What You Should Expect When You’re Designing Your First Custom Home

Building a custom home is literally “making a dream come true.” You get to design every part of your home, but the building process is made of many steps (with each one happening in a carefully planned sequence). Everyone’s experience will be different. While some steps will take longer than others, the basic road map will be the same.

The custom home building process consists of five phases, which are based on milestones that happen along the way. There is a series of steps that occur at each one. Many of them will happen simultaneously or even in a different order, but all of them are important parts of the process. If you familiarize yourself with these steps, you can be better prepared for what happens along the way.

Phase 1: Idea Inception

Every custom home design starts with a dream. You wake up one morning, and you’re ready to build a custom home. It starts with the process of developing an idea (which can take weeks, months, or even years). But to make it all work, you will need to put together a team (which will be made up of an architect and a builder).

If you plan to use an interior designer, that person will also be part of your core team. It doesn’t matter who you pick first, but you need to have all your team members selected before you start the design process. You may need to hire other consultants to help you with the project (depending on what needs to be done to bring your vision to life).

You will need to speak with your accountant, as well as any lender or bank about the financial feasibility of your custom home design. It’s a good idea to have a contingency fund of 10-20% of your overall construction budget because no matter how much planning you do, there will be surprises once the construction process has started.

Phase 2: Site Acquisition

The location of your home will affect its design in many different areas (including lot placement, views, and existing landscaping). As you determine your financial feasibility, you’ll be able to look at possible sites for your new home. You want to work with a real estate agent for the best location.

Even before you finalize the sale of your site, you want to think about various parts of its design (including architectural style, room count, and relationships). You also want to secure financing for your site purchase and home construction. The loans work differently than the mortgages that most people are familiar with, so you want to familiarize yourself with how home construction loans work.

Phase 3: Design

Once you have your building site secured and have put together your team, you can focus on the details of your custom home design (which is the fun part of the process). But don’t rush through it. You want to take the time and effort to get everything right at the very beginning., so you can avoid any potential headaches later on.

Phase 4: Construction

Once you have finished your design and have secured all the necessary permits, it’s time to start the construction process. This part of the project usually takes about 12-18 months (depending on the schedule you and your builder have agreed upon). You will finally get to watch your design move from something on paper to a physical reality. At this point, you would have made most of your design decisions. But if there are still some things you need to decide upon, making them quickly will help the builder stay on schedule.

Phase 5: Occupancy

Once the construction process has been completed, the builder will do a final walkthrough to make sure everything has been done correctly. The builder will also educate you about all the systems inside your new home. Be sure to get copies of all the warranties from your builder, because you want to have a good understanding of what’s covered and for how long.

If something goes wrong in your home, you should know how to contact the builder and to make sure the job has been completed. The more you have in writing, the more peace of mind you’ll have when you move in. This is when you start to add all those extra details (such as landscaping) that couldn’t be done during the construction. You can also take the time to make the final touches to your custom home design.

If you’re looking for one of the best custom home builders in Corpus Christi, be sure to get in touch with Devonshire Custom Homes.