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Building a home is a huge and exciting step! It can be very fun, but it’s also not something you want to go into unprepared. Educating yourself before and during the process is so helpful to avoid “I wish we had…” moments down the road. There are a lot of decisions, emotions, and time that go into the process of home building. Preparedness and perspective have kept me in line. For example, when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I find it helpful to remind myself that I chose this process and that I’m very lucky to have these “problems” facing me. We did a few things beforehand to help us feel prepared. We met with our realtor to help us understand the value of our current home and, together, we made a list of projects that need to be done in our current home. We didn’t want to shell out a large sum of money all at once for that. Highly recommend this! Ultimately, the most important thing for me to remember, as much as I want it to be, our home is just not going to be completed to my full wishes the day we move in. Budgets are a very real thing and setting those expectations from the beginning might save you some heartache!
My Top 5 Tips
I’d like to point out is that we are not seasoned builders. This is our first time building a home, so we’re far from experts. But if you’re in the same boat, I hope you find our biggest takeaways helpful!
Tip 1: Put your money toward square footage.
If budget is a priority (which let’s be honest… it is for most if not all of us!), the best advice I was given is to put your money toward the square footage/footprint of your home. It’s way more difficult to add more square footage to your home later than it is to finish a few interior spaces to your complete liking. For example, we opted for add-on rooms and bump-outs in order to increase the livable square footage and plan to refinish our basement in a few years. While some may disagree, I’m very confident in this decision because it will give us time to really learn our family’s needs in the home and how the basement can best function for our family. A win-win!
Tip 2: Save money by taking on base-level builder options.
It’s tempting to want the best of the best for your brand new home. I get it. But another way we decided to save money at closing is by choosing the builder’s options for a few areas of the home that I know I’ll want to swap or update anyway. We did this for all secondary bathrooms. We did choose the wall tile we wanted, but decided to use the builder options for the floor tile and the vanities. Here’s why: I know I’m going to be changing out the vanities, in which case the tiles underneath will need to be replaced anyway! The only options for vanities from our builders are built into the floor. I want vanities with legs, so tiles would need to be replaced underneath anyway. So we saved money by using their “free” options knowing that we’ll remodel these spaces as soon as we can. We also did this with all lighting fixtures. Lighting plays a big role in the overall aesthetic of your home, so if you’re trying to give it that custom feel, it’s best to curate your own options. Lastly, I think it’s best to take the builder’s options for all hardware—doors, cabinetry, etc. These are easy things to swap out down the road that have a big impact on the aesthetic of the home. Just make sure the sizing can accommodate any future swaps! You don’t want to be filling holes and re-drilling.
Tip 3: Be prepared to go above base cost and prepare for sticker shock.
I’ll put it bluntly: It is SHOCKING how quickly upgraded selections will add up! If you’ve walked through a model home from your builder, chances are it’s filled with upgrades. So what you’ve seen likely isn’t what you’re going to get… without paying for it. The space we invested in the most was our kitchen because, for our family, that’s the heart of the home. And guess what? It still isn’t exactly what I wanted! We opted to upgrade our cabinets for a recessed option instead of raised panel option. This came at a pretty hefty cost. (Side note: the cabinets we chose were called “Charleston”, so I took it as a sign since that’s an aesthetic I’ll always aim for!) My next upgrade request was to bring the cabinets to the ceiling. Especially after upgrading our cabinetry faces, I had complete sticker shock when they told me how much this would cost! I was devastated. We budgeted, I gave up xyz, we have equity in our current home… and I still wasn’t able to have the kitchen of my dreams. But guess what? I’ve come to terms with it. This is our home and I refuse to let the homes of Instagram make me feel like my brand new, custom kitchen isn’t beautiful. Would I love the gorgeous custom look of built in cabinetry? Of course! Would I really be using the cabinets that are 10 feet high? Likely not. I’m excited for what we do have–white countertops, a huge island, room for custom built-in benches, and a family dining area.
Tip 4: Have an idea of outlet placement and lighting placement ready to go.
This is something we simply hadn’t put much thought into prior to our meeting. Again, we’re first-timers! Here are some potentially “non-obvious” places we placed outlets and lights.
- In the floors by the couches. Though not necessary, this is why you sort of need to be one step ahead with how you envision the layout of your spaces. I know exactly what I want our seating layout to look like, and I love lamps on consoles/end tables, so we put floor outlets on each side of the living room where the couches will be. Note: Some people strongly advise against floor outlets! They could be a nuisance if you want to change the layout of your space in the future. I ensured that ours are recessed outlets, so I could always cap and cover them if need be.
- In the closets. Another space that we added outlets was our walk-in closets and our hall/utility closets. I added them in my bedroom closet for any steaming/ironing needs. My hairstylist said she put outlets in her closet for a wine fridge and I thought that was genius! We also added outlets in all hall closets for vacuum storage.
- In the pantry. If you have a walk-in pantry, adding outlets here is a great idea. We plan to store our microwave in here, so I immediately knew we’d need at least one outlet. I know we’ll be adding more small appliances once we do custom cabinetry in there. Our pantry is a sort of narrow walkway, so we did one on the right near the front, one on the left near the front, and one along the back wall.
- In the soffits outside. We have a front porch on our home, so we put exterior outlets in the soffits of the porch for our Christmas lights. We also added them on either side of the front door.
- Lighting: Our builder provided lots of great overhead lighting placement, but we also added them in hall and linen closets—this wasn’t included.
While on the topic of outlets and electrical, I strongly advise you to do a walkthrough of the home BEFORE drywall and take videos of all the wiring/plumbing/ducts in each room! Also be sure to say aloud which room you’re in on the video, as it all starts to blend together! This is why I recommend videos rather than photos.
Tip 5: Create a home that feels like and functions for YOU.
Choose timeless. Choose trendy if it makes you smile. Choose bright colors, or light colors, or no color at all! This is your home. What works for someone else and their family or fits in a budget in a different part of the country, doesn’t mean it’s best for you. Don’t let the beast of comparison steer your decisions. I helped myself avoid this and keep my goals in focus by creating inspiration boards to keep my overall vision in line. I used the Canva app for each room and put design inspiration images together. You can also gather inspiration on Pinterest and make boards by room there! I’ve included my inspiration below, or you can see and shop my inspiration boards here.
I hope you found this helpful! Building a home is a rewarding and exciting process. Having an understanding of the big picture, as well as the small details, can make it go as smoothly as possible.
