Building your own home is a prospect that most of us find to be quite amazing. It is often the kind of thing that you dream about for years, so when it finally happens, it can feel like you are really living your best life. It does, however, require that you are fully cognisant of everything you need to get right and focus on in order to make it succeed. Let’s take a look now at what you might want to think about before you get started, to help ensure the ongoing project is a real success.
Making It Yours
When you buy a house that already exists, you inherit all of its decisions: the thickness of the walls, the placement of the windows, the awkward slope of the bathroom floor. You inherit someone else’s compromises. Even extensively renovated homes carry ghosts of their original design choices. Building from scratch, by contrast, gives you the rare opportunity to think deeply about how you want to live. Doing so can mean you end up with a home you never thought was possible, and it’s an amazing feeling when you realise you have that.
Practical Considerations
Practically speaking, there is much to bear in mind. The first practical consideration is land. In many parts of the world, land suitable for residential development is limited and expensive. Even when you find a plot that sparks excitement, you’ll need to check zoning laws, planning permissions, access to utilities, soil stability, drainage, and environmental protections. Then there’s the matter of design. You might work with an architect to come up with a house plan, or use prefabricated plans, but in all cases you’ll need to communicate what you want in ways that others can act upon.
The Financial Aspect
Finance is another big piece. Building a home typically requires a different type of mortgage or construction loan than buying an existing property. Lenders often release funds in stages as construction progresses, and you’ll need to manage those draws in concert with builders’ schedules and invoices. Unexpected costs crop up in almost every build, which means budgeting with a cushion is wise. You might think you’ve accounted for everything, and then find you need a reinforced foundation or that the fancy insulation you want is backordered.
Quality & Sustainability
One of the chief motivations for building your own home is the possibility of achieving quality and sustainability that would be difficult to find in the existing market. You can choose materials that have lower environmental impact, incorporate renewable energy systems like solar panels or ground-source heat pumps, and optimise insulation so that heating and cooling costs are drastically lower in an energy-efficient design. As you can see, there is a lot that you need to think about here, and if you get it right you are going to find that building your own home can be a lot of fun and a huge success.
Featured Image from: Pic – CCO License
