Budget Solutions

Hi, I have just joined the Group.  My husband and I are hoping to build a new house.  We have cut down the square footage as much as reasonable and have bumped up the budget to the maximum.  So, that leaves "specs" as the area in which to cut in order to meet the budget.  However, certain appliances, fixtures, energy saving HVAC and flooring choices are important to us, and rather than downgrade these, what other construction type specs can be addressed to save money?  One person suggested saving molding for the future because it can be done later  (as opposed to buying cheap counters and upgrading to quartz in a few years, for example, because then you waste the price of the less expensive item and double the labor cost).  Any ideas would be appreciated, as well as how to handle a builder who is very Dutch Uncle.