If you are deciding to build your home from scratch, you will find that there are many things that you have already decided. Room sizes, the number of bedrooms, your preferred layout – you may have even begun to think about decorations like wall and floor coverings!
However, there is a lot more that goes into planning a house build than just this. Let’s take a look at some of those things.
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Utility Access and Functionality
You need to make sure that you have good access to all of your utilities within your home. If you have an issue that requires a look from a professional, you will need to ensure that they are able to get into fix things properly.
Electricity is often the easiest here, as most of the work will be done from your fuse box and the wiring behind your switches.
However, people might also need to go up into your loft on occasion to access wiring and other conduits, so ensure that the floor up there has proper support and safe access.
With both your electrics and plumbing, you’ll need to ensure that they are set up correctly and are inspected by a professional. Both of these are the lifelines of your home, so you don’t want to risk something going wrong.
Plumbing requires a lot of careful thought. You might have to put a hatch into the floor of your property to be able to access the crawlspace underneath and any plumbing that is down there.
This is a necessary step – but you need to remember that the floor will have to be lifted for someone to be able to access the hatch. To help ensure your pipes are draining efficiently and no bacteria builds up, you will need to organise a septic tank inspection.
Hall’s Septic Services point out that you will need it cleaning at least every two years if you are a family of four, potentially more depending on your water usage.
Also, while you might want to hide or disguise it so it doesn’t attract attention when sat in your garden, it still needs to be easily accessed.
Doors and Windows
You will have to make a decision about your doors and windows much sooner than you initially expected, especially if the ground has already been broken on site. This is a major order that can seriously delay the build, so the sooner you can order the style that you want, the better.
Think carefully about the doors and windows you want and how they will open. For example, you might love the look of floor-to-ceiling glass.
However, how is that going to work on a warm, sunny day when the sun shines on it constantly? It might be a little unbearable if you do not have adequate cooling throughout the rest of the house.
In this scenario, bi-fold doors might be the best option. They will allow you to open up the room on sunny days but still close things up when it is cold outside.
Small Details
Have you thought much about the small details yet? When building a home from scratch, you have to think about everything. Even if you are not the project manager, you are going to have to sign off on many of the fixtures and fittings throughout the home.
Some of these are going to be very obvious, like the style of lamp that you want in each room. You might have already decided that you want spotlights in the kitchen and elegant pendant light in the living room.
However, you might not have decided on the style of light switches that you want, or the style of the outlets, or the position of both.
Is there somewhere that you want more than normal? For example, it is common to have lots of outlets in the kitchen where you might have a lot of appliances.
You could also choose to have a light switch beside your bed so you can turn off your bedroom lights before going to sleep. Small decisions like this all need to be made as soon as possible so you can focus on some of the larger issues that might come with building your own home.
Build Up That Budget
When estimating how much a house build is going to cost, it is very easy to underestimate. You need to ensure that you have the budget for everything you have planned and then some – just in case something does go wrong.
Everything will begin to add up in cost. A door handle on its own might not cost a lot but door handles for upwards of twenty doors throughout your home might.
You need to make sure that you are able to cover all of these costs no matter how big or small they might be.
When constructing your budget for the first time, make sure that you have this much-needed contingency fund in place. Don’t forget to have fun with the build too!
You are in the unique position of being able to build your dream home! You need to make the most of it during this process!
