What constitutes a ‘custom home?’ If you build anything that is not an exact standard cookie cutter floor plan, then your home has crossed the line into being custom. The vast majority of homes are actually based on a standard floor plan and then it is modified some to fit the homeowners ideas. This modification results in a “custom home”.

When building there is almost always a lot of attention devoted to these five words, “How much will it cost?”

That is a very good question. We all need to make the most of our money. In the topics I am going to address there are MANY different opinions. But as general contractors, here are some ideas that we typically tell individuals who have limited resources.

AREAS TO ECONOMIZE IN:

1. For flooring, consider using a mid-grade carpet instead of hardwood floors. Or use the hardwood floors to accent your living room and install carpet for the rest of the home.

2. If choosing ceramic tile watch for discounted tile. I have bought lots and lots of tile that is very nice, but is deeply discounted due to overstock in a store or a change of products. Any time you buy tile be sure to buy at least 2 or 3 boxes more than you estimate you will need. Then if a tile gets broken you and replace it. I had a 20 pound turkey fall from my freezer onto my brand new hunter green ceramic tile. Four broken tiles later, I was very glad for the extra boxes in the basement. Tile is very durable, but a 20 pound turkey is unusual wear and tear.

3. You can economize on counter tops. Use marble top vanity tops which are regular stock items. Typically they come with the vanity cabinet. For kitchens consider using Formica instead of granite, marble, or a solid surface. There are some very nice tops that don’t have to cost thousands of dollars.

4. Consider using a good vinyl window that is not name brand. It is amazing how much more a window costs just because of the label on it. The name brand windows are very good, but there are also some less known manufacturers we have been very happy with.

SAVE YOUR MONEY FOR THINGS SUCH AS:

A counter top, carpet, or bath vanity can be replaced without too much of an ordeal, but things such as a timber roof system, adding attic trusses over a garage and finishing it later, making a spacious master suite, or putting in a fireplace are things which can’t wait. They increase the value of your home as well.

So think log and hard about your custom home and the decisions you will be happy with.

For more ideas and building tips, visit our site located at About Custom Homes or Cowboy Log Builders for more on our homes. Thanks for reading, Sue Lemmon

What goes into figuring the costs to build a home? Most of the time all we want to know is the bottom line, total cost or the cost per square foot. But, when we get the total we begin to question why.

I thought it might be helpful to take one of my Owner-Builder clients and break down everything that factored in when figuring his cost to build. I think it will serve to help you understand the various components of the process as well as provide you with fodder when questioning any quotes you get.

Home Owner Builder – Darren G.

Darren is as typical as I could find for an owner builder. He used some of his own labor and that of friends but he also hired many subcontractors to provide the needed labor. He built his home using some panelization for the wall framing but most of the materials came from purchases from local lumber yards, contractors, and other suppliers.

Here is the breakdown of his project. Your project will vary … maybe significantly, but it’s a good start. I’ve included percentages to give you a look at how the money is spread throughout a project.

• Cost/Pay-off for the land: 18%

Land costs often vary considerably from project to project and market to market. I’ve encountered percentages anywhere from about 5 – 50% of overall costs.

• Permits, fees, inspections (local building authorities): 4%

In some markets, the cost for permits and fees can be very high. Always check with your local building department as they will provide you with a complete breakdown.

• Architect & Engineering fees: 2%

You have many choices for your home design from purchasing stock house plans or getting plans “free” from your materials supplier, to hiring an experienced architect to design a truly custom home. The costs for this can go much higher.

• Land Improvement – Utilities, hook-ups, surveys, etc: 5%

Drilling wells, building engineered septic systems, and planting power poles are examples of how the cost of preparing your building site can be significant.

• Financing Costs & Reserves: 10%

I recommend that you always factor in the points, appraisals, fees and interest charges on your construction loan. A construction loan is really just another cost of building. Can be tens of thousands of dollars.

• Complete Materials Package (included some labor): 30%

Some materials purchases come with installation included as it did for Darren.

• Labor for construction (included some materials): 25%

In many cases, subcontractors supply their own materials. This is often the case with plumbers and electricians.

• Coach/Advisory fees: 4%

As an Owner Builder, Darren used professional help to guide him throughout the project. One major mistake avoided is worth it. This advisory fee is well under the cost of most General Contractors fees and therefore represents a savings.

• Miscellaneous (deliveries, insurance, etc.): 2%

Hopefully this view of Darren’s project will take some of the mystery out of what goes into pricing out a home building (or even a remodeling) project.

If you’re in the process of having a General Contractor quote you on a project, make sure you know what he is quoting and what he is omitting. For instance, he may not be factoring in financing costs or land costs among other things. If you’re remodeling, you can eliminate the land costs and probably lower the financing costs.

This is just one step in understanding the complexities of costing out a project.

You can learn so much more about home building and remodeling online. One great option is to take advantage of a very informative yet simple to follow *free* e-course that you can find by clicking here http://www.DreamHomeCreation.com You will also find other tips and tools, surveys, videos, and additional articles by Mel Inglima.

For anyone familiar with my writings, you know I’m a big supporter of the owner builder process. I’m also a huge supporter of getting professional help along the way. One element of home building or remodeling you can’t afford to slight is the design.

Good design precedes a good building process and getting what you want. Throughout my years coaching and advising home owners, I’ve learned that most people are simply not aware of the value that proper home design and blueprints provide. It has proven to be a big hurdle for people who don’t pay attention and gloss over this aspect. There are enough hurdles in the process of home building, don’t exacerbate the problem by starting with poor design.

Sources of House Plans and Home Designs

Quality design can come from various sources. Many people will be satisfied with well-developed and drawn stock house plans from plan books or online resources. For more custom type home designs an architect or residential designer is often preferred. Once you get into the higher end and uniquely customized homes an experienced architect is the choice for most.

Higher end custom home house plans will cost you. It is not unusual for these to cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. However, the majority of home builders and remodelers can find good plans or professional help in the range of several hundred to several thousand dollars depending on their project and the source of the plans.

Typically, you cannot buy stock plans for a remodel. It’s going to take a drafter, designer, contractor/builder, or an architect. The existing design and structure have to be analyzed and the additions have to dovetail nicely with them.

Let’s take a look at three specific benefits of good design.

These are three of the more important advantages of good design. We could come up with many more but these will, I hope, convince you of the need.

Building Materials Specification

The way to ensure that you get the type materials that you want is to get them specified in the design and blueprints. Whether you act as your own builder or hire a General Contractor, the way to convey to the workers what you want is to have your materials choices within the plans. This not only includes the lumber and structure, but continues on to windows, doors, siding, roofing, and finishing materials. Close work with your home designer is the way you get this.

The Feel of the Home

Most homes have a unique feel to them. Good designs create a feel that is very apparent. What you really want is the look and feel that really suits you. This doesn’t happen by accident. You’ll likely have to look at many homes before you know what you want. From the exterior to the interior, from the size of the home to the size of the room, from the location of spaces to the location of various rooms, many factors go into the feel that you get. Its all in the design.

The Ease and Speed of Construction

If your subcontractors are not given the proper instructions they will not know how to bid or build your home. You won’t know what you’re getting and you will endure delays and mistakes. The process could very well bog down in the process. Long, drawn out building projects, especially when remodeling, are the curse of home building.

CONCLUSION

Spend the extra time up front to get good plans. Do whatever homework you need to do to make your decisions about style and materials before you launch into building. Start with great plans if you want a great home. Now, go create the home of your dreams!

You can learn so much more about home building and remodeling online. One great option is to take advantage of a very informative yet simple to follow *free* eCourse that you can find by clicking here http://www.DreamHomeCreation.com You will also find other tips and tools, surveys, videos, and additional articles by Mel Inglima.

Green is the new black, so to speak. Everybody is talking about going green and even building green. So what does it really mean to build green?

Defining green has been a challenge, even for those who are as green as you can get. To sum up green, the question would be – what type of environmental impact does the materials you are using have?

Assessing impact can mean on the front end or the back end. For example, in some instances, the product you use in building your home might not be green to build, but the results of that product can be beneficial. A good example would be if a window is installed in a way that maximizes the collection of low winter sunlight and blocks the summer sun, this saves energy and is green.

Because defining green is difficult, standards are starting to be organized and listed in the GreenSpec directory. This directory bases decisions about products on categories such as energy-consuming appliances and VOC-emitting paints, specific thresholds can be established relatively easily. But for many criteria, the lines are much fuzzier and judgment calls are required.

It is important also to note that multiple criteria often apply-in other words, a product may be considered green for more than one reason. Take recycled plastic lumber, for example: it’s made from recycled waste, it’s highly durable, and it can obviate the need for pesticide treatments. Straw particleboard products are made from agricultural waste materials, and they are free from formaldehyde off-gassing. A product with multiple benefits could qualify for GreenSpec on the basis of its overall environmental performance, even if it doesn’t meet a threshold in any one category alone. Conversely, a product with one or more green attributes might not qualify if it also carries significant environmental burdens. For example, wood treated with toxic preservatives has advantages in terms of durability, but it would not be listed in GreenSpec due the health and environmental hazards it represents.

The primary intent with any green building products directory is to simplify the product selection process.

Another way to build green is to conform to what is called LEED Standards. LEED or ‘The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’ is a Green Building Rating System™ that encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.

There are many resources available for consumers so that they can adapt their building materials and design to LEED standards. Building this way is probably the simplest way to go and there are many resources available to assist you.

So should you build green because it is popular? Not necessarily. You should build green because it is what will ultimately provide a ‘green’ future and not a black one.

Modular homes are playing a crucial role in speeding disaster recovery in areas hit hard by recent disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. Because of the speed of construction, durability of construction, advanced engineering and lower costs, builders are increasingly turning to modular construction to replace what so many people lost and to establish structures that will better-stand the forces of severe weather in the future.

Modular homes, also called systems built homes, were long misunderstood by government oversight agencies and the general public, often confused with “manufactured homes” and mobile homes. However, perception has quickly changed as the affordability, energy efficiency, durability and speedy construction of modular homes has become more publicized and understood.

“Many people thought that modular homes were little more than cookie-cutter manufactured mobile homes,” says Grant Smereczynsky, CEO of Building Systems Network, a nationwide provider of custom-designed modular homes. “But this assumption could not be further from the truth. In reality, modular homes are meeting housing needs nationwide, both for affordable, high-quality housing and for an expedient solution to help those displaced by hurricanes and other natural disasters. They are not cheaply built manufactured homes, but are engineering marvels that are stronger, more energy efficient and more cost effective than traditional site built homes.”

Builders throughout the Southeast, in areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina, are using modular homes to rebuild cities and replace the government issued trailers that have served the residents as temporary housing since the disaster. Builders in Mississippi and Alabama have recently announced modular home designs that can withstand 150 – 160 MPH wind speeds.

Modular homes are being built at an average cost that is 20% less than traditional site built homes in New Orleans, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Architects are working with modular home designers in New Orleans to create homes and buildings that emphasize the cities historical and cultural roots, as in the famous French Quarter of the city. Area builders say that modular construction is particularly cost efficient for them because of the high cost and short supply of labor and materials for on-site rebuilding.

Modular homes are constructed in pieces in controlled factory environments. The pieces are then shipped to the site where they are assembled. Because the pieces need to be shipped, they are built much stronger than traditional site built homes, using ten to fifteen percent more construction materials than are normally used. These safety benefits are passed on to the homebuyer, which is especially crucial in areas susceptible to hurricanes and other severe weather situations.

Modular homes are more energy efficient that traditional homes, leading the way in the green building movement, and are constructed in weeks rather than months, reducing the interest and number of payments on construction loans, thus reducing the overall cost to the homebuyers. Since modular home builders provide 80 to 85 percent of the home, the buyer avoids the risk of giving money to a builder and not having the home built to their specifications, or of having their price inflated by numerous change orders. All of these savings make modular homes a perfect solution for people trying to rebuild their lives and need all the financial resources they can spare.

Additionally, unlike modular homes, site-built homes are exposed to unfavorable weather conditions during the construction process, making the home vulnerable to water or weather damage, and increasing the costs of the project by adding additional materials and replacement components.

For more information on modular homes, visit http://www.buildingsystemsnetwork.com.

Life is full of decisions – If your are planning to build a custom home, your decision making skills will need to be improved dramatically. One of the most important decisions will be: who will build my future quality home?.

The first step is to have an idea about the scope of the project. For instance, you will need to know the size of your proposed custom home, how many rooms, how many baths, etc. If you have a copy of the floor plans, it will be easier for the custom home builder to give an accurate bid. Note: These guidelines also apply for house remodeling jobs.

The process of selecting a general contractor to build your custom home will require several meetings to exchange information:

At this point you are probably wandering, where do I find good licensed General Contractors?. There are several reliable sources:

• Start with the web. You can find anything on the internet, as long as you use the right keywords. In this instance, you might want to try the following keywords in your favorite search engine: “licensed general contractor” + “state where you live”.
• Better Business Bureau. Your local Better Business Bureau will provide a list of Homes builder that meet your criteria.
• The local home builder association can provide with members that will meet your needs.
• Visit the construction sites and try to get the names of the builders.

First Meeting:Before the first meeting, you will need communicate with the home builder and request him/her to bring proof of his/her documentation:

1. Current General Contractors License.
2. Current Liability Insurance.
3. Current work comp insurance, if the builder has his own employees.
4. The home builder must be a member of the local builder association or a member of the Better Business Bureau
5. Make sure that the General Contractor has a permanent address and not a P.O. Box.
6. Review pictures of his work portfolio.
7. Ask your potential builder if he will get all the necessary permits. If he ask you to do it as a home owner, He is not the home builder you want. He might have a problem with his license.
8. Ask your builder to supply you with references of his previous jobs.

If your potential candidate breezes through your interview, it will be time to go over your project.

1. • You, the homeowner, needs to be able to visualize the every room and corner in the house to be able to explain your special needs to the home builder.
   • If you have floor plans available, provide a copy of the floor plan. It will be easier for the General Contractor to provide a more accurate estimate on your project.
   • Request a detailed bid on your project with separate material and labor components. In this way, you will be able to compare different bids.
   • Ask for the warranty in writing

Bids:
Before selecting your contractor, you will need at least 3 proposals. All the agreements and verbal promises should be put in writing to protect all parties involved on your project.The contract:

In addition to the start and end dates of the project, the contract needs to have a detailed description of all the work to be performed. It also needs to include the total cost of the project and a schedule of the payment to the General Contractor.

Some additional items to include are:

• Daily clean up around the work site and final clean up.
• A binding arbitration clause in case of disagreements.

One final word. Before signing any contract make sure you understand all the components. It is your home. You have a right to ask questions and explanations. Do not make your decision on price alone; reliability, quality of work , and on time performance are also important.Remember that the Contractor you select will end up knowing you better than your doctor. You and your family will see the contactor during the project every day. The relationship between the home builder and the client is crucial for the success of the project.