Is 2018 finally your year that you have been waiting for to start building a Dream Home? If so then, CONGRATS! This is an exciting time and year for you and your family! Are you wondering what some of the first steps should be before you officially break ground for your new build? Well we have 3 key areas that you should have considered and discussed in detail before you getting too ahead of yourself so that you can be prepared for this life changing experience.

Brainstorm

This step of the building process can be very enjoyable for home builders, as sky is literally the limit. You can dream as big as you want and have fun researching ideas and inspiration for what you want your dream home to look like. Making a pinterest board for your dream build is a great place to start collecting ideas from around the internet that you can reference later on. This is also a great time for you to sit down and roughly sketch out any dream/ideal floor plans your mind has come up with. Really think through what will work best for you and your family as it is the beauty of a custom home, it should be made to fit you and your lifestyle perfectly.

Timeline

Figuring out a timeline for your build is a very important step to the planning process but it can also be very hard to nail down accurately. It’s not a bad idea to sit down with a calendar and your builders and talk to them about your “Ideal” timeline as to when you would like certain checkpoints on your home to be complete. Then ask your team what they see as a “Realistic” timeline from their building experience. It’s important to remember that with any build there are always bound to be unforeseen things that could come up either delaying or advancing your build so be sure to have a bit of a flexible timeline and enjoy the process.

Budget

Of course budgeting is a huge aspect of planning your dream home. It can be a very stressful topic and one that people don’t like to discuss but it is so important for you and your team to be on the same page. Breaking down your budget into sections is an obvious place to start. Decide on where you want to spend the bigger chunks of your money and then even having extra “wiggle-room” in some areas like the kitchen and bathroom if you happen to come upon plumbing issues or find those dream cabinets that you just have to have to make your vision come to life. Even though the budget may not be your favourite part it can be one of the most important topics to discuss so be sure you really talk things through so you can be as financially prepared as possible.

During your planning process if you hit all three of these points and discuss them in as much detail as possible you are likely to have a much more enjoyable and successful build! Soak in every little bit of your building experience because, even though it may feel like it at times, it won’t last forever and it does result in some pretty unique memories and of course your dream home!