Contributed post
Title image source: Rishichhibber
So you have enough funds to literally design and build your own home, what now?
It should be obvious that saving money where you can should be a goal you constantly keep in mind. It’s one thing to have enough money to build your home, but to comfortably live in it is another. Therefore save where you can because after your build the home, you’ll need more funds to pay for the legal fees and documentation to certify the property.
However, now that you are going to build your home exactly to your own specifications, you should take into consideration things that will cost the most. Firstly the property itself i.e. the land will perhaps be the second largest expense. Then the actual home i.e. the materials, labor costs, design services, expert advice etc.
As aforementioned, the legal hoops you have to jump through to make your home legal for the market if you do so ever choose to sell it apply. But what are the top considerations in these categories?
Find the team
The most important thing you need to do is to find the right team that will be able to build your home to your standards. You require the services of quality home builders that are trusted to keep quality control high, knowledgeable in their field regarding the latest methods, materials and designs, trustworthy to not make shortcuts, take their time but not take forever and genuinely passionate about their craft.
You could go with a company that has been awarded multiple accreditations and acknowledgements of it’s quality and professionalism rather than go out looking for builders yourself. This company will pick the best people from the local area, making sure they are experts with a lot experience to build your home up from the foundations.
Find the property
Where you build is just as important as what you build. Bear in mind this is a home, you don’t want to be unhappy with the scenery around your home after you have spent so much money erecting it from nothing. Therefore before you buy the land on which your home will stand, search far and wide for the correct property.
Take into consideration, the landscape around you, which way your home will face, the neighborhood if any, access to the road network and public transport, and of course the type of weather most frequent in the area.
Find the patience
Before you lay down even one brick, you have to accept that things are going to go wrong somewhere. What looks good on a blueprint drawing, may not work out in real life when you try to implement it. Therefore you should have around and extra 10-15% of the overall money being used to make up for lost time, extra materials, redesigning and extended labor costs. Have patience to see the project through and no matter how long it takes, don’t make shortcuts and bypasses.
Building your own is an incredibly satisfying task to take on. It’s your time to make a home truly unique and personal to you and your family. But have the right team working for you to avoid disaster, find the patience to roll with the punches when things go wrong and definitely scout around for the best piece of land possible.