Homes aren’t built in a day – they are crafted with love and care. These four walls keep us safe and secure come rain and shine. From trendy interiors to luxurious furniture – homes are undoubtedly our life’s biggest investments. Building your dream home can be a deeply rewarding experience but simultaneously overwhelming. It appears as if there are simply too many aspects to keep track of. While there is some truth to this claim, building your house isn’t a process that should keep you up at night. With changing times, it is time to get smart with the process of breathing life into your dream home.
Here are six things you must know before you build your dream home.
1. Get home insurance
Homes provide us with the comfort and security no other space does. On a practical note, homes are expensive investments. Unfortunately, accidents, damages, calamities are a part and parcel of daily life. Many times these accidents are uncalled for and cause significant damage to your home. Just as your home keeps you safe, as a responsible homeowner it becomes a necessity to keep your home safe.
The most effective way to save your home is to opt for a comprehensive insurance policy that will act as your safety net. As the name suggests, it protects against loss or damage by theft, fire, explosion, burglary, flood, water leakage, storm or flood damage. Home insurance covers all your personal property.
There is a host of more information required before you finalise on a coverage plan. Choose a flexible and affordable insurance policy suited to your needs.
2. Budget intelligently
No matter how carefully you plan your budget, knowing what the future holds is impossible; and often, the future holds an upsurge in the price of construction materials, interiors, taxes and more. Apart from unexpected future costs, there are a host of items that can be easily missed while planning a budget. Your builder is likely to not include electrical fittings, gas connections as well as internet and cable hookups. Additionally, when it comes to fences, outdoor landscaping and security – these are costs that you must be prepared to bear.
To save yourself and your wallet from additional trouble at the last moment, consider these add-ons while formulating your budget. First, make a rough budget considering and then finalise a budget that is flexible enough to accommodate extra costs. A perfect budget is one that allows you the luxury of making last-minute changes without emptying your bank account.
3. Pick the right builder
To make sure your home-building experience isn’t stressful, going an extra mile should not be much trouble. Before you start building your home, scour the market to know your available options of builders. Builders are crucial to making your dream come true. Markets are filled with an abundance of builders and with a little research, you can make sure you choose the builder suited to your needs.
Shortlist builders based on their reputation, portfolio and quality of previous work. Apart from technical requirements, make sure your builder is flexible, adaptable, open-minded and innovative.
4. Choose the right heating and ventilation system
In the midst of all the design and architectural decisions, big and small, choosing the right heating and ventilation system for your house is a decision that is often neglected. To create a comfortable and more importantly, healthy environment for your house an effective ventilation system and heating system are essential.
An effective and well-tuned ventilation system not only protects your health by removing pollutants such as odours, moisture, gases and particles, maintains air quality throughout the house but also can save you money on your electricity bills.
There are many basic ventilation strategies such as natural ventilation, spot ventilation and whole-house ventilation.
5. Maintain fire safety
Picture this: on a biting cold winter morning you are jolted awake by smoke and blaring alarm detectors – your heating system has caught on fire. You have about two minutes to safely escape before you lose your life to the engulfing fire.
The only way to escape such a dangerous fate is to maintain fire safety in your house. Maintaining fire safety doesn’t just mean installing a fire extinguisher but it means preparing yourself with fire safety education.
Fire safety education includes planning an escape route and familiarising yourself and your family members with a fire drill routine. Install a fire extinguisher and know how to operate it.
In case of a fire, rescue your pets, children and senior citizens first. Once you have secured them safely out of the fire and if there is enough time left, make a second run to grab your important documents such as birth certificate, marriage certificate, identity documents and photo albums.
Building your home from scratch is an exciting journey. With these essential tips, make sure you end up with the dream home you have always wanted.
Thinking of building a home abroad? Check out our guide to building a home in Spain.
6. Is your home going to be future-proof?
When it comes to building your forever home, one of the most important considerations to be made is how long you’re going to live there. For example, the home you build may be perfect for you and a partner while you are young, but will it still be ideal once you’ve had a family and got older? That means having to look at aspects such as whether there will be enough bedrooms for your family and/or guests, or if you need to need to install a lift from the Versatile Lift Company so that it is accessible to every member of your family.
If you’re going to go through the process of building a new home from scratch, it is important to make sure it suits your needs not just for now, but for many years to come.
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