Custom Home Building Tip No. 1 – Nail Down Your Budget

Let’s get started off on the right foot with a simple fact about custom home building: The process can be full of highs and lows, and we’re not just talking about the price of materials.

One more point to remember before we continue, is that no matter how excited or how frustrated you get about building your home, house-building is business and you are the boss. Getting the results you want is up to you.

Here’s Custom Home Building Tip No. 1 – Nail down your budget

We always get the same question when we have a new client visit our office, “How much will it cost to build the home I want?”

This is the wrong question to ask, because most people have already fallen in love with a floor plan they found online that their budget can’t afford – or – they have a big budget and the floor plan they found won’t meet their luxury lifestyle needs.

The right question to ask is, “How much house can I afford?” This means you‘re debt-free and have a three-to-six-month emergency fund in place. If you aren’t paying cash to build your home, which is our first recommendation, you’ll need a 15-year mortgage with at least 10% down and payments that are no more than 25% of your take-home pay.

Let’s talk about preconstruction expenses

Now that you have a figure to work with, you’re ready to shop for house plans. Not so fast. If you’re borrowing the money, will the land cost be included in your mortgage? If so, this will reduce what you have to spend on the home itself, so deduct the cost of the property from your starting budget. Other costs to consider are plans, fees, permits, and utility hookups etc.

Proceed slowly in your search

There are a few things you can do to determine what you can buy. You can check out the price of other custom homes in the area you want to build, or as you begin the conversation with a custom home builder, you can ask them to suggest designs for houses in your price range. Either way you will get a good feel for the cost per square foot as well as the style of house you may or may not want.

Don’t miss our next post: Custom Home Building Tip No. 2 Choose Your Homesite Carefully

Fairmont Custom Homes is a member of an exclusive group of builders chosen for the Southern Living Custom Builder Program. We work as a partner with our clients to turn dreams into reality. With the utmost integrity, we are guided by honesty and what is right for our clients in every decision we make. We are committed to excellence in everything that we do, and strive to continually improve the homebuilding experience for all involved.

Fairmont Custom Homes provides collaborative communication, design-build, and a unique opportunity for the customer to participate in the co-creation of their dream home. Fairmont can customize to your home site and your personal needs as well as assist with any design-build concepts. Committed to bringing the highest quality service and a better homebuilding experience at a fair, competitive price, Fairmont Custom Homes shares your dream and makes it your reality. Our success lies in our unrivaled customer service, our detailed planning, and our dedication to communication and quality. Unlike our competition, we will offer better hands on experience with quality construction and design.