7 Things to Know Before Building a House

Want to know the best tips and tricks for building a house? These will help you save time, money, and avoid mistakes when building. This is the best cheat sheet for building a house as beginners.

Building a house is both exciting and stressful. It can take a lot of time and money, and if you’re anything like me, you didn’t want to give up either. After building a house and learning a lot along the way, these are the tips and tricks I swear by to help make the most of your build and not compromise on your wants!

You are going to learn all about the home building trade secrets to help you get your dream home, making your process so much smoother.

This post is all about building a house for beginners.

1.Splurge on the more “difficult to change” items

Example: Spend the money on the quartz countertops, and save on the living room built-ins. Leave the space open to get built-ins later, and avoid ripping up countertops and spending twice the amount to upgrade in the future. You can have everything you want, in time. Don’t downgrade if you’ll be unsatisfied! Work with your time and money constraints to prioritize what needs to be done right away, and what can come later!

2. Ask your builder for a credit/allowance!

This one isn’t widely known. Many builders will offer a list of door styles, finishes on plumbing fixtures, a few lighting options etc.. This doesn’t always mean you have to choose those. They have an estimated allowance for those items, like $2000 for plumbing fixtures. Take the allowance for the plumbing fixtures and source your own to make your build feel more custom and unique. You can leave other items to be swapped out at a later date so you’re not spending as much money up front. Doorknobs and handles are much easier to change out than faucets. Use the allowance towards your plumbing fixtures and save by taking the builder grade knobs. Change them out over time once you have lived in the space.

3. Growing your own grass isn’t worth it, pay for the grass (sod or hydroseed)

The amount of time and nurturing it takes to grade, seed, cover with straw, water etc. ended up not being worth it (for us). We also live in a difficult climate with a shorter summer, which made it really hard for our grass to get some good growth before winter. The money spent on our own seed, fertilizer, and supplies proved that it would be a better investment of both time and money to have it done by professionals!

4. Leave spaces unfinished

This sounds counterproductive when you’re building a house, I know. You’re waiting for it to be finished in order to move in! But here’s a trade secret – as long as it passes code, it doesn’t need to be complete. Often times this can work to your advantage. Over the course of a year or two, your style might change. You might want a different wallpaper than you originally picked, or different stone on the fireplace. If you are unsure, it is best to leave it unfinished. These things can all be added, and should be added, once you have lived in the space and see how it’s used.

5. Custom vanities will completely change the feel of the house

The vanity is the centerpiece of the bathroom and will make the space instantly feel more high end. This is the number one question about our house, where did we get our vanities. Builder grade vanities usually end up being the same cabinets and countertops as your kitchen. Too much uniformity causes the space to look cheap, almost like they used left over kitchen supplies to build out the bathroom (anyone else get this feeling?). If you want a timeless look save the money elsewhere in the house and spend the money on a custom vanity. Pro tip: check with your local cabinet small businesses before spending the money on a high end vanity from a box store. Ours ended up being cheaper that way!

6. Think about how you intend to use the space before committing to anything

This seems straight forward, but is often overlooked. Don’t just pick a floor plan that looks nice on paper or gives you the most square footage (though tempting). Think about if you want a designated dining room? Does the location of your kids’ rooms make sense? Is most of your time spent in the kitchen, and if so, does it’s size portray that? We were very strategic about our layout and room proportions. We opted for a slightly smaller dining room since we don’t use it as often, and a much bigger island (10 ft.) knowing that we love to host, cook, and spend time with family in the kitchen.

7. The timeline should be extended by at least one month

This is situational depending on your builder/general contractor, but to make sure you have a place to live and you’re not crushed by lofty expectations, expect some delays! Anywhere from a month or two to 12 months (cough cough, our build) could potentially put you out if you already sold/planned to move out of your current living situation.

This post was all about everything you need to know when building a house.