How to Start the Process of a Custom Build Home Project

The beauty of custom homes is that they can be designed and built precisely to your liking. This means you have carte blanche concerning where you want your master bedroom to be, how big you want your living to be, how many bathrooms you want, etc. However, you’d best be prepared to set aside time and a lot of creative input to ensure the vision in your head plays out exactly how you want it to in real life; here’s how.

Think carefully about your dream home

Now’s the time to start thinking really carefully about how you want your dream home to look and feel, remembering that once you set the plans in motion, you can’t really go back and change things as the changes implemented initially can be permanent.

Select the right professionals

A custom home builder and an architect will be the two professionals you’re likely to start off with in the beginning. Whether you start with a home builder first or an architect, it’s up to you, as either of these individuals can end up recommending the other if need be.

Finding the finances to complete your build

If you don’t have a lump sum saved upfront, then chances are you will have to take out a loan of some sort to help cover the purchase price of the property. Here, you might want to consider construction-to-permanent loans to ensure you can meet the costs associated with building your home. Thereafter, this loan can then be converted into a regular mortgage if you can’t settle the amount in full at the end of the loan period. Since securing a construction to permanent home loan is a more complicated process than securing a traditional home loan (as the amount is determined by your building plan and budget), it’s important to have all of this paperwork done and dusted to present to your lender to secure the amount in question.

Working out the budget

Speaking of working out the budget, there are advanced ways of estimating how much the potential project is likely to cost with construction estimation software. With construction estimation software, your building company can add labor and material costs together into one reliable estimate and can even accept payments online if you don’t have the money immediately because you need to get your cash flow sorted out first.

Make sure that the professionals chosen are reliable

Apart from having a builder and architect on board, there will be other professionals required to complete your home from A to Z, such as plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, waterproofers, tilers, excavators, painters, landscapers, carpenters, and more. Be sure to get references, referrals, and sample contracts, and read reviews before you decide on any one of these to handle these important jobs for you.

Find the appropriate land

A key to success of building a custom home is finding the right land to build on. For this important task, you might want to use a realtor in the area as well as do some of your own research using sites such as Zillow and apps such as LandGlide to make sure you are settling on a piece of land that is going to appreciate nicely in the future.

With regard to the rest of the process, this should hopefully play out in the way you intended as you observe your home being built from start to finish at the hands of professionals and software that know what they’re doing.

If you want your dream house in Houston, the Compean Group website has the best property prices.

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By: Katie Conroy