So, you want to build your dream home, but don’t want to engage with a builder because you don’t have a design?
If you don’t know where to begin or have never designed or built a home before, read on to discover the four reasons why you must speak to your builder first.
Not knowing where to begin is a common circumstance among people wanting to build a custom home. Through social media and reality TV shows, we tend to think that if we want to design our dream home then we need to speak to an architect first.
If your architect is prepared to project manage and liaise directly with the builder and you have an unlimited budget to spend, then this approach can work. However, the vast majority of architect-designed homes are never built, because an architect doesn’t work within a client’s budget, which makes their dream home exactly that … a dream.
Your home should be designed to suit your actual budget!
Although an architect-designed home can meet a client’s brief and exceed the client’s expectations, it often exceeds the client’s budget.
The primary reason that an architect’s design doesn’t meet a client’s budget is because the architect does not have the information required to accurately quote a build. Unfortunately, as an architect only has limited knowledge of building costs, they generally underestimate the cost of what they are designing. This usually results in an unobtainable dream home.
Why would you want that?
From early in the planning stage, your expectations have not been met and your dream home becomes unobtainable, meaning that any achievable design is less than perfect and won’t meet your expectations, leaving you disheartened and defeated already.
Designing your home should be a collaborative approach to ensure a smooth and enjoyable design and build experience!
Designing a home should be a collaborative endeavor among all parties – where you, the owner, still retain control. Your builder will work with their trusted designer, their pricing knowledge, and you to design a home that works to your budget, your brief, and your expectations.
Getting your design and specifications right, at the beginning, saves money, time and stress.
Save your money and time!
An architect will charge you for design alterations. If your design isn’t achievable, then you’ve wasted not only thousands of dollars, but also months of your precious time.
A builder will only charge you a fraction of the cost of an architect to work with you and their designer. This often includes multiple design changes at no extra charge, plus access to their combined wealth of knowledge of the residential building industry.
A builder will carry out estimates at each stage of the design process to ensure that budgets are met and your dream home remains obtainable. They will conduct thorough investigations into your build site to foresee any potential financial implications of a difficult site or architectural feature.
Difficult blocks especially will benefit from a builder, as they can foresee high charge items such as spoil removal costs, engineering costs, and logistics.
One point of communication to ensure you are heard!
Take advantage of one company looking after you and your interests, from dream through to completion. Don’t let yourself be treated like another number. Work one-on-one with your trusted, custom home builder and their team of specialists.
Make sure you get the home you want and deserve: speak to a quality custom home builder first!
We have developed a free guide that is beneficial for anyone who is at the stage of designing their own home. I know that you will enjoy it – it’s packed with super-practical information covering the 7 critical things you must know before you start designing your new home.
