Are you dreaming of building a custom home, but you aren’t quite sure if you’re ready to take the plunge? In this blog post, I’m sharing 7 signs you’re ready to build a custom home!
I have to be honest though … building a house is kinda like having your first baby. No one is ever 100% ready to add a baby to the mix, but you do it anyway and it all somehow works out better than you could have imagined :). Same thing with building a custom home!
7 SIGNS YOU’RE READY TO BUILD A CUSTOM HOME
SIGN #1: YOU CAN’T FIND THE RIGHT HOUSE
You’ve been searching for the ‘perfect’ house for months (maybe even years) and you just can’t seem to find it.
If you’ve exhausted all the options for homes available to purchase, it might just be a sign that you need to build a home that is ‘perfect’ for your family’s needs.
(psst … there’s no such thing as perfect … I just want you to be aware that your new home won’t be ‘perfect’, but it will be pretty darn close to it!)
SIGN #2: YOU’VE WEIGHED THE PROS + CONS OF BUILDING VS BUYING
You’ve done your due diligence and you are aware that it might be less expensive to buy an existing home (that already has mature landscaping), BUT you’re willing to spend a little more money to build a home so that you get exactly what you want.
There are certainly pros and cons to both options (buying vs building). It’s up to you to decide what’s most important to YOU when making this decision.
SIGN #3: YOU’VE RUN THE NUMBERS
You’ve run the numbers and you feel confident in the amount you can comfortably spend on your new home. Learn more about the cost to build a house.
I imagine you’ve heard friends and family say they went significantly over budget when building their home. Unfortunately, some people get in over their heads financially when building a home.
This doesn’t have to happen to YOU! However, you do need to be very diligent about how you prepare for your home build in order to create (and stick to) a realistic budget.
Want to learn the 5 crucial steps to prepare for a home build with less stress, more confidence, and without going over budget, download my FREE ‘Custom Home Build Prep Guide’!
SIGN #4: YOU’RE READY TO PUT IN THE TIME
Building a custom home can sometimes feel like a full-time job (on top of your real full-time job + parenting + life).
Even when you have a qualified custom builder to help you through the process, the amount of time it takes to create and tweak (a bazillion times) your floor plan plus the design selection decisions all take quite a bit of time to do right.
SIGN #5: YOU’RE READY TO PUT IN THE EFFORT
In tandem with time, it takes a dedicated effort to build a custom home as well. You need to be willing to put in the effort to research design finishes and floor plan options.
It’s mostly *FUN* research, but it does take effort.
SIGN #6: YOU HAVE A DECENT IDEA OF WHERE (+ WHAT) YOU WANT TO BUILD
It’s ok if you don’t answer ‘yes’ to this ‘sign’. It’s great if you have some idea of what land (or what neighborhood) you want to build on, but this isn’t necessary to know before you’re ready to build.
The same thing goes for knowing what style of home you want to build. This can be figured out along the way. Please don’t discount your readiness to build if you can’t yet envision the layout and style of your new home.
SIGN #7: YOU HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
While the sky is the limit when it comes to choosing your custom home layout, features, and design finishes, you must be realistic in understanding that your budget is actually your limit.
If you have realistic expectations for what caliber and size of home you can comfortably afford, then you are ready to build.
Like I said above, you might never be fully ‘ready’ to build a custom home (just like you’re never fully ready to have your first baby), but if you have the desire and the willingness to put in the time and effort PLUS you’re financially prepared, then go for it!
Learn the 5 crucial steps to PREPARE for a custom home build with less stress, more confidence, and without going over budget in my FREE ‘Custom Home Build Prep Guide’.
That’s a good point that if you can’t find a house you like, you could just build one. That sounds like a good way to get everything you need from the house and to make it look just the way you want it to. If I decided to move, I’ll have to make sure I keep building as an option.