Building a custom home is easily the biggest project one can face in life. It’s a massive feat and will usually bring about feelings of nervousness and excitement. With this in mind, prospective home builders must understand what is involved in the process.
But with so many things to consider when building a house, how could you possibly narrow it down?
9 Important Things to Consider When Building a House
These home building tips will help you prepare for the entirety of the process and put your mind at ease. It is strongly recommended that you follow each of these pieces of advice so that you can have the best experience possible while building your new home.
1. Set a Budget
Before you can begin planning any part of your new home, you must set a reasonable budget. In some cases, you may qualify for a home builder grant. Finding out whether or not you qualify will greatly impact the way you plan your build, so you need to tackle this first.
Make sure that these costs include fees for the plot of land you want, associated stamp duty, site preparation costs, planning and finishing fees and building cost.
2. Location
When choosing the location of your new home you must take into consideration local building codes and restrictions. During this step, you should always get a building inspection prior to development.
A building inspection will help you plot out technical details of your build such as driveway placement and access to utilities. Alternatively, the community that you choose to live in will ultimately have a bigger impact on your life.
This step is just a general guideline- selecting the right neighborhood first may be more important to you and your family so be sure to factor this step in where appropriate.
3. Decide on a Design
When building a new house, you get to decide on all the personalized features yourself. This is both a fun and massive responsibility to have. As a general rule, the design of your home should fit your family’s lifestyle needs and be able to sustain you in the future.
What this basically means is that you want to factor in basic layout designs in order to have a fully functional home. Some basic features to consider are:
- The direction your doors swing
- Width of hallways
- Ceiling heights
- Natural and artificial lighting
- Inspect for underground pipes
Choosing the final accent features of your home comes later. First, you must ensure that these basics are designed for your personal needs and the local area’s building guidelines.
4. Signing a Contract
Under any circumstance, you should never sign a contract that you are not completely on board with. Once you sign the contract you are locked into a formal agreement that cannot be altered. This may seem obvious, however, many people neglect to read the fine print.
Speaking with a solicitor is highly recommended to make sure that you fully recognize building factors such as due dates, insurance details and payment terms.
5. Build a Relationship With Your Contractor
Developing a healthy relationship with your contractor will help benefit everyone involved. It is important that you frequently meet with them to discuss elements of the project such as its timeline or selection of features.
In some cases, your contractor may need you to make instant decisions on aspects such as finishings. Keeping in consistent contact helps your contractors stay on track while eliminating the possibility of making snap decisions without you.
6. Expect Changes
There is no direct way of knowing how to build a house. For this reason, you can expect to run into hiccups throughout your building process. Knowing that this is a possibility ahead of time will help you plan for them and reduce stress around the changes.
A few common issues that homebuilders face include:
- Rerouting plumbing
- Material selection delays
- Unexpected costs
If you’re someone who is not comfortable with change, one way to plan for changes is to leave a little extra money aside. In most cases, keeping some extra money aside can help smooth out your situation regardless of the problem.
7. Don’t Move-In Too Early
Near the end of the building process, you may feel eager to move in once most of the key elements have been installed. Finishing a basement or a backyard may not seem as important to you at the time however, it will help save resources in the long-term.
In cases where homeowners move in prematurely, their contactors are left knowing that they will have to return to finish the job.
Contractors typically have projects lined up. Having them return to your home, while working on other projects, forces them to go back and forth between jobs- further delaying the completion of your home.
8. Make Room for Storage
One of the most crucial things to know when building a house is planning for storage. Although this is not the most glamorous part of home design, it is the most practical.
A study by the National Association of Homebuilders found that most people stated home organization features to be essential when moving into a new home. Factoring in additional space for storage helps keep your home functional while making it look more custom.
9. Be Patient
Nearing the completion of your build you may feel excited that it’s almost over. With this in mind, it is important to consider the feelings of your contractor. They have worked hard to provide you with your custom home- so, make sure that you respect their timeline.
Moving-In
Finally, the most important thing is that you have fun and remain optimistic throughout this process. Your home is your sanctuary- so make sure to enjoy it no matter what stage of development it’s in!
Now that you’ve learned some key things to consider when building a house, it’s time for you to build. If you’re interested in finding out more on how to design your home or about the building process, check out the rest of our blog.