Who wouldn’t like to build their dream house?
Building a house from scratch requires a lot of creativity, knowledge, time, and money. On the other hand, you can expect to get something that you want.
Even after spending long hours in the hardware store, you will realise that building your house is a rewarding project by all means. One day, you will walk in the beautiful house and call it your home.
If you consider building your first house, check out the list of common mistakes. Once you know what to avoid, you will be able to save money and time.
Location
The process of building a house can be pretty straightforward if you already own your land. In case you need to buy a land first, do you research carefully. Don’t settle just because you found the last piece of land in the preferred area.
Location plays a crucial role. So, make sure it’s not far away from the grocery store, pharmacy and health care offices. If you have kids or plan for them, consider researching the local schools as well.
Another important thing is to calculate possible land costs associated with the home-building process. You might need to build a driveway, connect gas, water, and sewer lines.
Choose a contractor
At this point, you have two options – you can become your own contractor, or you can find one. If you are a first-time home builder, it’s better to hire a professional. Indeed, it will cost more. On the other hand, you will be able to relax.
A contractor has to obtain building permits, review building plans for potential issues, estimate the costs of labour and materials, hire a ladder, builders, house painters, etc. As you can understand, the contractor has a lot of responsibilities that you might not be able to combine with your full-time job.
Once you find a trustworthy contractor, you will only need to guide them, so that they can help you get your dream house as soon as possible.
Plan your space
You need to tell your architect what you want. Architect is there to guide you for creating a well functioning House Plan that should reflect your needs. At the very beginning, you need to tell your contractor what you want to have in your house. Your long-term space plan should include storage area, living spaces, bedrooms, closets.
Most probably, your constructor will ask you a lot of questions in order to estimate the total cost of the project. Here are some questions you will need to answer (putting into account your lifestyle):
- How often do you work remotely? Do you want to build a home office?
- Would you like to soundproof your bedroom?
- How many guests do you usually have?
- Do you plan to have children? How many bedrooms will you need?
- Do you need an extra room for your hobbies or daily activities (e.g. space for yoga)?
Implementing changes
You might want to change something during the construction process. Keep in mind, implementing changes might cost you an arm and a leg, especially during the construction phase. The cost might not only be financial, but your building timeline might also be slowed down.
To avoid this happening, consider your needs at the very beginning of the process. If you have a problem visualising your future house, consider hiring a graphic designer that will be able to show you the picture of your future home based on the construction plan.
Nonetheless, feel free to make changes during the design phase. Sometimes, changing your wall colour can help to improve the whole environment.
Rooms placement
Make sure your kitchen is near the main point of entry. Can you imagine walking through the whole house in order to bring the groceries to your kitchen? The kitchen in your dream house should be placed near the back entrance or garage, and dining area.
When it comes to your bedroom, make sure it’s far away from the noise so that you will be able to rest well. It shouldn’t share a wall with the central leaving areas (kitchen, living room). If you want to sleep well, your bedroom should be located upstairs.
Also, consider soundproofing your bedroom. For instance, you can invest in soundproofing curtains, hang some acoustic foam, or install a door sweep.
In most cases, house owners build laundry rooms in their basements (which doesn’t make sense). If you don’t want to spend a lot of time walking around your house with a basket full of dirty clothes, place a laundry room next to your bedroom (or relatively close).
Your garage should also be placed next to the mudroom or your kitchen. Every garage is like a railway station with people always coming into the house with groceries, dirty sports attire, heavy backpacks, etc. That’s why it’s better to limit this chaos to the mudroom areas.
HVAC System
Another aspect that needs to be discussed with your contractor is the HVAC system. Later, during the cold winter days or hot summer nights, you will thank yourself for thinking on this one in advance. Make sure your HVAC system is effective enough to cool down or heat the entire house. If you don’t plan it properly, you might suffer from paying high electricity bills in the future.
The bottom line
Building your own house requires a lot of time and energy. If you want to avoid the most common mistakes, find a trustworthy contractor who will help you obtain necessary permits and build your dream house.
Plan your space wisely and remember that implementing changes during the construction process might be quite expensive.
After months of planning and waiting, you will understand that living in your own house is a pleasure.
