So, after years of semi-looking, you decided to go right ahead and build your dream home. We totally understand the impulse, and so do your fellow Americans. In a recent study, 41% of people would prefer a newly built house to one on the market for a while. What’s more, about half of this group searching for homes for sale would really prefer that their dream home be custom built on their own property. Below are a few things to consider as you embark upon your dream home design:
1. The floor plan. Floor plans for new homes vary widely and are hard to judge because desires vary from person to person. The best technique we’ve heard of for thinking through this part of the home building process is a little guided meditation. Take a few minutes to close your eyes and walk yourself through your new home. Does it have a mud room? An open kitchen or a bigger man-cave living room? Is it a sprawling one story ranch or a towering three story mansion? Once you have a rough idea of what you want it to look like, sketch it. Don’t worry about precision at this stage. The trick is to get a feel for your overall preferences, whereas a custom home builder can help you refine your design.
2. Room trade-offs. It’s all well and good to know you want a big living room and a lot of counter space in the kitchen, but what about those optional or optimizable areas, like bathrooms, closet space, and home offices? Making these kinds of decisions is often a family affair. How many children do you have, who works from home, etc. We also like to look at the data. Most people would prefer 2 or more bathrooms for example, and many people are willing to pay extra for more closet space. Knowing what works for others can go a long way in helping you define what might work for you.
3. Energy efficiency. This is one a lot of new home home builders miss thinking about, but it is extremely important! Believe it or not, there is a lot you can do design-wise to help your home’s energy efficiency. First of all, you can be extremely intentional in what kind of window treatments you choose. Insulated glass is all the rage these days. You also want to make sure you don’t have any drafty areas and that you’re building your roof as well as your walls out of something well-insulated. All this will help you save on heating and cooling in the more extreme weather months.
4. Curb appeal. This means just what it sounds like. From the street or “curb,” does your home draw attention for all the right reasons? We’re going to get a little snobby here but seriously, spending thousands of dollars on this awesome modern home and then painting it bubblegum pink is probably not the best idea. Make sure to research the softer aspects of design and incorporate contemporary elements into your new abode. Or at the very least, know your style and own it, so that if that style is eccentric, you can explain this cogently.
Alright, now get building! And please, post your progress shots in the comments.
