Building a New Home Here are 5 Tips

If you’re taking the first steps in designing and building a new custom home, congratulations! Watching your vision come to life is both an exciting and highly rewarding process.

Taking on such a feat is not without its challenges, though, and you’re likely to have a lot of questions along the way. After all, a common goal of designing a custom home is to create a space that can be enjoyed by you and your family for decades.

Here are five tips to help prepare you for the process of building a new home so that you can get into the space of your dreams as soon as possible.

Tips for Building a New Home

1. Plan ahead.

You can save yourself time and headaches by investing energy in planning ahead of time.

Begin by thinking through the basic requirements of your project. For example, will you be remodeling or building a new custom home from the ground up? How much space will be required and how many bedrooms, bathrooms, and specialty rooms will you include?

In addition to planning out the requirements for the home, consider how you will be funding the project. While it’s not necessary at this point in the process to account for every single expense (though this will be helpful later in the project), setting a preliminary budget will help you get started. It’s also a good idea to consider adding or setting aside a contingency fund in case unforeseen issues arise.

2. Be prepared to face setbacks.

Although no one ever hopes that their project will encounter setbacks, planning ahead to account for these challenges will help avoid or lessen the burden when they almost inevitably occur.

Whether you plan for it or not, home projects are likely to have setbacks. Materials and finishes can have production and shipping delays. Permits and inspections can take longer than expected. And, especially when remodeling an existing structure, surprises can await under the surface.

How your team (including you, your architect, and the contractor) deals with the challenges will be key to the success of the project. With this in mind, taking the time to think through a backup plan or set up a contingency fund can go a long way in lessening the stress that comes with potential issues.

3. Be prepared to make lots of decisions.

As you start the process of building a custom home, you should know that there will be thousands of decisions that will need to be made in order to bring the project to life. Due to the nature of these decisions and the fact that you want your project to be successful so that your family can enjoy it for years to come, this can sometimes feel intimidating and overwhelming.

While it can feel easy to get caught in analysis paralysis, indecisiveness will only slow down your project in the long run. Being quick and efficient with your decision making will keep the project moving forward and efficiently. This is yet another reason why it pays to plan ahead, and why having a team of skilled and trusted professionals working on your project is essential.

4. Avoid following trends.

As you begin to think about what you want your custom home to look like, remember that design trends come and go. It’s easy to be drawn to popular aesthetics of the time, however, you’ll want to be sure that your home will fit your family’s needs for years to come.

To avoid designing a home that feels outdated within a matter of years, be sure to design to your needs and lifestyle. Rather than relying on fleeting trends, this will help create a timeless space for you and your family to enjoy.

A key aspect of timeless design is simplicity. Foregoing the fussiness that often comes along with the latest design trends lends itself to a space that feels simple, modern, and enduring.

5. Hire an architect.

Finally, one of the most important steps you can take to ensure the success of your project is to hire a trusted architect to guide you through the process and bring your dream home to life.

Choosing an architect to trust with this role can sometimes be a difficult decision to make as you want to feel sure that you’ve selected the right firm for the job. To find the best fit for your project and your needs, consider interviewing a few architects to see which one you’re most compatible with. Ideally, this person or team will oversee the project from start to finish and act as your trusted guide along the way.

The earlier in the process you decide to hire an architect, the better. Having this skilled professional on your team will ensure that the project moves along according to plan and that your vision comes to life. Once you settle on who you’ll be working with, it’s important to trust their guidance throughout the process.

Building Your Dream Home

Bringing the dream home that you envision to life is no small task, but it’s a highly rewarding process. With a bit of forethought and planning, trust in the process, and a team of experts managing your project, the end result will be a beautiful space for you and your family to enjoy for decades.