5 Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Custom Home
So, you’re ready to build a custom home. By now, you’ve probably done tons of research to reach the conclusion that you want to build a new home rather than buy a pre-built home or renovate your current home. You’ve weighed out all of the pros and cons, talked with your spouse and decided that the extra money, time and effort of designing and building your dream home is 100% worth it. But wait! Before you make the leap, let me fill you in on some of the most common mistakes I see people make so that you can avoid them and, subsequently, avoid added stress and loss of money and time.
Choosing the wrong design-build firm
Starting off with a bang, one of the most crucial steps in building a custom home is actually the very first step: Choosing who you’ll be hiring to make your dream home a reality. So choose a design-build firm that you trust. Read through their website, see what they value and how they work, understand what they specialize in, check out their reviews on Google and Facebook and reach out to them via their website contact form or give them a call. Putting in the effort to make a wise decision on who you’ll be entrusting to take on building your custom home ahead of time will be worth it in the long run.
Some design-build firms even offer free discovery calls. Take advantage of this! Discovery calls are your chance to see if you click with the designer/builder you’ll potentially be working with for the next months to years.
Choosing the wrong location
It may seem like a no-brainer, but choosing the right location for your new home is a crucial step in the custom home building process. This is the home that you’ll be spending years and years in, making countless memories in and maybe even starting/growing a family in. Consider the following when choosing a location for your new home.
The proximity of your new home to your workplace
No one wants a long commute to work. You may have found an ideal neighborhood that you want to live in, but it might also be over an hour from your office. Is this something you’re willing to sacrifice? Weigh the pros and cons. If you want a shorter commute, look for plots closer to your workplace.
If you or your spouse work from home, consider your surroundings. If your home is in the city, choose somewhere with less traffic to avoid noise from cars during the day. If your home is in a more rural area, make sure that you’re in a location that still has a strong cell phone and internet connection for your needs.
Proximity to amenities
Ask yourself how much you value ease of access to places like shopping malls, supermarkets, highways, restaurants and more. Along with this, consider that closeness to amenities can significantly increase the value of your home if you should sell it later in life.
Land topography and surroundings
Are you a city slicker or a country bumpkin? Do you have a boat that you take out on the lake every week or do you prefer walking on nature trails when you go outside to get fresh air? Your personality and lifestyle should greatly influence what type of land you’re building your home upon. Make sure that you visit your potential homesite more than once and at different times of the day, to really get a feel of what your surroundings will be like on a daily basis.
Closeness to neighbors
Is community something you value greatly or are you more of a lone wolf who likes to do things their own way? Carefully consider your answer to this question and ensure that your home is located somewhere that fulfills your need for community or privacy.
Poor room placement
Have you thought about where each of the rooms in your home should be? If not, these are questions you need to start considering early on. If you hire a design-build firm with years of experience, they can sit down and help you decide where each room in your new home should be placed for maximum value.
Do you have a baby on the way? Consider the proximity of the nursery to the master bedroom. Don’t want to be bothered by the sound of the washer/dryer machine while you sleep? Place the laundry room on the opposite side of the home from your bedroom. Hate the idea of the sun shining directly in your eyes in the morning? Understand where your bedroom will face in relation to the sun. Really take time to think about the rooms in your home and how they will impact your lifestyle. Nailing your floor plan is a crucial step in the home building process that can make or break your dream home.
Poor HVAC system
You may be surprised to see this on the list, but it’s true. The HVAC system is often overlooked because it’s just so easy to get caught up in all the fun details of your new home like paint, finishes and fancy appliances. Imagine for a moment that you’re living in your dream home and everything is right except that you have a faulty AC/heating system that breaks, fails to cool/warm your home evenly or consistently and racks up your energy bill much more than you’d like. Is that a home worth living in? No! Take time to talk to your builder about how the HVAC system will impact each room in your home.
Moving too fast
Building a new custom home is an exciting process, something that may very well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you. Unfortunately, because of how exciting it is, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement so much that you want to rush through it and get it all done in an unrealistic time frame. “Haste makes waste” is a saying for a reason! The last thing you want is for your dream home to turn into a disaster because you sped through the process.
When designing and building a home, there will be bumps along the way. Embrace them. It’s part of the process. They will slow things down, and that’s ok. If you have a good, reliable design-build firm team, they will have accounted for potential bumps in the road in their initial project timeline ahead of time. So don’t worry if the process will take a bit longer than you had initially hoped. It will all be worth it when you’re finally living in your dream custom home a few months down the line!
So, there you have it. Five of the top most common mistakes that people make when building a new home. Luckily, these mistakes are easily avoidable, especially if you’re working with the right design-build team. If you’re looking to build a custom home, contact MOOD | Design + Build today. We’d love to help you realize the home of your dreams!