If you are unable to find a home that is to your taste within your price range, you may want to build one. A home built from scratch has the advantage of fulfilling all of your requirements for a house from the start, at least in theory. In practice, costs on a home-building project can quickly balloon beyond affordability if you are not careful. Here are some ways to bring it back down to Earth.
Location, Location, Location
The first thing you’ll need in order to build a house is a plot of land to build on. Unless you are building on an existing acreage that you have inherited somehow, you’ll want to look at multiple spots and consider the consequences of various kinds of land. Remote plots may cost less in terms of land cost, but the expense of setting the new home up with road access and hooking up to the utility grid may drive that price right back up. This is doubly true if you are expecting good internet speeds suitable for working from home.
Getting Multiple Quotes
Unless you have a very broad set of technical qualifications, there are good odds that you will be talking to a lot of different contractors in the process of building your house. Although most contractors are honest tradespeople trying to make a living at a fair price, some are acting in bad faith. And others may just not be specialized in the type of work you need. Ask around to get the names of good craftspeople, and poke around on the internet to find some customer reviews. And always, always get multiple quotes.
Use a New HVAC System
When building a house, one of the larger expenses is buying and installing your heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (or HVAC) system. It is hard to cut corners on this costly item, since it is not something you can leave out, and because it is not something that anyone without the appropriate technical training should try to do by themselves. The temptation is to use an older or rehabilitated HVAC in place of a newer system. This is usually a mistake, as older HVACs are prone to inefficient operation and malfunction. There are several ways to offset the cost of a new system.
Build to an Appropriate Size
While putting together a palatial mansion is certainly a nice dream, building a huge house just because you have the money to do so initially is a grave mistake if you cannot afford the upkeep on such a home. The scale of your project is something that you will need to keep an eye on constantly during the design process, as unscrupulous designers might try to inflate their fees by convincing you to go bigger. Set a size budget based on real estimates of the cost of the footage, and stick to your guns no matter what.
Building a home is an exciting venture. Do it right, and you’ll have a place for your family that can last for generations.
