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Podcast

You Don’t Have to Go Over Budget when Building

Published on:

1/24/24

written by:

Carrie Barker

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You do NOT have to go over budget when building a house.

It’s not inevitable.

No matter what you hear from family, friends, or complete strangers (and even home build professionals), it is NOT inevitable that ‘everybody goes over budget.’

Yes, MANY people do go over budget. 

Probably, the majority of people go over budget.

However, the blanket statement that ‘everybody goes over budget’ isn’t true.

I know this because I didn’t go over budget when I built my house, and now I have clients in my group coaching program who are coming in under budget … and that’s in today’s market.

So … listen to me when I say there ARE ways to build your house without completely going over budget.

And the same principles that worked for me when I built my house will work for you, too.

Wanna know how I built my dream home within budget and without sacrificing my must-haves (and how you can too)? It’s all in my FREE on-demand training, ‘How to Build Your Dream Home On Budget WITHOUT Sacrificing Your Must Haves’.

In this training, I’m spilling the beans on how I built my house within budget, and I’m also sharing the exact steps that I walk my clients through so that they, too, can build their houses without going significantly over budget.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO OVER BUDGET WHEN BUILDING

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Below is the full transcript for this podcast episode.

Hey there! Welcome to the ‘Before You Build’ podcast. I’m your host, Carrie Barker (aka, Caroline on Design). 

In today’s episode, I will share a cautionary tale about how you can’t believe everything you hear about going over budget when building.

Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room

You might be getting the WRONG home build budget advice.

GOING OVER BUDGET WHEN BUILDING IS NOT INEVITABLE

We’ve probably all heard from family, friends, or complete strangers that it’s inevitable we’ll go over budget when building a house.

People will say it’s inevitable because (quote) ‘everybody goes over budget’.

You guys … this is NOT true. 

Yes, MANY people do go over budget. 

Probably, the majority of people go over budget.

However, the blanket statement that ‘everybody goes over budget’ isn’t true.

I know this because I didn’t go over budget when I built my house, and now I have clients in my group coaching program who are coming in under budget … and that’s in today’s market.

So … listen to me when I say there ARE ways to build your house without completely going over budget.

And the same principles that worked for me when I built will work for you, too.

Ok, I said I have a cautionary tale to tell you, and I’m going to tell you in a minute, but first, I want to invite you to my *FREE* live training that I will be hosting next Monday (January 29th) at 10:00 am Central Time.

In this training, I’m spilling the beans on how I built my house on budget, and I’m sharing the exact steps that I walk my clients through so that they, too, can build their house without going significantly over budget.

The training is called ‘How to Build Your Dream Home On Budget WITHOUT Sacrificing Your Must Haves’.

Ok, let’s get to that story. 

I was talking to one of my (amazing) business mentors recently, and we were talking about my ‘Before You Build’ program and how the result I help my clients with is building a house they absolutely love … and doing this within (or very close to) budget.

My business mentor happens to be building a home in the next year or two, so she’s in the beginning stages of planning for her future home, and she just bought her land.

When we were talking about my program and how I help my clients create a realistic budget for their home build so that they can actually stay on budget, she stopped me.

She said that she was just told by her loan officer that she ‘needed 25% over her loan amount cash-in-hand’ to account for budget overages. 

This extra cash was required to even secure her construction loan.

Her loan officer said this extra 25% cash-in-hand is required because (and I quote), ‘People are just going 25% over budget right now’.

The loan officer stated this as if it were a FACT.

It’s not a FACT though.

Again, I built my house on budget, and I have clients doing the same.

Let’s take a quick time out and put this 25% budget overage calculation into hard numbers.

Going 25% over budget on a $500K house equals an overage of $125K. OUCH! 😲

That is insane.

And, unfortunately, you might be hearing a similar stat (about what to expect for budget overages) from your loan officer (or another member of your home build team).

Here’s the deal …

Yes, prices on home build materials are higher in today’s market BUT it’s still NOT inevitable you’ll go over your budget by 25%.

It is NOT inevitable.

In full disclosure, I did go a tinch over budget. We were about 1% over budget (ONLY ONE PERCENT). 

To put that into perspective, a 1% budget overage on a $500K house is ONLY $5000 … which is WAY better than $125K.

Granted, I didn’t build my house in 2023, BUT the strategy I used to build within budget will work for you, too (even in 2024).

I know this because it’s working for my BYB clients TODAY (in 2024).

The moral of this story is to be careful who you listen to and question what they’re telling you.

3 KEYS TO BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME W/O BLOWING YOUR BUDGET

Also, remember that it IS possible to build a house within budget (or at least VERY close to budget).

And I want YOU to build YOUR house as close to budget as possible.

This is exactly why I’ve created a *FREE* on-demand training for YOU!

In this training (‘3 Keys to Build Your Dream Home without Blowing Your Budget’), we’ll cover:

  1. 3 COMMON MISTAKES that get in the way of staying on budget when building (and good news … YOU can avoid these!)
  2. 3 KEYS to build a house you absolutely LOVE and is perfect for YOUR family …WITHOUT blowing your budget
  3. PLUS, I’ll share the exact step-by-step home build prep process that I teach my clients inside my ‘Before You Build’ (BYB) group coaching program (psst … this simple 4 step process completely transforms my clients’ entire home build experience!)

Grab your (virtual) seat here.

Wanna know how I built my dream home within budget and without sacrificing my must-haves? It’s all in my FREE on-demand training, ‘‘How to Build Your Dream Home On Budget WITHOUT Sacrificing Your Must Haves’.

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I designed my own custom home from the ground up, inside and out. A home that is cozy, comfy, laid out perfectly for the way my family lives, and makes us happy every single day. Oh, and did I mention I did this all without blowing the budget?! 

Yep, it’s true. I’ve been there, done that, and actually lived through it … and you will too. Pinkie promise!

a.k.a. Caroline on Design

I’m Carrie Barker.

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