Building a new custom home can be an extraordinary journey of discovery. It’s your chance to decide how and where you live for several years or maybe even the rest of your life. Creating a real home is more than just building “3 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms.” It is thinking about how your days will be spent throughout your home and making sure its design fits your specific lifestyle comfortably.
The more research and planning you do, the easier it will be to convey to a builder what your vision for your true dream home is. Getting a sense of what the end result should be and how much it will cost will save you a lot of anxiety when meeting with your builder for the first time.
Before scheduling a Builder Interview with Chris Matthews Custom Homes, take a little time to consider and plan for the steps involved in the home building process. While we work with you hand in hand every step of the process, having a guide as to what you hope to accomplish will help you be better prepared for the initial meeting and able to ask more informed questions that always lead to a greater understanding of what to expect in your home building experience.
Set goals. Creating a new custom home is all about setting goals and taking the steps to achieve those goals. And first, you’ll want to establish the answers to a whole host of questions so that you can set these goals. Remember, there is no right or wrong answer. This journey is YOURS (and your family). Think most about what makes you happy and what would means most to you in your living space.
Questions to ask yourself and the answers to make note of:
- What do you want to achieve? Make note of your wish list in a home separating the must-haves and nice-to-haves.
- Where do you want to live? Make note of the locations you are open to and which are areas that are not ok with you.
- What will this cost and/or what is your budget? Having a realistic expectation of the cost of building a new home and what you can actually afford goes a long way in saving stress and anxiety during the building process.
- Can it really be achieved? With cost consideration, understanding whether or not your must-haves can be achieved within your budget and if it will allow for some of the nice-to-have items can save you from disappointments in the design process.
Establish a budget. While your budget should be included in your setting goals, it’s so important you should include it also as a separate task. When deciding your budget, of course you’ll begin with what you can afford, and how the cost of your house fits in with your overall plans for the future. When you’re ready to get down to details, include everything that will go into the project: the cost of the land, local fees and taxes, design and engineering fees, construction of not just the home but the landscape, plus furniture and decorating.
Don’t forget enough room for contingencies. As with any complex project, things will happen, and the road from point A to point B will have a detour or two. Make sure that these little side trips won’t send you over the edge.
Find some land. Where do you want to be? How do you want to live? What are you looking for? Maybe you want that house in the mountains or with the ocean view, but it’s not in the cards right now, for economic or other reasons. No matter; you’ll likely be able to reinvent yourself later. For now, it might be the suburbs with the good schools or some other place. The point is, find a spot on the globe that you can claim as your own and build what will be a home.
It is possible that your perfect piece of land isn’t a few acres that’s never been developed or built upon. Maybe it’s an existing house that’s just old and tired and has suffered some neglect.
Chris Matthews Custom Homes can help you find land, but you can also do an initial land search through an online resource like realtor.com or landsoftexas.com
Before purchasing your land, it is much better to check with your builder or designer beforehand to ensure the site is optimal for the home you wish to build.
Assemble your team. You’ll need a team of qualified, experienced professionals to help you create your dream home and luckily Chris Matthews Custom Homes has an all-inclusive team ready to help you plan, design, and complete your new home project. While we can work with any Architect or Designer of your choosing, we have award-winning designers ready to help you design your home with your input and vision as top consideration.
Plan, plan and plan some more. Chris Matthews Custom Homes understands the importance of planning the project in detail before starting to build. We will work with you to plan every step and help you understand what to expect along the way. Moving walls on paper is a whole lot cheaper than moving walls after they’re built, so embrace a robust planning and design phase. Go big or go home. That doesn’t mean big as in size, but big as in big ideas. Building a custom home is an exercise in making something that’s your own. Dream big and have grand plans. There will be time enough to deal with the realities of budget, zoning and codes.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. You’ll be asked to make many — more than you can imagine. Just remember that God is in the details, so make sure that the details are there so that your home will be uniquely your own and speak to who you are. Chris Matthews Custom Homes gives every client an online portal to help make the decision making process easier with your own secure website with all of the details of their project. Whether you are at home, at work, on the road, or on vacation, we put information at your fingertips about your selections, upgrades, financial decisions, questions, documents, photos, and more… all online 24/7, accessible from anywhere.
Accept the inevitable. You’ve made the plans, gotten the permits and secured the money; now the only thing left to do is build your house. You’ve accounted for everything, so it should all come together as smooth as silk. Right? Uh…not really. The fact is, stuff happens. That’s a given. How you react to these hiccups will be important. Chris Matthews Custom Homes does its very best to mitigate and help you anticipate any hiccups and we are dedicated to help you through whatever happens. Staying calm and keeping your sense of humor knowing Chris Matthews Custom Homes has likely worked through a similar issue already and is well prepared to address any issue that arises. This is where having the right team in place, like Chris Matthews Custom Homes, can pay dividends.
Minimize anxiety. Don’t change your mind. Early on make all of the decisions you have to, select all of your finishes and don’t change your mind. Yes, you’ll be enticed by that new thing that comes along. Just remember that once construction starts, it’ll cost you time, money and perhaps a trip or two to a therapist if you change your mind.
Enjoy your new home. You’ve worked hard and spent more than a few dollars to create your new home, so enjoy it to the max. Revel in the way the light falls across a room and how it changes with the seasons. Find unexpected places to talk with family members. Discover how this place gives shape to your life and allows you to become the person you want to be.
In the end you’ll be amazed that your new house is so much more than the sum of just its three bedrooms, living room and so on. It’s the place you get to call home and make uniquely yours.
Contact us to discuss your journey to owning a new custom home. Schedule a Builder Interview. (210) 287.4220