7 Things to Know About the Custom Home Building Process

Building a home to your specifications is an exciting experience, but you have to ensure you are well prepared for the project. You also need to learn about the custom home building process.

Don’t know anything about the building process?

Well, worry not.

In this piece, we are going to look at seven important things you should know about building a custom home.

If you are planning to construct a custom home instead of buying an existing one, these things will help make the process easier and more exciting. Just read on.

1. Be Ready to Tackle One Thing at a Time

Building a custom home or remodeling a house to match your specifications can be an exhaustive experience, especially if you are a first-timer.

Therefore, you want to be relaxed and ready to tackle one thing at a time. You should note that your custom home will only make you happy if your decisions were made intentionally and not on impulse.

If you are a first-timer, talk to a friend or a colleague who has done it before. This will help you learn about some of the challenges they encountered and how they solve them.

With this information, you will be able to come up with a strategy that will help you avoid many challenges that might come your way during the building project planning and implementation stages.

2. You Should Be Realistic

Like most people, you want to live in a house where you can get everything you want, including recreation facilities.

But let’s face it; unless you are very rich, some of the features you see in your dream home might not come true.

You should, therefore, be realistic when coming up with your plan and budget. The best way to do this is to come up with a list of all the features that you want to see in your dream house.

After coming up with the list, calculate how much it will cost you to include all those features in your custom home.

Can you afford to include all those features in your custom house?

If you can, it’s well and good. If you can’t, note the things that you can afford and those that are more of a dream.

You should also understand that some features and improvements will add more value to your home than others. With this in mind, come up with another list that contains the things that you can afford.

The features that will add more value to your custom home should top your final list. Being realistic will help make the process of building a custom home run smoothly.

You should also have a realistic project timeline.

Your dream house cannot be completed in two weeks. You should be ready for delays and other possible challenges.

Your timeline should accommodate any delays and time to tackle various challenges. This will help make your experience smooth. It’ll also help you manage your project easily without losing your mind.

3. Choose Your Team Wisely

If you want to succeed in building your custom home, you must be careful when choosing a custom builder.

Make sure the custom builder you hire has the knowledge, skills, and experience required to give you the exceptional results you are looking for.

The custom builder you choose should also come with a team that understands the process of constructing a custom home. Everyone who works for you should be licensed, bonded, and insured. This way, you can relax knowing that your project is in good hands and they will deliver on time.

A contractor who knows what he/she is doing will keep you informed every step of the way.

4. You Need to Learn About Construction Financing

Unless you have tons of cash in your account, you will require a construction loan to fund your custom home. Unfortunately, the process of financing a custom home is a little bit more complicated than the process of financing an existing home.

There are two types of construction loans: the ones that convert to permanent mortgages, and the ones that don’t.

If you go for the temporary construction loan that does not convert to a mortgage, you will be forced to secure a separate mortgage loan after your house is complete.

Which option should you go for?

Well, this depends on your unique needs. Learning about construction financing will help you choose a loan that complements your needs.

You should also note that construction loans aren’t accessible to everyone. You need to have a good credit score to get this type of loan.

5. Ask Questions Relating to the Custom Home Building Process

Reading several articles and watching YouTube videos about the process of building a custom house does not make you an expert.

There are still a lot of things that you don’t know.

Asking questions will help you know more about the custom built house. It will also make it easy for you to create a good relationship with your team.

You should also ask about the background information of the people who work for you. This is important and can help you assess the skills of your construction team and adjust your expectations.

6. Your Plan and Budget Should Accommodate Any Additional Costs

Like we mentioned, building a custom house is not easy, and you may face some challenges.

Some of these challenges require some money to solve. You should, therefore, not forget to leave room in your budget to accommodate additional, unexpected costs.

This will make it easy for you to fight any challenges that come your way. It’ll also make the construction process easier and saner throughout.

7. Stay Involved

The more involved you are, the more satisfied you’ll be with the end result. Ensure you are part of the construction process, including the selection of materials, planning of the layout, and finishing.

Won’t you be labeled a control freak? No!

Any reputable, knowledgeable custom builder will appreciate that you are part of the team.

The Bottom Line

The custom home building process can be a mystery for a starter. However, this should not discourage you.

If you follow the tips discussed above, you can be sure that your custom house will be completed without any issues. Our informative blog has more helpful posts on this and other home construction topics.

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As the top custom home construction company in Scottsdale AZ, Peak One Builders has decades of experience helping clients through every step of the home building process. Contact us online or call 480-378-0611 today so we can discuss all of your options!

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7 Things to Know About the Custom Home Building Process

6 Mistakes to Avoid When Building a New Home

Planning on building a new home? With custom house building, you can design your new home to be exactly as you want it to. But as usual, the devil is in the details, and small mistakes can ruin your grand plans.

If you are a first time home builder, you should make sure you get everything right the first time around, as mistakes are costly and hard to fix. Read on to find out some of the most common custom home building mistakes.

1. Energy Inefficiency

Simply put, if your new home doesn’t have Energy Star certification, you’ll be losing a lot of money in the long run. How much, you ask? Well, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Star houses may use up to 30% less energy compared to conventional houses.

Energy Star indicates that a product meets certain energy efficiency standards. It’s an indication used for most energy-hungry home appliances, including HVAC systems. However, many people don’t know you can actually get an Energy Star certification for your own home as well.

Building an Energy Star home requires advanced insulation, Energy Star appliances, efficient HVAC and expert design. In order to qualify, you need to meet all the requirements set by the EPA.

After your new house is ready, you will need to contract an independent energy rater to determine if your house qualifies for Energy Star certification.

Receiving Energy Star certification is a difficult process, but the promise of 30% less energy consumption more than makes up for the challenge. Working with a dependable green home building contractor will allow you to obtain the coveted Energy Star certification at minimum cost. Without the right builder at your side, it is likely that your home will not meet the standards, and you won’t be able to get your Energy Star certification.

2. Inadequate HVAC System

Building an energy efficient house is one thing, but making it so that it’s actually comfortable to live in is another. Poor HVAC planning can lead to all sorts of problems with air quality, too much moisture and even mold.

Standing for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, HVAC is so much more than thermal comfort. Sure, it’s important to keep your house comfortably warm, but you need to consider proper ventilation and humidity control as well.

Your HVAC system should be just the right size for the total floor space of your house. Small models will not cool or heat your home efficiently. On the other hand, an HVAC system that is too big for your house will just be wasting money and energy.

Another problem of poor HVAC planning is the unsightly wall acne. The term wall acne refers to a multitude of mismatched lights, switches, controls and keypads on a wall. You can avoid this completely with proper design.

3. Bad Space Planning and Design

Space planning is crucial regardless of the size of your new home. Even the largest homes can run out of space if you have not designed them efficiently.

Regardless of your goals, you need to plan your floor space in advance. Take your time to plan out the layout of your new home, and make sure you are not skimping on important details.

First, you need to assess how much storage space you will need in each room. You can’t just pile everything up in the garage, and even garages get full after a while! Each bedroom should have at least one closet, and bathrooms will require some kind of storage as well. Your entrance hall should have a coat closet, especially if you live in colder climates.

Your building contractor will be able to give you a 3D representation of how your house will look like. You can use that to help you plan everything to perfection.

4. Wrong Room Placement

You should always keep the bigger plan in mind. Where do you want to spend most of the time? What do you want from your new house? Where to place each room?

It is easy to get bogged down in details and forget the real issues. For example, your laundry room should be placed close to your bedrooms for convenience. Having your laundry room in the basement will waste valuable time.

You should place your bedrooms on the quietest side of your house. Ideally, that should be as far away from traffic as possible. Make sure you place bedrooms away from the garage and opposite to street view to minimize traffic noise. Ideally, bedrooms should not share walls with main living spaces.

You should position your kitchen in such a way as to make unloading groceries easy. That’s either next to the garage or the back entrance. The garage itself should be in the ground floor and neighboring your kitchen and your mudroom.

5. Underused Rooms

Do you really need a game room or that walk-in closet you saw on TV? One of the biggest mistakes is to build rooms that won’t be used much. Underused rooms will eat up your budget, lower your energy efficiency and make your house less livable.

What’s worse, underused rooms often end up becoming storage spaces for all sorts of unused junk that people tend to accumulate over the years.

6. No Long-Term Planning

Finally, keep your long-term goals in mind. This is your new home. Make sure it fits your needs now and in the future.

When designing your new house, you should think of your habits, lifestyle and future choices. Do you plan to raise kids in this house? How long do you plan to stay? Will you spend your retirement years in this house?

The above considerations, and more, will define the design of your new house. Above all, you need the place you will be spending much of your life in to be livable and safe.

Ready to Start Building a New Home?

Building your house from scratch can be a daunting task. Thankfully, you are not alone! Check out Peak One Builders, a leading luxury home building and remodeling company in Scottsdale and Phoenix, AZ.

We aim to make the construction or remodeling of your luxury home an enjoyable experience and hassle-free experience. Contact us today for a consultation and get started on building a new home you will be proud of!

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Avoid common mistakes when building your new home by working with Peak One Builders, the best home builders in North Scottsdale! We can help bring your dreams to life. Contact us to set up a free consultation so we can discuss all of your options! Call 480-378-0611 today.

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