When planning to build your custom home, there are always good ways to maximize your dollar. What makes a home “Custom”? Custom is a word that is applied to any home that has even one change from the original floor plan. Custom designs can be gained by simply taking an existing floor plan from a floor plan book, from a website, or even a magazine, and then adding and subtracting rooms, square footage, or even a garage to make it reflect your home ideas. A custom home is supposed to reflect what YOU want, not what the builder thinks you should have, or what your great Aunt Tilly says she always wanted in a home.

Custom home designs can also originate from tip of your own pencil and a sheet of white paper. After you sketch out what you see for your home in your minds eye it is time to go and talk with a builder. A builder can look at your drawings and tell you if they will work or not. He can also make suggestions of ways to improve your plans so that they are structurally sound, or take advantage of a certain view you are trying to capture. Other things a builder can give you is reasonable cost estimates. An informed homeowner not only has an idea of the square footage of a home, but he or she also has an informed estimate as to what it will cost.

In the long run, choosing a pre manufactured home or a ‘double wide’ is not a wise investment choice. These homes actually depreciate over time. Some salesmen try to convince buyers that a double wide will appreciate if it is on a full basement or even a crawl space. Though this does improve the home somewhat, it does not make the home improve in value. Now in areas where the entire home market is greatly gaining, the pre-manufactured home will increase some, but it is really the land that is increasing in value, not the home itself.

Pre-manufactured homes are made typically made from the least quality material available. Thin tubes pass for plumbing and electric wiring has many many outlets run from the same wire source. The floors of these homes tend to sag, the roofs tend to leak over time because of the very slight roof slope they have.

A better choice is to build a small stick frame home. Or even purchase an older home that has to be moved. Some developers will purchase a piece of property for development and then they will sell the original buildings and homes that are on it. Though older, these more quality built homes will satisfy your families needs for more years than a pre-made homes. Most stick built homes have a life span of over 70 0r more years, where as the double wides do not last much past 30 years.

Custom homes can come in the form of one you build yourself, or it can be a relocated older home, or a manufactured home. Whatever your choice be sure to weight out the pros and cons of each selection.

Hand Peeled Timber Roof System

 Maximizing quality and cost is the bottom line of nearly every home owner. From the layout to the finishing touches, there are many things a home owner can do help in building an affordable custom home. Just because your home is going to be new does not mean that there are not ways to save money wisely.  

There are many opinions on this, but when we contract for individuals with limited resources here are some of the things we suggest.  

1. For a more cost effective budget we have had good success with choosing a good double paned vinyl window that is not necessarily the most well-known name brand. Such windows cost even as much as a third or more less than the top of the line brands.   

2. This also applies to exterior and interior doors. We have used stock doors from Lowe’s and people think they were built in  

Interior doors and Carpeting

our wood shop. There is still quality to be found at the lower end of the price chain. But do keep an eye on quality. Some products are low quality. One just has to look and also consult your contractor.  

3. You can go broke on a kitchen counter top. We have had good success choosing a laminate Formica top verses a solid surface such as Corian or granite. Many laminate suppliers have a wide variety of finishes that even look like granite or Corian. I had a bank appraiser once look at one of our homes and she was sure that our $800 laminate counter top was really a $4000+ granite one. Solid surfaces are very classy and lovely, but sometimes you have to make choices where to spend your funds. And in the future, when you are rich and famous, you can always replace it with a granite top. It is also possible to spend wisely and economically for kitchen appliances.  

4. You can choose mid-grade carpet instead of hardwood floors throughout the house. Or just put the hardwood floor in the dining room and living room, or great room. You can always install top of the line carpet in other rooms, or upgrade to more wood floors in the future.  

5. Ceramic tile and vinyl flooring. Ceramic looks so nice that this is a hard choice for me. Also Mike (my husband and personal contractor   is very good at laying the ceramic. S0 here are a few tips for ceramic: watch for discontinued tile at a flooring store or even Home Depot. You can find some lovely tile for $1 to $2 per tile. Just be sure to buy a few more boxes than you need so that  in the future you can replace a tile if it gets cracked or damaged. That is a good idea no matter what your tile costs. Matching a dye lot in the future is almost impossible.  

THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO ECONOMIZE ON~  

Now that you have saved some money, here are some spots in your new custom home that you will want to think about upgrading: a timber roof system, cathedral ceilings, adding a loft, making a larger master bedroom, or great room. These are very hard to change after your initial building is completed. One should carefully think through these and other options.  

As a homeowner, sometimes you have to make a choice like this, “I want the vaulted ceiling over the great room. So I’ll spend a little more for that. But I am happy to walk on carpeted floors for a few years and the extra money into a vaulted ceiling”.    

But one thing you do NOT want to do is to consistently choose high end items and expect your custom home builder to keep reducing his prices. This can inadvertently make your contractor give your home less than the very best. Sometimes we see  

A lovely but economical kitchen

homeowners ending up with no warranties on the home, and other prolbems they have acutally done to themselves. If you think about it, this is your contractor’s full time job. How would you like someone asking you to take a pay cut on your job?…  

So all in all, think through your custom home, plan, dream, and also be wise.  

Sue

 If someone can be passionate about something other than sports, your kids, or politics, home building is one for me. For 13 years now we have been partnering with our customer to help them take pencil sketches and turn them into reality. The building road is hard enough and you need someone who is knowledgeable at your side to turn those dreams into reality. 

Floor plans are the heart of what your future home is all about. For more sources to obtain floor plans, see my post named “Custom Home Design…laying out floor plans”. 

FLOOR PLAN PLANNING 

After you round up some good floor plan books and magazines and even visit a home show or two, look through your accumulated information. 

Standard floor plans from these sources are just a place to start. We have never built a home that was not customized in some way. As soon as you move a wall, or add a foot to the living room you home moves into the custom home class. 

Pick out floor plans that match your ideas. A good way is to copy 

The Broadwater Plan

them on your home printer and then circle home features that you like and cross out things you don’t like. 

Another avenue is to round up your best ideas and then go visit your builder. Many custom home builders will look through your ideas and then give you some pointers. 

Once you have some sort of a floor plan worked out, it is much easier for the general contractor to give you a better estimate of price per square foot. 

Or take a floor plan that is the closest to your ideas and then slightly modify it. Total redraws can get time consuming and it is difficult to get the builder to do it for you cost free. 

Another smart option is to choose a home package supplier, such as a log home or timber frame company, and have them give you a price for your home. 

For standard construction homes a popular option is the panelized systems. These homes go together very quickly and tightly. They also will look at your plans and give you a price based on your plans. 

HELPING TO GET A FEEL FOR ROOM SIZE 

Room sizes can be difficult to get a good feel for, so get out a measuring tape and measure the rooms in your existing home. 

Broadwater Kitchen and Great Room

Think about how many feet longer or shorter, wider or narrower that you would like it to be. 

Visit model homes and ask for a floor plan of that model. Then you can view the home with the floor plan in your hand. 

Go out in your yard and step off what the different room sizes are. 

People are wise to incorporate more closets and bigger closets. A few extra feet to the master suite always is well used space, as are lofts located over the kitchen and downstairs baths. 

A first floor master suite with no second floor rooms above is is also a wonderful feature to any home. The second floor traffic can be very annoying when you are trying to get a nap. 

So all in all, do your homework. Get your resources. Read up about your favorite home styles and types. And get ready to go visit some builders. For more ideas on finishing walls visit Wall Quotes Central. 

Building Dreams, 

Sue Lemmon, Cowboy Log Builders LLC

Cape Cod Custom Home

Hello! And WELCOME to About Custom Homes! When considering building a custom home the very best thing you can do is research, research, research, before you ever start. From start to finish, there are a multitude of options and ideas to explore.  

But, with some pointers, we can help guide you to important decisions and eliminate some of the “extra” that is not necessary. From building lot selection to home furnishings, custom home builders to custom home plans, this site will help equip you with some very important and realistic advice to help you along the way.