There are people who stay away from building a custom home thinking it will be expensive and cumbersome. But the joy of designing and building something from scratch to your liking is a feeling unlike any other when you do it right. What exactly does that mean? Here are four things to look for when building a custom home in Washington or Oregon.
#1 Contractor’s Skills & Expertise
The choice of contractor when building a custom home in Washington is almost as serious as choosing a surgeon for a surgery. If they are inexperienced in the area and aren’t used to building in the PNW, you might run into problems. You need to carefully review the skills and expertise of the contractor before engaging them in your project. Take a look at their portfolio and the kind of projects they have executed in the past. Never go in blindly and hope for the best when it comes to building a home.
#2 Fix Your Budget
Fixing your budget is as important as finding the right contractor. You need to discuss the project carefully with the contractor beforehand so both of you are on the same page. From start to finish, you need to get an accurate quote from your builder and source funds at least 20% higher than what the contractor has quoted, just in case something doesn’t go as planned or you decide you want to add or modify your original building plan.
#3 Future Oriented Design
Your needs are likely to change down the road, and would most likely grow as your family gets bigger. So it’s very important that you work towards a design that leaves rooms for future expansions, or other modifications you may want down the road. When you are discussing the project with your builder, always make sure you ask about this. After all, they’ve built a lot more homes than you have and probably have great recommendations when it comes to planning for the future like this.
#4 Eco-Friendly Architecture
If there is one thing that characterizes modern homes, it’s their eco-friendly design. Everywhere in the world, we’re seeing serious concerns for environment and how we have stretched our planet to its limits. Cutting down on power bills and increasing the use of natural light has become as important as choosing the right storage plan for your kitchen. Also, in case you decide to sell, energy efficient homes tend to find buyers easily compared to those that rely on power for lighting, cooling and heating purposes.