1. Shop Around for Builders
Take your time looking around at the different home builders in your area. Look online for the company’s reviews along with any companies they work with. When you contact the company through an online form or by phone, take note of how they respond to you. If the company has poor communication, it is likely they have poor communication with subcontractors and suppliers too. This could lead to significant delays when building your home. Don’t only choose someone for their great results – pay attention to how they treat their clients, too.
2. Define Your Budget
When consulting with a designer to build your custom home, describe what your budget looks like. It is important to tell your home designer anything you would like to include or not include. Opting for certain items can help you stay within your budget during the process. That being said, it’s important to understand that it’s very possible you will go over budget when building your custom home. It’s realistically very difficult to predict the costs of everything.
3. Think Realistically for Your Home Design
When thinking about your home’s design, remember to think about functionality before beauty. Some designs are never built because they would be over the budget and not be functional for daily life. Before you start thinking about the finer details of your future home’s design, get your builder involved immediately. Home builders will be able to see potential problems with your design ideas and their cost of them.
Consider the future functionality of your home along with the present. For example, if you are planning to have children in the future, your house will need more bedrooms. Adding more bedrooms, a bigger laundry room, or a home office can increase the cost, but can also increase your home’s long-term value. You should consider adding features like soundproofing or heated floors before your home is built if you want them. These features can cost more to install in the future after your home has been built.
4. Look Over the Proposal Before Signing
Custom home proposals should be several pages long and provide a detailed list of all your specifications, prices, and other information before the building starts. The proposal will help dictate how well the process of building your home will go. However, it doesn’t mean you should expect everything to go perfectly. A schedule should be included within the proposal. If there is not a detailed schedule in the proposal, the custom home builder may have not planned your job yet.
These are four big ideas you should know before building your custom home. If you are looking to build your home in Kelowna, B.C., LUX Homes are here to turn your dream home into a reality. Our professional home builders will help you during every step of the home-building process!
