Since you don’t have an infinite amount of money allotted for the home building project, you will most definitely want to lower the construction costs. However, you need to save money without cutting corners and keep your project within your budget.
Staying within your budget often goes hand-in-hand with a smooth construction process. Also, keeping your construction costs down means that you’ll still have enough money when the home is finished to buy furniture, rugs, and accessories.
Build the House That Suits the Land
If you don’t have much level ground, for instance, design a home with a small footprint that doesn’t spread out for thousands of square feet on the first floor. Or if you have a sloped site, you can include a walkout basement in your plans. If you want to have open space for a pool, a vegetable garden, or a pasture, look for land that isn’t completely covered with trees. The costs to prepare your site will be lower, and you’ll be ready to build sooner.
Make It Tall to Keep Your Construction Costs Small
A taller and less wide house means it has a smaller foundation and a smaller roof. Plumbing lines and ducts may need to run much longer distances in the one-level ranch, adding to material costs and possibly affecting the efficiency of plumbing, heating, and cooling systems. Building a home “up” is usually less expensive in terms of materials and site-preparation costs than building a home “out.”
Keep It Simple and Tasteful
Take the time during the design phase to look at your plans with a critical eye. Try to simplify wherever you can. Opting for a simple roofline is a wise cost-cutting move. You can save money during construction on labor and materials and possibly save in the long run when it’s time to have the roof replaced. To help cut costs, avoid anything curved, including ceilings, walls, windows, and stairways. Keeping everything simple brings an added bonus: Creating a home with classic lines, traditional good looks, and common-sense amenities means it should retain its charms year after year and provide good resale potential.
Use Design Elements to Eliminate Costly Materials and Lower Construction Costs
As you design your home, you’ll discover that choices you make affect your budget. For example, say you choose an open floor plan: It could save you money that would normally be spent framing out interior walls and purchasing and installing interior doors, but it may cost more to frame the structure of a large, open space.
Choose and Order Items in Advance
What’s the solution to going over budget on item after item? Choose and order as many fixtures and finishes as possible in advance. When a contractor or architect is forced to estimate or put in an allowance for an item in your budget, the budget loses clarity. Put in a couple dozen allowances and your cost estimates are really just ballpark figures.
Use Surplus Materials for an Old-Style Home
Architectural salvage firms are a great resource to find vintage doors, knobs, ironwork, mantelpieces, and drawer pulls. However, buying old light fixtures may cost more in the long run if you need to rewire them. Old, primitive windows have plenty of character but lack the energy efficiency of new window units. If you find an old window you love, use it in an interior wall, instead.
Group Simple Windows for a Custom Look
You and your architect or designer can experiment with stacking rectangular windows of various sizes to create an interesting pattern in your great room that offers timeless charm. To “fake” a bay window, you can just group two or three windows side by side. You’ll get almost as much light, without having the expense of framing out the protruding bay window.
Avoid Change Orders
During construction, a homeowner decides to add a swimming pool, put in another bathroom, move a wall, or expand a window. Some of these requests may actually be quite simple in design or concept, but they all have ramifications in terms of time and money. The exception to the rule is when a design error becomes readily apparent during the building phase. Obviously, these mistakes require that changes be made to the original drawings. That’s why your construction loan officer wanted you to create a contingency fund in your building budget.
Go Faux
With today’s products and tools for homeowners, figuring out how to apply faux finish techniques is easier than ever. The results are walls that look like masterpieces but don’t cost a year’s salary. Books and magazines offer pages of inspiration for faux finishes.
Get Creative
Just because the homes you see as you tour local open houses all have formal dining rooms doesn’t mean you have to spend money to build and furnish a room that you may never use. Brainstorm with your family, architect, contractor, and spouse — together you can come up with ways to cut construction costs without looking like you’ve cut corners.