Building a House – 7 Steps to Selecting and Building Your Dream Home | The House Designers - YouTube

The House Designers created this new home building to-do checklist to help you through your new home building journey.

The first step is determining your budget.

Local home construction costs can be obtained by contacting local builders

and finding out what the average cost per square foot is in your area.

You can use our cost to build estimator, available for every house plan,

by clicking on the estimate the cost to build button on every plan page.

This offers a construction estimate based on your selection of products and building details.

The estimator allows you to compare bids from builders to help you choose the right contractor,

calculate costs in real time to make budget adjustments, and control the quality and quantity of home building materials.

The second step is finding a general contractor to build your new home.

The local National Association of Homebuilders is a great place to begin looking for your contractor.

Our site also offers a network of preferred builders to consider in your search.

To find builders in your area, click on the Builder tab at the top of our website

and select your state to access a comprehensive list of our trusted builders.

Don't forget to read our "Choosing a Contractor" article in our Product Ideas section to cover all the

bases when deciding on the builder who will build your new home.

The third step is determining the buildable area within your building lot.

A plat or survey prepared and sealed by a licensed surveyor is the document that

specifies the buildable area inside the property lines, easements, and setbacks, if there are any.

This area is called the buildable area.

You need this information to determine the width and depth to find home plans that will fit on your lot.

The fourth step is determining what type of foundation should be selected.

The foundation is usually determined by local site conditions.

If you have a deep frost depth, you may want to consider a basement.

If your lot is sloped, you may want to consider a walkout or daylight basement.

Your Town Hall's building permit office and a local builder are the best sources for selecting the right foundation.

The fifth step, and one of our personal favorites, is searching for a house plan.

After you determine the buildable area, foundation type, and the

square footage parameters that fit with your budget allowance, you'll be

well-informed to start searching for the right plan.

Please remember home plan modifications can always be made to any of our house plans to adjust to your lot

and personal preferences and needs.

When selecting your house plan, there are numerous considerations to keep in mind. Family size and lifestyle, and even

future living needs, are major factors when searching for your plan.

Privacy, workspace considerations, and design aesthetics are also very important.

After these items are decided, it's time to choose the exterior house style.

From farmhouse, to Craftsman, to a conventional ranch, to modern and contemporary, there

are many different styles to choose from. Browse through our styles and collection

pages to find the perfect house plan to fit all your needs, and a home design you'll love coming home to.

The sixth step is to determine if you'll need to make any modifications to customize your plan.

If you find a plan that you like, but would like to make a few changes, you can easily make modifications.

One way is to have our team provide plan modifications for you.

Plan modifications will either be provided by the original architect or our in-house modification team.

An estimate to make the modifications is free.

If you'd like to have another professional modify the plans for you,

you can purchase a PDF or CAD package of the plans, which come with permission to

modify the drawings and make as many copies as you'd like.

Which brings us to our final step: determining what kind of plan package is most suitable for your needs.

We offer plan sets, which when printed, usually consist of 24 by 36 inch construction documents.

PDF sets are electronic versions of the printed sheets that offer permission to

modify the plan and make as many copies as you need from a local printer.

And you can even print 8 by 11 plans on your home computer.

CAD files, which are the format our architects use to create the house plans,

are generally purchased when major modifications are being made to a plan.

And again, can be printed locally. PDFs and CAD files are our most-purchased

house plan package since you can print as many copies as you need, and are

convenient and cost-effective to send out to collect builder and home product estimates.

Building your home should be an exciting time, and we hope that this video helps guide you through the process.

To begin your search, visit TheHouseDesigners.com and, using our home plan search suggestions,

we hope you find your perfect house plan. If you need help or house plan suggestions, contact us via

live chat or email and we'd be happy to assist you.