It’s becoming increasingly popular for people seek out their own "field of dreams." In fact, some people find the perfect lot for their new custom home long before they even build upon it. People are quickly catching on to this new trend because building on your own lot has several advantages. For starters, you have the freedom to build the home you want, where you want, on the land you want. Furthermore, you can choose from a wide selection of floor plans and give your home all the personality you want. It’s the best way to get all you want, needs and desires met. However, you want to be careful when coordinating plans, options, home site and location.
Unfortunately, it isn’t always so easy to find your “field of dreams.” In fact, many lots may appear perfect for the construction of your new house, but then later you come to find out that you can’t build on the ground. Knowledge is power when it comes to picking out your lot, but unfortunately more than one land lover has learned the hard way. You may want to consider consulting a reputable builder during the process of picking out a lot. A builder will help you avoid poor quality properties and this will save you money down the road. They may even be able to save you money on the purchase price of the property.
Often times it is quite a shock to a homeowner how much additional site work may be required to make the lot ready to build on. You may even come to find out that not every part of the lot can be built on. It’s common for the foundation to require piers or pads or drainage issues may require extensive excavation work. These projects can be extremely costly. Additional considerations include a complete understanding of the easements, zoning laws, property line restrictions, architecture guidelines and review processes.
You should be prepared for the fact that custom building on your own lot generally takes more time to finish because you have so many choices and this leads to your project changing throughout the process of building. Building on your own lot allows you the freedom to choose the floor plan you want which will end up taking more time. A custom built home on one's own lot can reasonably take up to six months depending on several factors. Factors include the size and complexity of the home as well as the irregular nature of building on scattered sites. In fact, it is often impossible to commit to a completion date until well into the construction project.
Keep in mind, it is quite common for a buyer to fall in love with a floor plan in a luxury area of a community, but really want a slight variation of that floor plan so that theirs is unique in some way. If you own your lot you have the options of building a semi-customized floor plan. This is a huge advantage because it’s becoming a popular trend to build a home with abundant personality. If the lot is yours, the only limitation you will face is the size of the home site.
Living on the plot of land that you have fantasized about for years is definitely a dream come true. In today’s world, society places huge value on individuality and self-expression. For this reason, more and more people are opting to buy their land first, and then build a semi-custom home. Make note, you can save money in this process by hiring a builder with a "Build on your lot" program. This also eliminates the hassle of hiring your own architect and general contractor because these builders will do all the work. This includes the plans, permits, coordination, construction, and in some cases, even the financing.
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Custom home building is a great investment. You'll want to make sure you are choosing the right custom home builder for your new house and your budget.
Healthy HomesIf you read the information provided below, you'll be hard pressed to think of a reason not to construct your new home with healthy building materials and techniques. Most people spend over 90% of their time indoors. Your home is a very important environment where you and your family may spend much of your time. This brochure offers ways to make your home a healthy place. It includes information on indoor and outdoor air quality, pesticides, toxic household products, mold, tobacco smoke, radon, drinking water contaminants and making your home “green”. It has a little information about a lot of different topics and links to web sites to learn more. You can try the web links throughout the brochure or go to the federal agency web sites listed below to learn more about a particular topic that interests you.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov U.S. Department of Agriculture at www.usda.gov
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at www.hhs.gov U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at www.hud.gov U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at www.epa.gov
Space Efficient Green Homes
The days of bragging about how big of a home you own we think is over. Incorporating efficient use of space within a home design comes with years of experience. The less square footage needed, the less construction cost and less heat loss.
CHB Custom Homes strives to make the best use of space in their designs by:
Creating an open floor plan design (eliminating as many walls as possible).
Developing traffic patterns to reduce the need for hall area.
Obtain multiple uses of space where appropriate (more than one function per area).
Use radius walls to improve traffic flow and create a larger appearance.
Use the interior volume by not wasting available space.
Sculpture the interior by building in furniture, lighting, etc.
Choose a well insulated exterior wall system that does not eat up interior space due to its excessive thickness.
Green Homes
A green home is a home designed to be energy and space efficient while providing healthy air quality, and comfort to its occupants. Green homes are also sustainable homes built to maximize our resources and create less impact on the environment. A green home is an asset to the community by improving a homeowner's quality of life with luxury and style.
Healthy Green Homes
Responsibility for controlling a home's pollutant sources lies with both the builder and the homeowner. Careful selection of construction materials and finishes inside the house can be very effective in eliminating the sources of air pollution from the building itself. However, even if non-polluting materials are used in construction, the occupant may move in with particle board furniture, aerosols, and cleaners that will permeate the house in a matter of hours.
There are other pollutants generated by occupants that cannot be eliminated at the source. Carbon dioxide and moisture have to be managed by either dehumidification or exhausting to the outside of the building. Exhausting warm, moist, house air, however, has obvious energy penalty.
Controlled ventilation maintains indoor health and comfort. Air quality in homes has become poor as builders strive to make homes tighter. CHB Custom Homes realized it is not practical to try to build a home so it leaks just enough but not too much.
The CHB Custom Homes approach is to build as tight as economically possible and include controlled, heat-recovery ventilation. This assures healthy air quality, reduces heat loss, and keeps homes cleaner and more comfortable.
Affordable Green Homes
CHB Custom Homes has always evaluated energy-saving features cost effectively--if it saves more in energy cost than it adds to the mortgage interest expense per year, do it! Don't settle for a standard constructed home when you can receive more value for less cost with the right choice of energy saving features in a CHB Custom home.
Energy Efficient Home
CHB Custom Homes has been the leader in designing and building cost effective energy efficient homes since 2005. A house is a system of interconnected elements. CHB Custom Homes strives to combine all the parts with careful emphasis on economics, durability, maintenance and comfort and energy efficiency.
CHB Custom Homes success in designing and building homes depends upon understanding the physical forces that create a tug of war between the outside and the inside environments.
CHB Custom Homes applies the latest in building science to its homes. Our “total concept” approach seeks to enhance living comfort and home sustainability through every one of our energy saving features, including proper insulation, heat recovery ventilation, alternative heating and cooling systems, earth sheltering, new window technologies, advanced framing, and more.
Climate Conscious
Since heating requirements vary depending on location, we provide a variety of construction methods from which to choose. The CHB design considers not only climate but also utility cost as factors when determining construction standards. This gives our clients the ability to choose conservation methods for their specific needs.
Advanced Framing
CHB Custom Homes use only as much wood framing as is structurally necessary, leaving more room for insulation. This construction method eliminates structurally unnecessary wood members and replaces them with insulation.
Advanced framing conserves wood, reduces heat loss and saves money without compromising the structural strength of the building.
Modern Home
The definition of modern is a home design for today’s home owner providing the latest in cost effective, energy efficient, comfortable, healthy, green, sustainable technology.
Green Home Design Concepts
Besides energy efficiency, there are other key elements unique to all of our designs. Affordable means just that. Starting the first year, properly chosen features should return more dollars in energy savings than they will cost you annually. Style is enhanced through the utilization of open designs, and low maintenance exteriors. Protecting against rising energy prices adds to your security and your home’s future value.
Our ongoing commitment is to research and evaluating new products and construction techniques, incorporating those we find to be of true value into each new CHB Custom Home design.
Space Efficient Green Homes
The days of bragging about how big of a home you own we think is over. Incorporating efficient use of space within a home design comes with years of experience. The less square footage needed, the less construction cost and less heat loss.
CHB Custom Homes strives to make the best use of space in their designs by:
Creating an open floor plan design (eliminating as many walls as possible).
Developing traffic patterns to reduce the need for hall area.
Obtain multiple uses of space where appropriate (more than one function per area).
Use radius walls to improve traffic flow and create a larger appearance.
Use the interior volume by not wasting available space.
Sculpture the interior by building in furniture, lighting, etc.
Choose a well insulated exterior wall system that does not eat up interior space due to its excessive thickness.
Energy Efficient Building Shape
Building shape is also a major concern for a good, energy efficient, modern home design. Our goal is to design an attractive home with the least amount of exterior surface area without sacrificing good aesthetic appeal.
The shape of a home can play a considerable role in how energy efficient it is. A more compact, open-design concept can maximize interior space use, while reducing exterior wall surface area.
When we reduce the surface area, we reduce heat transfer. Shapes that achieve good ratios of surface area to volume are more energy efficient.
Earth Sheltered Home
Earth sheltering is a significant benefit if your lot is conducive. The sun and earth combined for comfort! This is the blending of a CHB Custom Home with its site to help achieve a low profile, in addition to providing energy savings.
Smart planning and design leads to improved comfort, better livability, and money and energy savings. A home that will serve your enjoyment for years to come.