Building your dream home on a budget is possible. It takes discipline and a willingness to make the right choices, but in the end you’ll have a house you love and can afford.
This article explores five tips for building your dream home on a budget. They’re simple, don’t call for a lot of sacrifice, and won’t leave you in the red after the project is complete.
Tip No. 1: Think small
We’re always encouraged to think big, but when it comes to building your home, small can actually be better.
It can be difficult to see it this way, given the fact that most new subdivisions contain huge homes that could have been estates in an earlier era. But do you really need all that space? Instead of building a larger home, why not throw out or give away things you no longer need, such as old furniture and books that haven’t been read in years? The majority of American families can do just fine with a 2,300 square foot home, and it’s a lot less expensive to heat and light too.
Tip No. 2: Keep it simple
Look at any of today’s builder houses and you’ll see a lot of unnecessary add-ons, such as an army of gables and a zigzag floor plan with multiple corners. Many stock house designs also have illogical structural organization, and compensate with extra elements to hold it all in place. These added supports don’t come cheap, either.
Stick to box-style designs. They are simple, affordable, and have a clarity in their layouts that makes them easy to build and maintain.
Tip No. 3: Eliminate extra walls
Open floor plans have a lot going for them. The fewer walls there are in a home, the less material is used, which translates into lower build cost. They also make inside spaces look and feel larger, making a house with less square footage more appealing.
Tip No. 4: Make smart materials choices
A lot of people blow their budgets by insisting on stained wood baseboards, hard coat plaster walls, and granite counter tops. Resist the urge to compete. An attractive floor can be built using materials from a warehouse wholesaler, and what’s wrong with laminate counter tops? Bold colors can add an inexpensive touch of glamor, and durable materials save additional money by being low-maintenance.
Tip No. 5: Buy at discount warehouses or online
Expensive showrooms are a budget hazard, as the products have huge markups without any appreciable extra benefits. You can purchase hardware, furniture, lights, and accessories from online retailers. A lot of people visit showrooms to decide what they want, and then buy the same units online at a fraction of the price. Plumbing fixtures can be trickier to buy over the Internet because the retailers don’t always sell the right internal housing for the shower heads and faucets, but a local plumbers’ supply warehouse can help you coordinate these particular needs.
Focus more on what you need than what you want or think you should have. Sticking to a budget will require you to compromise, but you won’t spend years afterward paying off the build costs.
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