Building a custom luxury home from the ground up should be an exciting experience. Unfortunately, this process isn’t always equally pleasant for many reasons. Often homeowners trivialize the amenities of construction under the visibly important features. This ultimate guide for building your custom home will be canvassing the step-by-step process to evade such slip-ups. Stay tuned and explore how you can precisely fulfill your dreams.
7 Steps of Building a Custom Luxury Home
The crisis starts when we overlook crucial steps of successful construction. We have inscribed 7 such steps in the sections below. Homeowners should follow these steps for building a custom home to avoid any costly and stagnating mistakes.
Step 1: Initial Consultation and Design
The process of building your dream home starts with a detailed consultation. In this phase, your dreams start to emerge. Our design team will hear from you about the project’s scope. We will discuss your budget, timeline, and style preferences for home design. The team will work on products you may be willing to purchase, such as flooring materials, cabinets, lighting, sinks, hardware, and so on. This step ensures that your home reflects your personal choice and functional needs.
Step 2: Choosing the Location
A perfect site is pivotal for high-end home construction. If you already have land, the process starts with surveying and measuring the land. When you are planning on a new plot, consider factors like distance from your work, kids’ school, and hospitals. Additionally, property taxes, proximity to neighbors, and local crime rates are crucial when considering an ideal plot.
Step 3: Planning and Design Development
Designing a luxury home requires careful planning and attention to detail. In a broader sense, design is a process of creating the description of a new building, usually represented by all-inclusive plans and detailing. Once we have a clear view of your vision and a selected site, our experts will start creating a blueprint for your house.
Construction planning is a process of assigning objectives and resources required to make the design a piece of astonishing real estate. This can be assigning a supply chain coordinator or hiring manpower for the project.
Step 4: Budgeting and Approvals
When you are planning a luxury custom home construction, budgeting is important to avoid overrated expenses. Not only will it help you to stay on track financially, but it will also help save construction time. Before you start any construction, make sure that all kinds of building codes in your area are maintained. Ensure that the approvals for construction have been taken. You need to keep in mind that budgeting depends on the approval of the work you are planning to do. Naturally, the approval process should be completed before diving into budgeting.
Step 5: Construction
The construction process is the biggest step in building your custom home. In this step, a team of skilled professionals starts to bring your dream home to life. Regular updates on the progress of the luxury house-building project maintain momentum. Safety measures should be maintained strictly inside and surrounding areas of a construction site to prevent unwanted accidents and sneaking.
Step 6: Interior Design and Finishing Touches
Once the exterior framing is done, engineers will focus on the interiors. Typically, the interior part is planned and executed under the supervision of architects. Expert interior designers always focus on matching the interior with the home’s exterior. From kitchen and toilet fixtures and paint color to choosing the rugs for the living room, everything that beautifies the inside of the house is covered in this step.
Step 7: Final Walkthrough and Handover
Once the drawing of the house is executed completely, the project manager plans for a final inspection. This part features a final assessment of electrical and plumbing systems, duct functionality, etc. At the end completion of the project, the contractor formally handovers the new homes to the clients.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Luxury Home?
The cost of building a luxury home largely depends on your preferences. However, luxury homes typically cost between $200 and $400 per square foot. So, for a 3,000-square-foot home, the price tag may go up to US$1 million. In the section below, we have discussed some factors that you have to consider when calculating the overall cost to build your dream luxury home,
Land Acquisition
Acquiring a new plot is one of the biggest expenses in your custom home-building project. If you already have one, then the expense may be excluded. There are some other expenses like tree service expenses, land preparation, and land taxes. You may consider 3-8% of your budget to go into site prep work.
Planning
Homeowners often prefer entirely new layouts for their custom homes. In this process, you can not but consider the consultation fees of interior designers and architects. Consider that a consultation with a developer with a pre-prepared floor plan can reduce the expenses of planning and drawing works. The ultimate drawback of a pre-planned floor layout is that it may not align with your preferences. Still, modifications and preparing a whole new layout plan will certainly not cost the same. You can plan to spend 5-15% of your budget on these services.
Expenses of Foundation
Obviously, for a larger home, the foundation will cost more. A large foundation plan requires more pilling work and concrete to fill the piles. The topography of your selected construction site is going to be a major factor as well. For instance, an uneven ground level will cause expenses for preparing the plot for smooth construction work. Generally, your foundation costs may take 5-15% of your budget.
Budget for Framing
Wall framing in house construction includes the exterior walls and interior partitions. These parts are referred to as studs, wall plates, and lintels. They serve as a nailing base for all covering material and support the upper floors, ceiling, and roof. Consider 10-15% of your budget for framing.
Internal systems
Internal system expenses include material costs, labor wages, expenses, and subcontracting expenses. With proper control of each item’s internal cost, the internal construction expenses can be easily grasped. Typically though, they represent 10-15% of your budget.
Appliances & interior finishes
Interior finishing is the biggest factor that determines the unit cost of the house per square meter. For flooring, the finishes can be vinyl, ceramic, granite, laminated wood parquet, or carpet. For ceilings, the most popular materials used today are gypsum board and fiber cement board. Painting is the most common finish for ceilings and walls. Other options include wallpaper, wood laminate, carpet, granite, pebbles, and many more. Kitchen appliances and toilet fittings are a big part of this expense. Plan on setting nearly 25-35% of your building budget for interior work.
Expenses of Exterior Parts
This part includes making driveways, patios, walkways, garages, and pet houses. Tennis or basketball courts add a luxurious vibe to your house. Parking lights and automated garage doors may add a significant amount to your luxury home-building project. Expect to use 15-20% of your budget for this important exterior work.
Contractor fees & permits
Contractors and architects charge different rates. They offer different packages and sets of works. This consultation fee may take up to 17-18% of your total project size.
Conclusion
A custom home is a reward for your hard work and dedication to your dreams. A custom-made luxury house building can be a long and expensive project to invest in. However, the smiles on the faces of your family members will recoup the amount in no time. Additionally, as a fixed asset, it reinforces your socio-economic position and the standard of living. Black Dog Homes can be your trusted partner in the magnificent journey of building your custom luxury home.
Based in Wayzata, Black Dog Homes is a family-operated, luxury home builder has passionate team with attention to details. We are focused on new construction, whole house renovations, and additions. We live for the details and intricacies of fine homes, custom architecture and craftsmanship. Feel free to contact us 763-308-5098, Let’s make the dreams true together!