There are many things about building a new home that are amazing
and exciting. But there are some common mistakes that are made by the designer
/ home owner that can and should be avoided. We often think that our builder or
someone else is going to help us avoid mistakes, but mistakes are inevitable
and often out of our hands (especially with custom built homes); but it is a
good thing to be informed and ready for anything when building your home. So
here are a few different mistakes people make when building their new home.
Dollars over quality
When it comes to custom homes or
building in general you must be very sceptical of the ‘cheapest price’. Because
in building the cheapest price is rarely the best value and it is definitely
not the best product. Money is still important and builders still need to be
competitive in their pricing, but when it comes to the home you will be living
in, going the lowest price is not the best idea. If at the beginning stage of
building your home you save a few thousand by choosing low end products, you
will forget about those thousands saved when those products don’t hold up
through the first few years of living in your new home. Also enquire of your
builder if you can see previous or current projects using the same products.
Unique is good, too unique is very bad
Design is something that every home owner wants to be a part of
and even though you could choose a house off the builder’s plans, chances are
you will still want to make some changes. In saying that definitely add design
elements that are going to best reflect your personality and season of life,
but do not over complicate the design. You need to consider your home’s value
and possible resale, even if you plan on living in it for the long run it will
eventually need to be resold and if the design is too unique then that is going
to make it harder than it needs to be to resell.
Time your changes
While on the subject of design, it is very likely that at some
point you are going to want to change something about the design. For example,
you may want to add a walk in robe where there wasn’t one, or maybe even a
whole other bedroom. These designs are all possible but they need to be made in
the planning stage and avoided in the building/construction stage. You
can make them in the building stage but it is a lot more expensive and could
potentially make your mortgage repayments higher.
