We all know that having a custom home built requires a significant investment of money. What many people overlook is the investment of time. In today's age of manufactured products, we tend to think that we can write a check or hand over the credit card then sit back and wait for our new car, computer, or whatever else to get delivered.
Building a custom home is very different, and your experience will be shaped by your expectations going in. When people don't have clear expectations of the time commitment, they can get easily frustrated with the process.
Here are some key things to know about your investment of time and money.
First, expect to invest a great deal of your own time in making a custom home yours. Early in the process, you'll need to devote hours to several things:
- - Finding and working with a house designer to create the right house plan.
- -Searching out the builder who is the right fit, is honest, and is someone you can get along with.
- -Selecting colors and materials that give you the look and feel you want while also fitting within your budget.
As the job progresses, you'll invest time making decisions about things that come up during construction. For example, maybe there was an unforeseen problem with the land, such as unstable soil in one particular place, and you have to change the placement of the house on the land.
You'll also want to make time to answer questions for your builder as they come up.
Remember, your custom home by definition is unique, which means it has never been built before. Things will come up, and you need to be ready to respond by investing time and energy into decisions you didn't know you were going to have to make.
An experienced builder will know a lot of those questions up front, but unexpected things still come up on every single custom home.
Issues arise when you don't put in the time
We once built a home for a client who traveled a lot and wasn't available to answer questions and think about issues as they came up during construction. As a result, the client became frustrated with slow progress as contractors awaited decisions that only the client could make. It all worked out fine in the end, but an up-front investment of time would have saved a great deal of time and frustration.
Trust me when I say that the time investment will be worth it when you're living in your dream home built just for you.
