically relocating my cats. I have one that likes to nest atop bags of parts or the current page of the instruction book and one that likes to run off with any unsuspecting piece left unguarded on the periphery of my work area. If I empty all the bags at once, it discourages the first from sitting on them, but it only increases the likelihood that the other will leap into the middle of the pile and start playing hockey with something.

It's not the most productive of build methods, but it does encourage me to stretch my legs (to chase cats and retrieve parts) periodically on longer builds.

Normally I study the box first before building, and while building, I'll put on a movie that matches the theme of the set (ex: LotR for that theme, I'll put on a John Wayne movie for Lone Ranger sets, and one time I put on "Mad Monster Party" when I built the Vamprye Castle and the Frankenstein sets ).

I'm not sure it counts as a "ritual" but, I usually alternate building and organizing pieces with lecturing, chasing or physically relocating my cats. I have one that likes to nest atop bags of parts or the current page of the instruction book and one that likes to run off with any unsuspecting piece left unguarded on the periphery of my work area. If I empty all the bags at once, it discourages the first from sitting on them, but it only increases the likelihood that the other will leap into the middle of the pile and start playing hockey with something.

It's not the most productive of build methods, but it does encourage me to stretch my legs (to chase cats and retrieve parts) periodically on longer builds.

your cats sound awesome ahaha. I love cats. My cat jumped about 10 foot in the air when he jumped on my bed and it was filled with LEGO, i think he was expecting there to be nothing on the bed

Like some others my rituals as a kid have changed somewhat since i've come out of my dark ages. As a kid i used to do the same as "naf" and pour all the bags into a big pile and spend hours finding each brick. Now i tend to keep the bricks out of each bag together, but sometimes find myself spending ages finding one brick. As a kid i used to want 100% focus on the build, but now i like some music in the background and will take breaks to see what's happening on Eurobricks or other LEGO forums or to visit the cat in the yard/other room if he's not sitting on me

I also have a tendency to get excited about the build and jump the gun a little, miss steps or pick up the wrong brick cos i'm so excited about getting it built.

I don't normally go for the themed sets so don't really watch what i'm building, cos it's all city.... I don't know what i'd watch for that....?

I always wondered if others had a routine. I build in my room, sometimes on the floor or at my desk. Sometimes, I have music on, but I don't separate my pieces as I'm a searcher not a sorter :)

Building routines..it varies I think. It depends where I may be in the house. Last night I built the latest Slave I (a Craigslist purchase) on the dining room rug while my 3 year old "helped" casually and watched shows on my kindle fire. I normally end up building on the floor since it is an endless amount of space, but then my back ends up hurting from hunching over looking for pieces or at the instructions. If I'm in our den, then I usually stand and build since I have LEGO displayed on tall shelves.

I also try to match up what I'm building with something I'm watching, or vice versa. Otherwise I find myself not in the mood for a particular theme. I guess technically I haven't really built many official sets, but my daughter has been wanting to watch Harry Potter, so I picked up my Hogwarts MOC again since I was "in the mood."

As far as the build goes, I go bag by bag and build in that order and usually create piles of similar colors or similar pieces to help along the way. It really depends on if I want to build it quickly or take my time.

I did recently buy Tower Bridge, so who knows what my routine will be with over 4000 pieces...probably take months to build that one.