How to build a custom home on your lot

December 8, 2022

When preparing to build your custom home, one of the first things you’d think about is the cost. In Columbus, Ohio costs could range between $290,000 to $350,000.

While the overall costs can vary, you’ll end up costing yourself more money if you don’t have what you need to build the home.

Today, we’ll share what’s needed to build a custom home on your lot to avoid any costly mistakes.

Choose Your Home Builder

First things first, you need to find a credible custom home builder. A worthwhile custom home builder has years of experience building homes. That includes having a quality group of subcontractors in their contact list, knowing where to get the best material for the best price, and offering creative suggestions.

Certainly, you have a vision of what you want your home to look like. However, this needs to be communicated with the home builder. They will advise you on what elements can or shouldn’t be made in the building process.

To ensure you’re working with a credible home builder, get the opinions of others. Find recommendations and chat with people this home builder has worked with. Interview them with questions about their past work, subcontractor team, and estimated timeline. View their portfolio of work.

Read: how to choose a home builder worth trusting

Most importantly, ensure the home builder openly communicates with you. If you share ideas, they should communicate suggestions and warnings right back to you.

Choose Your Floor Plan

Making the blueprints for your dream home can be tricky, but finding a floor plan will help tremendously. A quick online search will yield some floor plans you can use to review. You can also buy official floor plans for the actual construction.

Present Your Floor Plan to the Home Builder

Whether you know what you want the floor plan to look like or not, let the home builder examine it. The home builder should communicate with you what elements of the blueprints may or may not work depending on the land.

Read: Your step-by-step guide to building a custom home in Pickerington, Ohio

This will also be a brainstorming session where you can get an idea of what the overall costs could be. What you wish to include in your home will determine the end cost.

Determine Your Needs vs Wants

The floor plan is your time to get creative. However, wanting too much of something can greatly inflate the cost to build the home.

Work with the home builder to decide what is considered a need versus a want.

Examples of possible needs include:

Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
Layout of the kitchen
Size of a spare room (basement, attic, storage room, etc.)

Examples of wants include:

Windows on the roof for more natural lighting
Garage size
Guest room

Differentiating what is required and what is desired will allow your custom home builder to determine the estimated price.

Examine The Land You Wish to Build On

Even though you may own the land you want to build on, you still need to think about how much space you have to work with. Additionally, you need to ensure that you can build on said land.

In general, the cost of your home is determined by square footage. If it’s wider, it might cost more. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your entire lot can have a wide house built on. You may need a more vertically structured home.

Costs to Prepare For

We strongly suggest inspecting the entirety of your land because you can incur unexpected costs in the excavation process. A land surveyor will help you reduce the chances of unwanted costs.

Read: How much does it cost to build a custom home in Pickerington, Ohio?

The land needs to have access to water/sewage and power. If the land doesn’t have access to that, you’ll encounter costs to connect the land to these resources.

Before construction begins, the land needs to be cleared and leveled. That means removing trees and testing the soil. If the builder doesn’t charge you a fixed price, you’ll have to pay for any additional labor or material costs that could incur.

In the middle of the construction, you very well could desire a modification. No matter how small it is, you must be ready to pay for that.

Insurance and Permits

Before you can begin construction on your custom home, you need to have all building permits secured. Your custom home builder should be familiar with city codes as they will be legally responsible.

Your home has to follow all building codes to ensure long term livability of your home. Failure to meet codes means something could be a fire risk for example.

Depending on the city, an inspector may come in during multiple stages of the home building process to ensure everything is progressively meeting code.

Understanding what the city requires will help reduce the chances of unexpected costs due to not meeting building code.

Nearing successful completion of the home, make sure that you get insurance. You’ll want to be prepared for the unexpected. The cost will be determined by the square footage of your home.

The Home Building Process

The first step, once it’s determined that the land is good to build on, is to excavate. This is needed to make space for the next step, which is laying the foundation.

When the foundation is placed, the framing is placed. This is the “bones” of the house; it structures where and how the floor, windows, doors, roof, and walls will be placed.

During this stage, the plumbing, wiring, and the heating/cooling system will be placed.

Next is the exterior. This is where the siding, gutters, etc. are installed once the framing is complete.

Once the walls are up, it’s time to insulate them. This stage will be inspected to ensure proper insulation.

The finishing stages are the enjoyable ones. This is where the flooring and carpentry are added and painting begins.

Why Choose Heitmeyer Building and Design

You have a vision for your custom home. You shouldn’t have to make design sacrifices to make the dream a reality. Work with our expert, trustworthy home builders for a smooth home building process.

Heitmeyer Building & Design is a Construction company with over 100 years of experience in commercial construction and residential construction located in Pickerington, Ohio.