When it comes to changing your primary living location, everyone prefers building their own home instead of purchasing a pre-built one. There are undoubtedly tons of benefits to building your own home, but there are tons of hidden costs as well, and that’s something not many people expect. In a time where the money is a valuable resource, knowing exactly how much your new home project will cost you is a must. Thankfully, that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about in today’s article.
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1. Tests for your soil and the land contours
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Not many people know this, probably because not everyone has the opportunity to get a custom-made home built for them, but soil testing is a huge part of the process and it’s expensive. Knowing exactly what type of soil the contractors have to deal with when setting the foundation for your home has huge importance from the safety aspect as well. The process is carried out by drilling a few holes in the soil, usually in a triangle, each hole scattered as far away as possible from the other ones.
Note that if your soil is not the perfect fit for construction, the contractors can advise you to cancel the project. If it’s possible but tricky to build there, the costs will increase. This is probably the most feared “hidden cost” because people are not too informed about these technical things.
As for land contours, it’s also quite important to examine this as well. The slope of your property will sometimes require the contractors to change up the design, as well as modify it for safety and convenience. A sloping block will cost more.
2. Preparing the site for building
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According to Fernandez Designs, removal of trees, rocks, and tree roots is just a part of what needs to be done to the site before it’s properly set up for home-building. Nature is amazing but sometimes it makes things quite tricky for us. It often happens to people to come back on their property just to see that tons of large trees or rocks are an obstacle to the realization of their ideas. Everything can be removed and the site can be smoothed out, but it’s going to cost. You’ll spend the least amount of money if your contractors arrive on a flat spot ready to begin their construction.
3. The entire flooring for your new home
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The type of flooring is usually not chosen before the home is built, and it’s easy to forget about this cost, which by the way is by no means a small one, and then it “hits” the home-owners completely unexpected. Not every type of flooring matches every type of home, so keep this in mind when choosing. If you want a more expensive investment that’s going to last for a longer time, choosing tiles may be your best bet, even when you look at it from the maintenance aspect. If you want coziness, maybe wood is better, but keep in mind that wood can be quite the “hidden cost” due to maintenance reasons. We’ll leave the choices to you. What matters is to keep the entire flooring idea in mind when calculating the budget for your entirely new custom-built home.
4. Landscaping which is rarely included in the price
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After you build your home, you’ll probably want a garden and a front yard. Well, landscaping is a huge factor when it comes to the final aesthetics you’ll get out of these things. And, as we all know, professional landscaping is something you’ll have to hire separately, so it’s easily another “hidden” cost that you have to keep in mind.
5. Soil class quality improvement for your next home garden
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You can’t have a garden if the soil class quality is rated low. To improve the soil a few classes up, you’ll have to pay money, which is another hidden cost not many people know about. Of course, this is not necessary unless you want to make something out of the soil, such as growing crops for example but keep it in mind. The same thing goes for building on the soil itself. If it’s not at least M-class you’ll need to pay at least about $10.000 for each class upwards you want to go from the one you have right now. Can be quite expensive actually.
6. Driveway for easier access with a vehicle
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Driveways are one of the most useful things a person can have in a new home, especially if you use vehicles regularly. But, we decided to put them into the list of unexpected or hidden costs because rarely any company ever includes this in the price, or even in the list of possible choices when you’re ordering service from them. So, most people forget about this entirely until it’s time to build it, and this is when they go over the budget.
If you are 100% sure you want a driveway, plan it out beforehand and make sure you know exactly what needs to be done in detail so you can plan your costs and avoid going over the budget. Be open when communicating with your home construction contractors about your ideas, they need to plan it out as well. Even if you decide to “DIY it”, it’s still a cost you have to plan in your budget.
Conclusion
Hidden costs are unavoidable when buying a custom-built home, and it’s not until the project is almost done that people find out about them. This is why we wanted to shed some clarity and point out some of the most common hidden costs that catch home-owners unprepared during the entire building and moving-in procedure. We hope what we wrote is useful and we wish you the best of luck with your new home.
