5 Things to Consider for a New Build

1. Find your Vision and Be Specific

If you’re planning on designing your home yourself, having a vision is everything. You must think about each room and get a clear idea of what they will look like. Make plans for the style of each room - the walls, the floor, the décor. Think about the themes you want and if you want a certain theme to be evident throughout the whole house or if you would like them to differ in each room. Every room needs a vision before the project begins.

Being a good decision maker is critical throughout this process as there are an infinite amount of choices for absolutely everything. You should have a clear vision of your own and do not make any decisions before thinking them through fully beforehand as any changes will cost time and money. 

If you feel like you don’t know what kind of style you like and you think that you need help, you could hire a designer if there is space in your budget. If you need other opinions, a trusted designer whose style you are already familiar with is a smart way to go.

For ideas and tips, go to our ‘Inspiration’ section. It is broken into two subcategories, ‘Interiors’ which is full of images to inspire you, whatever your style, and ‘Stories’, where you can get advice from other new homeowners and professionals, and tips and tricks on your design ideas.

2. Work together with your Family

Remember, if you are not the only one that is going to be living in your new home, you may want to thing about including everyone else. You and your partner should work on the design of your home together unless they have no interest in doing so. Think about letting your children design their bedroom or playroom.

You and your partner may have completely different styles and while they could work together, you may need to make compromises to build the dream home for both of you. Make sure you plan together so that the choices you make all go together.

3. Plan for Extra Storage Space Before the Build

When building your home, especially if it is a family home, extra storage space is key. As your family expands, the extra space is important – you can never have enough. 

If you don’t have enough room for extra storage in your designs, think about what you can move around in your floor plans, for example, sizing down a bathroom to add a pantry. Think about what is more important and what you can swap out for more storage space. You’ll be grateful in the long run.

4. Budget to Spend throughout the Build

When budgeting, remember that there will be money to spend throughout your build. You might want to make a change to the designs or there could be an upgrade needed that is out of your control. 

When you are building your home, the opportunities are endless. Every room becomes special to you, and you will want each one to be up to your standards. Just make sure not to splurge on every idea that comes your way or else you will see a strain in your budget. Remember to keep funds for the landscaping.

Keep money in your budget for this but remember not to spend it all in the beginning. You don’t want a half finished home, and if there are any tweaks you want to make, you can always make them down the line.

5. The Challenges you may Face

When building your own home, you’re going to have to be ready for things to go wrong. Even if you are the most organised client (or builder/project manager if this is a selfbuild) and you have the best professionals, there are so many tiny details that go into building a home that there is bound to be some problems. 

Make sure you remember this going into the project and when an issue arises, stay calm. You will reconcile the problem with your team and get things back on track.

The two big questions when you don’t like how something is turning out are ‘how much time will fix this?’ and ‘how much money to fix this?’. When you have your answer, you can decide if it is worth it to fix, or if you need to get creative.

We hope these 5 points help you as you begin your build process. Take each step at a time and make each decision with you and your dream home in mind!