Custom home builders meet with every type of homeowner every single day. If you’re the “planner” type of person who has been dreaming of a custom home for months or even years, filling your Pinterest board or phone’s photo album with too many details to count, today’s post is for you.
You may have all the ideas in the world, but sometimes, too many ideas can actually become daunting. It’s important to organize your thoughts before you meet with a homebuilder. Not only that, if you spend all your days dreaming and never doing, you’ll never get the perfect home. When you’re officially ready to build, stick with these three tips:
1. Be Ready to Open Up About Your Existing Home
No two homeowners see their homes in the exact same light. That’s why it’s incredibly important to have a clear understanding of how you feel about your existing home, including the good, the bad, and the everyday uses.
When it comes to the good, consider what must-haves you simply can’t do without after living in your current home. For example, if you tell us you love having summer barbecues, we’ll bring our professional expertise to create the best deck for you.
As for the things you could do without, it’s important to note what you don’t want in your custom home. You don’t want to have to put up with your pain points forever, like an outdated, small kitchen or minimal storage space. Professional custom home builders can help you make sure you avoid them at all costs when designing your new home.
Last, but certainly not least, think about how you use your home on a day-to-day basis and how you imagine using it in the future:
2. Share Your Home Inspiration
Okay, planners, this is your time to shine...within reason. Review all the magazine pages you’ve pulled, photos you’ve taken, and the links you’ve saved, and gather your favorites. Have more than a few kitchen ideas? Stick with three inspiration items per room. You’ll thank yourself later. We promise.
Speaking of being a bit more specific, you may have the general gist of the style you’re interested in, but we recommend perusing our Image Gallery. It’s filled with inspiration that will give you a realistic vision for what a custom home built by Schumacher Homes looks like. Or better yet, you can visit a design studio and showcase model homes in any of the markets where we build.
Get out and experience a variety of model homes. Take them for a test drive. Feel for quality; feel for design. You’ll get a gut instinct on what’s right for you.
Walk through several different floor plans to see what designs feel best for your family. If you like the floor plan but not the architectural style, check out the different exterior styles on the website, or look for another home with a similar floor plan. Think about what could be changed or added to make the home perfect for you. Catalog your experience in the As Built guide we provide at each model home. Make lists of what you liked and what you didn’t.
Our model homes are open to the public 7 days a week without an appointment. Take a self-guided tour through the homes without our salespeople and take as much time as you’d like.
Setting realistic expectations doesn’t stop with design dreams, let’s dive into our third and final tip for your first meeting with a homebuilder.
3. Give Your (Realistic) Budget
We know this can be a less-than-thrilling topic of conversation, so just know that when you meet with one of our New Home Consultants, you’ll have trustworthy support on how to finance your custom home. You don’t need to stretch to build a custom home. Everything is custom, even the investment you put in.
Keep in mind, when we say “budget,” we don’t just mean your financial budget. Before beginning a custom home building project, it’s important to understand how much time you need before making a move. If you aren’t on a tight timeline, take the opportunity to educate yourself on how to find the right property, plan for selling your current home if necessary, or if you have a targeted move-in date that is coming up soon, you should probably get started by scheduling a design and pricing meeting with a builder.
We can’t tell you how much it inspires us to work with homeowners like you. We love seeing your inspiration and crafting a custom home that meets your specific needs and wants. We hope these recent homeowner stories inspire you as much as you inspire us.
About Schumacher Homes
Schumacher Homes, based in Canton, Ohio, is America’s largest custom homebuilder, with operations in 32 markets in 12 states across the country. The National Housing Quality award winning company has built over 20,000 homes, customized to fit each family’s lifestyle, since its founding by Paul Schumacher in 1992. Schumacher Homes takes each customer’s inspiration and gives it a home. Each Schumacher Homes location includes a one-stop shopping design studio and model homes displaying the latest in architectural and product trends. Stop in today, be inspired and receive your no obligation price quote.
