No matter the size or budget of your new home, the fact is you want to get it right, first go! Building a new home is fun and exciting but it comes with its fair share of challenges too.
Over the years these are the most common concerns we hear from people building a new home. Can you relate?
1. BUILDER BLUNDERS
Ever heard those horror stories about building a new home gone wrong? They often feature communication breakdowns, unexpected expenses, poor workmanship, confusing contracts, or frustrating delays – all potential money pits.
Our top tip? Prioritize thorough research when selecting your builder to steer clear of future headaches. While it might be tempting to judge a builder solely on their initial pricing or flashy floor plans, that’s not always a reliable indicator of their overall quality and reliability.
Don’t wait until you’re halfway through building your new home to discover a builder blunder. Unsure where to begin? Let us guide you with our tips for selecting the perfect builder.
2. BUDGET BLUES
No matter how big or small we all have a budget when building a new home, and we all want the most bang for buck. Three words: Plan For Everything. You can’t just rely on everything the builder says, because they won’t provide you with everything. The most common things people forget to budget for are window coverings, landscaping, and driveways.
Before you sign a contract with a builder, go over their inclusions with a fine-tooth comb, it often leads to disappointment when you head into selections only to realise everything you want is going to cost a whole lot more than you budgeted for. After over 20 new builds we’ve learnt the best places to save, and we share all our secrets in our latest FREEBIE – 30 time and money-savings secrets for building a new home.
3. TIMELINE TROUBLES
Remember to calculate and budget for holding costs like land and construction loan repayments and any rent you need to pay. Any time delays can easily cause budget blues when building a new home. Most builders will have a timeline process document you can ask to see, or better yet hop onto their Customer Facebook Group and ask clients how long their builds are taking.
Here’s more on how the right pre construction planning can save you time and money.
4. MAKING MISTAKES
This one is a BIG one. Building a new home is a huge investment, so it’s only natural you want to nail it! The fear of making mistakes ultimately boils down to not wanting to be disappointed with something you’ve invested so much time and money into. Most people tell us they want to create a cohesive design for their new homes. And although we all set out with the best intentions somewhere along the way something goes wrong.
Here’s the most common mistakes we see.
+ Making selections based on the latest trends and what looks great in a photo, without considering how it works in real life.
+ Choosing colours and materials on their own without checking them next to each other.
+ Not knowing how to find the right interior style (and sticking to it!)
There’s an art to mixing interior styles and we can show you how to do it in our new course Selections Made Simple.
5. DECISION DOUBTS
When you head into your colour selection appointment with your builder unprepared, you’ll likely feel rushed and decision doubts will usually set in afterwards. You’ll be making hundreds of decisions at this appointment, so you want to do all the prep work up front. We’ve got some tips for preparing your colour selection appointment when building a new home.
Decision doubts during construction can lead to changes and variations, which ends up costing you more time and money.
6. FEAR OF FORGETTING
Here’s where building a new home can be very different to renovating. You’re designing off a piece of paper and ideas in your head rather than having lived in the home. With loads of decisions to make, it’s easy to miss something. Forget a power point? That’s no big deal but forgetting a shower niche or ledge is a much costlier problem to fix later.
No one wants to move into their new home only to be disappointed because they forgot something they really wanted. That’s exactly why we have created a Wish List template in our new course Selections Made Simple.
7. HANDOVER HEARTBREAK
No one wants to head into handover day with heartbreak instead of happiness. Here’s the most common handover heartbreak causes;
+ Moving in and finding out a colour or material you chose is hard to clean and maintain.
+ Defects, whilst normal, the way your builder handles any defects will make or break your post-handover happiness.
+ The colours and materials are not what you expected or look different to what you saw in the showroom.
All three of these can be easily prevented with the right research before building a new home. In our new course Selections Made Simple we teach you how to choose all the right colours and materials for your new home.
1 thought on “BUILDING A NEW HOME: YOUR TOP 7 CONCERNS COVERED”
Great information here