Have you ever searched long and hard for the perfect house only to find there is no such thing? Or should we say, no such thing in the right area or in your price range. We’ve been there. After we were married, we took tour after tour of houses. Each had pros and cons. We contemplated fixer-uppers, move-in-ready homes, and even out -of-our-price-range homesteads, but all of them lacked the title “House of our Dreams”. Maybe we weren’t meant to live in our idea of the perfect house. Should we settle for less? For us, it was an easy decision to make. NO. We were young, adventurous, and full of enthusiasm over building a house to live in for the rest of our lives. We were also clueless.
Now, almost four years after making the decision to begin building our house, we have gained much wisdom. Our desire is to share with you snippets from our journey. We did shed our fair share of blood, sweat, and tears. Maybe we can at least save you a few tears as you begin your building process.
- Know your purpose for building this house. As we prepared to build our house, we knew this is where we would live for the rest of our earthly lives. (Unless God has other plans, which is entirely possible). In other words, will this be YOUR house for the foreseeable future or are you planning to build and then move later? The answer to this question is very important as you begin to make decisions as to the location, floor plan, colors, and so on. We were not building our house to make someone else happy. We weren’t trying to make a profit by adding features that would bring in potential buyers. This house was ours and we could customize it to suit our needs.
- Seek wisdom from people you can trust. We clearly didn’t know the first thing about building a house. It’s much better to admit your ignorance than to make costly mistakes. Thankfully, we were surrounded by knowledgeable family, friends, and neighbors.They were more than willing to answer questions, offer advice, and even help us learn by allowing us to work alongside them. We have gained valuable knowledge and skills that will help us as we maintain our house in the future.
- Be prepared to pay more than what you are quoted. This part is not meant to discourage you, but to give you a heads-up. We did our homework when it came to figuring out costs, yet it always seemed to add up to more than expected. We also received multiple quotes for different jobs and still got charged more than quoted for various reasons. In the end, we still paid thousands less for the house than if we had bought it after it was built. If there is a way to do it yourself, then that should cut costs considerably, but sometimes (due to inexperience and lack of proper equipment) it will be in your best interest to go ahead and pay someone to do it. We tried to find small companies or people who did construction work as a side job for these non-DIY projects. Giving them an opportunity to work meant extra money in their pockets or another finished assignment to add to their growing portfolio.
- The bank may not loan you money. When we decided to buy a steel building kit, it came with a promise of being do-it-yourself. We were convinced we could actually do it ourselves. We were excited to save some (lots of) money and also be able to customize our house to suit our dreams. There was one problem- where we live, the bank will not finance a build if there is no contractor. Ouch. That put quite a damper on our building plans. We had been saving our money but certainly didn’t have enough to finance our whole project. Make sure you know exactly how much the bank will loan you for your house construction. ***If you still need funds, we recommend knowing someone who recently sold a business and is willing to invest in your dream house. Thanks mom & dad!***
- Listen to suggestions. My husband and I had wonderful people surrounding and supporting us during this long process. We had already thought through exactly how we wanted things to look, but there were always suggestions about this and that. Looking back, we are grateful for the input from our helpers. Even if we didn’t always decide to follow their suggestions, it did provide us options that we hadn’t considered before. Our finished house is better because of other people’s brilliant ideas! Keep in mind that YOU will be the one living in the house, so don’t be afraid to say no to some suggestions that just don’t appeal to you.
- There are endless decisions to make. Maybe this isn’t a problem for you, but for us, it is difficult. We have a hard time deciding which restaurant to try on our monthly date night! Building a house requires intense ongoing decision-making. The great news is, most of it can be changed in a few years if you end up wishing you had done something different. Don’t stress about all the little things (like paint colors), but be sure to focus on the decisions that will be costly to change later (such as whether to include a basement). Our guest bath actually has three different coats of paint already. I am glad we finally decided on the dark brown verses the previous shades of green. Each decision you successfully make brings you one step closer to a finished house you can call home.
- The more, the merrier. We are referring to electrical outlets and storage space here. You will never regret increasing the number of outlets because the cost of doing so during the building process is minimal, but the convenience it brings is incredible! We don’t foresee a decrease in the amount of electrical items we use in our home, so it is better to plan for this as we build. In regards to storage- we are not minimalists. We probably never will be. We actually save things to reuse and pass down in order to save money. You can call it our way of recycling. Having the extra storage space allows us to do so without feeling like our stuff is taking over the entire house! We can be neat and continue our slight hoarding addiction at the same time with proper storage space!
- Be gracious. It was a great bonding experience for our relatives to build this house together. We had people step up and offer help in so many different ways. With two children under the age of 4 and one on the way, we knew we couldn’t do this all on our own. Sometimes it was hard to accept offers of help, but other times, it was overwhelming to consider how blessed we were! We were grateful for babysitters, tools that were freely lent, encouragement on rough days, and food that was deliciously prepared after a long days work. We were thankful for prayers regarding wisdom & safety. Finally, we were thankful for fellowship. Building our own house didn’t mean building a house on our own. So, when you receive suggestions, be kind. When people help, say thank you. And when something is borrowed, give a small gift when returning the item. And if you get the chance to help someone in the future, remember all the help you have already received.
Seeking Wisdom,
