Your budget is the most important thing you will need to know when building a custom home. You can have all the dreams in the world on how you want your home to look like, but if you don’t have a realistic budget to establish your financing you won’t have a guideline as to what type of dream home you can afford.
You need to know:
A. Zoning & lot %.
B. Utility price for service connection cost.
C. Permit fees & city fees
D. Hire licensed contractor
E. Set up blueprint around budget you set.
These are the basic things you need to know before buying a lot, not to to mention build a home.
- Set a budget in advance
- Understand construction financing
- Choose your contractor wisely
- Ask questions - and lots of them
- Stay involved
Homework Homework Homework
You must spend time vetting a builder or reach out to your friends and family to find someone that has earned enough trust and respect that a person would have them build a home for them again.
There are many things that can go wrong in construction and most are unforeseen …
Unfortunately they can make the budget higher than expected, but that would not be a reason for not hiring that contractor again. Ask around your new area and see what names are generated.
You should know that building a custom home for a customer is very stressful. Make sure you have a reasonable budget and always have about 20-25% more just in case. If you are budget minded, you should not do it. Hiring a good Architect and General Contractor really helps. If you don’t have any referrals, make sure that there is a timeline for everything and that the contractor will be accounted for. Make sure you know what you want even before you start this project. Research and research and more research until you become almost an expert. There are too many people who just want a custom home and do not know what exactly they want. You have to be exact and know what you want, so that the contractor can be on time and finish with minimal amount of stress. Know that you pay for what you get.
Building a custom home requires self discipline to stay within a budget. Change orders can add up quickly. Find a contractor who will take the time to research selections with various venders and put a bid package with high quality subcontractors at a fair price.