It can be a very exciting and thrilling decision to decide to build a home for yourself from scratch. It means you have the opportunity to make your home exactly the way you want. You will still have limitations and, if nothing else, in the budget. So you need to be sure that you are planning and correctly executing this project. There are so many rookie errors or mistakes as we might call them and here are some of the gravest ones to avoid, as it’s so easy to have a mistake become a costly one and send the whole project into ruin. Here are some ways to avoid this disastrous situation from becoming a reality.
Know Why You Are Building it
This may sound like a strange and odd thing to say but it is important to know exactly why you want to build your own home? Is it to be your primary home and residence? Or maybe it’s a second home, and in the times you are not using it you might be wanting to rent it out to vacationing families, this means that you will be needing to keep in mind how desirable it looks, as well as location and proximity to the local amenities such as transport routes, etc. You may even be looking to build it to sell on and make a profit, in this case, you will be wanting a project that is low risk and you don’t get bogged down in a costly building project.
Make Sure to Research the Plot
For the reasons above you will need to research the plot thoroughly to ensure that you are getting the correct plot of land for your particular use. You can quickly and easily research and compare potential plots without even leaving the house. You can identify potential sites here online and then be sure to know if you are going to be able to get planning permission to build easily. Some plots already come with planning permission granted which makes life so much easier, unfortunately, you will tend to have to pay more for these types of plots, but it certainly is worth it as planning applications can be tricky and time-consuming.
Hiring the Wrong Contractors
In a construction project personnel is the biggest thing you can get right or, alternatively, get wrong. You must nail this. So make sure that you approach it as if you are hiring an employee for work. The first one you should put in place is the architect and for this appointment, you should take on someone who has experience of similar types of property that you are looking to construct. Ask for examples of previous work as well, this will show you what they have done before and always ask for references. Once you have the architect on board you will need a construction company, the architect may be able to give you a recommendation of ones they have worked with before.
Be Sure to Have the Property Inspected Before Moving In, Renting or Selling
Once construction is finished it’s easy to congratulate ourselves and marvel at a job well done. But it’s not quite finished yet, and even beyond making sure all the finishing touches are complete, including decorating and landscaping the gardens, you are going to want to have the property thoroughly inspected for two very good reasons. Firstly you need it to be up to code, this means making sure that you have kept to all the legal minimum safety and architectural rules and that what you have built is identical to the plans you submitted. Also, secondly, you will want to ensure that the work you have hired contractors to do has been done to the standard agreed, you should not settle any final bills until the property has been professionally inspected. I always use a professionally recommended firm and these guys have been inspecting homes in Amherst, NY for a long time, and come highly recommended.
Keep Track of Expenses Accurately
Building a property is essentially like running a small business and your plan will be very similar to a business plan, this financial plan will include expenses, cash flow projection, costing and timescale. If you are able to keep track of your progress in accordance with this plan then you will easily be able to know if you are on track or if you are heading towards a costly over-run.
