Homebuilding Tips

Maybe you’ve dreamed of a custom home for years—but the timing never seemed right. And today, things just seem...complicated. Why would right now be the right time to start planning the build of your custom home? To start, did you know that available home inventory across the West—everywhere from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Arizona—is currently lower than ever? January of 2020 saw a 14% drop in inventory, and that was before the pandemic. Even with the low inventory, sales numbers of single-family homes have only grown since the beginning of the year.

Online Events

Don’t worry about showing up in person. We’ve moved our popular class on the basics of homebuilding online—where we can better protect the health and safety of our communities. You’ll still have unprecedented access to the Adair Homes building process—where we make it quicker, easier, and more affordable than you could imagine to build your dream home. Learn about financing, budgeting, and how you can deduct sweat equity from the overall cost of your new construction. Talk to a designer. Peruse the online plans! The Building 101 seminar is your ticket to new construction.

Each event is customized based on your questions that you ask, but here’s what you can expect:

Wide open spaces. A big backyard. Sunsets to die-for. What’s on your checklist? Everyone has an idea of what their perfect lot looks like—that special place to build a forever home. But how do you identify your land in today’s unnerving climate? Take a breath—it’s actually a lot easier than you might have imagined. 

We asked some of our Realtor partners two important questions about finding and buying land to build a new custom home. These folks have seen it all, including what might go wrong, and some of the answers may surprise you, especially if you have never purchased land before. 

So as you search for land for your custom home, make sure to keep these tips in mind:

What’s better than one luxurious master suite? How about 2 master suites? It sounds decadent, but the truth is that dual master suites are gaining popularity because they can be super practical for families of every size and shape.

A dual master suite can be used for:

•     An in-law suite
•     A guest suite
•     A teen room
•     A home office
•     A man cave
•    So much more!

Here are 5 gorgeous plans that feature a dual master suite option (see all custom home floor plans).

Dreaming of building your own custom home but overwhelmed by the idea of buying land? You’re not alone. Most of our customers have never purchased land before they visit one of our sales office locations for the very first time. Lucky for you, we’ve developed an easy process, online tools, and a network of real estate professionals to help you find the perfect spot to build your dream home.

An essential part of the process of building a new custom home is finding the perfect property. The location of your home determines your property taxes, school districts, neighborhood amenities, HOA regulations, and local permitting requirements. The characteristics of the land will also influence the design of the home based on the size of the lot, setbacks, connections to utilities, and other considerations. Whether you want to live in an urban neighborhood with close neighbors or on a secluded wooded lot, there is a lot to think about when looking for land.  

Lynn Tribon, our Director of Market Development, has some advice for people who are searching for the right location to build a new home. With 20 years of experience at Adair Homes, Lynn has seen it all. Here’s what she has to say about finding the perfect lot for your new custom home:

One of the key elements in any custom homebuilding process is choosing the location. In addition to the school district, neighborhood dynamics, and proximity to your favorite places, there are also some technical details to evaluate when considering various lots.

The spectrum is large, and it runs from easy to difficult when buying and then developing property. On one end is an existing flat city lot with all the utilities at the street and no grading required. At the other end is a rural piece of sloped-acreage property with no existing access road or utilities. Of course, most properties will fall somewhere in between these extremes, so it’s important to understand the pros and cons of the land before you buy.  

Some of the factors to consider when evaluating properties for custom homebuilding include:

Asking millions of people what they want in a home may well yield millions of unique answers. This fact makes it more difficult to categorize a group as large as the Millennial generation based on their home buying preferences. However this generation is viewed by its predecessors, Millennials’ general expectations have a fair overlap with other home buying groups. What they look for when they start to search for homes is bound by their finances and where they are in life.

After you have received prequalification for financing, you and your construction Superintendent will schedule a site visit to evaluate your land. When building a new home, a site evaluation produces two important pieces of information. First, Adair Homes will provide you with options of where on your land it is possible to build a home. Second, the conditions of the land will inform the estimated costs for site development.

With this information, you can decide where on the site you want your home to be located and choose a floor plan that fits within your remaining budget.