How Do I Build a Custom Home

How Do I Build a Custom Home? Steps to Designing Your New Construction Home

If you’re interested in designing a new build, you’ve come to the right place. Buying a new construction home from an industry-leading builder is a completely different experience compared to purchasing an existing property. This requires the expertise of real estate agents who are familiar with new home constructions. 

When you go through the custom home building process, you can get the new construction home of your dreams on move-in day. No renovations required: just walk into the home with the right home design, light fixtures, paint colors, building materials, and more to your taste.

Thinking about building a custom home?

Instead of moving into an established property, you create a new one from a floor plan. This means that everything that comes with your home is brand new and can be tailored to your needs through a design process. 

Once you have a budget and location established, you can embark on the exciting process of designing your own home. What does it look like, and what are some of the best ideas you can implement to create a dream home?

How to Design Your Own Home

First things first: Future new construction homeowners must get under contract with a builder. When you purchase a home with a builder, you can get a new construction loan through the builder’s preferred lender or your own. Homebuyers can usually find the best deals through the builder’s preferred lender. Builder incentives like special lower interest rates are among the most popular builder incentives.

Designing Your Own Custom Home

New construction contracts involve more paperwork compared to existing homes. This is because everything from the floor plan to the timeline must be fully fleshed out. In addition, the new home’s structure, materials, and overall construction must be to code. If this sounds daunting, rest assured that your real estate agent will guide you through this process and make sure you understand all the paperwork before signing. 

Though every builder company may use different methods to communicate with their clients, you can be sure that there will be several consultations. In these meetings, you should discuss the various floor plans that the builder offers. You can also discuss more in-depth details, such as flooring materials, types of windows, and other upgrades you wish to include in your new home. 

• Tip: You get more control of these elements when the home is in an earlier stage of development. If it’s already partially completed or near completion, you can still choose non-structural options like hardware, countertop materials, backsplash tile designs, lighting, and final paint colors. Landscaping may also be on the table, so check that too.

Gather Ideas for your new custom home before meeting.

Before you meet with your builder, it’s a good idea to jot down your ideas on paper. Or, you can use home planning apps like magicplan, which enable you to create floor plans and experiment with different paint colors! This is your time to flesh out everything you have ever imagined about your dream home. 

Best Ideas for Designing Your Own Home

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out precisely what you want in a home, but you can narrow down your wishes by asking yourself some important questions. While the builders take care of the logistical needs like getting the right building permit, you can brainstorm ideas alone or with an interior designer to get everything you want on your wish list.

Q: How many levels do you want?

Do you want a basement? Does it need to be a finished one with drywall and flooring? Or do you want to save money and make it more of a storage center? Is a two-story home ideal, or do you want to keep it to one-level living?

Factors to consider are mobility, sound levels, and convenience. Do you have any young toddlers or elderly in your household? Then stairs may be a concern. Or, do you have teens who need more space for socializing? If so, a basement, extra room, or finished attic will be an attractive addition.

• Note: Some builders have preset floor plans. However, in this case, there should be several types of homes to choose from, and potentially flexible features within each blueprint template. Curious about your options? Just ask before you commit to a builder!

Q: How many rooms do you need?

Having enough space in the house for everyone to have their desired level of privacy is ideal. Also, consider how everyone spends their free time. Do you need any bonus areas like a study, den, home office, game room, or guest room? Then be sure to add them to the plan! This should add to your total square foot needs.

Q: What’s the local climate?

If you plan to build in a hot or cold climate, you should consider investing in high-quality insulation like spray foam with high R-values. Low-e glass windows and insulating siding are also crucial to building an energy-efficient home. The HVAC system you choose should also align with your climate. For example, a heat pump

Q: Do you want an open or closed floor plan?

Most modern trends lean toward open floor plans where the kitchen, dining room, and living room mesh into one grand space. It makes a smaller home look bigger and can be a great advantage to anyone who wants to save on a smaller home without feeling like they lack space. Closed floor plans are also charming and offer several benefits, including extra privacy and more places to tuck away odds and ends from the central area of the home.

Q: What kind of flooring and paint do you want?

Is your dream home low-maintenance with luxury vinyl flooring or does it have the classic beauty of natural hardwood floors? How about stone flooring for the patio or custom tiles? Your floors tie elements of your home together while expressing your personality. Enjoy the selection to the fullest and soak it all in during the final walk through!

• Tip: Got a wild flooring or paint idea, but you don’t want it in the whole house? Guest bathrooms are great places to let your imagination run wild. Hot pink tiles, black wall paint, gold backsplashes, and other fun accents are often found in smaller spaces like these.

Q: What finishing touches do you want?

After all the big details like the building site are in the books, it’s time to select the minor details like hardware, faucets, lighting, outlet covers, and any other unfinished details like crown molding, chair molding, trim, etc. These accents express the essence of your style, allowing you to turn a basic floor plan into a beautiful modern home or a rustic farmhouse chic space.

As you can see, designing your own home is a lengthy process that you must complete with the help of a home building company and real estate agent. Collaborating with professionals to get their expert opinions on functionality, value, and local building codes is essential.

Your builder and real estate agent will stay on top of the timeframe and all the small details so you can enjoy the process of collaborating with their builder and designing the home of your dreams. 

Find a New Construction Custom Builder

Contact us at Marketplace Homes to learn about our new construction programs and how we can make the new build construction process convenient and easy.

Whether it’s your first time or your second or third home, we will make sure the process will be as easy as possible. For example, we can make sure you don’t have to move twice when building a new construction home, so you save time and money on moving day.