Building a custom home is like watching your dream come true, because you get to build the home you’ve always envisioned. The first step for most Australians is to research how to make their budgets work when building a custom home, so that the result matches what they had in their heads to begin with. Unlike pre-designed homes, custom home builds follow a unique way of approaching costs. In this article, we’ll discover how custom home builders charge, as well as all the factors that affect the cost, so you get more home for your money.
Custom home build pricing
The most common, and probably the simplest, approach to costing a custom home build is the Fixed-Price approach. Here, you’ll sit down with your building team and plan out every detail of your home. Whether you have plans or simply know what you’re looking for – your custom home builder will guide you through your home design until you’re happy. This has many benefits, but the most notable is the fact that you’ll get an idea of the exact final cost before embarking on the building phase. This cost will be all-inclusive, covering the cost of your home being built, and the cost of the builder’s time and labour to do so.
Pricing materials
When you follow a fixed-price approach with your builder, you’ll also get the benefit of them finding you the best deals on the materials you’ve chosen for your custom home build. Professional builders have the best relationships with manufacturers, which means they’ll be able to make your budget work harder than if you sourced the material yourself. Another benefit of finding material through your building team is that once the price has been set for a certain material – that will be the price you’ll end up paying even if the price of a certain material increases over the course of the build. In some cases, building prices can fluctuate when material prices increase, causing unnecessary complications and stress on both the building team and the homeowner. The fixed-price model means you won’t receive any surprises along the way.
Quality guarantee
The fixed-price model also gives you the confidence that your building team takes full ownership of any mistakes and issues along the way, since you have already agreed to a final amount for your custom home. Any professional building team will take responsibility for mistakes or issues anyway, but the fixed-price model is an added incentive for the builder to ensure that the job is completed with fewer or no mistakes made at all, because the costs connected to those mistakes fall on the builder themselves.
Paying for your build
Before the building stage begins, you will have worked out a detailed payment plan with your builder to pay for your custom home. Most often, home owners make payments to the contractor as work is completed, but this plan will vary from one building team to the next. When making these decisions with your building team, it’s important to include every detail of your expectations based on the timeline and the job completion schedule.
Now that we’ve broken custom home build pricing down, let’s look at some of the factors that affect the final price of your custom home build.
Other factors to consider
Here are some of the factors that most affect your custom home build pricing –
Your design
The total cost of your custom home will be significantly affected by its design. At this part of the custom build phase you and your building team will talk through different options, including the size and shape of the house, the amount of rooms and the internal and external design. These decisions will all be made based on the size of your property and what you have envisioned your custom home to look like.
Your materials
Building materials form a large part of the final custom build cost. As you probably know from designing or researching for your own custom home, materials range significantly. The best approach here is to work with your builder to get the look you want within your allocated budget. Remember, although you’ll be looking at different material options, you should never compromise on quality.
Your finishes
Most building teams work off of the cost per square metre. This number is largely affected by the finishings you choose – simply because there are so many options. An expert builder will be able to offer you packaged-type finishes that give you the look you want, while also giving you the most value.
Let’s get building
Now that you know a bit more about custom home build pricing, you’re ready to get started. For many Australians looking to build their dream home, the financial side of things can get in the way of the excitement of bringing their dream to life.
Let Enso Homes take care of it all. When working with an expert custom home builder like Enso Homes, you can be sure that you’ll be living in a home that meets, matches your budget and exceeds your expectations. Our team of experts are ready to start the journey with you, so get in touch with us today.
