Hopes to Houses: First Steps for Building Your Own Home

Hopes to Houses: First Steps for Building Your Own Home

 

 

For many of us, the idea of building a home from scratch is too tantalizing to resist. With a custom build, you benefit from full creative control, lower costs than buying pre-built, and the opportunity to learn about the property itself, helping with maintenance costs later. This process is not, however, without its challenges. In this article, we’ll explore some of the early obstacles when trying to navigate the process.

 

Establishing a Budget

 

One of your primary concerns when building a new home is going over budget. You’re going to need incredible discipline and restraint if you want to stay under the mark.

 

  • Plan diligently: Your initial plan should include blueprints, a work schedule, materials, hiring costs, and wiggle room in case you need to make adjustments on the fly. It’s also important to factor in utility installation, such as plumbing and electricity.

 

 

  • Track spending: Over the course of construction, it’s going to be easy to stray from your expected budget. To help avoid this outcome, you should aim to track spending with expense-tracking software or smart spreadsheets that can be accessed from multiple devices.

 

Finding Land

 

Once you have a realistic budget in place, you can begin to think about where you’d like your new home to be situated. This is a crucial early stage and requires your full attention.

 

  • Online land listings: Traditional property directories (i.e., the ones that sell real estate) often have listings for land. Browsing these is a great start to get an idea on pricing and availability. There are also some listing sites that deal exclusively with land.

 

 

  • Suitable land: Another major consideration is whether the land itself is suitable for building. If you intend to build a property, it is crucial that you bring in a surveyor to look at dimensions, right of use, accessibility, land soil, and more.

 

Professionals to Hire

 

No one (or two) people can build a house alone. If you want to succeed in your efforts to construct from scratch, you’ll need an entire team of experts on your side.

 

  • Realtors: Your realtor will be an essential aide throughout the land-buying process. Before making a hire, aim to vet carefully and ask, ‘how many sales have you handled in my target neighborhoods?’, ‘what’s your fee?’, ‘who else will be working with me?’ and ‘has a client ever filed a complaint against you?’

 

  • Landscape designer: It’s never too early to start thinking about landscape design. Make sure you have access to software for landscape designers, this will help ensure your contractor is giving you a fair and accurate quote/project timeline. It will also allow you to collaborate with them to create stunning outdoor areas, estimate labor/material costs, and manage timelines.

 

Building a house is no small feat, and the tips in this article are really only scratching the surface of what will inevitably prove to be a colossal undertaking. Make sure, before you commit any resources, that you’ve carried out plenty of research and you’re certain building your own home is a viable option.

 

Studio Andolina provides handmade modern steel Kitchen and bathroom products. Custom fabrication and high-end home products for sale from Seattle, Washington. Learn more at: www.studioandolina.com

 

Many thanks to : Erin Reynolds @ diymamma.net



 

 

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