Often times when the term “Custom Home” is used, people tend to think of a multi-million-dollar mansion, and it certainly can be. However, over the last 10 years we have come to realize that a custom home simply means that it’s built to specifically suit a person or family’s lifestyle.

Perhaps you get up for work at 6 a.m. and your spouse sleeps until 7 a.m. Imagine being able to get up and get ready for work all while not disturbing your sleeping spouse. Customizing your home to get from bedroom to bathroom and accessing things like your closet or laundry room is possible to suit your morning routine.

Customizing is as simple as that, and it’s what differentiates a home from a cookie-cutter home that was designed by someone else. It’s thinking about your lifestyle and how to design your home and its functionality to accommodate you – not everyone else out there.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the cookie-cutter homes. There are many great options for these homes out there, and they can be beautiful and function and serve your needs. However, they can also be more limiting, so we recommend really thinking about your lifestyle and your needs before you make a choice between cookie-cutter and custom. Talking to your REALTOR and/or your builder in advance can be really helpful to know the possibilities and the limitations to both options.

There also tends to be two key scenarios where we encourage people to consider a custom home.

1) When you need to accommodate more family members in your home.
2) When you need your home to accommodate a person with a disability.

Accommodating More Family Members

It’s not uncommon these days to make room for more family. We often see families that want to have an in-law suite for their aging parents. In fact, we are currently completing a home for a couple that wanted to take in their elderly mother. A key consideration for this couple was to have a separate living area so their mother could have some independence while being close to the family. In addition to this, the elderly mother did not want to have to navigate a lot of stairs. With these two points in mind we designed a home with two separate living spaces, separate garages with access to each home, but with easy access from one unit to the other from inside. Our clients are looking forward to living close to each other, supporting each other, yet having their own space.

Accommodating a Person with a Disability

Living with a disability is also often a reason that someone might opt for a custom home. Mobility concerns are critical in planning out a home, and if planned properly mobility issues can often be eliminated. There are many ways to create more accessible points within the home, as well as tailor living spaces to best serve those living in the home.

Finally, the most common place in which we are asked to design a custom home is typically on a farm or acreage. Often times when farm owners are looking for a new rural home, they end up looking for home plan options from an urban home plan site. The issue is these urban homes often look great and work in a residential community, but as soon as they are placed on a larger lot, it’s clear that it is out of place. From a functionality stand point the two types of homes are different, and farm homes or acreages often require different elements like oversized garages, large mudrooms and bigger laundry areas.

The first thing to know when you think of a custom home, is that it is possible to do for any size home – not just the million dollar mansions. Next, think about your lifestyle and how your home could fit your lifestyle from a functionality and design standpoint. Finally, talk to the experts who can help you plan from the start, and you could truly be living in your completely customized dream home.