Back view of happy family is standing near their modern house and hugging
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There’s no denying that building a custom home is a huge investment of time and money. You’re going to want to go into the building process feeling as informed as possible on what you can do to ensure you end up with your dream home. With that in mind, I asked real estate agents to share their best advice on how to make building a custom home a success. Here’s what they had to say:
Build a cohesive construction team:
My best advice would be for a home buyer to consult with an experienced local agent and get recommendations for a well-respected architect and builder who are able to work on this project together.
Too often, buyers will hire an architect and then bring the plans to the builder without keeping the architect involved in the construction process. When this happens, a custom home usually doesn’t turn out exactly as the architect originally designed it. However, if the architect and builder are able to work together throughout the construction process, the home should turn out exactly as envisioned by the architect and homeowner.
Valerie Mitchener, Owner / Broker of HM Properties in Charlotte, North Carolina
Find the right project manager:
In my experience, I think the most important thing when building a custom home is to make sure you’re working with a good project manager. Ask the builder questions about their supervising project manager like, “What is their experience and current work load?” Ask if you can talk to any past clients who have worked with that project manager to hear about their experiences.
Remember, you can hire the best, most expensive, high-end builder, but a big part of your home-building experience and the quality of the workmanship is in the hands of the supervising project manager.
Eileen Allan, an agent with The Allan Assad Team of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty in Pittsburgh, PA
Budget, Balance, Build:
Budget: Be sure to leave room in your budget for additional construction costs and the unexpected, normally an additional 30% of the total costs.
Balance: Plan with your budget in mind, but build with your heart. Stay money-conscious, but don’t be afraid to splurge on the features that really matter to you.
Build: Find the right builder. Look for someone who routinely builds the same style of home that you are looking to build and make sure they are licensed, bonded, and insured.
Michael Bui, President of EQ1 Real Estate in San Jose, California
Try to avoid making last-minute design changes:
Last-minute design changes can cause cost and time overruns, which can greatly hurt the future homeowners. Sometimes these are unavoidable, but overruns are often caused by the future homeowners changing their minds after the work has already started. Always carefully weigh whether the true cost of any changes is truly worthwhile before bringing them up to your construction team.
John Manning, Managing Broker of RE/MAX On Market in Seattle, WA
Don’t over-customize (if you’re planning to sell eventually):
The biggest piece of advice I could give someone who is considering building a custom home is to make sure that you don’t over-customize the home. When you go to resell it, features that are very specific to your family‘s needs may not appeal to the general public.
Now, if this is your forever home, feel free to go wild and customize at will! If it’s not, you might want to make some decisions in terms of design and floor plan that are more classic and timeless, rather than specific. Always remember, your dream home, may not always be someone else’s dream when it comes to resale.
Yawar Charlie, a partner with The Aaron Kirman Group at Compass in Los Angeles, California