If building a house might sound stressful, that’s because, well, it is. Choosing every kind of flooring and light fixture is fun but also consuming.

But planning is key! By thinking about your long-term future and putting in a bit of sweat equity, you can create the perfect home for your family.

Over the years, I’ve helped hundreds of families as they’ve built homes with INB – and getting a lot of personal experience being married to a builder doesn’t hurt either!

1. Here’s what I suggest keeping in mind as you think about building..Get prequalified for a construction loan. If you’re wondering about financing and costs, it will give you peace of mind to sit down with us and go over all of the numbers – and your builder will be glad too.
2. If you want to build in a specific subdivision, get the covenants first. Some subdivisions have covenants, which are like rules each home needs to follow – for example, how far the house needs to be from the street, the back property line and the sides of the lot. There may even be certain rules like no commercial vehicles in the driveway. So everyone should make sure they understand their subdivision’s covenants before they buy a lot.
3. Talk to a builder or architect first before choosing a floor plan. You want to choose your floor plan based on your lot, instead of other way around. Sometimes people have their home plan picked out and it has everything they want – but then they find out it doesn’t fit their lot and they lose time and money.
4. Start picking out materials as early as possible. This especially includes your shingles, siding, windows, stone/bricks and cabinets. This is beneficial for several reasons:
• Your builder will give you an allowance for each item, so if you want upgrades, you need to know the prices.
• Before we close on your construction loan, it will speed up the process to have all your materials chosen.
• There is currently a shortage in materials and shipping delays. So the faster you choose and order items for your new build, the better – from lighting to fixtures to flooring.
5. Don’t change your floorplans once the walls go up. Sometimes people want to increase their closet size once they see that they have extra room in the bedroom, for example. But you should be aware that this does cost extra money because it is a change order for the builder.
6. A schedule is a loose timeline. Your contractors have other projects, and you may not see your contractor on your construction site one day. Maybe they have to wait for your tile to come in or maybe a subcontractor didn’t show. There are a lot of moving parts, so trust your contractor and realize they won’t be at your home site every single day until it’s finished.

It may seem like a daunting process, but building a home is so rewarding! When I sit down with my clients, I spend a lot of time sharing what to expect in each part of the process, giving examples and calculating interest payments for each time period.

At INB, we walk you through everything when it comes to home building and then transitioning to a mortgage loan after your construction loan. Every month, I’ll be at your construction site, helping you to review your bills, talking with your contractor and answering any questions along the way.

Once all the decisions are made and the final nail is hammered, you’re left with your dream home that will be full of life and ready to create many memories!