Is Building Your Dream Home Achievable?

Houses and apartments have become increasingly expensive in recent years. For those who are at the start of their professional and family life, acquiring a property often means a financial overweight.

Can young people actually afford their own home today?

Those who aren’t rich have to be smart. Building your own house remains a dream for many people. If you tackle it well, the dream moves to an achievable reality. And because the required budget for an owner-occupied home is growing year after year, there are many financial tips that can help you make your dream come true.

Do you want to build a house? Use the KISS principle.

KISS stands for Keep It Simple & Straightforward, and you can find the roots of this principle in the programming world. However, you can apply this scheme to the construction of your new home as well.

It’s a wise move to build a house with a simple construction. The larger your home, the more it will cost. A compact construction, therefore, costs considerably less than a large, complex construction with a unique shape.

This doesn’t mean that any affordable design is necessarily equal to small construction, but it must be in proportion. Adding details to your home always creates an extra cost, and standard materials are a lot cheaper than using experimental components. Professionals are also more familiar with the standard sizes, and that makes all works faster.

In addition, compact construction helps you to save on your energy bill afterwards. After all, the consumption of a compact home is considerably lower than that of a spacious villa.

Nowadays, there are also smart solutions to create the same great living comfort with less space – get some ideas from tiny house nation.

Keep the space open

This tip works in two ways. On the one hand, an open plan equals fewer walls and therefore, fewer building materials. On the other hand, an open plan creates a greater sense of space. In this way, you can build smaller without feeling that you are losing any space.

Note that a room that is too wide requires a modified support structure and that usually means an extra cost. So look for the right compromise. Feel free to ask your architect and your building consultant for advice.

Spread costs

Who doesn’t dream of a fully finished attic room where you will find a master bedroom? With a large bathroom and sitting area that provides you with all the necessary luxuries? We all dream about it! However, such a room immediately adds several thousands to your budget. For example, there are a lot of things that you’d be better to postpone for a while to keep money free for the essentials. That way you build within your budget and you can invest at a later stage in a luxurious finish, an extra bathroom or a kitchen with all the trimmings.

There are many points that you can initially save, such as:

The bathroom and kitchen
Floors
Interior doors
Paintwork
finishing the attic and basement

Do-it-yourself method

If you are a bit handy, you can save money by doing some things yourself. By this, we mean simple, time-consuming work. There are many tasks that even a complete amateur can perform. In addition, you undoubtedly know someone in your family or you have a friend who can help you install the toilet or flooring. The less work you outsource to contractors or craftsmen, the more you can invest in the total construction budget.

However, don’t overestimate yourself! Some difficult jobs require experienced professionals. FC Developments in Edmonton told us that fixing amateur jobs gone wrong often costs more then it saves. It’s a false economy, so only do the easy but time consuming jobs yourself.

Stick to the plan

A good plan that clearly defines the budget is more a must than a nice-to-have. Moreover, it helps you to monitor your budget at every stage of the project.

Surround yourself with experts or ask advice from family and friends with building experience. This way you can sketch a complete picture of all possible costs and you’ll immediately know which unforeseen costs you should take into account. No matter how you look at it, setting up a construction budget is not an exact science. There are always unexpected costs. So always apply the rule of ‘better safe than sorry’!

How to handle budget-friendly building?
Building with a limited budget is only possible with good budget control. Don’t take your budget too tight in the first place. Don’t calculate the cheapest materials because then your budget is guaranteed to be higher than expected in practice. In addition, add 10% to the budget: this covers unforeseen costs during construction.

Keep a close eye on the costs of the different phases of the project. Moreover, by monitoring your budget in this way, you can more easily absorb the unforeseen costs.

Building a budget-friendly home is thinking ahead

It’s important that you think about the final purpose of all the spaces at the initial stage of planning your dream house. Plan the applications that you want to integrate later in these spaces. That way you avoid extra costs and work when the time comes.

For example, think of home automation, which is indeed a major investment. You can integrate the system into your home step by step. For example, you can choose the living room as a first place to with home automation and the kitchen and bedrooms to follow as soon as the budget allows.

Save where possible

A large number of issues can be solved cheaper at the beginning. Consider for example, the floor covering. Do you dream of a beautiful parquet floor? You will have it one day, but in order to reduce costs, you can choose cheap upholstery for now. The same applies to your solid oak doors – choose a regular door for now. After a few years, you systematically replace everything with the final finish. The same applies to the basement, you don’t need to finish it as soon as possible.

Together with your architect, you can work out various cheaper alternatives that are feasible. For example, two bathrooms are often provided. Furnish the small bathroom with a shower and a sink. It will work for some time and it will allow you to save for your dream bathroom. And in the kitchen, for example, you can choose second-hand furniture that serves until you can pay for your dream kitchen.