Many people dream of building and designing their dream home from the ground up. The home might be for raising a family or for retirement. Either way, planning makes for all of the difference when it comes to making that dream a reality. Building a home from scratch is not an easy job or feat, once you find a site to build it might take over a year to complete and will involve at a minimum an architect, engineer, and a builder. In some instances even a designer for your kitchen and bathroom or other custom elements.
Start with an Architect
In most cases, the best place to start is with an architect, who will design the house create blueprints that you can use to start getting bids from local builders with. Most companies provide design-build services which can save you a lot of time and money throughout the process. Because the architect and the builder are the same company, they have a ton of experience working together. Typically you won’t have the opportunity to bid out for your custom home until the plans or blueprints are comprised and ready.
Where to Build
Ideally, you want to find an architect prior to finding a plot of vacant land, since one plot of land is not all created equal. In addition to the general location, which is important to all homeowners they will need to assess if the plot is adequate for building, what utilities are available and how other roads can reach the lot. The architect also has to research city and county rules to determine what kind of home is suitable for the lot.
An architect will not only understand those issues but will figure out where to place the house to take advantage of views, sunlight, shadows, trees, and a lot more.
Design Your Custom Home
Once you have chosen the perfect site to build your dream home, it’s now time to shift focus primarily on the design of your custom home. When selecting the right builder you want to make sure to ask a lot of qualifying questions! I would collect a ton of photos along with likes and dislikes of the floor plans, along with why you like or don’t like certain features. Make sure to share those with the builder along with basic details how many rooms, floorplan and how many levels there should be.
Get Quotes from Builders
Once your architect has a drawn up design and blueprints all ready to rock and roll you want to get a minimum of three quotes from local builders. Make sure to ask family and friends for solid recommendations including even real estate professionals or remodeling companies that they have worked with.
Once you get the bids make sure to check them at least twice and make sure every last detail is covered. You want to make sure the contract is concise and clear about what is included appliances, flooring, materials, even down to specific fixtures along with model numbers.
Ask for References
Once you have narrowed the playing field down to two builders again make sure to ask for references, along with talking with previous clients and even visit the actual sites of their homes if you can.
If you want the right custom home builder make sure you have some rapport on a personal level because you will be spending quite of a lot of time with each other. My five tips to ensure everything goes smoothly from start to finish.
- Don’t skimp on the planning process
- Check references and licensing
- Get everything in writing
- Visit the site frequently
