Building your new home from scratch can be very fulfilling! You get to have a say in everything. The choice is yours—from the layout that best suits your family needs to every other aspect of the design process.
However, if you’re new to the whole process, it can quickly become overwhelming. So it helps to know what you’re getting involved in from the onset.
In this article, we’ll cover the benefits, drawbacks, and costs of building your new home.
PROS:
Built to your taste
By being involved from scratch, you get to build your home just as you’d love it. You have the choice of including or excluding any space in your home as you wish.
Whatever you want, it can be done and delivered as you like. But you’ll need to enlist the help of a reputable home builder. By working with a competent builder from the start, you can get what you want within your budget.
The right builder can also help you select other people you’ll be working with on the project, such as the architect, landscaper, and interior designer—while also acting as your point of contact throughout the project phase.
Choose the perfect spot.
Building your own home from the ground up means you get to choose your preferred land and location. Again, you’ll need to work with a reliable builder. Whatever location conditions you desire for your new home, your builder can help you get it.
Your builder will also conduct a feasibility study on the land to ensure that it is ideal for your new home. It is also important to keep in mind that land construction can be expensive.
Since you’re building from scratch, the process will require a lot of money and workforce. Example of expenses to expect include land clearing, utility, surveying, soil test, excavation, renovating, and more.
Less maintenance
One of the perks of building a new home is that everything is new. As such, maintenance and upgrades will be limited, even nonexistent, for a while, thus saving you significant time and money. A new home isn’t completely free of maintenance, however. To keep up with your newly built landscaping, you’ll probably need to do some yard work.
CONS:
Requires huge capital
Building a new house is typically more expensive than buying an already established one. The cost of a newly built home depends on several factors, such as complexity level, location, design elements, scale. For this reason, you’ll need to talk to your builder about the affordability of what you want.
Acquiring a construction loan can be complex.
According to Steve Kaminski, head of residential lending at TD Bank, you’ll need a construction loan to fund a home’s construction, which is a little more involved than having a conventional mortgage to purchase an existing home.
Building a home requires patience.
A simple house takes at least three months to build, but it could be longer. Keeping the project on track requires detailed planning. However, delays do occur—the most significant factor being the weather. Unfavourable weather conditions may cause work to be postponed. Your decision-making process can also influence project duration.
Finally, to build a house, you should have $309,917 on average. If you have between $161,595 and $484,516, try to see what options your builder can provide and if it suits you, go ahead!