5 Things to Think About Before Building Your Dream Home

Dream-HomeAfter watching endless episodes of Property Brothers, you finally have the time, money and patience to build your dream home. Building a new home can feel very daunting and now that it’s come to it, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed about where to even begin. Here’s a few simple tips to help you get the ball rolling and to help you make sure you don’t make any costly mistakes during the construction process.

Plan your budget
First things first, plan your budget. Really think about how much you want to spend and how much your dream home is realistically going to cost you. It’s no good getting half way through the project and realizing that you are all out of money. This will make your building process so much longer and you will have to scrimp on save on other aspects of the house that you didn’t want to.

It’s likely that you will need a construction loan and a mortgage, so be organised and find out what size loan you qualify for. Once you know how much money you have to spend and the approximate costs of everything, it will help you to modify the building plans accordingly to meet your budget.

Find the right location
Location is probably the most important aspect to get right. Before you can start building, you need to know exactly what you are building on as the landscape can make a big difference to your building plans. For example, if you want to build your home on a hill, there are going to be a completely different set of requirements as well as more building challenges in comparison to flat land. Alternatively, if you chose to build in a woodland area, it will make a significant difference on windows and lighting within your home. So consider absolutely everything before you settle on your chosen location.

Getting the right architect
Architect designed homes are well worth the expense, but before you choose your architect, get inspired and have a clear vision as to how you really want your dream home to look. Once you are clear on exactly what it is you want, share your ideas with the architect and discuss various ways of how you turn your dream into a reality.

It is important to thoroughly research a number of firms or free-lance architects to make sure you find the best designer for your dream home. Quality services should be provided by the architect that you choose. There are many quality architects throughout the UK, including Paul Robinson Partnership a group of architects in Norfolk who recently sponsored an EDP Business award.

Get construction insurance
Before starting the building process, it is vital to get construction insurance. There are three different types of insurance that are needed to build. The first is ‘course of construction’ insurance which is an all risk policy that includes fire, extended coverage, builders risk, replacement cost and vandalism. The second is ‘General liability’ insurance which can be provided by either you or your builder. The third type of insurance is called ‘Workman’s compensation’ which is only necessary if your builder has any employees.

Be organised
You’ve dreamt about building your own home for as long as you can remember, and you’ve got hundreds of scrap pieces of paper with your inspirational and innovative ideas on. Collect all of your ideas together, and get a study note book, where you can keep all of your sketches, notes and photos in one place until your home is completely finished. Keeping it all together, will avoid you losing any ideas and will allow you to track back to any previous thoughts you’ve had that might work better for your home.

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