Ground Up: What to Consider When Building Your Dream Home

There is little as thrilling, rewarding, and overwhelming as building an entire home of your own. To create the spaces of your dreams, and fulfilling the scope of your future. To build the ideal place into which you and yours can grow, and making it entirely your own. But while the final image of your complete fantasy might rest easy and fully illustrated in your mind, the actual steps taken between the first turn of soil in a shovel to the finishing beauty of your new house can be daunting. With just a few tips and considerations, the process of building your dream home can be kept from becoming a nightmare.

Take the time to fully ascertain what your individual style is, and how you might want to express that in your home. Pinterest, Houzz, and magazine clippings can be a wonderful starting point and help you realize where you’re willing to become flexible, particularly in budgeting. For a more detailed approach, a hands-on experience like our Design Studio will allow you to get an in-depth sense of your options. You will want the chance to hash out your priorities, of both taste and pricing before beginning to consider the architect for your dreams. These desires will inform and shape every other choice you make throughout the process.

Solidify your absolute budget. Know how far you’re willing to stretch, and include numbers that extend to necessity; breakage, overtime, and any other potential fallout. While many of these details will fall to your architect to estimate, going in with an planned sketch of how much you’re willing to pay as a complete number can give you a stronger idea of what can actually be accomplished in that range.

In finding your priorities, think of which standards you find most important, and ensure the project will be lead in this way by choosing an architect that truly understands them. Conversation is key here, and meeting a minimum of four times with any architect being considered is not unusual. Can they discuss, describe, and provide prior clients whose projects were finished on time? Within budget? Of similar design to yours? Do they respect your desire for sustainable design and construction? Can they collaborate along your design hopes, and also understand the surrounding environment? Prioritization doesn’t fall merely in your home’s layout, design details, and amenities. It forms your entire experience. 

Building a home from the ground up is a tremendous endeavor, and the experience shouldn’t only be exciting once it’s completed. Every step of the process should bring not misery at the present, but joy for the future. This isn’t just a house, but the place in which you will grow for years to come; a space that could not be more entirely your own. From the first phone call to an architect, preparation is of the utmost importance, but so is giving your dream home the foundation of the ideal within every step.

From concept to creation, TMS Architects provides an unparalleled experience in home design. If you’re ready to build the home of your dreams, contact us via email or on the phone at 603.436.4274 to get started.