There’s no place like home.
Every home is totally unique, and the process to get there is different for everyone. This rings even truer for a custom home.
For us, the entire process of building a custom home started with falling in love with one specific neighborhood. We first found this neighborhood when it was starting to be built out in 2008, then have continued to check back in on it every few years. There were still a few open lots available scattered throughout the neighborhood, but our favorite lot was finally for sale at the same time my husband’s company decided they were going to build an office down the street. We took it as a sign from the universe + an opportunity to build our dream home during the same timeframe that they would need to build out the office.
Based on our experience {which I acknowledge was not always the most straight-forward version of building a house}, I thought I’d take you through a few of the first steps necessary to get started.
First, find the land
As I said, first and foremost for us, we found the open lot we loved. That decision drove a lot of the design elements of the house, so if possible, I always recommend finding your land first, especially if you are building in a neighborhood. Then you can design to the specifics of the views, the sun, the neighbors, the traffic, etc. We bought a corner lot with traffic on one side and mountain views on the other, which led to very specific features of the house that would most likely only work on this lot, such as where the master bedroom is situated with a walk-out balcony to enjoy the mountain views.
Interview builders + architects
Once you have your lot secured, the next big decisions include finding your builder and architect. You want to really take your time here and make sure you click with this team because you will be spending A LOT of time together over the next year or two. We narrowed down our search to a few builders who were already familiar with our neighborhood + had already built homes there previously. This allowed us to personally check out the homes they had built, interview the homeowners for references, and know that the builders were already familiar with the HOA requirements + lengthy approval process.
Make your house must-have list
Before you meet with an architect to start planning out the floorplan of your new home, now is the time to sit down to make a list of priorities. Include all must-haves, then make a second list of any “nice to haves” so your architect has the full list of what you want to include. Our personal list of priorities for our new house included a curved staircase {warning: curved staircases come with some added design headaches!}, home office, laundry room upstairs, a dedicated mudroom, finished basement with at least 10’ ceilings, an open concept kitchen / vaulted great room area, and several fireplaces. We knew exactly where we wanted the fireplaces {great room, office, master bedroom, and basement}, which was an important piece to nail down early in the process so they can plan the chimney and venting accordingly.
Research any HOA rules + requirements
It took quite a bit of work with the entire team of architects, structural engineers and our builder to balance our list of must-haves and desired design aesthetics, but also making sure it fits in with the overall look + feel of the neighborhood. Even though our house is completely a custom build {meaning theoretically we could do whatever we wanted}, since our neighborhood has HOA design guidelines + an architectural review board, we had to make sure we included a few specific features, such as a minimum required percentage of stone façade on the exterior of the home. Make sure you know about any of these requirements BEFORE you start designing to save some unnecessary headaches!
Don’t forget any “unwritten rules” of the area
In addition to any HOA mandated design requirements, it’s also a good idea to take into consideration any “unwritten rules” for the homes in your area. For us, we were told that when it came to resale value for the homes in our neighborhood, it would be an issue if we didn’t have a private bathroom attached to each bedroom, as well as a large garage. We enlisted the feedback of a trusted real estate agent who has been buying/selling property in the neighborhood for many years and even lived here previously. We had her review our floor plans + renderings of the exterior of the home before we submitted it to the HOA for approval. Her insight was tremendously helpful just to make sure we were avoiding any landmines.
Now that you understand the first steps to designing and building a custom home, go make your must-have list!
