With any major purchase, price is always a factor. This is certainly true when you’re ready to build a custom home. Understanding what works with your budget makes it easier to make choices and prepare, and it can help the process to feel less stressful too.
When it comes to determining the cost of your custom built home, it’s often tempting to simply look at other homes in the area and estimate your costs based on other houses with a similar square footage to the one you’re hoping to build. That can be misleading in a number of ways. If you want an estimate that is accurate, it’s important to understand the process.
So, here’s the deal:
Pricing by Square Footage Is Ineffective
Square foot pricing is common in the real estate world, and it is understandable why people considering a custom home for the first time would look to it as a gauge of costs. But a professional custom home builder is unlikely to take that approach. After all, cost per square foot is really only useful as a measure of comparison if you’re comparing apples to apples. If you could find a home that was similar enough to the one you want to build not only in size but in features, lot condition and other parameters, perhaps this would be effective. Finding that kind of comparison is near impossible when you’re talking about a unique custom built home, however.
The Impact of High-Level Decisions
A custom home builder will work with you to establish an initial estimate, but that’s going to require making some important decisions and accurately sharing information first. Some of the high-level questions you’ll need to answer include:
• What’s the square footage?
• How many floors will your home have?
• What will the room count be?
• Will there be any special rooms?
• In which style will the home be built?
More Decisions Further Refine the Estimated Construction Costs
The big decisions you make concerning your custom built home pave the way for other decisions at a more granular level. As more decisions are made, your project will take shape, and with that, your estimate will evolve into something much more concrete. During this phase, the builder will often show you photos and other resources that reflect your choices and give you the confidence to finalize them.
Managing Costs as the Project Unfolds
As a final note, consider that there are always uncertainties when it comes to building a home. The process will rarely proceed exactly how you expected it to at the onset. There will be surprises as well as decisions to make along the way. If a material you want is unavailable, do you proceed with a different choice or wait and delay that aspect of the project? If you see new design idea that you simply cannot live without, how will you handle the change order to minimize costs and delays? Builders like Alair Homes Winnipeg provide software and other tools that let you track the project and your budget and communicate transparently with your project manager. This helps you to see the effect on the bottom line that any of your choices will make and provides you with a level of control that is often very reassuring.
Building a custom home is an art form, and that’s why costs can’t truly be measured by the size of the home alone. Take the time to sit down with your general contractor. Share information, and listen to what they have to say. This is the best way to get an accurate estimate and feel confident as you move forward in building the home of your dreams.