Signs You’re Ready to Build a New Home

The to do list before you build a new home
Every individual has a dream of building a new house in his/her lifetime and it requires a lot of things to be in place. Finances, a suitable land, enough time to hunt for a property builder or personally supervise the work; get permission for building and a lot of things are also included in the list. Your dream home is where you are going to relax and enjoy life after a hectic working day, so it should reflect the way you imagine life to be – peaceful and full of happiness away from the chaos and hustle of the world.

Here are the five factors that you need to sure of before planning to construct a house for you and the family.

Buying the right property (land)
The land is where the new house will stand tall on completion, so it is of utmost importance that you choose the best possible place. The geography of the land would determine how the house will be constructed; factors such as length, design, width, and style of the house would be designed after that only. You can’t force a design to a land that is not suitable for that kind of design. Location of the plot is equally significant as you need the essential amenities like hospitals and schools in the same vicinity or at least a small drive away. Choosing to live in the heart of a city or a little away depends totally on you. The land should be leveled before you buy, to help you cut costs as well as make sure to avoid getting a land with rocks and damps within it. It would increase your expenses and may create problem for you in the future. Drainage lines, water pipelines, as well as other important services should be handy.


Price of your house
While building your dream haven make sure to calculate each and every aspect that goes into construction of the new house. Fix an amount that you would not spend beyond, so that your home becomes affordable for you rather than being a burden. It would include the land cost, stand duty, building material cost, contractor charges, taxes, and so on. Don’t go for complex structures for building as they would weigh heavily due to the complexity of executing them, rather opt for simple structures such as rectangles and squares which are easy to build and easier to maintain.

Eco-friendly home
There are plenty of technologies to reduce the carbon emission and safeguard mother earth. By choosing eco-friendly building materials built with prefab technology would reduce garbage on the site as well as pollution of water resources. Apart from that you can choose to have solar panels on the roof (energy conservation), rainwater harvesting system and wind mills and save money in the long run.

Deciding on the right builder
Once you are done with choosing the land and securing finances for constructions look for a builder with adequate research. It is best on your part to finalize a property builder who is reputed and have years of experience to prove his credibility along with proper certification or permit to construct in your area for example in land of 1000 sq ft if 800 sq ft area is permitted for construction then choose appropriate 800 sq ft house plan which best suited for you. Do your research to confirm that there are no complaints regarding financial breach, quality of workmanship or other legal cases against them. You would sleep peacefully, when your home is on safe hands. Take help of family members, friends or colleagues; they might refer you to some really good ones who worked with them. You can even visit the company’s previous client’s to have a closer look at how they have worked and the experience as well as post construction assistance.

Buy right products


Choose products which are essential for your home; it saves over expenditure and reduces power consumption as well (for electronic goods). Check their label and opt for energy saving devices and minimize the utility bills.

BuildMyGhar..

BuildMyGhar – The Smart Way to Build your House

Building a dream house is a big financial and emotional decision. If you are planning to build your house, the first thing that would pop up in your mind is the budget. The sky rocketing property prices of today can easily give big financial jolts if they are not being handled carefully.

Constructing your own house

Choosing the right kind of design which can add style and elegance to your home is not that easy. Home design ideas can be easily zeroed in to only if you realize your actual needs. Also, no matter how splendid you want your home to look and feel like, you would need certain amount of money to get the things materialize. Construction is a long-term and cumbersome process. You may find yourself running from pillar to post to finalize the best possible contractor and on the other day you may get stuck over the soaring prices of building materials.

This is the digital era that we live in today. The way technology has penetrated in every industry can simply be termed as commendable. If we talk about the real estate sector, buying and selling home has now become a matter of few clicks. Did you ever imagine that your dream house can be order for construction through online construction portals? Probably, no. Today, several online platforms have emerged which have made the entire construction process a lot simpler and hassle free. One such platform which has gained immense popularity within a short span of time is BuildMyGhar.com.

BuildMyGhar.com is an online portal, where you can get your home constructed the way you want it. There is no dearth of budget home designs on the portal for you to consider.

Some of the designs offered by this portal are described below. Take a look:

Breeze

This is an amazing plan for 5 bedroom villa for plots that are short in breadth. If your main focus is making the home airy with broad day light, then this can match all your needs. The special thing about this design is its large open terrace from where you can take delight in enjoying the views of the surrounding landscape.

Jasmine

This 4 bedroom villa symbolizes optimized luxury. With efficient space utilization with duplex floor plans indian style, it offers more square feet usable space for each space. You get a choice to select from the three stunning color schemes. The exteriors are extremely beautiful to sweep you off the floor.

Spring

If you are a nature lover and want to build your home around it, you have come to the right place. This splendidly designed three bedroom villa has a huge double heighted room exactly in the centre of the house which lets in day light through the clerestory openings.

The above mentioned are just illustrative examples of the residential building designs. Like this, there are a broad range of budget home designs available with BuildMyGhar.com to cater to all kinds of your needs.

Size matters: What square footage is right for you?

Here’s how to calculate the square footage for home plan

            People who buy or build custom homes are more concerned with how much usable space they get and it is only a few people that actually go into the details of the square footage system before the purchase or construction. It is equally essential to know how much square footage is available to you, along with the number of bedrooms, the baths or how big and modern the kitchen is and what kind of house you want like single storey or multi strorey generally two storey duplex floor plans Indian style is popular for comfort living area.

Usually, most real estate companies include only the areas within the house that are air-conditioned or heated. This calculation method omits the attic storage, unfinished basements, garage, porches and similar spaces.

The total square footage of a house is not restricted to only the area of all the rooms; it also includes the area that the walls in between them occupy. The area occupied by the walls seems may seem negligible on an individual scale. But, when calculated in whole, it is a considerable amount that adds up the total square footage of the house. Three linear feet of an interior wall becomes one square foot and the thickness of walls would comprise of almost ten percent of the overall square footage of the entire house!

For your home plan, understanding these measurement basics is certainly important, so as to avoid any confusion with the builders during construction or buying of a house. Fire places and small mechanical closets take a tiny portion of the entire space of your home, so they can easily be avoided. Square footage needs to be measured from the outside faces of the outer walls, including the area covered by the stairs. You need to calculate square footage of spaces with a ceiling height beyond seven feet. You don’t have to count areas that open to rooms located down stairs.

You have to bear in mind that the heated square footage is usually used along with a rough estimate of the ‘cost per square foot’ for preliminary cost estimating. It is one factor of construction cost, but not everything that would decide the actual cost of your home. There are additional costs which are unrelated to the size of the house, such as landscaping costs, driveway, and appliances, to name a few.

For rough estimates, construction companies and builders use only the ‘cost per square foot’ system of calculation. They almost avoid signing a legal contract mentioning a particular ‘cost per square foot’ while building a house. In a custom built house, modifications through additions and deletions might happen at any point of time during the construction phase. Therefore, the builders would go broke if they follow the square footage way of planning a home, as there’s no exact way to find out what needs to be ordered for constructing the house and how much labor is required for building the house. Price of the raw materials keeps on varying and that would impact the overall cost of the house irrespective of the square footage.

Imagine you opt for a marble exterior wall rather than a normal wall - the costs would certainly drive up.  If you choose a specific kind of shingle which would require more labor and materials than a normal one, the cost would again be higher than the quoted amount in the planned estimate. This makes the builders quote the square footage cost within a range rather than an exact amount. The cost of the house would also vary depending on the number of bedrooms, sinks, toilets, bathrooms and flooring, roofing material as well as appliances used.

Additional Notes: Make sure that the builder is calculating the square footage for the home plan the same way as you do. Sometimes builders include garage and porch area or some would count garage area as half its square footage. Although it would dilute the overall cost while considering the average per foot cost and make the construction costs seem less, this would make things very confusing. Counting heated square footage would be a solution in this kind of situation, in order to maintain transparency.

Do I need to have a design in mind before finding a builder?

More often than not, people face the dilemma of either choosing a home design plan first or finding a builder. While it’s your personal choice, but we suggest having a homeplan ready at hand, as that would make things easier for you.

To back our suggestion of having a home design plan, we have a few points for you:

1. You understand your needs better

A home design plan is more about your personal and family’s needs. You are the best judge, as you know what are the requirements of your family members and what is their definition of an ideal home. You know about their likes and dislikes, living habits, where do they go for work or study, their mode of transportation, etc. These are some of the essential factors that determine the structure of your house and help in making a perfect homeplan.

For example, you have an elderly member at home who uses a wheelchair, then the house should definitely be wheelchair-friendly. A builder won’t know it beforehand and you should tell them to incorporate the special requirements such as antiskid flooring, adding ramp ways, use of assistive technology etc.

2. Deciding the budget

There can be a situation where you might have pre-empted a certain budget for the construction of your house but the builder might exceed your estimated cost. In such a scenario, you can try finding a builder who seamlessly fits your budget and produces the same result as you had anticipated.

In places where you find that the builder is going overboard, you can correct them by reminding about the budget and timeline. It will help them to stay within the expected timeline and estimated cost. This plan can work in your favour, as sometimes the builder themselves guide you about the various ways through which you can control costs. It’s a two-way job and teamwork is necessary to build a dream house.

3. Going green

Though builders might have a fair idea about eco-friendly construction, they don’t implement it in every building or house they construct. It is the house owner who has to insist on implementing these features while building a house. If you are clear about the features you want to put in your homeplan, it will be easier for the builder finding a way to incorporate  them into your new house.

Solar panels are usually used on the roofs of houses to trap the solar energy and use it for lighting, heating or cooling your home. Likewise, your homeplan can have a rainwater harvesting system where the water gets collected underground and recycled for bathing, cleaning and gardening purpose. Every drop of water is valuable and this effort on your part can certainly help the environment and encourage the builder to insist on other house owners to include it in their home design plan.

4. Cost controlling while buying raw materials

No doubt a builder is capable of finding the right place to buy construction materials, but sometimes you have contacts in the local market who can supply you good quality material for a cheaper rate. In such situations, you save a lot of money that you can use for some other work. Keep the resale value of the house in mind while constructing a house. Building cost shouldn’t become too high for the locality and for the facilities you have.

A builder can craft beautiful pavements and lawns for your house, but you need to guide him as to how and where you want to have that kitchen or vegetable garden. Your love to conserve the environment would actually make a difference because every small step towards a good cause counts. Ensure that the home builder considers it in your homeplan and constructs your nest exactly the same way like you had dreamt of.


BuildMyGhar..

Top ways to settle into your new custom home

6 easy ways to settle down in your custom home

            Now that you have acquired your new home and it’s ready to move in, the next challenge for you is to settle down in the new custom home. Once you move into the place, the real battle of unloading and unpacking all the items begins - stacking and arranging things at their right places and so on. During the initial days, accepting and living in a new place might be an emotionally and physically draining activity. Here are some quick tips to plan and make the transition from the old home to new home smooth -

1. Know the place prior to moving in

            Make sure to know the place beforehand - at least the community you are going to live in, nearby hospitals, schools, post office and police station. These things are important when you move in with your family. Apart from that, the culture, rules and regulations of the society you have relocated to, are also of significance. Knowing these beforehand would prepare you to adhere without much effort. You need respect their customs, so that you don’t hurt or offend their beliefs. Also, understand the design of the new home, so that you get the clear idea about where to place what.

2. Make new friends in the neighborhood

            It is essential to have friends when you are going to live in a new environment, they lend you a hand in times of need. Make sure you make new friends once you shift to the new home. Setting up your custom home is time consuming but having friends for a chit chat would definitely help you get over the stress. Introduce yourself to your neighbors and let them know that you are yet to move or just moved in. You can share some cookies or some snacks to break the ice and start a conversation, over a cup of tea.

3. Ask someone to be with you for sometime

            If you are single or staying alone, ask a friend or a family member to stay with you for a while, at least for a week or so. It would help you accommodate yourself with the new place and kill the boredom as well. In case you got to go shopping for some home needs, having a shopping partner would help you in a great way!

4. Keep in touch with your family and friends

            You won’t feel lonely when you can easily reach out to your family and close friends. Keep your cell phone within reach, and get the telephone and internet connections set up at the earliest.  It would help you being in constant touch with your loved ones.

5. Get involved with activities in the neighborhood

            Every town or community has one or the other festivals and activities once in a while. These are the opportunities to meet and get to know people around your custom home. You make new friends and get to know more about your vicinity as well.

6. Stay positive

            Never have a preconceived notion about the place or people; try understanding the surroundings and take your time to know people. It would help you get a better idea about everything and let you adjust easily in the long run. Don’t fret or panic about being in a new place. Your new home is a new territory that you are yet to explore. Find a park or gym nearby and plan to exercise, jogging or yoga. It would kill the time and make you healthier. Unpack and settle things gradually and plan your weekends accordingly to have some free time to relax.

In life, change is the only constant. Accepting the changes, shifting and settling in the new environment of a custom home is not that difficult. Understanding the home ‘naksha’ or map would allow you to arrange things properly in the new house and save your time as well.

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