Building a custom home can be intimidating!
There are so many things to consider when you get into building your new home, that many people just forego the process rather than dive in to what can be a very intense and time-consuming ordeal.
However, building your own custom home can be very rewarding as well. The experience can be a lot of fun if you take things one step at a time and don’t get too complicated all at once.
The purpose of this article is to help you educate and prepare yourself for the experience and to make it as fun and rewarding as possible.
There is a lot to consider, but if you keep some things in mind, you can build the home of your dreams and enjoy yourself at the same time!
First of all, you need to create a solid design. Identify the main purpose of your new home. Is it a summer home that you may plan on selling someday? Is it simply a new home in a new area that you may live in for 10 years and then move into something bigger. Are you down-sizing from a larger home for your retirement? Is this the home that you plan to die in?
Identifying the function of your home early on will go a long way to helping you plan it out. Keep in mind the purpose and you will find that things go much more smoothly as you progress through the process.
As you are getting into the initial stages of building your new home, you need to make sure that your lifestyle is up for the process.
Not only is planning and building your new home time consuming, it can also consume your checkbook. It can stretch out over a long period of time, so this is something that you need to make sure that you can not only afford, but that your family can handle as well.
There is nothing worse than being miserable in your current home while you are waiting for your dream home to be built.
The process takes a while so don’t get in a hurry!
Along with making sure you have the patience, make sure you have some type of system to organize everything. Building a new home is a very large and important jigsaw puzzle. It is crucial that you are able to adequately track everything that is going on so that you don’t miss anything and cause delays, or worse, end up with something you don’t want or need. If you want to stay sane during the process, stay organized.
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Be sure and find a custom home builder team that you feel comfortable with. Remember, you are building your dream home. The team that you hire to help you in this endeavor will be spending a lot of time with you over the coming months. Make sure you are comfortable with them and make sure you trust them.
Get to know anyone that you are considering before you hire them on and actually start the process.
This is your home, don’t entrust it to someone that you do not feel at ease with.
Once you get into the actual planning of the build, make sure that you optimize the space within your new home. Every room should have a purpose and it is seldom very rewarding to add a room and have no idea what you are going to use it for. Take the time to think through the functionality of each and every space in your new house and you will be happier once it is actually built. By the same token, don’t short yourself. If you are into arts and crafts, make sure you designate an arts and crafts room. If you are into shooting and reloading, make sure you have a space in your basement or upper floors to set up your reloading equipment.
This is your chance to customize a home that works best for YOUR needs, not someone else’s.
Make sure you are familiar with the lot that you will be building on. Remember, every lot has codes and various laws that you will have to meet. You need to understand these requirements before getting starting. Many areas have HOA’s and it is a very good idea to become familiar with them before you start building your dream home.
Your team should be able to help you with this, but it is necessary to know any requirements prior to breaking ground.
Plan for the unexpected. No matter what your budget is for your new home, assume that things may go slightly over the budget. So many factors come into play during the build, that it is very easy for estimates to creep slightly upward.
It is a good idea to have an additional 10% of the total price available just in case things go over budget. You don’t want to be caught short when you are in the middle of building your house.
Remember landscaping. Many people design the ultimate home, start building it, and realize that they failed to take into account landscaping. You need to envision what your entire lot will look like and you also need to make sure you have budgeted for it.
You will be pretty disappointed if you build your dream home and then have to sit and look at an empty, immature lot around it. Landscaping can add up, so take it into account early in the game.
It is a good idea to create a list of priorities. You may find that as you go through the process, those granite countertops that you thought were a ‘must have’ in the beginning are no longer important. If you have a list of features that you want/need in order of importance, it will be relatively easy if you need to make changes are you go.
Staying somewhat fluid during the process can help save your sanity and knowing not only what you want, but how bad you want it, is always helpful.
Just remember this: building your new home should be fun.
If you follow some of these easy steps in the beginning, you will find the process much more rewarding and less stressful in the end.