A frequently asked question by most individuals considering home ownership is whether to purchase a readily constructed house or construct a custom home. Building a custom home has numerous unique advantages for the potential homeowner with the time to wait.
A custom home can be a significant element of living the life of your dreams. After all, your home is a statement, and a customized house significantly expresses who you are.
When Can You Custom Build?
There are different ways of acquiring a stylish custom home that incorporates modern designs and architectural best practices. For instance, if you live in a period home, custom building provides the perfect opportunity to infuse modernity into its hallmark architectural style from a different era. Custom building enhances a period home’s classic and aesthetic appeal through restorations, extensions, and renovations.
What about where the aged appearance of your home increasingly unsettles you despite your great love for your neighbourhood? It’s common for early entrants into a growing neighbourhood to realize that their homes are no longer the attractive gems they were in days past, especially if nestled within the modern homes of new neighbours.
If you’re unsatisfied with the current appearance of your home but still love its location, a luxury knockdown and rebuild is an ideal route to a modern customized house that meets your current needs without relocating. Custom building will spare your property from ending up as a landmark with a label like ‘the old creaky house down the road.’
Through custom building, you can also increase the space around your property by adding a basement to the main house and any extension around it. Custom building also allows you to get a home on land that’s not level. Professional home designers like luxury custom home builders Melbourne have the expertise and capacity to build magnificent custom homes or make custom extensions on sloping blocks of various grades.
Benefits Of Building A Custom Home
As mentioned earlier, there are many benefits to building a custom home. Let’s now briefly consider the main advantages of custom building your home:
Preferred Location
Your current life circumstances may necessitate living in a particular area for a significant time. For instance, someone with a young family may prefer living close to schools, hospitals, shopping centres, and play parks. On the other hand, empty nesters may desire a quieter life in the countryside but within reach of the main road.
Custom building allows you to live in a location suitable for your current needs.
Full Customization To Your Needs And Style
Most people have a picture of their dream home in their minds that may be challenging to find in pre-constructed houses. You now have the chance to get the floor or wall coverings you’ve always wanted. You can also determine the amount of natural light entering your home by choosing large windows.
Custom building allows you to express your design preferences, bringing your dream house to life. Custom building is the way to go when you need to fuse functionality and style in a home that meets your family’s demands.
Cost Savings
Buying a developed house comes with costs like profits for the developer or previous owner and commissions for the selling agent. In addition, an already constructed house may require costly renovations to replace fixtures you dislike or create additional space in different rooms like the kitchen and pantry.
Custom building is often cheaper because you choose a preferred design from the beginning and only incur necessary charges, such as architectural fees and payments for local licenses. You also get the chance to personally shop and get the best price deals for almost all materials and fixtures. It’s estimated that custom homes save between 5% to 25% of what it costs to buy a readily constructed house.
Better Quality Construction
Sometimes, a constructed house’s appealing exterior appearance may be all there is to that property. There are many incidences where homebuyers have incurred substantial financial setbacks after buying structurally deficient houses despite their outward splendour and superior interior finishes.
Custom building your home allows you to partner with professional home builders who only prescribe high-quality materials for structural support and extend quality craftsmanship to your project. A customized home guarantees your magnificent home is established on a firm foundation.
What It Takes To Build A Custom Home
Before embarking on custom building, you must consider a few factors to avoid costly mistakes. To start with, while custom building extends a host of benefits, it is not a very straightforward process making it easy to go wrong.
The following checklist will prevent you from erring while custom-building your home:
Phase One: Gaining Clarity
- Determine your budget and timeframe.
- Get clarity about your preferred home design.
- Hire experienced and qualified professionals, including architects, quantity surveyors, general contractors, and interior designers.
- Apply or secure finances for your custom home project after receiving your various cost breakdowns from professionals. The cost of your house will depend on design and size, materials, fixtures, and finishes. You’ll also incur professional fees.
Phase Two: Site Identification And Acquisition
You’ll need to work with your architect to identify the most appropriate site for your budget. The site you choose dramatically impacts its design and costs, so don’t do it alone. Purchasing unsuitable sites is a common mistake made by potential custom homeowners. On average, custom building a home costs USD$200 – USD$500 per square foot.
Phase Three: The Actual Building Process
Your team of professionals gets down to work as soon as you’ve acquired your site and have access to project finances. They prepare architectural designs on paper or 3D, aligning with your idea. Once you’ve approved their plans, they start transforming what’s on paper into reality. Immediately after your structure is complete, your interior designers start working on extra details and final touches for a luxurious feel. The entire phase usually lasts between 12-18 months.
Final Word
The cost of building a custom home in 2023 will depend on various factors, including its location, size, house design preferences, fixtures, and whether it’s a new home or undergoing renovations. With a budget between USD$400 thousand and USD$1 million, you can construct a home to your specifications.
Working with a full-service professional design and construction company eliminates the hassle in organizing a team to work with and still guarantees a functional and beautiful house within your budget. Keep in mind that working with your builder from the onset is crucial for completing a custom-built home.
