May 13, 2025 • 21 mins
Building a custom home should be exciting, not overwhelming. Yet many homeowners make critical mistakes that can compromise their satisfaction and investment. In this second installment of our series on custom home building pitfalls, we dig into three crucial areas where proper planning makes all the difference.
The conversation begins with mistake #4: failing to plan for the future. I share why aging in place considerations like wider doorways, seamless showers, and main floor bedrooms aren't just for seniors—they're smart planning for everyone. We explore the importance of strategic placement of electrical outlets, pot fillers, and other conveniences that you'll appreciate for years to come. The walkthrough during the rough-in phase is your golden opportunity to make these decisions before walls go up and changes become expensive.
Quality construction represents mistake #5, where cutting corners to save money upfront often leads to higher long-term costs. For coastal homes, hurricane fortification may seem expensive initially but provides lasting security and potential insurance savings. Energy-efficient windows and appliances similarly pay dividends through lower utility bills and added resale value. The conversation turns to mistake #6—ignoring resale potential—where over-customization and deviation from neighborhood norms can significantly impact your ability to sell in the future.
The Shop Talk segment tackles budget realities, including surprising costs homeowners often overlook, like utility connections and septic systems. We also debunk barndominium myths, explaining why these trendy structures aren't as inexpensive as internet sources suggest unless you're planning substantial DIY work or prioritizing garage/workshop space over living areas.
Whether you're planning your dream home now or considering a build in the future, these insights will help you make informed decisions that balance immediate desires with long-term value. The choices you make today determine not just your satisfaction tomorrow, but potentially your home's adaptability for decades to come.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Home Building and Remodeling Show.
Let's go.
Welcome everybody to the HomeBuilding and Remodeling Show.
My name is Chris Kirby and I'llbe your host.
(00:21):
I am the owner of threeconstruction companies on the
Alabama Gulf Coast.
The show is about residentialconstruction.
We're going to cover topics ofhome building and remodeling.
Are you thinking of doing aremodel or building a home?
Are you a contractor looking toimprove your knowledge base or
grow your business?
Have you ever done a remodelproject or built a home?
(00:42):
There were so many things youwish you knew or that you could
have done differently during theprocess.
Then this show is for you.
We break down the process ofbuilding and remodeling and how
to have the best results duringyour project.
Whether you're a DIYer lookingfor tips, someone looking to
hire a contractor to do aproject, or a contractor looking
(01:04):
to expand your knowledge baseor your business, welcome aboard
.
Glad to have you.
Stay tuned.
We kick off the show with mythoughts on home building and
remodeling.
I'll share best practices andtalk about some of our
experiences in business and outin the field.
These shared thoughts andlessons learned are meant to
help you on your very ownjourney.
(01:25):
Let's go.
We're picking up where we leftoff on the 10 biggest mistakes
people make when building acustom home.
Number four is not planning forthe future.
And what do I mean when I saynot planning for the future?
I'm talking about the fact thatmost people, when they build a
custom home, you get to make thechoices design choices, plan
(01:48):
choices, different things likethat.
What we commonly see is peoplefailing to plan for the future.
Aging in place is a big deal.
If you're not sure what thatmeans.
There's a lot of people whowant to remain in their home
instead of going to a nursinghome or a facility as they get
older.
Well, you have to make the homeadaptable for that age.
(02:09):
So, for instance, doing thingslike having wider doors We've
done a secret pantry door in thegarage that you can put the
groceries inside of this secretpantry door, and I'll show you a
clip from one of the videos wetook of that pantry door, things
like that.
So you clip from one of thevideos we took of that pantry
door, things like that so youcan put the groceries right onto
the pantry floor and then walkin the house and put them in
(02:32):
Seamless showers, benches andshowers, grab bars, different
things that make you age better.
You're able to stay in yourhome if you have a home that is
specially adapted to aging inplace.
And that is a thing that we seehomeowners fail to think about
often is how long are they goingto stay in the home and if they
(02:53):
want this to be their foreverhome.
That's something that theydefinitely need to think about.
The other part of failing toplan properly or plan for future
use, when we get to the roughphase right, we've got the house
rough framed and before we goand do the drywall, you're going
to have the electrician andplumber and HVAC.
They're going to come in and dotheir rough in work.
(03:15):
And what we often do, eventhough we have a set of plans
that we go off of, we often do awalkthrough with the homeowner
and we talk about the placementof not just the GFIs but
different outlets and locationsof lights and things like that.
When we're looking at kitchensand things the placement of
(03:36):
electrical sockets that arewhere you could plug things in
If you've got a butler's pantryand you want to have a crock pot
plugged in on top of that oryou want to have different
features in your house.
So electrical outlets and thoseplacements of those and the
type of electrical outlets aresomething that you don't want to
fail to plan for Pot fillersdifferent options in the home
(03:58):
now that we have that we canprovide.
Pot filler is a big one.
Hot water at the stove Usuallythe pot filler is right over the
stove and having that rightthere instead of having to go to
the sink and carry a bigboiling pot of hot water back.
This is a custom home, so youare able to have choice in a lot
of how it's designed.
Again, on the topic of aging inplace, on number four, which is
(04:21):
failing to plan for the future,one feature that I do enjoy is
having at least one main floorbedroom.
Maybe the primary could be onthe main floor because as you
get older, if you have atwo-story home, it does get
harder to go up and down thestairs.
Not that you can't do it, butwe're talking well into the
future.
As you're aging, you may have ahindrance to going up and down
(04:44):
the stairs.
You may hindrance to going upand down the stairs.
You may not want to go up anddown the stairs.
So when designing a custom home, if it's going to have multiple
levels.
Make sure that there'saccessibility to those multiple
levels and having that samefloor primary or main floor room
it doesn't have to be theprimary, but in the future you
may again have problems going upand down the stairs Make sure
(05:07):
that you have one main fourbedroom.
Family changes.
Again on number four this is abig one too.
Plan to plan for the future.
So, instead of you know,especially for those young
couples looking to get startedin life having a 2-2, you know,
as a starter home, it's not abad idea.
However, if you can get a housemaybe a 3-2, where they have a
(05:31):
smaller office that they'retechnically calling a bedroom,
or when we build that home andyou need that extra space, if
you do plan on having childrenor raising children in the
future, you may want to havesomething now that you can use
as an office space that couldturn into a nursery or something
like that.
(05:51):
So, just accommodating that,especially if the starter home
can evolve into your foreverhome, you need to plan for that
family growth.
Another plan for future use onnumber four is the attic space.
So if you build the attic spaceout or want to turn that into
(06:13):
an area later that could behabitable.
It is important to go ahead andpre-engineer that space to
become habitable in the future.
Also, as far as space and atticplanning, you may not build
stairs into your attic.
You may have a pull down, butas long as you have an area, an
access area to build stairs inthe future, that's something
(06:35):
that could save you moneyInstead of moving.
You could turn that attic intoan extra room and it can be
accessible.
So just planning that space forthose stairs in the future,
planning to have access to theattic in the future.
So budget is a constant concern.
It was the number one item onthe list of 10.
(06:56):
And we talked about it atlength in the last episode.
But number five is skipping onquality, and this ties into
number one.
It ties into budget.
But you do not want to skimp onquality.
And I'm not just talkingquality, as in getting high end
cosmetic features put into yourhome.
Right, the allowances and nice,super upscale marble, granite,
(07:20):
I mean, you know, quartzite,different types of countertops
to make it look good.
Right, more modern, more sleek,but that's not what I'm talking
about.
Okay, that does matter, right,higher-end products typically
hold up and last longer, but youstill have to take care of
those items.
So where I'm talking aboutskipping on quality is a
(07:41):
quality-built home with goldfortification.
Here in the South we havehurricanes but it does cost more
to build a gold fortified homebecause of the requirements and
the strictness of passing thatgold fortification bar right.
To have a home that is goldfortified means that you've done
upgrades to the strapping,windows and doors, impact rating
(08:04):
or rated, or you have shutters,I mean.
So it does cost more to do agold fortified home.
The other part is the energyefficiency.
So windows and differentappliances and different items
that are energy star rated, theyactually do help in the long
run, right.
(08:24):
Not just with the power bill,because we get it right.
You're looking at the powerbill and you're saying, well,
$20,000 in in Windows versus 10,how long would it take to
actually add up for that powerbill to actually get the cost
back for that?
But in the long run, right fora custom home, that stuff does
(08:47):
add value.
When you do it Also, you getdifferent tax breaks and also
just making sure that youunderstand that having lower end
items or having lower rateditems in your home, actually
you're not only going to getstuff that maybe breaks sooner,
but you're going to have ahigher cost to maintain as
(09:08):
you're moving forward.
Urgency always comes up whenbuilding a custom home.
Right, some people have timeand some people just don't have
the luxury of time.
So speed over quality issomething that you need to pay
attention to.
And also picking that lowestcost, that lowest bid.
It can lead to higher repaircost and maintenance cost and
(09:34):
that does go back to skipping onquality.
So make sure that you knowyou're thinking about.
You know budget is always anissue, so having a lower upfront
cost sometimes is the priority.
However, that the buildershould talk you through how to
get quality products at a lowercost and help you save money
(09:56):
without jeopardizing the quality, without jeopardizing the
future durability of your home.
Number six on the 10 mistakes toavoid when building a custom
home is ignoring resale value.
And look, when you're buildinga custom home, you're
customizing it to you, yourwants, your needs.
It's your dream, it's yourvision, but the reality is you
(10:20):
do have to think of resale valueUnless you know for sure this
is your forever home.
Over customization can hurtyour value If you're customizing
it too much to yourself and youmay be spending way more than
you realize on thatcustomization and you may not
get the return on investment,and so you do have to be leery.
(10:44):
Plus, the other part to this is, aesthetically it has to match
certain areas and if it differstoo much from there's people who
want to move into the communitythat you live.
If your house internally is toodifferent from what the
expectations of that communityare or the style of home that
they're looking for, it couldactually hurt the value of your
(11:08):
home.
You may not be able to sell itbecause you've put so much into
it to customize it for yourselfthat you've got it listed
thinking all this customizationis creating value in the house.
But it's not.
It could actually hurt you.
So I do not recommendover-customizing the house
unless you know for sure thatthis is your forever home.
(11:31):
Another part of the ignoringyour resale value.
So number six again is ignoringthe resale value of your home.
So let's just say it's commonin a neighborhood or an area to
have a 3-2, right, that's apretty standard.
3-2, 4-2, 4-3.
Those are pretty standardfeatures.
If you are saying, well, Idon't really care, I'm going to
(11:53):
build a two bedroom, twobathroom, large home with
different features, well, isthat really what a family is
going to be looking for.
So even a family of three or anew couple, a two-two may work
at first, but in the long runthey're going to opt for that
three-two and make sure thattheir family can grow.
(12:14):
So ignoring resale value whenyou're customizing a home has a
large potential for failure inthe future when you go to sell
and now we move into Shop Talk,it's the portion of the show
where I bring in a co-host andwe cover trending topics in home
building and remodeling.
Hope you enjoy, let's go.
(12:35):
You've taken that deposit and orthey change their mind because
for us we've got a long time tostart project because we're
booked up but they may go andfind something that's more or
less and then now you've gotmaterial deposit and they're
changing their mind on what theywant to install and it costs
more or less and you may have togive back some money.
(12:55):
You know, and that stuffhappens to us too and it messes
up those those hard numbers inthat cash flow a little bit when
you start to mess with thedeposit and mess with allowances
and different things like that.
So if they're bringing theirstuff to the table, they know
what they want based on our good, better, best numbers.
It really helps us out.
But getting back to the budgetpart of home building us out.
(13:15):
But getting back to the budgetpart of home building, and, as
you've been looking at this,there's some unforeseen costs
that people don't realize toowhen it comes to building a
house, which we aren'tresponsible for.
But we'll help them coordinate.
So they're looking at it andlet's just say they're good with
our construction cost and it's$450,000.
They're like good, that fits mybudget.
(13:37):
But they still got some stuffthey've got to do on their end.
Let's just say to get water tothe property, get the sewer tap
put in, and those things we tryto talk to them about, we
educate them about it, butultimately it's their
responsibility.
But those are costs that couldbe $10,000 just to get the
(13:58):
septic put in, and if you don'ttalk to them about it or educate
them, they'll think that thatwas a part of the standard cost
of construction and it's justnot.
And so that's another budgetconversation that you have to
have is we are bidding on theconstruction part, but there are
still things that need to beclarified, that need to be done
(14:20):
on their end.
You know again, utilities andwhat are some other things you
could think of.
A survey, right, the plandrawing and engineering.
We sometimes will include thatif they really want to just have
the cost under us, we get someof that stuff cheaper sometimes.
What about sticker shot?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, some people get sticker shot bad.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I don't think people know how much it.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well, I think people get a lot of false information
off the internet.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And so it kind of throws them off.
So what are some of the likeyou know, because we had that
one customer that came in andshe was like, can you really
build these barn dominiums for,like when she was like 80 or 90
dollars a square foot, and I waslike not at all.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Well, and that's the thing.
The barn dominiums are a wholedifferent story and I'm so angry
.
We were talking about this withAlan yesterday and he, he does
our shelves.
This with Alan yesterday and he, he does our shelves.
So the way we do our Barnum andAmes is we buy, we purchased
the building and we've got a guythat coordinates that.
He, we purchased the metalbuilding from him.
(15:27):
The metal building is deliveredand it's built and then we take
over the rest of theconstruction from there.
But people are thinking thatthese barnuminiums are super
cheap to build and in realitythey're just not.
Now there are some that arecheaper than others because we
do ours basically like acommercial style, where you've
(15:51):
actually got steel it's steelframed, steel beams, you know
what I mean and a heavier gaugemetal where they do have the
pole barn style barnominiums,right Right, which tend to be
cheaper.
But in reality the barnominiumshell itself is the cheap
portion.
(16:11):
The build out is going to bethe same as if we're building
out a house.
So what are some ways Foranybody who is watching this
that wants to learn aboutBarnuminiums or they're out
there hearing it's so muchcheaper to do a Barnuminium.
What are some ways for them toactually do it cheaper.
(16:33):
So what would a cheaper buildlook like as it pertains to a
Barnuminium?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
From what I'm learning, it would probably be.
If you were doing a cash build,yeah, instead of financing,
yeah, and you could get.
You know what I mean.
You could do a lot of the workon your own.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Type situation.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
If you've got that type of talent right or know
people who could help youExactly.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
If you've got more barn space than you have actual
living space, it's a lot cheaper, right yeah, living space is a
lot cheaper, yes, so I mean itcould be a lot, lot cheaper,
especially if you got.
You know, I mean the wholeworkshop, right, and that's kind
of like.
The original idea of a barn.
Minimum was to have a smallerliving space and more garage
(17:18):
space, you know.
And so you've got all this openspace, and that open space is
cheaper to build.
It's the shell of the home, youknow what I mean.
And we were kind of comparingsome of the old barnuminiums as
it would cost against atraditional home and they were
anywhere from 10 to 20 percentcheaper.
(17:39):
But those were larger shellswith smaller living space.
You know what I mean.
And then on the pole barn, youknow that's not something that
we've done yet.
We will do them eventually, Ithink.
But to me, I'm still wrappingmy head around how they're even
turning that into a residentialstructure.
Right, it's a meet code, butthey are.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
There are people out there doing it, yeah because I
had those plans come in on thatone, that's right, they're using
a scissor truss steel scissortruss, yeah, the poles, and then
it's all two by six.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yeah, uh.
So if some people, if you'rewatching this and they're,
they're, they've got a reallytight and they'll be on a tight
budget.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
They are not shopping at a tight budget, you know.
I mean yeah, and they'repicking out hiring stuff yeah
and stuff.
Yeah, it's like what?
How are you expecting us to getthis into your bubble?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
or we'll get into the build on what they thought was
a good budget and what we toldthem was a good budget and we
say, hey, this is that good,it's the good, better, best,
you're on all good and they'reout there finding best.
They're out there saying, well,I want this, can I change this?
Hey, that's not in the budget.
And that's a hard conversationwhen you've already broke ground
(19:00):
and you're in the middle ofthis thing.
To have is that wasn't in yourbudget.
And you know understanding the.
What the good is right, it's anew home, it's going to be, for
our home is going to be goldfortified.
So you're getting a good homewith new stuff.
We're not actually our goodisn't like laminate or something
(19:22):
like that.
Our good is actually graniteand so you're getting a good
product.
But I think sometimes they getconfused with that, a good
product being quartz andquartzite and it's just, that's
just not, it's not doable intheir budget.
And as you scale these housesright, the amount of stuff
you've got to put in the kitchenor the amount of cabinets
(19:43):
you've got to put in a kitchenor the amount of cabinets you've
got to put in a kitchen, goesup and it's costing us more and
more money, you know?
Did you find when you weredoing this, though, as the
houses get larger, is it moreexpensive, or do you think it
actually goes down a little bit?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
The price per square foot it seems to go down, the
bigger the house gets Right.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
And because there's that empty space.
If you enlarge a kitchen,that's a different story.
If you have a huge masterbathroom with a lot of fixtures
and tile and mosaic, that'sdifferent.
But adding a bedroom where it'sjust open space, open flooring,
you know, it starts to get alittle bit different there too.
(20:28):
Thanks for joining us today.
As always, we are grateful forour listeners and your continued
support.
Please subscribe to our YouTubechannel.
Follow us on social media viaFacebook, instagram and TikTok.
Get more info at our website,facebook, instagram and TikTok.
Get more info at our website,wwwthehomebuildingshowcom.
(20:48):
And, as always, remember who weare the Home Building and
Remodeling Show.
Outro Music.
The Home Building and Remodeling Show.
Let's go.
Welcome everybody to the HomeBuilding and Remodeling Show.
My name is Chris Kirby and I'llbe your host.
(00:21):
I am the owner of threeconstruction companies on the
Alabama Gulf Coast.
The show is about residentialconstruction.
We're going to cover topics ofhome building and remodeling.
Are you thinking of doing aremodel or building a home?
Are you a contractor looking toimprove your knowledge base or
grow your business?
Have you ever done a remodelproject or built a home?
(00:42):
There were so many things youwish you knew or that you could
have done differently during theprocess.
Then this show is for you.
We break down the process ofbuilding and remodeling and how
to have the best results duringyour project.
Whether you're a DIYer lookingfor tips, someone looking to
hire a contractor to do aproject, or a contractor looking
(01:04):
to expand your knowledge baseor your business, welcome aboard
.
Glad to have you.
Stay tuned.
We kick off the show with mythoughts on home building and
remodeling.
I'll share best practices andtalk about some of our
experiences in business and outin the field.
These shared thoughts andlessons learned are meant to
help you on your very ownjourney.
(01:25):
Let's go.
We're picking up where we leftoff on the 10 biggest mistakes
people make when building acustom home.
Number four is not planning forthe future.
And what do I mean when I saynot planning for the future?
I'm talking about the fact thatmost people, when they build a
custom home, you get to make thechoices design choices, plan
(01:48):
choices, different things likethat.
What we commonly see is peoplefailing to plan for the future.
Aging in place is a big deal.
If you're not sure what thatmeans.
There's a lot of people whowant to remain in their home
instead of going to a nursinghome or a facility as they get
older.
Well, you have to make the homeadaptable for that age.
(02:09):
So, for instance, doing thingslike having wider doors We've
done a secret pantry door in thegarage that you can put the
groceries inside of this secretpantry door, and I'll show you a
clip from one of the videos wetook of that pantry door, things
like that.
So you clip from one of thevideos we took of that pantry
door, things like that so youcan put the groceries right onto
the pantry floor and then walkin the house and put them in
(02:32):
Seamless showers, benches andshowers, grab bars, different
things that make you age better.
You're able to stay in yourhome if you have a home that is
specially adapted to aging inplace.
And that is a thing that we seehomeowners fail to think about
often is how long are they goingto stay in the home and if they
(02:53):
want this to be their foreverhome.
That's something that theydefinitely need to think about.
The other part of failing toplan properly or plan for future
use, when we get to the roughphase right, we've got the house
rough framed and before we goand do the drywall, you're going
to have the electrician andplumber and HVAC.
They're going to come in and dotheir rough in work.
(03:15):
And what we often do, eventhough we have a set of plans
that we go off of, we often do awalkthrough with the homeowner
and we talk about the placementof not just the GFIs but
different outlets and locationsof lights and things like that.
When we're looking at kitchensand things the placement of
(03:36):
electrical sockets that arewhere you could plug things in
If you've got a butler's pantryand you want to have a crock pot
plugged in on top of that oryou want to have different
features in your house.
So electrical outlets and thoseplacements of those and the
type of electrical outlets aresomething that you don't want to
fail to plan for Pot fillersdifferent options in the home
(03:58):
now that we have that we canprovide.
Pot filler is a big one.
Hot water at the stove Usuallythe pot filler is right over the
stove and having that rightthere instead of having to go to
the sink and carry a bigboiling pot of hot water back.
This is a custom home, so youare able to have choice in a lot
of how it's designed.
Again, on the topic of aging inplace, on number four, which is
(04:21):
failing to plan for the future,one feature that I do enjoy is
having at least one main floorbedroom.
Maybe the primary could be onthe main floor because as you
get older, if you have atwo-story home, it does get
harder to go up and down thestairs.
Not that you can't do it, butwe're talking well into the
future.
As you're aging, you may have ahindrance to going up and down
(04:44):
the stairs.
You may hindrance to going upand down the stairs.
You may not want to go up anddown the stairs.
So when designing a custom home, if it's going to have multiple
levels.
Make sure that there'saccessibility to those multiple
levels and having that samefloor primary or main floor room
it doesn't have to be theprimary, but in the future you
may again have problems going upand down the stairs Make sure
(05:07):
that you have one main fourbedroom.
Family changes.
Again on number four this is abig one too.
Plan to plan for the future.
So, instead of you know,especially for those young
couples looking to get startedin life having a 2-2, you know,
as a starter home, it's not abad idea.
However, if you can get a housemaybe a 3-2, where they have a
(05:31):
smaller office that they'retechnically calling a bedroom,
or when we build that home andyou need that extra space, if
you do plan on having childrenor raising children in the
future, you may want to havesomething now that you can use
as an office space that couldturn into a nursery or something
like that.
(05:51):
So, just accommodating that,especially if the starter home
can evolve into your foreverhome, you need to plan for that
family growth.
Another plan for future use onnumber four is the attic space.
So if you build the attic spaceout or want to turn that into
(06:13):
an area later that could behabitable.
It is important to go ahead andpre-engineer that space to
become habitable in the future.
Also, as far as space and atticplanning, you may not build
stairs into your attic.
You may have a pull down, butas long as you have an area, an
access area to build stairs inthe future, that's something
(06:35):
that could save you moneyInstead of moving.
You could turn that attic intoan extra room and it can be
accessible.
So just planning that space forthose stairs in the future,
planning to have access to theattic in the future.
So budget is a constant concern.
It was the number one item onthe list of 10.
(06:56):
And we talked about it atlength in the last episode.
But number five is skipping onquality, and this ties into
number one.
It ties into budget.
But you do not want to skimp onquality.
And I'm not just talkingquality, as in getting high end
cosmetic features put into yourhome.
Right, the allowances and nice,super upscale marble, granite,
(07:20):
I mean, you know, quartzite,different types of countertops
to make it look good.
Right, more modern, more sleek,but that's not what I'm talking
about.
Okay, that does matter, right,higher-end products typically
hold up and last longer, but youstill have to take care of
those items.
So where I'm talking aboutskipping on quality is a
(07:41):
quality-built home with goldfortification.
Here in the South we havehurricanes but it does cost more
to build a gold fortified homebecause of the requirements and
the strictness of passing thatgold fortification bar right.
To have a home that is goldfortified means that you've done
upgrades to the strapping,windows and doors, impact rating
(08:04):
or rated, or you have shutters,I mean.
So it does cost more to do agold fortified home.
The other part is the energyefficiency.
So windows and differentappliances and different items
that are energy star rated, theyactually do help in the long
run, right.
(08:24):
Not just with the power bill,because we get it right.
You're looking at the powerbill and you're saying, well,
$20,000 in in Windows versus 10,how long would it take to
actually add up for that powerbill to actually get the cost
back for that?
But in the long run, right fora custom home, that stuff does
(08:47):
add value.
When you do it Also, you getdifferent tax breaks and also
just making sure that youunderstand that having lower end
items or having lower rateditems in your home, actually
you're not only going to getstuff that maybe breaks sooner,
but you're going to have ahigher cost to maintain as
(09:08):
you're moving forward.
Urgency always comes up whenbuilding a custom home.
Right, some people have timeand some people just don't have
the luxury of time.
So speed over quality issomething that you need to pay
attention to.
And also picking that lowestcost, that lowest bid.
It can lead to higher repaircost and maintenance cost and
(09:34):
that does go back to skipping onquality.
So make sure that you knowyou're thinking about.
You know budget is always anissue, so having a lower upfront
cost sometimes is the priority.
However, that the buildershould talk you through how to
get quality products at a lowercost and help you save money
(09:56):
without jeopardizing the quality, without jeopardizing the
future durability of your home.
Number six on the 10 mistakes toavoid when building a custom
home is ignoring resale value.
And look, when you're buildinga custom home, you're
customizing it to you, yourwants, your needs.
It's your dream, it's yourvision, but the reality is you
(10:20):
do have to think of resale valueUnless you know for sure this
is your forever home.
Over customization can hurtyour value If you're customizing
it too much to yourself and youmay be spending way more than
you realize on thatcustomization and you may not
get the return on investment,and so you do have to be leery.
(10:44):
Plus, the other part to this is, aesthetically it has to match
certain areas and if it differstoo much from there's people who
want to move into the communitythat you live.
If your house internally is toodifferent from what the
expectations of that communityare or the style of home that
they're looking for, it couldactually hurt the value of your
(11:08):
home.
You may not be able to sell itbecause you've put so much into
it to customize it for yourselfthat you've got it listed
thinking all this customizationis creating value in the house.
But it's not.
It could actually hurt you.
So I do not recommendover-customizing the house
unless you know for sure thatthis is your forever home.
(11:31):
Another part of the ignoringyour resale value.
So number six again is ignoringthe resale value of your home.
So let's just say it's commonin a neighborhood or an area to
have a 3-2, right, that's apretty standard.
3-2, 4-2, 4-3.
Those are pretty standardfeatures.
If you are saying, well, Idon't really care, I'm going to
(11:53):
build a two bedroom, twobathroom, large home with
different features, well, isthat really what a family is
going to be looking for.
So even a family of three or anew couple, a two-two may work
at first, but in the long runthey're going to opt for that
three-two and make sure thattheir family can grow.
(12:14):
So ignoring resale value whenyou're customizing a home has a
large potential for failure inthe future when you go to sell
and now we move into Shop Talk,it's the portion of the show
where I bring in a co-host andwe cover trending topics in home
building and remodeling.
Hope you enjoy, let's go.
(12:35):
You've taken that deposit and orthey change their mind because
for us we've got a long time tostart project because we're
booked up but they may go andfind something that's more or
less and then now you've gotmaterial deposit and they're
changing their mind on what theywant to install and it costs
more or less and you may have togive back some money.
(12:55):
You know, and that stuffhappens to us too and it messes
up those those hard numbers inthat cash flow a little bit when
you start to mess with thedeposit and mess with allowances
and different things like that.
So if they're bringing theirstuff to the table, they know
what they want based on our good, better, best numbers.
It really helps us out.
But getting back to the budgetpart of home building us out.
(13:15):
But getting back to the budgetpart of home building, and, as
you've been looking at this,there's some unforeseen costs
that people don't realize toowhen it comes to building a
house, which we aren'tresponsible for.
But we'll help them coordinate.
So they're looking at it andlet's just say they're good with
our construction cost and it's$450,000.
They're like good, that fits mybudget.
(13:37):
But they still got some stuffthey've got to do on their end.
Let's just say to get water tothe property, get the sewer tap
put in, and those things we tryto talk to them about, we
educate them about it, butultimately it's their
responsibility.
But those are costs that couldbe $10,000 just to get the
(13:58):
septic put in, and if you don'ttalk to them about it or educate
them, they'll think that thatwas a part of the standard cost
of construction and it's justnot.
And so that's another budgetconversation that you have to
have is we are bidding on theconstruction part, but there are
still things that need to beclarified, that need to be done
(14:20):
on their end.
You know again, utilities andwhat are some other things you
could think of.
A survey, right, the plandrawing and engineering.
We sometimes will include thatif they really want to just have
the cost under us, we get someof that stuff cheaper sometimes.
What about sticker shot?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, some people get sticker shot bad.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I don't think people know how much it.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well, I think people get a lot of false information
off the internet.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And so it kind of throws them off.
So what are some of the likeyou know, because we had that
one customer that came in andshe was like, can you really
build these barn dominiums for,like when she was like 80 or 90
dollars a square foot, and I waslike not at all.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Well, and that's the thing.
The barn dominiums are a wholedifferent story and I'm so angry
.
We were talking about this withAlan yesterday and he, he does
our shelves.
This with Alan yesterday and he, he does our shelves.
So the way we do our Barnum andAmes is we buy, we purchased
the building and we've got a guythat coordinates that.
He, we purchased the metalbuilding from him.
(15:27):
The metal building is deliveredand it's built and then we take
over the rest of theconstruction from there.
But people are thinking thatthese barnuminiums are super
cheap to build and in realitythey're just not.
Now there are some that arecheaper than others because we
do ours basically like acommercial style, where you've
(15:51):
actually got steel it's steelframed, steel beams, you know
what I mean and a heavier gaugemetal where they do have the
pole barn style barnominiums,right Right, which tend to be
cheaper.
But in reality the barnominiumshell itself is the cheap
portion.
(16:11):
The build out is going to bethe same as if we're building
out a house.
So what are some ways Foranybody who is watching this
that wants to learn aboutBarnuminiums or they're out
there hearing it's so muchcheaper to do a Barnuminium.
What are some ways for them toactually do it cheaper.
(16:33):
So what would a cheaper buildlook like as it pertains to a
Barnuminium?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
From what I'm learning, it would probably be.
If you were doing a cash build,yeah, instead of financing,
yeah, and you could get.
You know what I mean.
You could do a lot of the workon your own.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Type situation.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
If you've got that type of talent right or know
people who could help youExactly.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
If you've got more barn space than you have actual
living space, it's a lot cheaper, right yeah, living space is a
lot cheaper, yes, so I mean itcould be a lot, lot cheaper,
especially if you got.
You know, I mean the wholeworkshop, right, and that's kind
of like.
The original idea of a barn.
Minimum was to have a smallerliving space and more garage
(17:18):
space, you know.
And so you've got all this openspace, and that open space is
cheaper to build.
It's the shell of the home, youknow what I mean.
And we were kind of comparingsome of the old barnuminiums as
it would cost against atraditional home and they were
anywhere from 10 to 20 percentcheaper.
(17:39):
But those were larger shellswith smaller living space.
You know what I mean.
And then on the pole barn, youknow that's not something that
we've done yet.
We will do them eventually, Ithink.
But to me, I'm still wrappingmy head around how they're even
turning that into a residentialstructure.
Right, it's a meet code, butthey are.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
There are people out there doing it, yeah because I
had those plans come in on thatone, that's right, they're using
a scissor truss steel scissortruss, yeah, the poles, and then
it's all two by six.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yeah, uh.
So if some people, if you'rewatching this and they're,
they're, they've got a reallytight and they'll be on a tight
budget.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
They are not shopping at a tight budget, you know.
I mean yeah, and they'repicking out hiring stuff yeah
and stuff.
Yeah, it's like what?
How are you expecting us to getthis into your bubble?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
or we'll get into the build on what they thought was
a good budget and what we toldthem was a good budget and we
say, hey, this is that good,it's the good, better, best,
you're on all good and they'reout there finding best.
They're out there saying, well,I want this, can I change this?
Hey, that's not in the budget.
And that's a hard conversationwhen you've already broke ground
(19:00):
and you're in the middle ofthis thing.
To have is that wasn't in yourbudget.
And you know understanding the.
What the good is right, it's anew home, it's going to be, for
our home is going to be goldfortified.
So you're getting a good homewith new stuff.
We're not actually our goodisn't like laminate or something
(19:22):
like that.
Our good is actually graniteand so you're getting a good
product.
But I think sometimes they getconfused with that, a good
product being quartz andquartzite and it's just, that's
just not, it's not doable intheir budget.
And as you scale these housesright, the amount of stuff
you've got to put in the kitchenor the amount of cabinets
(19:43):
you've got to put in a kitchenor the amount of cabinets you've
got to put in a kitchen, goesup and it's costing us more and
more money, you know?
Did you find when you weredoing this, though, as the
houses get larger, is it moreexpensive, or do you think it
actually goes down a little bit?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
The price per square foot it seems to go down, the
bigger the house gets Right.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
And because there's that empty space.
If you enlarge a kitchen,that's a different story.
If you have a huge masterbathroom with a lot of fixtures
and tile and mosaic, that'sdifferent.
But adding a bedroom where it'sjust open space, open flooring,
you know, it starts to get alittle bit different there too.
(20:28):
Thanks for joining us today.
As always, we are grateful forour listeners and your continued
support.
Please subscribe to our YouTubechannel.
Follow us on social media viaFacebook, instagram and TikTok.
Get more info at our website,facebook, instagram and TikTok.
Get more info at our website,wwwthehomebuildingshowcom.
(20:48):
And, as always, remember who weare the Home Building and
Remodeling Show.
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