Comprehensive steps for building a new home.
Prospective homeowners should give careful consideration to their decisions when planning to build a home. A great home is one that you are happy to wake up in every day, which is efficient in its layout and usage, that is interesting yet practical, and that brings joy into the very basics of living. These 8 steps will help to guide you through the process:
Home Building: Plan and Design
The design process is the most important part of building your new home. No matter how good your blueprints are, no matter how competent your builder, your plan must be well thought out and logically developed to ensure a well constructed home that meets your needs, your lifestyle and your unique characteristics. A great home is one that you are happy to wake up in every day, which is efficient in its layout and usage, that is interesting yet practical, and that brings joy into the very basics of living.
It involves using creativity and visualization to look at the origin of your likes and dislikes and it involves honest communication with others: your spouse and/or children, your designer and builders, and your banker. Take the time to discuss compromises and different options. Visualize your finished home from the inside out, the feel of each room, corner and hallway-in short, what it will be like to live in.
Home Building: Regulation
Often there are many regulatory requirements that affect your project, from zoning to allowable setbacks, buildable area, height restrictions, sewage disposal, water and utilities.
Home Building: Budget
Too many people travel far down the road to their dream home only to find out that they can’t afford it, many times after construction is finished. Not only is it important to be perfectly clear about the overall cost of the home you wish to build, but of course, the amount of the monthly mortgage payment (factoring in for times of higher interest rates) and the effect on your overall life cash flow. And it is important not to include construction costs only.
There are additional ‘soft’ costs such as design and engineering fees, surveying, driveway and landscaping, septic fields, and building permit fees or development charges.
Home Building: Technical Aspects
Don’t leave out such things as constraints offered by the building site: access, wind and sun exposure, and septic field capacity.
Home Building: Evaluation
Assign areas where rooms will be, look at access and circulation, and begin assigning a budget. Undertake the difficult but extremely important step of matching your dream with the reality of your financial situation. It is important to build with unforeseen costs and extra spending for special features in mind. It may be necessary at this stage, to modify. Double up the function of a couple of rooms, eliminate some rooms entirely, finish the basement at a later date, tighten up the entire floor plan. The importance of this step cannot be over-emphasized. These are the critical decisions that still allow you to have the well designed and beautiful home you want at a price you can afford. At this point you may not have even looked at floor plans nor put pencil to paper. But you are well on the road to having an exceptional home.
Home Building: Drawing Process
This phase is best left up to a professional architect or building designer. It is helpful to both you and your service professional for you to right down some of your thoughts on paper and have a rough idea of what you want.
The professional you work with will help you establish relationships between the various rooms, help choose the primary orientation and the general feel of the home. This is the initial step to creating blueprints and should be reviewed many times by both the architect/building designer and yourself, the client. This is the time to make changes and add detail, because once the schematic drawings are finalized, it becomes much more costly to make changes so it is wise to spend extra time getting it right at the beginning.
Home Building: Design Development
Next comes the technical side of design; attaching exact dimensions to each room, calculating wall heights, roof pitches and stair details, construction methods, etc. Your home is definitely beginning to take shape.
Home Building: Working Drawings
There is little opportunity to make plan changes at this point, which become more expensive, but of course, less expensive than changes during construction. These drawings may include detailed specifications for materials and construction and schedules for doors, windows, and finishes.
Structural engineers specialize in the design of buildings, including residential housing.
Whenever there are modifications or repairs done to existing construction, or framing for additional space, a structural engineer will be part of the picture. Their services also are needed for altering roof structures, such as adding trusses. Structural engineers can be contracted through the architect or builder, but often the homeowner contacts an engineer directly. When doing so, it’s important to make sure the structural engineer is registered, professionally licensed through the state.
What Does a Structural Engineer Do?
The structural engineer will make a site visit to evaluate the desired modifications, look at original structure plans, and assess the impact. Depending on the project, he’ll do some measuring, and possibly some surveying, particularly if perimeter drainage issues are involved or if soil has washed away from the foundation. Each construction project requires a structural engineer to employ different research. Factors such as wind speed, snow loads and occupancy loads must be considered along with the plans detailed in the architectural drawings.
What Should You Discuss with a Structural Engineer?
Before the site visit, homeowners should know exactly what kind of construction project they want as well as how quickly they would like it done.
What a Draftsperson Does
As homeowners search for the house of their dreams, they may end up finding a house plan in a newspaper, order plans from a magazine, or just have an idea of what they would like based on houses they have been in. Getting those ideas on paper and having blueprints drawn to give to contractors, however, is a job that few homeowners attempt themselves. Since most municipalities do not require that construction plans for single-family dwellings be done by a registered architect or engineer, a draftsman is likely to be able to put your ideas down on paper at a lower cost.
If you have a set of plans you purchased from a magazine or other source, the draftsman can also make modifications to meet your needs and/or satisfy local building codes in order to get a building permit. A draftsman can also take the plans to structural engineers or other licensed professionals to be stamped if a particular element in the building should need special consideration. Draftspersons can also make drawings of existing buildings if needed, such as to apply for building permits to make modifications.
The Modern Draftsman
Once, a draftsperson’s plans were all drawn by hand, but now (as with many aspects of modern life) the computer has entered the field to allow drafting to be done more quickly and accurately. The latest Computer Aided Drafting & Design (CADD) software can do 3D renderings and drafting which includes floor plans and elevations as well as plumbing and electrical plans to meet the standards set by the UBC, BNBC, BOCA and SBC building codes.
Although private individuals may not need plans for a single residence to be drawn on computer, it is frequently required for larger commercial and governmental jobs. It is also easier to make changes to drawings created on computer and send them electronically, if needed. Therefore draftspersons are often asked to convert plans on paper to a CAD program for future use.
Draftsman vs. Architect
While an architect’s main function is to design and oversee, a draftsperson’s job is mainly to sketch out the designs. If you are looking to construct a truly custom house from scratch, you’ll probably end up needing the skills of an architect or a structural engineer. Draftsmen are simply not as thoroughly trained in the design aspect of home planning, though making alterations to existing plans and sketching out ideas is well within their field.
Checklist: Recommended Questions to Ask Your Architect
Each architect has an individual style, design approach, and work method. So it’s important to find an architect who is compatible with your style and needs. Here are some questions to determine the right architect for you:
- What does the architect see as important issues or considerations in your project? What are the challenges of the project?
- How will he/she approach your project?
- How busy is his/her schedule?
- Who is your point-of-contact at the architecture firm? Is that the same person who will be designing the project?
- How does the architect establish fees?
- How much will your project cost?
- What will you be expected to provide, if anything?
- Will you see models, drawings, or computer animations to help explain the project?
- What services does the architect provide during construction?
General Contracting Services
General contractors are responsible for managing all aspects of your project, including hiring and supervising subcontractors, getting building permits, ordering supplies, and scheduling inspections. These contractors oversee all the subcontractors, such as plumbers, carpenters, and painters, to ensure that the job is done efficiently and to your satisfaction. They will act as your main contact throughout the project, and should be able to both explain any step of the work you need to know about as well as communicate your specific ideas for the project to the appropriate service provider.
Benefits of Hiring a General Contractor
Hiring a general contractor is usually done for convenience and efficiency. In nearly any circumstance, these contractors will save you time, probably several days, on the project’s duration. The hassle of having half a dozen contractors in your home is a bad enough, but without a guiding force, it can quickly become a nightmare. A project that should take only three days might end taking three weeks simply from scheduling and re-scheduling various subcontractors.
The overall effect on the project’s cost is less clear. Like with most things, time is money in the home improvement industry. Many subcontractors will charge a higher rate or charge per hour when they have to coordinate their work on a large project directly through the homeowner. Moreover, general contracting services also usually include access to products bought in bulk that individual homeowners might have to purchase at a higher price. This will get you a better deal on materials, and will give your job the customized look you desire. Yet, general contracting services also tend to add a 10-20% surcharge to the project’s cost, a reasonable fee, but one that should make homeowners at least consider forgoing these services.
Source of this article: www.homeadvisor.com
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