9 Tips for Building a Custom Home
Building a custom home is both exciting and challenging. While you cannot wait to give your family their dream home, financing, planning, and the actual home construction can be challenging. Read on for nine tips for building a custom home to help you get started.
- Choose a perfect location
The first step to building a perfect custom home is choosing the right location. The location of your home will have a significant impact on its structure, aesthetics, and security. Dedicate time to researching the area’s history to determine the crime rate and other issues that could compromise your family’s safety and wellbeing before purchasing a piece of land. Other factors to consider include:
- The size of the land
- Accessibility to crucial amenities such as schools, hospitals, restaurants, and shopping centers
- Proximity to your job
- Slope
- The style and design of other houses in the area
- The direction the lot faces
Be sure to speak to your custom home builder when choosing your property’s location. A professional can help you ascertain that the lot you purchase is suitable for your custom home design.
- Determine your budget
How much are you willing to spend on your custom home construction? Before you start building, set up a budget to enable you to determine how big the home should be, its location, and the features to include. Be sure to factor in the following in your budget:
- The price of the construction land
- Landscaping expenses
- The actual home construction
- Local taxes and fees
- Engineering and design charges
- Furnishing and interior decorating
- A contingency budget
Creating a budget on your own can be a daunting task, so you should consider speaking to a financial advisor to help you set up a reasonable budget that covers all expenses from start to finish.
- Hire the right contractor
One of the most crucial aspects of building your custom home is finding an experienced, reliable, and reputable contractor. The custom home builder brings the construction to life and oversees the project when you are not present to ascertain that everything goes according to plan. They can also help you handle the aspects of home construction that may be overwhelming or stressful.
If you have several contractors bidding for your project, consider checking photos of their work, speaking to their previous customers, or reading reviews and testimonials to choose the right builder. While you want to save as much as possible on your home construction, avoid hiring the lowest bidder. You could wind up with low-quality artistry and materials, compromising the quality of your dream home. You could also ask your friends, colleagues, or family for referrals and recommendations to a reputable local custom home builder to save time and money.
- Get the relevant permits
Some people view obtaining permits, floor plans, and other crucial paperwork as a waste of time during construction, forgoing the process altogether. This leads to unnecessary delays, as the area authority could prevent you from proceeding with the construction or have you demolish the building. Be sure to dedicate time to familiarize yourself with the local zoning restrictions and regulations and get the relevant permits to ensure an incident-free construction. Alternatively, hire a reputable custom home builder to handle all the necessary paperwork to save you from the stress and headaches of obtaining construction permits.
- Think green
If you intend to sell the custom home after construction, build while keeping energy efficiency in mind. This will enable you to include intelligent features in your design to make the property more valuable and comfortable. It will also help your home appeal to a more extensive customer base since homebuyers today prioritize eco-friendly homes to lower their utility bills.
Think about how you could reduce energy consumption, including building with quality materials that insulate your home and investing in energy-efficient home appliances. To give your home an environment-friendly boost, you could also invest in construction supplies made from sustainable materials.
- Determine your preferred style and design
Before hiring an architect, you should consider your preferred style and design to select a professional specializing in that field. Ensure that the architectural style and design you want fits the neighborhood, location, and climate. When choosing your home architectural design, you should consider:
- If you want to include stairways and the number of flights
- The type of indoor and outdoor lighting to invest in
- What kind of windows to install
- Whether you prefer a curved, flat, symmetric gable, or a multiple gable roof
- If you want plenty of open wall spaces to display photos and pieces of art
- The type of exterior siding you want
- The number of hallways you want in your house and their width
- Prioritize features that may be difficult to change later
While it may be easy to update lighting or add a fresh coat of paint, it is expensive and time-consuming to add insulation or tear down the existing walls to install soundproofing. If you are working under a tight budget, you should consider investing first in features that may be difficult and costly to change or upgrade down the road. These include insulation, pre-wiring, heated flooring, and soundproof walls, just to mention a few.
- Install an outdoor living element
Spruce up your custom home’s exterior space by installing a cozy outdoor element. This will give a space to host and entertain guests and enjoy bonding time with your family. You could consider adding a deck or patio, a pool, outdoor kitchen, shower, or spas.
- Establish a timeline
Liaise with your custom home builder to establish a timeline for your project. This allows you to develop expectations about when specific projects should be finished. This can be especially critical when you are expecting a baby, have school-going children, or the lease of your current home is ending. However, ensure that you factor in climate conditions such as snow or rain that could delay the construction process.
Building a custom home allows you to tailor the space to your taste and preferences. Make your custom home construction more manageable by hiring the right builder, establishing a reasonable budget, choosing the perfect location, getting the relevant permits, and creating a timeline.
I agree that you should consider the specific style you want for your home before you hire an architect. My mother and father-in-law are planning to build a house starting in January. They need the help of an architect to design the home, so I’ll make sure they look for one that matches their style.