If you’re planning to build a home for the first time, I imagine that going over budget when building your home is one of your biggest concerns. This fear is very valid considering most people do (unfortunately) go over budget when building a home. However, this doesn’t have to be YOUR story!

In this episode, I’ll share why *most* people go over budget when building a home. Just remember that you don’t have to be like *most* people! You can do the opposite and you’ll have a much better chance of building your home without blowing your budget.

Psst … Wanna know how I was able to build my house within budget and how you can too? Register for my FREE on-demand training, ‘3 Crucial Steps to Build Your Dream Home Within Budget (regardless of the current home build market)’.

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Many people who build a home think they can make design decisions along the way … and tweak their budget along the way … and focus on one little piece of their home build at a time without understanding the full picture of what they want their home build experience to be like.

Guess what those people end up with … a mortgage that is WAY higher than they are comfortable with.

I don’t want this to happen to you, so let’s take a look at 3 of the top reasons people creep significantly over their budget when building a home.

3 REASONS PEOPLE GO OVER BUDGET WHEN BUILDING

The first two reasons go hand-in-hand, so I’m gonna combine them. 

1+2. LACK OF VISION FOR FUTURE HOME + DON’T HAVE A REALISTIC BUDGET

Reason 1 is a lack of vision for your future home and reason 2 is not having a realistic budget. 

Now, what do I mean by these two reasons go hand-in-hand? Well …

Without a very clear vision of your future home, your builder will be unable to give you an accurate (or realistic) bid on what it will cost to build your home.

Many people who build a home are so excited to get started that they don’t take the time to really consider all aspects of how they want their home to look and feel and function.

They don’t take the time to thoroughly consider their layout (i.e. floor plan needs) and their general finishes before they have builders quote their future home cost.

Here’s the problem with this approach … if you don’t have a clear vision of your home that you clearly communicate to your builder, your quote will be based on an incomplete picture of what you want in your future home.

If you aren’t honest with your builder (and yourself) long before you break ground, then your builder can’t come up with an accurate bid.

And without an accurate bid (that is based on EVERYTHING you envision in your home), it’s very likely that you will go into your build WITHOUT a realistic budget, and, consequently, you can kiss your chances of staying on budget ‘goodbye’.

Of course, you can’t predict everything; some issues will come up that are out of your control (hello, crazy lumber prices in the early 2020s) and will require a change order (e.g. a discontinued product), BUT many change orders and ‘upgrades’ are simply a result of a lack of planning before you build.

3. ACCEPTING THE LOWEST BID

Ok … again, the first two reasons many people go over budget is that they lack a vision for their future home which leads to the second reason … an unrealistic budget for their home.

The third reason people can go over budget is by accepting the lowest bid. 

Not all ‘lowest bids’ are bad. However, sometimes when you accept the lowest bid from a builder in hopes of saving money, you’ll find that you actually go WAY over that initial bid as you get into the thick of building your home.

And at that point, unfortunately, it’ll be too late to change course and you’ll have no choice but to continue increasing your construction loan and your subsequent mortgage.

So keep this in mind … if you get three or more bids from builders and one bid is significantly lower than the others, I recommend that you really give thought to how this bid was determined before you sign on the dotted line with that builder.

YOU CAN BUILD YOUR HOME WITHIN BUDGET!

Now we know that *most* people go over budget, BUT I have good news for you … you CAN build your home within budget (or at least very close to budget)!

Going over budget when building a home is NOT inevitable. This is YOUR story and YOU are in control of how the story ends.

You CAN stay on budget … it just takes the right planning and preparation before you ever even think about breaking ground on your new home. 

I’m here to help YOU plan and prepare the RIGHT way :).

If that sounds good to you, I invite you to register for my *FREE* on-demand training: 3 Crucial Steps to Build Your Dream Home Within Budget (regardless of the current home build market).

In this free training, you will learn three simple keys to building your dream home close to budget without sacrificing your must-haves. 

Focusing on what you CAN control while building a home and implementing what I teach in this FREE training has the potential to keep you WAY closer to your budget than you might be without nailing these 3 keys.