3 Considerations You Need to Make Before Building Your New Home

Blog By: Effect Homes

Once you’ve chosen your team for your new home build, it’s time to sit back and wait to be handed the keys, right? Not quite. Even with the best home builders, you’ve still got decisions to make as a future homeowner. As you’ll potentially spend decades in this new home, it’s a smart idea to be an active participant in the planning around your new home. At Effect Homes in Edmonton, Alberta, you can leave the building to us, but when it comes to making decisions about your home – you want to be in the driver’s seat.

Here are some considerations that you will want to make with your home builder before breaking ground.

Think About the Building Site

This is all about your needs as a homeowner. Where you choose to build is almost as important as who you choose to build your home.

Think about your needs as a homeowner. While it’s nice to fantasize about a secluded home in the country, is that realistic for your family?

For young families – proximities to good schools matter. If you’re a little bit older, you might be more comfortable being close to doctors and hospitals.

Size matters, too! Your home and lot size are tied into accessibility needs. A multi-level home with a big yard is a great purchase for a family with young children, but you may find that your needs change as you age.

Building a new home with future accessibility needs in mind means you can have a home that ages with you. For a lot of older homeowners, navigating stairs can become a safety concern. Knowing that before you start the building process means you can address those concerns now and leave them from becoming an issue in future years.

Solutions for accessibility could include adding an elevator to safely move between floors, or creating a space on the main floor of the home that can be converted into a master bedroom in the future.

Creating a Healthy, Energy Efficient Home

As builders, we advocate for using products that promote healthy homes that are also friendly on our environment. It’s important to us that homeowners have a safe and healthy structure, but we also want them consider their carbon footprint.

While we can advocate for choosing healthier building products to use – at the end of the day, the homeowner makes the final call. It’s up to them to educate themselves so they are choosing products that are more environmentally friendly and lead to a healthier home.

Air quality plays a huge role in how we feel day-to-day in our homes. Choosing building materials and finishes that off gas fewer or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) will create a home that helps you breathe easy.

Even better to strive for – if your budget allows, is a Net Zero home. Net Zero homes are constructed to produce as much (or more) energy than they consume. This is achieved during the building process

Net Zero homes typically need to find a way to harness natural resources like solar or wind energy to help provide power to homes. In communities where hydro bills continue to rise, utilizing renewable energy just makes sense.

Building on a Budget

Every part of your new home comes with a cost. From the team used, the building materials, and chosen finishes – these will all factor into the final budget of your project. Before you build, it’s important to set a realistic budget that balances your needs with your wants.

One big mistake that we see a lot of homeowners make when purchasing a new build comes from their budget. They set their budget, and then select enough finishes and extras that bring them right to the cap of their budget. To an outsider, that might sound fine. They set the budget, and their proposed home will meet that budget. But that could end up being a costly mistake that you regret.

Leave wiggle room in your budget. Sometimes during the construction process, your mind will change, and you’ll want to add an extra – but where is that extra cash going to come from if you’ve already spent your budget elsewhere?

A good rule is to set 20% of your proposed budget aside to account for those extra changes that arise during the building process.

When planning your new build home, work closely with your builder – make informed decisions that will give you a stronger, healthier home.

To learn more, visit www.effecthomes.ca.