Building a new home is one of the most exciting—and overwhelming—adventures you can take on. From the outside, it might seem like all you need is a floor plan and a good builder, but the reality is that custom home building involves countless decisions, moving parts, and unexpected considerations. Whether you’re building your forever home or a future investment, understanding what lies ahead will save you time, stress, and money. Before you start picking paint colors or choosing countertops, here are eight things you need to know before you build.
1. Know Your Budget
Budget – The thing we need to think about but hate following through with. If you don’t consider the cost of your new home, things can easily go over budget. When building a custom home, you want to make sure you consider these key costs: Cost of the land, cost of any excavating, tear-down or lot prep, cost of home designs/floor plans, cost of the home build, cost of finishes, selections, and appliances, and the cost of landscaping. Having a clear budget from the beginning helps prevent financial surprises later on.
2. Choose the Right Builder
Not all builders are created equal, and choosing the right one can make or break your home-building experience. Research potential builders, check their past projects, read reviews, and ask for references. A good builder will be transparent about pricing, provide a detailed contract, and communicate effectively throughout the process.
Reference our blog: 7 Questions You Should Ask to Find the Best Builder
3. Decide What is Important to You
When you build a custom home, you want it to reflect your lifestyle. You want your new home to be beautiful, comfortable, and convenient. Before building you want to consider things like the size of the kitchen you want, how much entertaining you want to do, how big of a family you have or plan to have, etc. For example, if you enjoy entertaining, you may want to choose a very open floor plan. If you prefer dinner parties, you might choose a plan that has a separate, enclosed dining room. You should choose a plan that fits your lifestyle.
If you’re building a custom home, you have likely envisioned what your ideal home would look like. A large kitchen with an oversized island, a wrap-around front porch, and maybe a pool for relaxing during summer days.
It’s important to stay focused on what really matters when choosing your floor plan. To do this, we suggest creating a list (or a Pinterest board) of home features that are an absolute must have and ones that would be added bonuses so that you can prioritize what’s most important.
4. Think About Your Style
Your home should be a reflection of your personal taste and lifestyle. Are you drawn to modern, traditional, or farmhouse aesthetics? Selecting a cohesive style early on will help guide your decisions on materials, colors, and finishes. We always ask new clients for inspiration images or a Pinterest board so that we can get to know your style and design what you like! Additionally, you should go with a builder/designer that already has a similar style in past projects so that they can help you best.
5. You Get What You Pay For
Quality labor and materials come at a price. It’s so easy with the world of DIY being as prevalent as it is to forget about the cost of labor. Crown molding is a classic example – you can DIY it for all of $57, a half used can of paint, and a few hours of sweat equity. However, if you’re going to hire a contractor to install crown molding, it’s a completely different story.
A bedroom is going to cost you probably close to $1000. How is that? Well first you have to pay for the material, and the delivery of the material. Then you have to pay a trimmer to install it. And don’t forget about the painter who has to caulk and dap all the seams and holes, prep the space AND enamel (spray) that woodwork. On top of all of that, you have your contractor, who is managing the project, and they’re going to get paid for their time too. Cha-ching, cha-ching! It all adds up.
While we do love what we do, we don’t do it just for fun or for practice. We do this for a living to support our families, so we are going to make money. What does that mean for you? Don’t look at us like a bad guy trying to rake you over the coals. And trying to negotiate all our margin is just plain tacky. You don’t go to the doctor and try to negotiate the bill do you? If you don’t want to pay a contractor’s fee, then build your home yourself. If you’re on a tight budget, prioritize quality over quantity rather than cutting corners.
6. You Should Be Flexible
Building a home requires a balance between vision and reality. A lot of what you see on Pinterest and Houzz are photos of luxury multi-million dollar homes. Everything has a price and it adds up very quickly. Prioritize what is most important and be ready to be flexible. It’s kind of like when you buy your first house and you are slapped with a harsh reality check that you can’t have the 5 bedroom/5 bath 4000 SF house with granite tops and marble bathrooms. Even if your budget is $1 million, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will have everything you want. Being flexible will make the experience much smoother.
7. Building Prices Vary Throughout the Country
The cost of building a home differs greatly depending on location. There is a huge swing in pricing throughout different states. For example, Texas in general is very inexpensive to build in. New York, however, is astronomical. Also, different materials will vary. In Arizona, there is a lot of stucco used, which makes it competitively priced, while doing an LP or Hardie siding is going to be very expensive (because there isn’t the labor force to support it). In Minnesota, it’s flip flopped. All you see is lap siding, and stucco is far more expensive. Understanding these differences can help you set realistic expectations for your budget and design choices.
8. You Will Have to Take Time Off of Work
Building or remodeling a home is an exciting and rewarding journey, but it does require a significant time investment. While it’s tempting to try to fit everything into evenings and weekends, it’s important to understand that some parts of the process—like walk-throughs, planning sessions, and selection meetings—often need to happen during regular business hours.
Many of the professionals involved in your project work standard 9-to-5 schedules, so some flexibility on your part will help keep everything running smoothly. We truly understand how special and personal this experience is for you, and we’re here to support you every step of the way.
At the same time, please keep in mind that we work with many clients and do our best to accommodate everyone. While we wish we could hold all meetings outside of regular hours, it’s simply not feasible for our team—especially as we balance our own family commitments.
At the end of the day, building a home is about more than just walls and windows—it’s about creating a space that reflects your lifestyle, values, and vision. Being informed and realistic from the start allows you to enjoy the process and make confident decisions along the way. With the right team, a clear budget, and a flexible mindset, building your dream home can be just as rewarding as living in it.
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