What Are the Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Custom Home?

Work is commencing on Sarah’s new dream home in early March. You can see the foundation work underway at dawn on a Tuesday morning as the excavator begins digging out the building site.Sarah started setting aside her hard-earned savings two years ago for this beautiful new home, which is expected to take around six months to complete. A visit to the real estate attorney’s office later in the week uncovers a 40% increase to the final cost due to cost overruns. There have been changes to the foundation requiring different engineering; changes in kitchen layout requiring different electrical work; and various other ‘unexpected’ items. Change orders multiplied without warning.

I had been warning my friends and family about the “Extras” you find along the process of building a custom home. This picture represents some of them. I was reminiscing back to the beginning of this custom home build and sent this to our buyer, Sarah. There were definitely some extras that affected the bottom line but this picture represents them well.

What do you call these line items?

Money Disappears Faster Than Expected

Most people have a fixed budget when building their dream home. Rarely does the actual cost ever come in on budget. Things need to be repaired, additional work is required to fix problems, foundation issues come up, brick walls and floors need to be repaid for cracks, etc. etc. The list is endless and would surprise most people. Once walls are up, it is very expensive to make changes.

What you think you’re going to pay for the foundation usually ends up being about 80% to 90% of your budget for site work, connections to existing utilities, permits and changes to the original plan. Even though a smart builder can provide a very detailed breakdown of what all the numbers represent, it can be difficult for a homeowner to figure out what that number is even though you will have been given a square foot price for your new home. Experienced custom home builders in Belmont County Ohio can help you understand the details of the line items and where the hidden costs are going to be so that you can try to stay within your budget.

For the families building their custom home, their financial pay off will be in creating a real contingency fund from day one, far removed from the ideal 10% designers and builders speak of but a fund none the less.

Design Decisions Compound Quickly

Homeowners often make the mistake of starting construction before they fully refine the design, resulting in the wrong home being built. Eager to break ground, they begin too quickly before considering all the details.

While they focus on major design decisions like the overall layout, window and door placement, and general interior elements, they often overlook smaller details such as electrical outlet and switch locations, telephone jack placement, and floor transitions between rooms. These details are far easier and less expensive to adjust during the design phase than after construction begins.

Having design development extra time pays off big time. Every construction decision is 5 to 10 times more expensive than the same decision made in design development, and ends up costing a lot of unforeseen money AFTER construction has begun and it is too late to fix any major design mistakes.

Builder Selection Matters More Than Price

Please. Don’t shop custom home builders around for price. There’s a reason the lowest bid almost always looses out in the end. Its not because they weren’t the lowest. Theres a reason for that. And sometimes less is not best. When building a custom home you’re going to have to rely heavily on the quality of the finished product and the communication throughout the process. Both of these need to weigh very heavily in your desison.

A good custom builder is partioned by his project management skills and his ability to solve problems. Every custom home has its own unexpected challenges. Look for the builder who is proactive in identifying the problem and cost effective solution. Look for the builder who runs a clean job site and meets his promised completion date.

Your experience with a builder is often best demonstrated through the words and stories of past clients. Don’t just publish their contact details though and then ring them for a chat. Invite them to your place to meet your builder and yourself, over coffee and chat. If they’ve got positive things to say it will likely be very obvious, and conversely if they seem unhappy or less than helpful it should also become quite apparent.

Builders who say the building will go up according to the plans are usually inexperienced or dishonest. Neither is very good for you.

Practical Needs Often Get Overlooked

Contrary to current custom home trends, many great looking homes, sacrifice livability for aesthetics.

Families searching for custom home plans often overlook storage space and functional work areas. As families inherit items across generations and children grow into young adults, their possessions increase and require more—not less—closet and storage space, even as they prioritize larger living areas.Many homeowners also underestimate the square footage needed to properly use essential but often overlooked spaces such as mudrooms, pantries, and utility rooms.

Before we lock in a floor plan, we like to explore the rhythm of the household’s typical day. Where do keys and mail get dropped when someone walks in the front door? Where will the kids put their backpacks, water bottles, books, sports equipment, etc.? A well designed home will satisfy your family’s needs organically and naturally.

4 Steps to Turn Uncertainty into an Opportunity

Many of us struggle to manage the uncertainty and confusion caused by changing circumstances in our lives and

Change happens. When a family builds a custom home, they may start with young children, but by the time construction finishes, the children often grow older and their needs change.Perhaps they needed to make room for elderly parents or for an adult child coming back to live with them. Others need changes to their home because of a change in their career or industry. As a result they need to add a home office to their home. These and other changes require homes to be remodeled.

Adding flexibility to a design has immense value with little initial cost. Installing a few extra electrical outlets in a basement could seem trivial when finishing the basement; but having those outlets during the construction process can save a lot of time and money. Designing wide hallways and larger entries provide numerous possibilities for a space’s usage. Incorporating these details in a design can be beneficial now, but these elements will have even greater value in the long run.

Reality Check

Building a custom home is a process of making your dream a reality. Yet, it must be done with your feet firmly on the ground. Families building their homes successfully are those who are good planners, select a builder who can build to the family’s specifications and realistic as to the construction cost and completion time.

You can anticipate some mistakes if you receive proper advice about what to expect before committing to buying a house.