Best Time to Start Planning Your Custom Home
The Best Time to Start Planning & Designing Your Custom Home
In Minnesota, the Best Time to Start Designing & Planning Your Custom Home is 6-9 months Before You Want to Move In
Building a custom home is an exciting process. It can also be a time intensive and time sensitive process!
Design & Construction Takes Time
Beyond choosing the neighborhood and your perfect lot, you'll also be choosing and modifying your floor plan, adding special architectural features, choosing cabinets, doors, stain, paint, garage doors, lighting and plumbing fixutres, HVAC, and if you choose, technology, like structured wiring and other high tech and low voltage features. You also have to consider construction time. This process can take time and some new homeowners misjudge the time it can take.
Don't worry though - your custom home builder and design teams lead you through the process and have a lot of ideas and expertise to help. It is possible to custom design a home in as little as 30 days; however, typically speaking, you will want to take a little longer on the design process.
Once you find your perfect new home lot, you'll want to start the design and planning process - the earlier, the better. If you have children in school and you want to be in your new home before school starts, you should start the process in October or November. If you want to move in during sunny, dry weather instead of slushy, wet or fluffy, white snow, plan accordingly.
Custom Built Means Custom Fit for Your Style and Your Lifestyle
You can choose to build a fully custom designed home where you fully engage in the design process from the ground up or you might want to consider a semi-custom home where you choose an existing floor plan, but you still get to choose your finishes and tweak some design aesthetics and some features. If you're looking for move-in ready, a model or spec home could be more your style. You can choose to be involved as little or as much as you want to be.
Lock in This Year's Prices
A good incentive to start planning and designing early is to lock in the current year's prices. After the first of the year, you run the risk of an increase in the cost of materials not only in price, but interest rates as well. The design process can be lengthy, usually taking around four to six months to plan the design of the home.
Inspiration & Design Tools We Recommend to Help You Plan Your Dream Home
- Personal Designer Home Visualizer – Choose a favorite room in our gallery and change the colors, flooring, cabinets and much more to see your home before it is even finished!
- Houzz - Create personal Ideabooks to help plan your dream home. Organize by individual rooms, exteriors, or entire homes.
- Pinterest - Pin all your favorite rooms and designs. Pinterest is an easy place to get and organize ideas and inspiration for your perfect home.
- Creek Hill Custom Homes Galleries - Peruse the galleries of completed Creek Hill Custom Homes and Pin to Pinterest or Email to yourself to create an inspiration or "I Want This" file. Then, send to our builder and we'll incorporate your wish list into the design. Check out 17364 62nd Avenue - One of our most popular homes!
Planning | Design | Construction
9-12 Months
- Make a list of things you know you do and do not want for your home. A list of Must Haves helps speed the process of picking a lot and designing your dream home.
- Select a community that fits your lifestyle. School districts, shopping, entertainment, amenities, recreation, and location will love to live in. Work with your realtor to help you find your perfect location.
- Select a realtor who knows the area and what you are looking for in a home.
3-4 Months (this can be done in as little as 30 days; however, we suggest you take a little more time building your dream home!)
- Choose a lot for the home style that you want
- Preliminary Drawing & Floor Plan: Work with your builder and architect to design your own custom floor plan or choose an existing floor plan that fits your style and make it bigger... or make it smaller.
- Interior Design & Design Process: This is the FUN part! Work with the design team to pick your finishes and details such as cabinetry, flooring, paint colors, counters and decorative details such as lighting and faucets.
5-6 Months
- Construction can take 3-5 months depending on weather and schedule
- Pack up and move in to your new home!
Build Your Next Dream Home
Custom designing your home is highly gratifying - not only in the process, but in the years that you live in the home you built. Peruse our Homes for Sale and Available Lots in our masterfully-designed Neighborhoods. Let us bring your vision to life!
Have questions or want to talk design now? Call us at 763.553.0325. Or, if you want, email some details and we'll contact you! Complete our on-line contact form!
