How to Design Your House

What could be more exciting than moving into a new home? How about moving into a new home that's designed just for you and your family? If this is your situation--lucky you! Here's some advice to make sure the house you design truly is the home of your dreams.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Buy a lot if you don't have one already. Is it a sloping, zero-lot line (where one side of the house sits on one lot line) or a corner lot? The grade, soil characteristics and other factors will all affect which type of foundation you choose (basement, crawlspace or slab). As you begin designing, take into consideration the views, existing trees and other landscape features, as well as the house's planned orientation to the sun.
2. Hire an architect. Highly skilled at integrating the wishes of homeowners with concepts of light and space, architects provide a wide range of services. They'll help you create a wish list, do preliminary or schematic design and design development, prepare construction documents (blueprints), manage the job together with the general contractor, and secure your permits and zoning approvals. Architects are also familiar with local building requirements.
3. Determine the size of the house you can afford to build, keeping in mind the size of your lot. The National Association of Home Builders (nahb.org) has information on the average cost per square foot for new homes in any area. Multiply the square footage of the home you want by the average cost per square foot to get a preliminary ballpark figure.
4. Decide whether your architect will design your home or if you'll acquire readymade plans and then hire a builder who will work from them. Readymade plans will be cheaper, but an architect will capture your personal taste and help you navigate legal and procedural channels.
5. Draw up a detailed, prioritized list of what you want to include in your home (number of bedrooms and bathrooms, kitchen layout, garage size). Which elements are must-haves and which can you live without? Include outdoor features such as porches or decks, gardens and a pool on your list.
6. Consider your family's lifestyle, now and in the future. Do you have frequent overnight guests or entertain large groups? Do you want a home office, a craft room, a media room or a workshop? Do you expect aging parents or returning adult children to be moving in? Should you locate the master suite on the first floor to avoid stairs?
7. Browse home design magazines and shop for house plans, in books and online. Even if you hire an architect for your final project, readymade plans can inspire great ideas. Expect to spend anywhere from $400 to $1,300 for plans, depending on the project size and level of complexity. Order up to eight nonreproducible sets of your final plan--enough to give to tradespeople, contractors and lenders--or one reproducible master set.
8. Pay attention to style. Drive around neighborhoods and take pictures of houses that you like. Collect ideas for paint colors, siding choices, windows, doors, rooflines and other features. Let your architect speak frankly about your list of likes and dislikes to make sure you're not creating a Frankenstein house with a hodgepodge of styles.
9. Be flexible and willing to make compromises as you move forward. Budget, availability of materials and complexity will have an impact on your design.

Tips & Warnings

• See 82 Use Home Design and Planning Software.
• If you don't have the money to build your perfect home right now, consider an upgradeable house: Leave the second story unfinished or pour a concrete patio where another wing of the house will eventually go. However you proceed, install the electrical, plumbing and heating capacity for your home's eventual size now.
• When you orient your house on its lot, consider where the utilities will enter and whether they'll come in overhead or underground.
• For ideas on energy conservation, see 78 Prepare for Skyrocketing Energy Costs.
• If you're designing a home for people with disabilities, see 84 Incorporate Universal Design Principles as well.
• Cut costs by designing shared plumbing (situate the bathrooms back to back, for example), minimizing the use of custom doors and windows, and making sure that staircases don't take unnecessary turns.
• Put the laundry room on the same floor as most of the bedrooms, or put in laundry chutes from bedroom floor to the laundry.
• Avoid the temptation to build a mansion in a neighborhood of humble homes; it'll never pay for itself.

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