Making the decision to move forward with custom home building Houston is a choice that should not be taken lightly. It requires a substantial personal and financial commitment to undertake.
New home construction is a journey that can take anywhere from 12 months to 24 months from architectural design through construction completion.
Custom home building Houston is likely to take longer than this period if you include the time spent looking for a house building site and collecting design ideas.
The pre-construction activities require direction and patience in managing. When it comes to designing and building a house, there are no short cuts.
Diligent planning and preparing are paramount for a successful design development process and the creation of an accurate complete set of construction documents.
This is key to the success of the project that you adhere to the general process for your desired results. The custom home building Houston process includes of number of sequential steps like locating a house site to obtaining a permit.
We provide custom home building Houston that reflects their lifestyle and family needs
Research Home Plans that Fit Your Target Budget
In most cases, the custom house builders begin with the research of photo images of homes and products that the owner has indicated that they like for their property.
The portfolio of images and house ideas that the owner collects will prove to be invaluable when you begin to share them with the design team. They set the foundation for communicating your ideas for your priorities.
Developing your feasible concept investment budget amount is also important task at this point. Planning your home investment amount allows your trusted advisers to calibrate your wish list with the owner’s actual lifestyle needs.
This is essential for your Houston custom home builder to manage the items of your home design want list with your financial needs.
The balancing of your proposed budget with your home’s lifestyle needs will facilitate a smooth transition from design to completion.
In so many cases owners find themselves placing completed plans out to bid only to have the proposal bid returned well over the investment budget. This causes further design expense and major delays in completing your house construction project.
Select a House Building Site
Finding a lot for custom home building Houston can take an extensive amount of time and energy. Locating your house building site requires tireless research of neighborhoods, schools and community amenities.
If you are planning on living in an older established Houston neighborhood, this is likely to take some time due to the fact that most older neighborhoods do not have vacant lots.
The most likely method an owner can buy a house site is purchase an older distressed house to tear down for your future building site.
Finding your house lot has a huge impact on the features of your homes architectural design style, form and characteristics.
The design process begins with familiarizing yourself with the community’s deed restrictions. These deed restrictions will normally define the minimum standards for the formation of a house.
These include set back requirements, height restrictions and minimum house square footage. These standards intend to create community continuity in the interest of the neighborhood.
The deed restrictions will also define minimum standards for the square footage that is allowed to be built in the community. So, you can see the importance of reviewing these standards before you purchase as well as before you starting house design.
Hire a General Contractor
You should hire a general contractor early in the process. Your custom home builder serves as a trusted adviser for all preconstruction and post construction close out.
The house builder can assist you in selecting a lot, facilitating design and developing your concept investment budget. Your Houston builder can provide value engineering advice suggestions for better features.
The house building contractor guides the owner through home building process as well. They develop schedules, conduct quality inspections and facilitate progress meetings with the relevant construction team.
The primary goal of custom home builders is to plan, prepare and execute the construction documents. They are responsible for all onsite construction activities like quality control and scheduling.
They are also responsible for many off-site management activities such as purchasing, contract & insurance administration and the financial affairs of the project.
Your house builder plays a pivotal roll from concept through completion for the custom home building Houston project.
Assemble a Design Team
The owner must hire an architect if they do not hire a design to build contractor. In either case, a design team must be assembled to efficiently design your house plans and necessary construction documents.
The design team consist of a custom house builder, an architect and the owners. The owner may want to bring an interior decorator into the mix for color coordinating if this is a skill they do not have.
The design team is responsible to the owner for developing a house design that reflects their wish list, their lifestyle and balance these to the owner’s financial means.
The design team’s primary responsibility is to take the inspiration images that the owner provides them and convert the images into sketches that reflects the design criteria provided by the owner.
Their team’s secondary responsibility is providing the owner with direct answers to the owner’s questions and providing professional services throughout their relationship.
Design Your House to Your Financial & Lifestyle Needs
As mentioned before developing a target financial investment budget provides a benchmark to measure the development of the design process.
The initial budget establishes a guide line to begin the preliminary conceptual design too. This is usually communicated by means of a dollar per square foot figure times the design living area square footage.
Other than the architectural preferences of the owner, the design team should use the questionnaires and critical insights shared during the home design process by the owner.
These lifestyle needs are reflected in such activities as how much entertainment the family conducts, the number of children and their activities and the personal habits of the owners.
It is these types of events that play a determining factor in the actual design needs.
Creating Construction Documents
The end result of the house design process is the development of construction documents for permitting and construction.
These documents consist of structural engineering drawings, soils reports, Home Owners Association approval and property surveys.
Construction documents play a role in being incorporated into the actual house design plans.
The soil reports will recommend the foundation system for the structural engineer to use in the calculations and details of developing the foundation.
The property survey is used to properly place the proposed improvements on the property. The deed restrictions are used as guidelines to comply with the architectural compliances recommended.
Home plans will be submitted to the Home Owners Association architectural review committee for assurance of the compliances prior to design completion.
Once the HOA approves the design plans the house builder will submit them to the city or county permitting authority.
There will also be additional shop drawings needed during construction for custom build materials fabricated off site, such as structural steel components, casework and counter tops.
These are building products that are fabricated from the actual measurements from the job site and need the owner’s approval prior to fabricating.
Custom Home Building Houston
Everything that has led up to this point in the design document production has been preparing for the building permit and the new house construction of your custom home.
Thus begins the last leg of the custom house building journey. There is still a great deal for the owners to contribute during this phase.
They are expected to attend on site update meetings, finalize incomplete product selections and to approve on site mock ups that are requested.
Custom house building is a long process that is made up of many milestone events. During these milestones your custom house builder will hold progress meeting to review the development of the project and review any matters pending from previous meetings.
Product mock-ups are details such as trim styles or color samples placed for approval like the brick work, accent stone, samples of unique features that reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings of color or materials specified.
Everything about custom homes is customized and should be reviewed and approved by the owner. All electrical, HVAC outlet’s locations and tile patterns should be reviewed and signed offed by the owners.
This holds true with any product that is being fabricated. When it comes to paint colors, it is best to place color samples on walls with high levels of natural light for approval.
The house building experience is a lot of work for everyone immediately associated with the project. From pre-construction through completion, the experience requires seasoned and professional leadership from your Houston builder.
Conclusion
The custom home building Houston experience requires careful planning and development of the house plans and construction documents to capture the owner’s lifestyle and living needs.
The need for professional advisers to surround the owners is imperative to the owner’s success in construction of their custom home from design through completion.
It is essential that the owners understand that they must stay involved in each step of the custom home building process including the construction phase by making progress meetings and making the required decisions to advance the project.
This advice will increase the likelihood of a successful and rewarding house building experience.
