Building a home can be a stressful process. Why? On average, new construction projects go over budget by 10-20 percent. The reason it is often over budget is because of the unknowns created by the process of working off of allowances. Let me explain further; You have probably been looking on Pinterest, Houzz, and Google for inspiration images for your new home. You have a vision of what you expect your new house to look like and feel like from the inside out. On the other hand, you have set allowances to work off of to make your selections. You are then asked by your builder to start making your finish selections. Each finish is selected and signed off on one by one so that they can be ordered and not hold up the building timeline.
This is where the frustration usually starts because the allowances from the builder are just not matching up with your design inspiration and you are making decisions as selections need to be selected. Many times, I have clients come to me after they have ordered cabinets and appliances who want help getting back on track with budget. They state they never would have spent that much on appliances and or cabinets if they knew what the actual lighting and plumbing budget was.
Therefore, you find yourself having to make one of two decisions:
- Start making concessions on your selections to stay in, or get back on, budget. For example, maybe you’ll be waiting on selecting new furniture, or going with less unique light fixtures and or plumbing fixtures.
- Just concede that you are going to go over budget and get what you want.
Either option leaves you frustrated. This is what personally happened to my family and I when we built our home 11 years ago, and this is still happening to our clients today. It is the reason why I am passionate about educating my clients, builders, and realtors on how to avoid making the mistake that cost homeowners so much money in the end.
“I sought out EED when I was in the middle of a new build that I had done zero pre-planning for prior to breaking ground. I was struggling to make decisions, stay on budget and pull together a design. Thank you for all you’ve done for me- truly- you are a spectacular person with unequivocal talents. I have learned to trust the process!”-Jenny P., Iowa
The single most important mistake to avoid when building a home is to NOT have the entire home designed upfront, BEFORE you begin with a builder. I am here to tell you there is a MUCH better way by using the EED Process, or the Ensured Ease Design Process. When you hire one of our professional designers to help you with this process, you’ll avoid the mistake of going over budget. Our designers will ensure that the entire home, interior and exterior, 100 percent designed up front, BEFORE you ask a builder how much it will cost to build. Like I mentioned before, many people who build a home will go over budget by 10-20%. Those are big numbers! Working with a professional designer to make all the selections up front can save you thousands of dollars in the end and will be well worth the investment.
A professional designer will create all the tools for the builder to obtain accurate bids for your exact selections by creating floor maps, electrical maps, and sub-sheet documents detailing where all the items are sourced from – detailing specks for custom built-ins, paint charts, tile with installation instructions and grout colors, and much more. All of these tools will ensure the homeowner avoids costly mistakes, stays on budget, and achieves their vision for the overall design.
All the selections will be communicated via selection documents and samples, so you can visualize the concept. Documents will also be created for your builder to obtain exact bids for you new build. Building a house this in this way will give you peace of mind for the end product, and knowing where your budget is being spent. Once the builder has the bids you can tweak the selections/designs with your professional designer to make educated decisions on where you want to spend your budget. For example, if you want to spend more on light fixtures and less on your bathroom floor tile, you can because nothing has been ordered/signed off on without knowing the total cost to build you home!
Making the investment in professional design services will save you time, money, and allow you to be in control of where you want to spend your budget depending on what is important to you! Professional design fees for this service depends upon the scope of the project and the size of your home. When you choose the EED Process, you’re able to implement the design yourself to make sure you get what you want by having control over where your budget goes!
If you want more information on residential design services visit our website here for more information on our design service or email us if you have a topic you would like us to cover in our blogs. For more information check out our Blog on the EED Process. But don’t stop there! Connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with all the latest tips and tricks. We love share our ideas with you! Have a beautiful week and remember to never stop striving to achieve your vision!
