Upstate NY Custom Home Building Blog

One of the biggest concerns people have when building a new custom home is overspending their budgets. It would be nice to say that it’s just a myth—but it happens far too frequently.

So how can you keep that from happening to you if you’re planning to build a new home in the eastern Rochester area? It helps to know that the causes for overspending are pretty common. And once you know what to watch for, you can avoid making the mistakes that have cost so many homeowners dearly.

Let’s look at three things that commonly blow a building budget right out of the water.

1. Adding Features: Often homeowners decide on a plan that will meet their needs—and then they start adding features to the home. If you spend any time on sites such as houzz.com or bhg.com you know that those sites are packed with great ideas. Too often, however, the things featured on those sites don’t mention the cost. It’s easy to get swept away by new, even innovative ideas and features that weren’t part of your original plan. And for a lot of people, once they see it, they think they just have to have it. Do your online idea gathering before you create your budget using Pinterest and Houzz as places to look and store your ideas.

2. Unnecessary Upgrades: If you’ve ever purchased a new car, you know how this can go. You enter the showroom with a budget and your mind made up that you’re going with the basic model. But then the navigation system is only a little bit more, and the leather seats look awfully inviting for only a few hundred dollars more. And that satellite radio seems like such a nice thing to have (and the first two months are free). Before you know it, you’re thousands over budget. A custom home can be the same way. Just because heated floors in the bathroom are available doesn’t mean you have to install them. Marble flooring in the master bathroom may look awfully nice, but is it really worth the extra money?

3. Changes to the Plan: One of the great things about a custom home is that you get to customize it and change a basic plan a bit to better suit your needs and tastes. But when you make those changes make a big difference. Sometimes homeowners make significant changes to the footprint or the design after construction begins. That can be very costly because it involves additional materials, labor, and sometimes redoing something that’s already been done.

Adding features, making unnecessary upgrades, and making changes to the plan after building has begun are guaranteed ways to blow your building budget. That’s why it’s important to take your time planning before you start building and then stick to your plan. You can still make minor changes, but they are less likely to compromise your budget.

If you’re looking for help in planning your new home, click here to download our free Steps to Building Your Dream Home guide.