To build or not to build a custom home? Dallas Fort Worth Texas

Written by David Dedwyilder - Re/Max Pinnacle Group & David Pannell -David Pannell Realty Group

To build or not to build a custom home? I have many clients that feel like they just cannot find what they are looking for in a pre-owned or even spec built home. The square footage is to big or to small; it's a strange floor plan, if it only had a mother in law suite, etc. It also has to do with the ideal location; we love the house but cant stand living by a busy road or next door to the city dump.

The idea of finding the ideal home believe it or not may get more difficult as the price goes higher. Its great that you have the high budget to work with but believe it or not there are fewer properties typically to choose from and many of these homes were built specific to that owner. Many homebuyers have a very specific home in mind. This ranges from the style, floor plan, bedroom counts, the flow of the house, etc. In some cases the only way this can be accomplished is to build exactly what you want.

Where to begin? There are many things to decide on building a home. First things first we have to have somewhere to build that home. Things you MUST KNOW when choosing the ideal lot. 1. What's your budget for the lot and lot improvements? Lot improvements we will let into later. How to budget for the lot. We have to have an estimate and depending on how tight your budget will depend on how much variance we have for budget. So we have decided that based on the amenity level, size, bedrooms, that wonderful kitchen etc the cost of the construction is $350,000 for example. THIS NUMBER is just for construction only. So we have a budget of 400k all in for the house and lot leaving us 50k for a lot. This may or may not be a problem.

Many buyers make the mistake of not laying out the entire budget for the LOT. Sometimes the lot can be a deal breaker or deal maker. Value of the location you are going to build is HUGE. Lets say one lot is 50k and one lot is 80k but the 80k lot has comps in the area 35% higher. Do we cut back on the size of the home a bit and or lower the amenity level to get in that higher end lot location? Yes!

Do we have lot improvements? things to look for include soil quality, does the soil require for piers? How deep? What kind of piers? How much is this going to cost? We find this out by asking if they have an engineers report or by acquiring this report. Dirt work--- Is the lot level? Benching a lot means getting it set up with a pad so that the house can be built level on this pad. THIS CAN BE EXTENSIVE OR VERY LITTLE AT ALL. Some lots are very deceiving, it may be a gradual slope that falls off from front to back appearing nearly level but actually may be 10 feet out of level. In a nutshell this type of lot may require just pushing dirt around. It may even require retaining walls. Just because a lot isn't level all over does not mean you have a ton of dirt work.

The real way to look at it is there a space for the pad that's level and what's the easiest way to build one if there is not a good level spot. Trees-- Oh boy! I love trees! OK, I like trees as well BUT TREES CAN BE EXPENSIVE IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE. How many trees are going to land in the pad site and flat work. Flat work are sidewalks and driveways. Lets say all the trees are located on the pad; do you have a treed lot anymore? Lets say they are spread out and it ends up there are 75 trees on the pad and flat work areas. OK, heres the RUT ROW part about trees and building. These trees are not just cut down they are completely removed typically. Lets say it costs 500 per tree. In the above example that's $37,500 to get them gone. Wow huh, well it may get worse, REMOVAL OF TREES may cause extensive piers due to all the dirt that was removed under the pad when removing the root balls.

This is some of the problems and ideas behind building a custom home. Let us help you find the perfect piece of property for your dream home. Elimate the problems by planning for everything.

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