Building your own home is an experience that usually happens once in a lifetime, and not to everyone. Only a few of us get the chance to actually build a home completely to our liking, and this is why this is such an important event in life. As I talked to many people who built their own homes I know from their experience that this is a very stressful process, given the fact that there are so many things that must be looked after and taken care of.
One of those things includes money. Building a home of your own is quite an investment and it is important to organize all of your finances accordingly so that you don’t find yourself short on money. I’ve come up with some tips that can help you save some valuable cash when building a house of your own, so that you can invest it in improving your home elsewhere.
So, if you are planning on building a house of your own, these tips will help you do it while at the same time saving some money that might come in handy later.
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At the beginning of the whole process you’ll probably have some ideas of how you want your house to look. It is best not to cling too much to those ideas, as there are many things you will learn from that moment to the point when you actually start constructing your dream home. You will find out that there are better solutions for you, and even cheaper ones.
The best thing you can do is drive around and see as many homes as you possibly can. This will help you get a different perspective and see what solutions people came up with for similar ideas like yours. If you are able to find some newly developed areas, you might also be able to find some home models that could give you ideas and help you think outside the box.
If you do this, you might be able to evade unnecessary expenses and invest a lot of money in some unnecessary solutions. After all, you are not a construction engineer and you should look to learn as much as you can before you start building.
Hire a good architect
When talking about the ideas and vision for your dream home, you will soon realize that you won’t be able to understand everything you actually want. You also won’t be able to find all of the solutions by yourself and this is where an architect comes in. You can do the research and learn as much as you want, but you will never have the knowledge like a professional does.
Still, it is generally good to hire an architect after you have already done some searching all by yourself. This is how you will avoid deviating too far from that perfect look you had in mind for your home. An architect can truly help you create a unique home that will speak for itself. Of course, it is important to choose a person that has the right attitude. Look for someone who will work on your ideas and try to make them a reality.
By cooperating, you can truly get a house you will be amazed with. Avoid those architects that like to do things their way and don’t listen to people who hired them. A good architect like this will work for your interest and help you save money instead of forcing you to go with the most expensive solutions at all times.
An architect can help you with planning and even help you perfect your ideas. You will be simply amazed with how much better your ideas can become with a good architect that pays attention to what you say.
Find a good builder
I cannot stress enough how important it is to get a builder that knows what he is doing. The subdivision in which you buy your lot might suggest that you work with their builder. This can be a very bad option to choose in many ways. You can see that builder’s previous work and he or she might be unqualified to do the job you require from them. This is why I don’t suggest that you go through with this, as you might pay a lot of money without getting the end result you wanted.
If you can it is better to find a builder on your own and avoid these kinds of deals. Never, and I mean never go rushing through this process. Getting a bad builder could be a costly mistake that might ruin the whole process and you might end up with a badly built house, in which you’ve invested too much money.
It is important that you do your homework when choosing a builder, so before you hire one, ask for some previous work and also get a list of references. Make sure that you get all the relevant information in writing. You will be amazed how quickly you can forge what someone told you, especially when you talk to so many people in a short period of time.
It is also good to ask builders to help you go through some online construction estimation software reviews you can both use to find out what the costs of your construction would be.
Bid your costs
One of the best ways to save thousands of dollars when building your home. As I already said in the past paragraph you will have to use some builder, however, you can always look around to see whether or not your builder’s bid is spot on. You will be amazed at how much the prices can vary. When I talked to one family, they told me that when they shopped around for different offers, they found out differences that went up to $20, 000!
So what are these price differences all about? Well, in most cases they are uncalled for. Some home builders simply have a lot of money, as they did a lot of work in the past, and they don’t really want to do any building if someone doesn’t pay them a lot of money. Still, this doesn’t mean that you should go with the lowest bid. Your first factor in making the decision should be the references and past work of a builder and not the price. Once you have ruled out those builders whose work is not good or you simply don’t like it, you can then start to compare prices.
At the end of the day, the most important factor is that a certain builder is within the bid. If some bid looks somewhat unrealistic because of how good it is, you might ask somebody else to come and take a look at it.
Negotiate your construction loan
A lot of builders look to get good down payment that usually goes around 10 % and they will constantly annoy you to do so in your bank. Still, it is possible to arrange a $5,000 down payment, but you will probably have to pay it in cash, and if you cannot there is always the option of getting a personal loan to go through this process.
Find a banker that won’t rip you off
A banker is one of the key players who handles all of your money transactions when building your home. All of your money goes through a bank and this is why he can either save you a lot or cost you a lot. Furthermore, the interests that will follow you during your mortgage’s lifetime also depends on your banker. When you first start building, the current mortgage rates might be much lower and after some time they might rise a lot.
If you like, you can hire a real estate agent to help you with this, but you will have to pay for his services as well. Still, sometime it can be quite hard to deal with finances and if you are unsure about what you are doing it is best to leave it to somebody who knows what he is doing, instead of regretting your decision for the rest of your life.