Building a custom home can be both a thrilling and exhausting undertaking. On one hand, you know that the vision and watching it come to life are purely because of you. On the other hand, you are most likely looking at an exponentially longer timeline and probably a little bit more money out of your savings. Tough to decide, right? Not if you’ve already made the decision to visit the Restumping Melbourne blog. Welcome! (or welcome back!) Restumping Melbourne is a team of talented and passionate individuals whose number one goal is to properly reinforce the foundation of your home or business through reblocking, restumping and underpinning solutions. We keep you safe and comfortable from the ground up – literally – so our interest extends to all sorts of facets of construction and renovations. Today’s post focuses on setting you up for success and offering insight into a few different things to keep in mind if you take the plunge and decide to build a custom home.

The best way to go into the process is with all of the facts. There’s a misconception, which The Washington Post details here about the sequencing of the process. Many think that they can find their perfect lot and then the builder with their plans and vision, but that’s problematic. You really need to link up with your ideal builder first and then choose the lot together. The reasoning is simple, these builders know what will work and where. If you buy the lot first, you could be very disappointed if your dreams can’t come to life there.

That’s not to say that you should leave the choice of lot entirely up to the builder. Know the construction market and the real estate market. There are a lot of “spec” homes on the market right now, which are different than custom homes. With a spec home, the builder purchases the lot, designs the home and then “speculates” that they’ll be able to sell it for a profit.

Of course, there are always questions and frequently confusion about how to and much to pay for a custom home. The key word here that you want to know is “outsale.” The outsale price is a direct output of a builder “speculating” what they think they’ll be able to sell a home for once its complete. Once you and the builder know this amount, the builder will take out hard costs and soft costs. What are the differences? A hard cost is directly related to the actual build, while soft costs are anything associated like permitting fees. You take out these numbers and voila – you have a clear look at what you can expect to pay out of pocket for your dream custom home.

We hope that this helps paint a clearer picture. Questions? Comments? Let us know. The Restumping Melbourne is here for you by email, phone or in-person and wants to talk!