If you are keen on having a new home, and you want it to be exactly everything you dream of in a home, then often the best way to do that is to construct your own new house. This is one of the most exciting things you can ever do, and it’s an amazing experience that a lot of people are going to be keen to try out. All in all, it’s something that can help you to have a new home and in exactly the style and design you want.
It can also be very arduous and long if you’re not careful, so it will take a lot of forward planning to ensure that you can get the most out of it and end up with the home you really want. To help with that, we are here going to look at some of the main factors you need to be aware of in constructing your own home. As long as you have thought about the following, you should find that you are going to end up with a home you will love.
The Location
The first thing you will need to do is of course to find a spot to build on. In fact, this is one of the trickier parts of the whole process, and something that you are definitely going to have to spend a lot of time on if you want it to really work out. The location of your home is going to matter greatly because you will need to make sure that it is where you actually want to be, and because it will affect things like the delivery of the materials you need and so on too.
So it’s worth scouting around for locations as early as you can, and not rushing into buying any of them. You will also want to keep your area of search fairly wide, as you are going to be open to much more that way, giving you the chance to get exactly the piece of land you need. It’s something that will affect the whole project, so it’s essential that you are bearing this in mind from the start.
As long as you are happy with the location, it’s going to help you to be much happier with the end result, so this is really important for you to think about.
Planning Permission
Once you have found and bought your piece of land, it’s then necessary to start trying to get the planning permission to build on it. This is a legal requirement in most places and something that you will need to have in place before you can even begin building at all, so you should be sure to look into this as soon as possible. Planning permission can be hard to get in some cases, depending on the situation, and it’s something you therefore might need to think about if you are going to get it right.
It mostly depends upon the location, but also what it is that you are planning to actually build, and how much you hope to do. So you should make sure that you are thinking about this and that you do all you can to keep your new build within the regulations and so on. This obviously means you need to have a strong awareness of the regulations and rules, and that is something that will likewise take some decent research.
However, as long as you do stay within those lines, and you seek out your permission early on, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Sometimes the inspector will say that there are one or two things you need to change around, and sometimes that might take a while – which is why you want to get started earlier rather than later. But in general, it should be possible to get permission for whatever you are hoping to do. You can then move on to actually building the home.
Designing Your Home
Next up you can start trying to really pin down the details of your design. You will already have come up with the basic design, because you need that in order to apply for planning permission in the first place. But now you can start filling in the details and getting that plan to be as complete as possible. It’s something that you are going to be concerned with, of course, because the plan will lead to the actual home you live in, and you want that to be as good as possible. So it’s vital that you are putting lots of effort into the design and the plan itself.
Bear in mind that there is no such thing as being too detailed here. The more information you put on the plan, the better it is going to serve you. There might be many things that need to change further down the line, but you can minimize that by being as detailed as possible right now with the plan itself. So make sure that you are putting as much effort as possible into it, and you should find that this puts you in good stead for the whole project.
Of course, you will find that this is a lot easier to achieve if you have the right professionals on board, which is one reason it’s a good idea to get hold of an architect early on. If you think you have the knowhow yourself, then you might not necessarily need an architect, but otherwise it might be a good idea to get one. They will be able to help you with pretty much every aspect of the design, and that includes a lot of details that many of us would never have thought about.
They will also be able to work within your planning permission’s rules, which is a really important part of all this. So make sure that you are aware of that and that you use an architect where necessary.
Budgeting & Funding
Of course, you will need to think about where the money is going to come from, and how much money you are actually likely to need as well. These are two of the most vital factors if you want to make sure that your new build works out right, so it’s the kind of thing you should definitely make sure you are aware of. Good budgeting is essential to the success of any big project like this, and to have good budgeting you need to make sure you are aware of the really essential details, large and small.
Good budgeting is central to the project, and it’s something that can take some practice. Think about the various elements that will cost you – from the land procurement to the materials and beyond – and do your research as thoroughly as you can to ensure you are really aware of how much you’ll be likely to spend. If you can do that, you will soon find that you are going to have a much better sense of what you’re going to spend.
And once you know that, you can start thinking about funding. Hopefully, you will have at least some personal capital, and that is going to be something that you will definitely want to make use of, because the less you have to borrow to make this all work, the better off you will be. However, most people will need to secure some extra funding, and the good news is that there are plenty of ways to do so.
That might be a bank loan or a mortgage, or it could be borrowing money from family and friends. It might even be a case of crowdsourcing. However you do it, make sure you have a plan and that you are doing it right.
Sourcing Materials
It’s never too early to start sourcing materials, because often if you leave it to the last minute, you will be paying a premium for having done so. So it’s really good if you can get those materials as soon as possible – and as it happens, there are a lot of things that you can do to make this a lot easier on yourself. One thing is to make sure that you are fully aware of what materials you actually need in the first place: from wood to plasterboard and beyond, it’s all important and it all needs to be considered.
Then you can start looking around for the best places to get it all. With that, make sure that you are shopping around and not simply landing on the first thing you see. As long as you can do that, you should find that you’re going to be able to source the materials as cheaply as possible. But you should also think about the quality of those materials, so make sure to remember that as well.
As you can see, there is a lot to think about when you’re building your own house.
