4 tips for building a custom house

 

Wow, it has been a while since I wrote a blog post about building a home. We just hit our two year anniversary of moving into our home after a year of construction and I wanted to revisit some of the things we learned along the way. The more time that has gone by since we finished building has allowed me time to reflect on the process and really identify the important parts that I want to share with you. Whether you are building a home now or considering it for the future, here are some of my tips for building a custom home.

First off, you’ll want to decide what kind of home you want to build. You can read about the differences in types of builds here. Once you have decided building is for you, you’ll want to do some research and mentally prepare yourself for the task before you. Yep, I said task, because in all honesty, building a home is like a full time job.

I didn’t really realize that when we decided to build. Of course some builds can be less intense or less hands on, but for the purpose of this blog post, let’s focus on building a custom home and the important tips that will help you along the way. Here is another blog post I wrote about choosing a floor plan.

Allow ample time for the design process, especially with a custom home

This is probably the biggest and most important tip for building a custom home that I can give. When we decided to build a home, we had three kids under the age of 4, had sold our home and were hoping to get into our new build within one year. Although this timeline can work for some builders, the more custom of a home you are building you really need to allow a significant amount of time for the actual planning stages.

I honestly don’t think it is ever too early for pulling inspiration, organizing your must haves and wish list, so that when the time comes the process can be easier. If I could give timeline for someone considering building, I would highly recommend a good 6-9 months of the planning stages. The reason being is that this is really the most important time to really get your home exactly the way you envision it. Once construction starts, they really are just following the details and the plans.

Invest in your must haves and non negotiable areas.

I would highly recommend making a list of must haves and non negotiable areas. These will look different for each person, each family. For instance, a large kitchen was non negotiable for our family. We have three kids, two dogs and we like to entertain so having a gathering space that we could all be in at one time was so important. I would highly recommend putting your money into the spaces you spend the most time. Places like a powder room, likely wont get as much attention because they are used for one purpose only.

Don’t forget about your elevation/exterior and landscaping.

We spent so much time worrying and creating our floor plan that by the time it was finished, I hadn’t even considered our exterior

If you can, work with an interior  designer

This is not something our builder provided. Though many in home build companies can get the job done, if you are going with a completely custom home, it is likely you will run into details that you will want an additional person to have their eyes on for you. Building completely custom is a-lot of work.  When you are trying to build a custom home from scratch, the details can seem like the last thing you want to focus on, especially after you have nailed down your floor plan. Unfortunately, its the details that you will notice and that play a role in functionality once you are moved in.

I strongly recommend using a designer in the process. I also recommend having an architect consult on you plans. Having an architect will help with the elevation/exterior as well as things that maybe you don’t think of, like how the sun shines in a certain way. My favorite architect right now is John at Melby Designs. He designed our backyard and I would work with him again in a heart beat. He does consult nationwide so feel free to reach out to him and tell him I said hi if you are needing a very good architect.

 

 

I hope this post was helpful. After re-reading it, I really decided that it could have been broken up into two posts. In the near future I am going to dive a little more into the reasonings behind hiring or working with an interior designer an architect.