Questions to Answer Before Designing a House

The Very Begining

No matter if you have been thinking about building your house for a long time or you found a job in a new area and are in a time crunch, our checklist can help you streamline the process of designing your house.

The first things you need to decide when building a house are your budget, the timeline that works for you, and the property you want to build on. While only you can determine your budget and timeline there are a few things to consider when figuring out the property you will build on.

When looking at possible properties, whether you own it already or you are purchasing consider the following:

The size of the lot
Closeness of neighbors
Having a view vs. having privacy
Slope/flatness of the land
The direction the plot faces (Where will the sun be?)
Nature Features (forest, field, water, etc.)Trees (Remember – if you have to replant, trees take a while to mature and be tall)
The style of surrounding houses (if you have neighbors)
Available resources (Will you need a well? City water? Septic tank? Electricity?)

We know that this can be overwhelming to think about, if you are buying a lot your realtor may be able to guide you. When you contract with Pine River Fine Homes we can walk you through this process and give recommendations when deciding on a property.

Deciding Dreams and Limitations

"Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style."
-Billy Baldwin

Knowing your budget here is essential. If you don't figure out how much you are able to spend, it is incredibly difficult to know how large of a house you can build or what features you could be included. With that being said, go wild then scale back. Some ideas may be more doable than you think and this is your chance to make something that is uniquely yours.

Instead of looking for a stock plan and trying to add and change features, consider that this is your moment, that you are designing your dream home. Create an optimized space that will work for you and your family. Before we can start designing you should envision the way in which you plan to use the space. Below are a few questions that can help you figure that out.

• What size do you want your home? Are there any barriers that may apply to the size of your home?
• How many stories?
• How many rooms do you need?
• What rooms are more important to you?
• What aspects of your lifestyle do you want to be built into your home?
• Do you have a type of layout in mind?
• Consider your style
• Are there any features that are a must-have for you? (fireplaces, laundry chute, outdoor shower, etc.)
• Do you have any important furniture or family pieces that you want to showcase in your new home?

A great way to help your builder get a sense of your style is to collect pictures of things that you love in a house (or hate). In our office at Pine River Fine Homes, we keep a stack of magazines for customers to go through and cut out clippings.

What Now?

Now you get to build your team of professionals. You can reach out to an architect with clear goals in mind and a general contractor to get a bid to build your house. It is not necessary to hire other team members, but there are some you may wish to consider closer to the end of your build.
These include:

• Landscape architect
• Interior designer
• Kitchen and bath designer

Pine River Fine Homes is a one-stop shop. We have a wide variety of services available to help you, from buying land to putting grass down we can be with you every step of the way.