If you’ve made the decision to build a custom home, you may find yourself wondering what to do next, especially if you’ve never built a new home before.
Here’s how to go from dreaming to taking action and getting it done.
Your first major step is designing your home and creating custom building plans.
There are two primary ways to approach this. You could choose to work with an architect (or a designer, which we will talk about in future blog), or work with a Design Build builder.
A “Design Build” builder is a builder who – as the name implies – will design your home, and then build it.
A “builder” in the typical sense is one who does not “Design Build,” but instead is given plans designed by someone else and then builds the home from those plans. In this capacity, the builder does not have any input into the design and creation process.
At Charter Bay we are happy to work with our clients in either capacity, partnering with the homeowner and their architect, or working with them one-on-one as their Design Build builder.
Regardless of which approach you choose, be sure to seek out an architect or builder who has experience designing and building the kind of home you’re looking for.
Most importantly, find someone you are completely comfortable with. This is critical because you will be working very closely with this person and their team during the entire process. We often joke that this partnership is much like a short-term marriage.
If you choose to have an architect design and create your plans, we strongly suggest that you also select your builder early in the process so that you, your architect, and home builder can work together as a team in designing and building your new home.
When building a new home, it’s important to surround yourself with a full team of professionals from the very beginning, capitalizing on the unique skills and experience both the home builder and the architect bring to the process. Doing so will result in a better home, and will help to reduce unwanted surprises during the process.
If you find a Design Build builder you are comfortable with, selecting them to design and build your new home can be an excellent alternative.
The benefit of having your builder handle the design process means that all construction aspects are considered from day one, and when construction actually begins, your builder knows the plans inside and out.
At Charter Bay we utilize a team of architects and design professionals to design and build our homes. We believe very strongly that our job is to make this process a smooth and enjoyable one for our clients.
Whether you decide to start the design process of your home with an architect, with an architect and your general contractor together, or with a “design build” home builder, it’s helpful to have a general idea about the kind of home you want to build, and the types of details you are interested in.
You may want to check out our recent post called Using Technology To Build Your Custom Home. We discuss the benefits of using Houzz and Pinterest to find and organize ideas for your new home. Both are great tools to use in communicating your ideas to your architect and home builder.
If you are thinking about building a new home in the Tampa Bay area, please visit our About Us page to learn more about Charter Bay.
