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Tips and Tricks to Building a Quality Home – Mistakes to Avoid

Building a new home in the Twin Cities can be an overwhelming project, and when you’re building a custom home from start to finish it can be downright terrifying. Don’t let fear prevent you from building your custom dream home. To help those who are interested in designing their dream home we’ve created a planning guide called Building a Quality Home. It’s a comprehensive guide to the process of home building. It includes tips as well as pointing out pitfalls to avoid.

This week we’ll be focusing on the top four mistakes to avoid when you’re starting your new home project;

• Focus on the floor plan – When you work with a custom home builder, you’re not just purchasing  a stock blue print, you’re partnering with a firm to design and build a custom home created specifically for your taste and lifestyle. The firm you choose will design a home based on your specifications so it’s a good idea to choose a firm that you like.  A good floor plan is a necessary part of building a home, but if you become so focused on the floor plan you can lose sight of budget, zoning issues and other building concerns that only a professional builder can navigate.

• Choosing the Lowest Bid – We all want to save money but choosing a builder based only on the cost of the bid is bound to end in disaster. Choose a builder with whom you trust, respect and one you’ve done a little research on. Talk to their past clients and find out how happy they are with the finished product. We’ll talk more about choosing the right builder in coming months but for now consider if you’d want to fly on a plane built by the lowest bidder.

• Not allowing enough time – When you decide to build a new home, especially a custom home, you want to move into as soon as possible. Any why not? This new custom home will have all of the features you’ve always wanted in a home. It will be built around the way you, and only you, live your life. Of course you’d want to have it completed as soon as possible. But give it time. Building a new custom home is an investment in both time and money so make sure it done right by not hurrying the project.

• Settling on a used house – You want to move, you need more space, a different location — whatever the reason a used home might look really appealing. The price is right, there’s no waiting to build what could possibly be the downfall to buying a used a home? For starters you’re purchasing someone else’s dream instead of building your own. And if it’s someone else’s dream you’re probably going to want to eventually remodel it. A kitchen remodel can cost from $20k to $200k and you’re living in the dust while it gets remodeled. If you want your dream home you’re going to find, in the long run, that building a new home can save time and money compared to buying a used home – and you get what you want the first time around.

Sign up for our free planning guide to learn more about building a custom home.