A Love Storey - A Gilded Guide To Building Your Dream Home

A Gilded Guide To Building Your Dream Home

Everyone does it. They think about their home sitting atop a grassy field in some plain in their most romantic imagination. After years of toil and sometimes sweat, the fruit of their effort, savings, and through the grace of financing, they can afford to purchase a plot of land and carve out a space that speaks to them personally.

Hoot Homes and a number of home builders have been providing this dream to homeowners who do not want to live in prefabricated housing for years. While purchasing a pre-designed home makes home buying simple, there is something to be said about engaging our inner architect to come up with a design that can make your house a home. However, building your dream home is definitely an effort requiring the input and time of the prospective homeowner.

Let’s take a closer look at all the factors that come into play when building your own home.

Drafting A Budget

The thing that scares many people away from building their own home is that thought that it costs more than one that’s already built. Conversely, with materials, labour and land, you might be surprised to find that having a home built costs the same or less than a home that has already been built. Even so, just after finding your contractors, namely an architect and builder, you and the contractors will discuss the type of home you want, including amenities.

At some point, they will give you a list of the materials needed and the costs associated with these materials. For you, this will require making a budget that not only includes the cost of the material and labour, but also the cost of the land, which is like taking out a mortgage if financing.

Finding Your Plot

Choosing a piece of land is a very important part of the process for a few reasons. You need to make sure that the landscape on the lot you have purchased will not conflict with your home. Land that slopes or that sits atop a hill might make building a home more complicated. Also, you want to make sure that the land is accessible to workers and whether your neighbouring views might be obstructed if others decide to build in front of your home.

Another important part of finding a piece of land relates to the builder having to test the soil and ground conditions. This is essential for determining the structural foundation of the home, which influences the cost of building materials. Of the tasks to be completed, this one is done pretty soon after the contract has been signed.

Getting The Requisite Permits

While the builder takes care of this primarily, you should always be aware of what permits are needed because they require a fee, which should be included as a part of your budget. For the most part, these permits are also legal documents that protect you in case an accident or injury occurs while constructing your home. These fees can add up, but they provide your property with some protections against any lawsuit.

Having Patience

Building a house in most cases takes longer than the projected date. Much of this relates to the fact that along the way your builder might encounter issues related to making sure the building is safe from structural and other issues. For this reason, having patience is necessary when getting through this process.

Building Your Dream

Whether you do it by yourself or with a spouse, having a home built can be the culmination of years of hard work. When you do look upon that hill, the effort that you devoted to crafting out a space will be well worth all of the patience needed in getting the project completed. In the end, living in your dream begins when you get the keys to your new home.  

Alison Morgan