Building a layout - the order of things?

[wickman]

I'm a few layouts into the hobby , none ever completed. I build all the benchwork and track tested true. I do much the same way working at a section at a time and when I get bored I do another area but never getting too far from the previous area, I find this works well as it helps with joining them together. I don't think I've seen your layout works but would enjoy viewing your photos. I wish everyone that had a layout would put a link in there signature, would make things so much nicer.

[jfb]

everything first and wires fed through it wiring last but each section tested along the way. i have 6 module boards all together and this year i am finishing a massive wiring project but all modules were top loaded so to speak. each step was a major project each year about 2 to 400 hrs of work. I also had minimal breakage of the small wires but it is neat and tidy just in case of testing. i made each section a small wiring harness 18-20 gauge average and fed from 205 and 215 selectors. i ran a ground from the pack around the layout and used connectors to each closet point for the track power. 

[HObbyguy]

When Dad and I started layouts three years ago he went on some sort of club-hosted tour.  When I talked to him about it afterward he said he was disappointed because none of the layouts were completed with working track and nice scenery everywhere.  He wanted a layout that would be finished quickly.  So he built a simple 4x8 and true to his word it is now essentially complete.

But for most of us working on much larger projects "completion" is not in our vocabulary.  Or maybe it is, but it's a long, long way off.  And it seems there are various schools of thought on the best way to get there.  Some of us build all the benchwork and lay all the track down before a stitch of scenery is added.  Some build the benchwork and then quilt the track and scenery all over it in some sort of mysterious order.  And some build and scenic a section at a time working from one end of the room to the other.  I guess I fall into the last group.  I want to see what the final results are going to look like as I work along, and I figure the experience I gain can only help with benchwork design for the next section.

I've really enjoyed sharing pics here while finishing up basic scenery on my phase 2 the past couple of months.  Thanks largely to you guys I've learned a ton as I worked along.  And my modeling skills are improving by leaps and bounds- as evidenced by the photo record.  But that leaves me with a "what next" question.  Do I go back to work on my phase 1 to complete it and bring it closer to my current modeling standards?  Or do I build the benchwork for the next phase and expand the layout further?  It would be nice to have a second dogbone and finally some continuous operation.  But getting everything that I've built so far nicely "finished" has its merits too.

Is it just me or do others debate these sort of questions?

You guys that have been at it for many years and now have essentially finished layouts- what would you do differently?