A brand new home built to your exact specifications on the land you love… life really doesn’t get much better! But before you embark on the exciting and very rewarding journey of building a custom home, it’s important to lay the groundwork and complete the very first steps in the process.
Once you know where you want to build, you’ve chosen your land, you’ve prepared financially, and if you’re willing to do a bit of coordination work to save money, you’ll be well on your way to designing and building the home of your dreams. Once the first steps are complete, the process will be smoother and easier for everyone involved. If you’re considering building a custom home on your land in North Carolina or South Carolina, here are the first steps you should take:
1) Choose Your County
Location affects cost, so it’s important to narrow down the county where you’d like to build before we begin to move through the discovery process. The same floor plan built in Lee County and Brunswick County, for example, may have a price difference of up to $10,000. Several considerations go into the cost of new construction in an area including proximity to major cities, highways, or attractions, the density and type of soil, and building codes. For example, Lee County and Brunswick County are in different wind zones, so materials need to change because of this.
2) Buy Your Land
We are a custom, on your lot builder in many counties across North and South Carolina, which means we build your home on land you already own. In fact, we need to know where your land is located before we can properly quote a base price for a floor plan. If you don’t own land yet, or you’re just starting to explore your options, we can help! We’ll direct you to a lot specialist who has access to listed properties and those coming soon throughout the states of North and South Carolina.
3) Prepare Financially
Construction loans tend to have stricter qualifying criteria than standard mortgages, so start the pre-qualification process with a preferred lender as soon as possible. Understand your credit score and what areas may need some attention. Determine who will be on the loan. Decide if you will keep your existing home or sell it once your new home is complete, as this could determine your loan options. We recommend speaking with a lender as soon as you consider the idea of building a new home. This will give you the groundwork of what your credit score is, the programs available to you, and what your overall budget is, so you go in with a clear understanding of what you qualify for and how much financial flexibility you have.
4) Be Willing to Take Some Control
Value Build Homes provides affordable, on your lot, site-built homes in counties throughout North and South Carolina. We are not a modular builder. Our custom home builds are accomplished with a simple process that offers you more equity and value when you move into your new home. We have homes that cover most budgets ranging from $120,000 to $350,000+.
One of the ways we can save you money is through our partnering program. With our guidance, you will coordinate the land improvement items such as clearing, grading, well, septic, driveways, etc. Your bank will pay for those items and we add no markup or profit to them to allow you to roll those expenses into your construction loan. You can save several thousand dollars by simply making some calls yourself to have this work performed.
If you’ve completed these first few steps, then we’re ready to get to work! If you have questions about any of the points above, we’re more than happy to provide assistance and additional resources. Get in touch and let’s get started building your new custom home!