16 Jun Custom Home Checklist: 7 Steps to Smooth New Home Building
Custom Home Checklist
Building a custom home is one of the most rewarding experiences that a homeowner can have, and it also demands sharp attention to detail – before you can even think about breaking ground.
To help you make the process of building your custom home as seamless and gratifying as possible, our custom home building experts have come up with a 7 tips for smooth homebuilding in this easy-to-follow new home checklist.
Step 1: Establish Goals and Guidelines
In order to have a smooth homebuilding experience, you want to make sure that you’re clear on what you want from your new home from the very beginning. Sit down and ask yourself some questions:
- What do you want in your new home?
- What do you need in your new home?
- Where do you want your new home to be?
- What will your new home cost?
Step 2: Set a Build Budget
Once you have a solid idea of what you want and need from your new home in place, your next step will be to work out the ideal budget for your custom home build. You need to make sure to include such cost details as the purchase price of the land, local taxes and building fees, engineering and construction cost, landscaping costs, interior design charges, and the outlay for any new furniture that will be needed.
Consider inputting your building budget into an Excel spreadsheet, in case you need to make any changes or modify costs along the way.
Step 3: Choose the Right Location
When it comes time to choose the right location for your new custom home, you should ask yourself some important questions about your needs, including:
- Where do you want to be?
- How do you want to live?
- What’s your ideal setting?
You also want to keep an eye out for any possible transportation concerns, as well as taking schools and shopping into consideration. Think about the lifestyle that you are after, and work from there. Do you want to a country setting or something with an urban vibe?
Step 4: Find Your Dream Building Team
Choosing the right builder is one of the most important steps in this checklist for custom homebuilding.
Your custom home builder should understand your building situation, as well as provide the skills and experience with that it takes to deliver a quality custom home to you.
The right custom home building team will act as your advocate and counselor throughout the entire process, and will guide you through a smooth custom home building experience.
Step 5: Pick a Plan (and Stick with It)
Changing the orders for your custom home builder during construction can cost you both time and money that you don’t want to lose – planning out the details of your new home before construction begins will save you a lot of frustration!
Smaller details, such as finishes, can be changed without too much trouble, but the major decisions of your custom home build should be nailed down and made clear to your building team from the start.
Step 6: Prepare Yourself for the Inevitable
Although your building team wants to deliver the perfect custom home to you at the end of the project, there will most likely be circumstances caused by weather or even human error that will dictate some changes during the building process. If you keep the fact that change is a normal part of not only life, but also custom home building, you will be rewarded with the custom home of your dreams in the end.
Step 7: Don’t be a Stranger
Take the time to set up regular visit with your custom home builder to the building site. These scheduled visits are a great time to see how the building process is coming along, as well as go over any questions or concerns that you might have with your home building team.
Following these 7 steps to building a house checklist will help you to fulfill your dream of building the perfect custom home for you and your family as smoothly as possible, and get you the new home that fits all of your wants and needs.
