Building a home is becoming more and more common and with good reason! You can design your home exactly the way you want it, complete with your favorite flooring, appliances, and finishes.
But the process of building a home from start to finish can add up quickly, especially when you add in all the extras like those luxury finishes or specialized rooms. While there are many ways to splurge while building a new home, there are also several opportunities to actually save money on building so you can put that money to use elsewhere! Let’s go through the 4 best tricks to save money on the building process.
1. Build up not out: If you want more square footage, you might think that the only way is to build out the floor plan on the same level and expand horizontally. But building out requires more foundation, more roof, and extra lot space. These three things can make up the bulk of your home cost. Instead of building out, consider building up by adding a floor. This will help you add square footage without the added cost of expanding the foundation or roof.
2. Group your wet rooms together: Wet rooms are all of your rooms that require plumbing–think your bathrooms, laundry room, and utility room. By grouping these rooms together, you’ll have your plumbing lines in the same spot. This will decrease the amount of plumbing you need to run throughout the house, which can get expensive!
3. Consider your flooring: Tile and real hardwood floors are nice, but they can get extremely expensive, especially when used throughout the home. Instead of these pricer options, use luxury vinyl plank (also known as LVP). LVP has the look of real wood or tile, but it’s much cheaper. It’s also great with pets and kids and is growing in popularity, so you have lots of options!
4. Look at different building materials: Some builders default to the most expensive building materials like stone and brick. But you can get similar looks at a fraction of the cost with a stone or brick veneer. If you’re not a fan of brick or stone, you can look at other lower-cost building materials like stucco, vinyl or hardy board, or siding.
Your real estate agent will be able to provide great ideas like these to help you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to building your new home.