For many people in the market for a new house, custom homes don’t even cross their minds as a possibility.
For some reason, custom homes have been stereotyped as being incredibly expensive, and that’s not necessarily true. Sure, sometimes people get carried away when choosing fixtures and appliances – making the bills rack up, but it doesn’t have to be that way. When done right, custom building can be very economical, and the best part about it, is that you’re left with a home that suits you and your family’s needs perfectly.
Instead of choosing a house that has been built according to someone else’s dreams, or by a large building corporation pumping out 10 homes a week, (and facing potential bathroom or kitchen renovation), you can be a part of the building process to ensure that the end result is something you will be happy with for a long time to come.
The Many Benefits of Custom Homes
- One Size Doesn’t Fit All – As the population quickly grows in certain areas, ‘cookie-cutter’ houses are making an appearance in long rows, filling several street blocks with the same houses, each varied only slightly from their neighbour. Each house has the same amount of bedrooms, a similar (if not simply reversed) layout, and a comparable finish. Custom homes on the other hand, allow you to create your home exactly how you want it – the layout, the room sizes, and even the land it’s placed on. You can rest assured that nobody else has a house exactly like yours.
- Functionality Based On You – When you buy a home that’s already built, you’re guaranteed to have to make some compromises between what’s actually on the market, and what you’re looking for. If you want three bedrooms upstairs and an office on the main floor, you may have to settle for a house with 4 bedrooms upstairs and convert the 4th to an office. If you want a kitchen with built-in appliances, and ample cupboard space – you may end up sacrificing the rest of the house in order to have the kitchen you want. Custom homes ensure that you don’t have to make those sacrifices.
- Choose Your Own Location – Besides the fact that you can choose the actual land that your house will be built on, you can also choose exactly how the house is built on top of that land. If you want to be able to entertain in the yard, you can ensure the house layout matches. You can also ensure that you don’t have any wasted space on your property, by utilising angles that cookie-cutter house builders just don’t bother with.
- Quality Control – Because you will be present for each step of the home building experience, you get to have your say in exactly what materials are used, meaning you essentially have direct control over the quality of your home. When custom homes are built, the contractors and designers go over the entire plan with the clients before anyone has even lifted a hammer.
- Planning For The Future – You don’t have to build your entire dream home straight away. That may sound strange, but the great thing about designing your own home is that you can design it specifically to build home additions at a later date. If you’ve always dreamed of a sun-room off the back, you can put that in the plans, and the builders will make sure they build that part of the house in a way that makes for an easy addition later on.
- No Renovations – This may be redundant, but when you have an input on the house from the bottom up, there is no need to do any bathroom or kitchen renovations when you move in – everything is exactly as you’d like it to be. And because everything is made from the high quality materials that you chose for the house, you know that it will last for many years without needing repairs.
- Eco-Friendly Options – When buying an older home, there is likely no solar panels or geothermal heating in the house. And the cost to put something like that in to an old home could be quite expensive. When building your own custom home, you can put those extra touches in straight from the beginning.
It is clear that custom building has its advantages, but yet many people still think the idea sounds scary or overwhelming. The fact is, when you’re working with experienced contractors, the idea of having a home suited directly to you and your family’s specific needs and wants should only sound exciting! At Karen Homes, we’ve been serving the Toronto area for more than 15 years, and continue to exceed our clients’ expectations.
Whether starting from scratch or building an addition, our experienced contractors can be of service.