Buying a production home is as simple as one, two, three. All you have to do is find a new community and a builder that you like and pick out one of the models. While production homes can be great, there is no doubt that they simply don’t off what custom homes offer.
Still, building a custom home is a serious decision. It is much more involved than purchasing a production or already-built home. It demands not only your money but a lot of your time and effort as well.
Completing a build of a custom home requires major planning and active involvement from you, the owner. To make the most out of building a custom home, you will probably want to break down the entire process – from start to finish – into six steps. From finding the perfect location that your home will exist on, to designing and building your dream home.
With a custom home, nothing is pre-planned, nothing is pre-selected, and nothing is pre-designed. That can certainly be a blessing, as everything is perfectly designed for you and your family. It can also be a curse if you don’t take it as seriously as you should.
So, if you are looking forward to Building A Custom New Home, here are the six big steps to keep in mind.
- Define your dream home
Way before you begin construction, you need to start thinking about why you want to build a custom home and what will make that build fully successful. Collect photographs for inspiration. Tour completed homes that match the style you think you may want to go with. Start looking for builders, architects and designers so that you can build your dream team for your dream job.
Which takes us to step
- Assemble your dream team
You are going to want to start assembling your team of architects and builders fairly early on in the process. To find these types of professionals, don’t hesitate to search on Google, ask family and friends and head to home shows. Once you have compiled a list of potential options to go with in terms of architects and builders, it’s time to…
- Look for references
When you are conducting phone interviews, one of the most important questions you can ask any builder or architect is “Can I have a list of your references and previous clients?”
Reach out to clients, lenders, suppliers and subcontractors. Get opinions on these important questions:
- Were they satisfied with the job?
- Was the project well managed from start to finish?
- Does the builder pay subs and suppliers on time?
- Were they satisfied with the quality of construction?
- Get sample contracts, construction schedules and warranties.
- Buy your land
After you have gathered your dream team compiled of experienced and well-reviewed professionals, it is time to find the land on which you want to build your home. This is very important, and you need to keep a lot of factors specific to you in mind.
Don’t only think about the plot of land or the view that you hope to have from the second-floor master bedroom, you should also think about location in a more general way. If you have growing children or are planning on starting a family in your custom-built home, you are going to want to keep in mind demographics of the surrounding area as well as the public school system in the area as well.
- Help craft your custom home
Once you have found the perfect place to build your home, it is time to start designing your custom home from the ground up. This designing period is going to require some time and lots of thoughtful conversations and decisions. You are going to have a meeting with your architect or designer to analyze the cost or benefit of a number of different options. After that, you are going to have to establish a budget that you can afford and finalize the specific design and floor plan ideas. On top of that, you are going to have to consider features and product elements that are going to help you achieve your dream home.
Keep in mind that there is no specific timeline that you should follow during this planning stage. What is most important is that you do enough planning so that you can satisfy all of the goals that you set in step one of building your custom home.
- Track the construction of your home
Once building actually begins, you cannot simply sign off and trust that your team is going to get things right on their own. No matter how fantastic the team that you’re hired is, you are going to want to be a consistent presence at the build.
Not only are you going to want to be there to help formulate your design with your architect and make sure everything is going as planned, but you will also want to be present to help make the many numbers of selections that take place during constructions.
On a typical 12-month building schedule, a significant amount of buyer input on design decisions and product and color selections will be needed for at least nine of those 12 months.
If you are looking to build your custom home, you know that you are willing to undergo more time, stress and energy to get the exact kind of home you want. The very worst outcome of building a custom home is using all that time and effort and not getting the home you dreamed up in the first place.
The best way to avoid that unhappy outcome is to plan, plan, and plan some more. Hopefully, this breakdown of a six-step plan will help you with your new home from start to finish.
Once your build has finally come to an end, all that is left to do is for you and your family to move in and start living your dream life in your dream home!
