Custom Home Building Tip No. 3 – Make a Want, Need and Must Have List

A custom home isn’t something you’re going to build every year, so you need to set your priorities and decide what you want in your house. You want to get the essentials right the first time.

Making a want, need and must have list for your new custom home is necessary even before the construction process begins. Why? It allows you to make a list of the things that are wants and must have’s.

Turning your house into a home is a huge undertaking, and the best way to get what you want is to really think through what matters. It should be a team effort so that it reflects everyone’s personal priorities and not just your own to make the house a comfortable place to live for everyone. Include basic room size if you can and think about storage (linear feet of closet, kitchen storage…). Study your existing home – what works and what doesn’t.

When comes to living in your dream house, it is necessary to shortlist things that are important and without which you cannot imagine your life. There are different kinds of parameters that should be considered while selecting things for your custom house.

Think about how your family uses your house. What rooms affect your day to day quality of life? What rooms or room characteristics drive you nuts?

When working with a custom homebuilder, you have a chance to create the house of your dreams, which sounds great, but it can be a bit overwhelming. The endless options and possibilities can make getting a finalized list to your custom homebuilder a pretty daunting task. Start with this fun list via HOUZZ & let your creativity flow from there!

1. Magnetic door switches. The light comes on when you open a door – great for closets!
2. A built-in dirty laundry bin in the kitchen or bathroom areas.
3. An in-drawer ironing board.
4. Swinging laundry room door, since your arms and hands are usually full when coming and going!
5. In the kitchen, place the outlets under the cabinets instead of on the wall. This will allow you to tile the backsplash with a seamless, uninterrupted look.
6. Alarm systems for fire, carbon monoxide, and theft.
7. Electrical outlets on every wall, and at least two cable/internet outlets in each room. It will never be cheaper than now to add them so you have options in the future.
8. A large bathtub, especially if you’re tall!
9. Placing an outlet by your steps for Christmas garland/lights, and then the same on or by the fireplace mantel.
10. If you are going to tile the master shower, make sure there is a niche for shampoo, a ledge to rest your foot when you shave your legs, and a bar for washcloths.
11. Dimmers on all the light switches.
12. The largest walk-in pantry possible to get stored food OUT of the kitchen space.
13. A bath drawer set up for hair dryers, curling irons, hot rollers etc. that has its own power supply inside the drawer. No more laying around or having to unplug and wrap cords.
14. A tankless water heater under kitchen sink for all kitchen water. (Only a cold line needs to be run to kitchen, so there is no heat energy lost by water sitting in pipes and no running the water till it gets hot – making it more efficient.)
15. His and her dual iPad and iPhone charging docks on the bedside tables.