How to build a custom home.
Are you looking to build a home on your own? Here’s a checklist to simplify the process. The 1st thing you’ll need to do is to Find out what your budget is. Step #1 is to meet with a lender to see how much home you can afford.
Once you’ve been approved, you need to decide how the money is going to be spent. How much can you spend on a homesite & still build the home you want. You need to have a general idea how much the home is going to cost to build. If you’re at the top of your budget before you start construction, you’re playing with fire. Since you really can’t afford to run out of budget, it’s imperative that you have a solid understanding of how much it’s going to cost to build your home.
Step #2 of designing your home while you’re looking for the right homesite. When we built this last time, we’d already selected the home that we wanted, we just needed to make tweaks to the floor plan. If you’re looking to buy a half acre lot or bigger you don’t need to worry too much about the dimensions of the home. But if you have a limited budget & you’re looking at homesites that are .25 acres or smaller you’ll need to keep in mind that the house must fit within the building envelope of that property. If you’re concerned that the home won’t fit wait until you purchase the property before you hire an architect. You’ll want to design the home asap because it could take a while to find the right homesite & it takes time for the architect to draw your plans. Expect to send the plans back to the architect at least 1 time to add those forgotten items or details. time. You’ll also need to send your plans to an engineer.
Step #3 Purchase the property. There are 2 important things to remember here. #1 You’re going to need a large down payment & #2 your house will need to fit on the homesite. The prices of homesites can vary significantly depending on if the homesites already has power, sewer & water stubbed to it. If not, you’ll want to find out how much it’s going to cost to have that work done.
Step #4 Get your permits. Now that you have a home & a homesite, you’ll need to send your plans to the city. This process take anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months. Once the city has approved your plans you can pick up the permit from the city office & start building your home. The cost for a permit will range from a few hundred dollars up to ,000 depending on where you live.
Step #5 Prepare for inspections. Make sure before you start building that you understand at which points during the construction process the inspectors need to stop by your home to confirm it’s being built to code.
Step #6 Start construction. Often, you’ll need to clear debris from the homesite. Then you’ll need to flatten it sometimes even installing retaining walls. I’ve gone in-depth on this in a series of videos on the home build process.
Step #7 Get the Certificate of Occupancy. The city inspector will confirm that all the work was done to code & you’ll receive a document certifying the home is safe for people to live in.
Step #8 Landscaping. You’ll grade the property so the water runs away from your home.
If you hire a contractor, make sure they’re licensed & insured.
If this is overwhelming & you’re having 2nd thoughts, you can always take the safer rout & build with a track home builder. It’s a lot easier to stay within your budget because once you select your homesite, home plan, options, upgrades & etc, the price of the home is locked in. Usually track builders have studied the market & offer a wide variety of floor plans to fit pretty much anyone. They also usually offer different exterior looks for each home so even if 2 of the same houses are built side by side, they’ll look different.
If this makes sense to you want to go through a large homebuilder, check out my video on how to buy a home from a homebuilder. Here’s the link –
Ty Wilde is Utah’s best real estate agent on YouTube with dozens of real estate videos. Ty is Utah’s best Realtor on YouTube for New home construction videos. Ty has some of the Best Videos on buying a home, selling a home and Real Estate investing. Utah New Home Construction – Lehi
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