The beauty and greatest convenience of building a home from scratch are the personal touches you’re able to add to make it your own- molding the space to perfectly suit your lifestyle. How many times have you toured a home and loved it, but there were several things missing that you felt you couldn’t live without? When creating your dream home with a custom builder, all these ideas can come to fruition.
If you’ve decided on building your next home, it’s important to take the time to sit down and write out a wishlist of features you’d like to see. At this point, dream big, as if money is no object- let budget come into play later when you meet with your builder. Have you always dreamed of having an in-law suite? Maybe an indoor hot tub or steam room? Let your imagination run wild. Your builder may be able to incorporate these ideas into the design of your home in a way that stays within the allotted budget.
Next, have you and your partner each write out separate lists of up to 10 dream features for your home. Then come together and compare the lists to see if there is any overlap- features that you both really want, and discuss any remaining items to determine which ideas take will priority. With this, construct a final list with your dream features written in order- use this list to present your ideas to the builder. Alternatively, you could write out a “must-have” list versus a “nice to have” list, if you already have a solid idea of the features you want.
Lastly, bring your lists to your first design meeting. There, you can discuss each item, and get a feel for how these ideas will affect the budget, as well as the project timeline. Likely, your builder will be able to tweak a few of the wish-list features to be more budget-friendly. They will also be able to suggest alternative ideas – big and small- that you may not have considered.
Before even meeting with a home designer, it’s important to take the time to think and what you really want out of your home- and what your top priorities will be. Once these are in order, everything else will fall into place. Ensure that your dream home is custom made to fit your needs!