Building a custom home is a new experience for most people, so it’s natural to have a lot of questions. We talked to Adair homeowner Jared Benson, who shared what it was like to find land, manage the site development process, and build a custom home. If you’re thinking of new construction, you might have some of the same questions, so check out their tips to learn more about what it’s like to build with Adair Homes.
Jared Benson: Proximity to work, the desire to have a 3-5 acre plot, price, and ease of building (lower cost of pre-construction items) influenced the decision.
JB: We did the trenching for utilities, driveway digout, landscaping, exterior flatwork, interior/exterior paint, and some excavating (mostly moving dirt around). We hired contractors for everything else.
In terms of recommendations for others, it depends on what you are competent at doing. Sweat equity is called sweat equity for a reason, it’s typically not a really easy thing to do. Personally, I probably wouldn’t dig out my own driveway again, but now I know how to do it, so might venture to do it again on a future build. It all depends on ability and time availability. Doing as much DIY as possible on my two Adair homes has lead to great equity in my existing home.
JB: This last build, it seems like everything was a little slower. Contractors weren’t able to show up back-to-back like our first build. This was a frustrating part of the process.
JB: I think the foundation was poured in May/June, we moved in December 15, so 5-6 months from foundation to move in. Prior to foundation pour, there was a delay in getting started due to a misunderstanding between me and the county regarding grading permit.
How to speed up the process? More contractors that are available to be scheduled back-to-back. On the DIY side, making sure that owners understand the various permits that are needed and in what order (the mistake was on me, I don’t blame Adair for that).
JB: Moving in was the best part. The second home also allowed us to select finishes and architecture changes that we weren’t able to select on the first home, due to budget. So this home really is the way we want it to be. That was a fun process, to truly select and “design” the home that we wanted,
JB: Whatever your DIY budget is, add a 10% buffer. Whatever you think you can do regarding DIY, add 25% time to your estimate.
JB: Even though I’d like to build one more home, in order to be mortgage free (the magic of building equity with every sale), the current home is growing on me in terms of seeing the family grow up on the property and not going through the hassle of building and moving again. Happy with the home, but continue to make home and property improvements.
JB: It’s worth it from an equity perspective, if you’re willing to put in time and effort to do as many of the DIY items as possible.
JB: We’ve built two Adair homes up until now.
Building a new home can be challenging at times, but moving into the home of your dreams makes all of the effort worth it. Read more about the experiences Adair homeowners have had during the building process and get more free homebuilding tips in our Resource Center.