Steps and Procedures to Building a New Home
"Thoroughly thought
through." These words just roll off your
tongue like the clue to a riddle. In a
way it is. Building a home can be much
like a riddle that requires deep contemplation and educated decision making. The following is a step-by-step guide that
you should use when venturing to build your dream home.
Decide What Kind of Home You
Want
Much like choosing a haircut or a wardrobe,
knowing what you want in advance makes things much easier to communicate
to those who are helping you build your dream home. Try cutting pictures out of magazines
and give your contractors a visual image of how you want your home to look.
Set Your Budget
How much are you willing to spend? This is a little different than how
much you can spend. Realize that you’ll have to buy land and the
home. This will almost surely
require a bank loan in the form of a mortgage. Keep in mind that budgets almost always change. For instance, interest rates can
fluctuate rapidly. Make sure there
is some flexibility in your budget so you don’t have to stretch yourself
too thin. It would be a shame to
have to abandon parts of your dream.
Find Your Land
This could be just as important as finding which
home you want. You’ll want a nice
neighborhood with low taxes and easy access to your favorite
amenities. Do you like
gardening? Make sure that the land
you are building on is suitable for gardening. Also make sure that you are building in an area where you
find the property laws acceptable.
Choose Your Designer
Choosing a reputable designer or contactor is the best
way to save money. First of all,
local banks will know the reputation of the contractor and if you already
have one lined up with an estimate, the bank will be more likely to grant
you the loan that you want. Also,
a good designer will know all the subtle intricacies that go into building
a home. Don’t take on too much
responsibility yourself. Let the
designer take some of the burden. After all, that’s what you are paying him
for.
Constructing the Home
Realize that building a home will take time and
plenty of patience. There will be
bumps in the road (sometimes literally).
Do not make snap decisions just to get the project finished on
time. Remember this is your
home. It only takes a few months to
build, but it should last a lifetime.
For information on how to build a slab foundation, visit our Build a Slab Foundation article.
