Budget-Friendly New Home Building Tips and Tricks
Are you considering building a new home on your own? Building a home from scratch can be a fulfilling, yet taxing experience. There are numerous decision-making processes, deliberations, revisions, never-ending expenditures, and at times second-guessing. The goal is not just to complete the construction project but actualize your vision.
There are ways to maneuver through the intricacies of developing a home without feeling like throwing in the towel. The ultimate goal is for you to end up with a home that suits your needs. Therefore, preparing for everything in-between is significant.
Hiring an established home builder that has pre-developed site plans will alleviate many of these obstacles, but if you’re starting completely from scratch, here are 8 pointers to help you to save time and money when building your new dream home.
1) Buy Land that is Ready for Development
Home location is a top priority for building a forever home. Having scenic views, security, and friendly neighbors is vital, but of equal importance is finding land that is easy to develop.
Every construction process begins with land preparation for the building process. Preparation costs depend on site accessibility, degree of land clearing, and grading and excavation – for designs with a basement. Land not prepared for this type of development can be expensive to prepare. The cost-effective way to find out if your target site is easy to develop is by hiring a site surveyor or elevator. The surveyor and elevator will shed light on the integrity of the land. Their input is significant for making informed decisions on cost estimations for land long-term preparations.
2) The Home Building Schedule is a Loose Guideline
Proper planning is essential for a successful home-building project. It helps with organization, tracking progress and deliverables, assigning responsibilities, budgeting, and setting timelines. However, a building plan functions as a guiding principle rather than a fixed timetable.
Sometimes there are unexpected obstacles in the process of construction. Issues like weather inconsistencies, building concerns, contractor issues, and changes recognized during construction are inevitable. While sometimes there are contingencies to mitigate complications, other times the impediments are beyond the control of all the stakeholders in the building project. Therefore, make provisions for changes, alterations, and delays.
3) Due Diligence on Contractors as a Home Builder is Crucial
Contractors make or break the home building process. The relationship between you and the contractor goes well beyond just the construction process. Therefore, do your research before hiring contractors.
See proof of their work
- Request a portfolio or physical evidence of previous projects.
Read reviews online
- Google your contractors and see what other customers say about their work.
Request references or testimonials
- Ask questions regarding the contractor’s work quality, delivering timeline, people skills, reputation, and post-building availability.
Having a shoddy contractor can be costly. Their work may need to be redone, adding to your building expenses. They may produce sub-par deliverables that can result in the devaluation of your home. They may cost you irredeemable time by their irresponsibility, negligence, and lack of commitment.
One way to minimize contractor costs is by hiring an established home builder. They have a team of reliable contractors and vendors that consistently work together on projects and specialize in different building activities. Furthermore, it is easy to verify their work quality and efficiency.
4) Avoid Over-Customization
Most new homeowners don’t intend to live in their home for a lifetime. Curating a home with specifics that only suit you makes it hard to sell the unit in the future. Therefore, it is wise to build with this perspective in mind. For example, though you may be a huge Ohio State Buckeyes fan and have always wanted a customized OSU Stadium water feature in your backyard, keep in mind potential home buyers that are Michigan fans may not want to deal with those demolition costs.
Over customization can come at a high cost. Unfortunately, that price does not necessarily increase your home’s overall value. It only makes it more appealing to you.
5) Good Fixtures are Worth the Investment
Interior design trends always change over time. With the right style, your home’s design stays relevant long term. One way to maintain design is by purchasing high-quality fixtures. They keep the house trendy and accommodate decor changes through the years – which saves you on future purchase costs.
6) Choose Neutral Colors
Building a new home is to some extent pegged on your tastes and desires. In terms of costs, alternating desires are expensive. The most common modification is usually repainting. Redoing wall colors can be costly. The last thing you want to do is to repaint an entire house before finishing up on loan payments. Save money by choosing a neutral color scheme. Keep color on accent walls – these are less expensive to replace.
7) Have a Contingency Fund
While this is information about saving tips when building a home, having extra cash is equally inexpensive. It is much more costly to obtain a quick loan to pay for urgent construction needs than to access preserved funds. Consider having a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) in place to stave off those unforeseen costs.
8) Familiarize Yourself with the Blueprints
As a new homeowner, knowing how the house pans out is crucial. The blueprint has information about the size of the rooms, the effect of resizing, or the house’s orientation to the sun. Remaining active in the development process requires an understanding of the blueprint. Knowledge of the blueprints enables you to minimize mistakes and suggest changes without affecting costs.
Get in Touch with Rockford Homes
For customized home building, don’t hesitate to contact Rockford Homes. Rockford Homes has a team of qualified construction experts that build quality homes throughout Ohio. Click here to learn more.
