Don’t Let Building Your Home Bankrupt You!
Do your homework now and reap the benefits later.
Personalizing
your home beyond the basics calls for custom design, which enables you
to determine layout, size and any special requirements and unique
features you desire. While the
final costs to build your custom-designed home will be driven by your
specifications, there are steps you can take to keep these costs down,
while ensuring your home meets your special needs.
Obviously,
some home features cost more than others, with the bathroom and kitchen
generally being the most expensive areas in the
home. Look for closeout bargains on fixtures and lighting in these
rooms. You may want to search the Internet for these specialty items.
For instance, eBay
has name-brand hardware and fixtures that can be purchased for a
fraction of the retail cost if you’re willing to bid on the items.
It’s
also important to realize that the details in your home design can make
a big difference in price. To cap costs in this area, begin estimating
construction expenses before you select your final blueprints. In doing
so, consider these items:
Site Preparation
Preparing
the site for your home can be costly. Building on flat lots cost less.
Extra work, such as clearing trees,hauling dirt and blasting rock, adds
up quick and can make a huge difference in the cost of site preparation.
Home Size
Oddly
enough, when building a home, it’s best to work with even numbers.
Round off your home size to increments of two feet. This will help
reduce wasted materials. It’s also more economical to build a home that
is less than 32 feet deep. If the depth exceeds 32 feet, your roof
trusses may need to be specially designed and will cost
a great deal more.
Home Shape
Rectangular-
and boxed-shaped homes cost less to build. The more angles and corners
in a home, the higher the costs because of the additional labor and
materials needed.
Cost Overruns
In
most cases, the finished home cost more than the original price. The
goal here should be to keep this gap from widening to the point that it
causes you hardship or distress. To do this, try to minimize changes to
the plans and tackle
unpredicted problems as efficiently as possible. Planning is the key
here. But even with the best planning, it is best to allow and
additional 10% to cover unexpected costs.
Inflation, Economy
Home building costs generally
rise 3% to 6% annually. If you are planning now and expect to build later, remember to factor in the inflation rate.
A full array of tools are available online to help with this process. Go to Building-Cost.net
to research up-to-date construction costs from the largest construction
databases on the Web. Using this site, you will find current material
prices, man hour estimates, crew rates, and calculators to determine
material quantities for bearing walls, joists systems, concrete walls
and more.
Useful Resources:
