SO much thought goes into building a house. You literally have to think of everything you possibly can before you choose a house plan. Sure, you can make changes, but each change comes with a cost. And the more the build progresses, the harder and more costlier it will be to change. So take your time, and think it through.
I remember looking at our house plan for hours, picturing myself doing various things in the house – bringing in groceries, getting the kids ready to leave, doing laundry, kids projects, etc. But each time I visualized each activities, I had another change to make to our house plan.
There will be more posts on things to consider when building your house. My husband and I just went through this 8-month process and learned a lot. To start, here are some major things to consider BEFORE you finalize your house plan:
1. BASEMENT POLES
When we imagined our basement, we pictured a wide open space, free of obstructions. This was important so that we had options for finishing it and so the kids could safely run free. It wasn’t until after the basement was poured, that we walked down to see 4 poles right through the middle. Perhaps it was the only way our basement could have been done within our budget, but had I thought to ask about our options beforehand, maybe we could have done something different.
2. DAYLIGHT WINDOWS
When our builder drew up our house plans, he put the daylight windows on different walls in the basement. We knew that certain areas of the basement would be used for storage, and other areas for entertainment. We didn’t want to waste any daylight windows in our storage areas so we moved them to the areas we’d be using for entertainment. Also, we made sure one was placed in a space we someday may want to make a bedroom.
3. MECHANICALS
As I mentioned above, having a wide open, barrier-free space in our basement was important to us. With this, we placed all the mechanical stuff (furnace, sump pump, water heater, water softener) in one area of the basement to maximize the amount of open space we had for ourselves.
4. FRONT PORCH
If you’re anything like me, you love a good front porch. One where you can enjoy a storm or just watch cars drive by on a beautiful sunny day. I grew up with the perfect front porch. It had a large overhang, and a tall peak inside so you didn’t feel enclosed. If you want a front porch, think about how you will use it. Will you have porch furniture? Make sure you have enough room to walk in front of it. Will you have a porch swing? Make sure you place support beams in the right spots so the swing is far enough under your overhang to stay dry in the rain. Ultimately, you want your porch to be large enough that you can enjoy it comfortably.
5. PLACEMENT OF YOUR SEPTIC TANK/FIELD & WELL HEAD
Here you will have to think about the future. If you plan to have a deck, or expand your deck, add an addition on to your house, put in a pool, you need to make sure your septic tank/field and well head are not in the way. Also, if you plan to put in any outbuildings and need a driveway to them, you will also want to make sure these are out of the way.
Building a house is terribly overwhelming due to the amount of detail and number of decisions you have to make quickly. It’s also so fun and exciting to be able to plan your dream home. After a STRESSFUL 8 months of building, we’ve been in our new house for 2 weeks and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You will get through it. It will be worth it. And I’m here to share the lessons we learned the hard way to help make your home building process that much easier.
Once you finalize your house plan, start thinking about ways to save once the build starts with these key items: Read more >>
Get my free 8-month build timeline! It includes us doing a lot of the work, which is noted on it, and gives you an idea of what you can do yourself, how long it will take you, and at what point is a good time to work on each item. We created this for ourselves at the beginning, revised it along the way, and now have the final timeline. Send me your email below and I’ll send it to you!