Building Your Own Home? Consider These Key Items First

It’s important to have realistic expectations when building your own home.

Building a new home. It’s an exciting undertaking, but there are so many items to consider. To put you on the right foot, Focus Construction lays out five key areas to consider, before you even get started. 

  1. Numbers – We’re talking size, and we’re talking money.
  2. Builder – Getting the right builder who can create what you want is a close second.
  3. Future – While you definitely want your new home to reflect who you are and contain the features that you want, the future sale of your home must be considered. 
  4. Green – If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll have all the opportunity to green your home and take advantage of new energy saving technologies and designs. 
  5. Mortgage – What will your mortgage look like after considering financial room for those dreaded issues that will likely occur.
 

Numbers

Once you find your lot, how many square feet do you want your home to be? What about the back yard and the front yard? For an idea, the average 2,500 square foot home in the GTA could cost between $500,000 to $875,000. Download the Altus Group Guide by clicking the button below to get specifics. These numbers are affected by the type of materials that are used, and the design that you come up with. After factoring in the land that was purchased, add the taxes on the construction and the materials. Run all of those numbers and you’ll have an idea of what you’re looking at. Remember that you will likely want to enjoy this home for the next 20-30 years, so keep that in mind, too. 

Builder

Once you begin your research to find the best builder/head contractor for you, it’ll soon be apparent that there are an abundance of options. We’ve outlined what to look for in a trustworthy contractor, and the same approach is required here. Ask your family and friends and others that you know who have gone through the same process. In addition, ask your mortgage expert and your realtor for their top recommendations or their industry contacts.  

Future

It is certainly tempting to customize a multitude of features when building your own home, but some restraint is needed. Why? Think about the future when you have to sell your home. Are some of your upgrades or personalizations going to turn off any potential buyers? While it shouldn’t drive your decisions, keep resale value in the back of your mind when choosing what special features you want to include in your custom home build. Additionally, will the design of your house fit the neighbourhood?

Green

Energy efficiency is constantly improving, so make sure you’re getting the best and most efficient big and small appliances. More importantly, look at windows, the HVAC system, and any other systems that are eligible for grants and discounts. This will save you money over time, and help you when doing your taxes. 

An upgrade to a 200-amp home grid to accommodate a vehicle charging station will also future-proof your home. With electric vehicles growing in popularity and efficiency, installing a charging station in your garage ensures that you’ll be ready to make the switch when the time comes. Your home will also be up to date with this important feature should you need to sell your home. 

Mortgage

A mortgage on an unbuilt home will look a little different than on an existing one. 

When organizing the hard and soft costs, don’t forget to include a reserve fund that will cover anything unexpected. And if nothing unexpected happens, you’ve got some extra money for anything that you want to add after the home is complete, or to save for another day. 

Focus Construction specializes in Custom Home builds. We can assist in reviewing your needs and wants so you’ve got everything covered before you decide to build your own home! Reach out to us today!

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