Luxury custom home construction is a privilege reserved for people that have a desire for the best things in life and a house that represents their stature.
Preparing the building design that reflects the owner’s lifestyle and finding the luxury home builder to translate this dream into reality.
Searching through the local internet listings for luxury custom home construction Houston can be an exhausting process for home owners looking for building a new upscale home.
The length of time associated with this dream is what makes the luxury custom home construction process exhausting, but enormously rewarding and personally exciting as the owner sorts through the different architectural themes and home design options.
One of the most frustrating tasks for preparing for luxury custom home construction is finding the perfect building site to build you new house. This is due to the low inventory level of buildable lots in Houston.
Although the driving desire may be there for building a new house, the length of time required to achieve the desired goal can be a major deterrent and leaves an owner looking for other options.
So, a homeowner begins to explore other alternatives that could fit their personal situations more timely.
One of the timely alternatives is finding a new luxury house under construction that fits most of their wish list items. Depending upon the stage of construction, this option can allow the owner to make their personal desired changes from their wish list.
This option can be quite a bit more expensive implementing changes to a luxury builder’s house under construction depending how advanced the construction process is.
The next alternative is for the owner to purchasing an existing luxury house that is listed for sale.
There are several issues with this alternative beginning with the long search for the right high-end house listed on the market. It can take nearly as long to find the right house as it can to contract a new luxury custom home construction project.
This can lead to some homeowners to abandon the idea of finding the existing right luxury house and settle for a house that can be remodeled or renovated to meet their needs.
There is sufficient inventory of luxury houses in Houston to provide homeowners enough options if they are patient and willing to explore these feasible options.
Most homeowners are either restricted by their imagination, shortness of time or their financial resources.
These are all legitimate limitations that can be overcome with a good trusted adviser and their open mindedness to consider alternative strategies to meet their goals.
Learn about the collection of luxury custom home construction services available in Houston
We will have a discussion of some of the alternative strategies associated with either new home construction or home renovations of your luxury house to fit your lifestyle needs.
We will also review some of the homeowner’s mind sets that limit their options and thinking toward luxury house alternatives.
Luxury Home Design
Luxury home design plays a significant role in defining an owner’s options for new luxury custom home construction or custom home renovations.
This is due in part to some of the limitations of buyers we have referenced but also the misconceptions that surround both luxury building and luxury remodeling.
The biggest obstacle for most owners entertaining a luxury home design for new luxury custom home construction or luxury house remodel is having sufficient time to hire a custom home designer to complete the construction documents needed for these two options.
In the case of buying an existing luxury house, from the time you submit an offer on a house until you close is only 60 – 90 days.
That is barely enough time to prepare completed construction documents, select new products and hire a luxury home builder before you close.
When it comes to building a custom house, it will likely take 3 to 6 months to create required construction documents.
So, buyers/owners understand that they will need to either rent or purchase a temporary house for 18 to 24 months if they want to build a custom house. For additional insights on luxury home design visit here.
Building a Custom Home
Planning and building a custom house is a long-complicated process. It normally begins with selecting a building site in a location that meets the family’s needs.
Lot buyers can search for the right property for years before purchasing their best find. While purchasing the lot is not a static event, it involves a collective process of vetting a luxury home builders and architects that are like-minded in the works and processes.
The selection of a luxury builder and architect is a similar process as hiring an attorney or a professional CPA.
The goal is to hire a professional that becomes your trusted adviser throughout the event, if it is taxes or a legal matter.
It requires much more than just asking a friend or a quick internet search to find the right professional.
The process begins with making a short list of qualified professionals. It then evolves to several interviews assessing the talents, experience and like-minded nature of the professional.
If these beginning events of the luxury house building process aren’t challenging enough, the most difficult tasks for homeowners are visualizing how their lifestyle needs translates into the actual home design.
Architectural home design represents the designers understanding of the owner’s lifestyle and balancing this with the appropriate design and budget guidelines.
This is easier said than done, because this involves many emotionally charged decisions and trade-offs by the owner.
The honest exchange between architect and owner can lead to a stressful situation. This is why it is important to select the best home designer that fits your needs, not your friends.
The custom home builder is a general contractor and also known as a prime contractor.
They hire skilled trades to carry out the actual work tasks associated with building a custom house. These hired trades are also known as subcontractors.
Your general contractor also serves a role in both the building site selection and the home design process other than just the building process.
During the lot selection, the general contractor will advise the owner of the limitations imposed by the deed restrictions and unexpected cost associated with obtaining proper drainage or tree preservation.
Your general contractor also provides value in the design process by providing insight to the cost of various home design features and can provide value engineering services if requested.
Luxury Home Remodeling
It is fairly common that a homeowner finds a neighborhood and a house that they like very much, but it does not fit all the needs of their wish list.
Some of the possible scenarios are that the prospect house is in too good of condition to tear down for new construction, or the total cost of buying the house to build a custom house far exceeds the fair market value of the neighborhood.
Whatever the reason, purchasing the house with the intentions of a complete whole home renovation or a house remodeling project ultimately makes more sense to the buyer then house construction.
A house remodeling project has some inherent advantages over luxury custom house construction.
In most cases house remodeling is a shorter building cycle then new construction.
Secondly in most cases, a luxury house remodel project can be done in phases allowing for the convenience of financial restraints or completing for major schedule events in one’s life.
One of the major disadvantages of a house remodel project is that the owner is often restricted by the existing structure.
Architectural features such as ceiling heights, expanding the house toward the street and raising the overall height are limiting factors.
Deed restrictions, remodeling cost and local building ordinances can derail the most ambitious renovation plans.
So, planning for house remodel project can be limited to planning home additions and redesigning existing space.
The existing structural envelope is expensive and restrictive in making structural modifications that are usually not cost effective or provide practical functional value to the homes architectural value.
Although a whole home renovation can change the house dramatically, this owner home construction option can only be effective if there is a willingness of the owner to compromise expectations.
Home Renovation to an Existing House
One of the least complicated options as a new house construction project is a home renovation project to your existing house.
Many owners get very comfortable with the Houston neighborhood that they live in. As time passes the owner either begins have a larger family or enter the empty nester stage of their lives.
These life changes often necessitate the owner’s evaluation of how to meet their new lifestyle needs.
Selecting a trusted adviser to review your deed restrictions and discuss your new lifestyle needs is what is warranted to facilitate the owner’s decision making for this option.
Depending on the owner’s home renovation goals and restrictive features, a home remodeling project can often be the best alternative available them.
One of the values of involving a general contractor in the feasibility process is that they can assist the owner in determining the after-repair values and total construction cost investment your project will require.
Regardless of which new dwelling option you finally decide upon, your trusted adviser is essential in guiding you through the different alternatives.
These house construction decisions are complex with many moving parts and require a careful due diligence evaluation.
Having experienced and sound advice can save you money, time and a great deal of grief. To discover more about house remodeling view this.
Conclusion
The need for luxury custom homes continues to be a high demand commodity that for high net worth individuals. Luxury houses defines a standard of living that signifies a level of professional accomplishment.
Either custom house building or luxury house remodel can offer owners a strategic answer to acquiring the most personalized custom home they can obtain.
It requires the commitment of time and resources on behalf of the owner and the patience to see the process through from start to finish.
To understand the custom house price to value relationship in Houston read this.
