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We spent several years researching our project and looked at a number of timber frame companies throughout the country. We're extremely happy with Blue Ridge. The craftsmanship of our frame is excellent."
- D.&D. C. of
of Meyersville, NJ  |
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Designing Your Dream Home by: Harry Hannah
When it comes to designing your dream home, there will be a lot of people offering free advice on where you should build, what you should build and how you should build it. "I find that free advice is usually worth what you pay for it." These hard decisions can be listed and handled one step at a time. Where to build is one of the most important questions to answer. This is one that I have struggled with myself, as I have looked for a piece of land to build a new home. The land you buy can dictate the house design by what will fit on the lot. When we look at lots for customers, we sometimes have to make a decision to "flip" their plans in order to make the driveway work or place the septic system to meet local requirements. Where to get the best views or if you want a southern exposure are other considerations to think about when looking at your property. Once you have purchased the land, the next step is deciding what to build based on design and style. The floor plan will come from your preferences for the layout of the house and the style may be one of many options; such as Arts and Craft, Colonial, English Tudor, or French Provincial. The style I like for this area is one I call Mountain Style. You should study different houses to determine which style best suits your needs. One of the best things you can do is gather pictures from magazines and catalogs. If you compile these into a notebook, a theme will begin to materialize that will help your designer understand your likes and dislikes for color combinations, layouts, styles and finishes. There will be fewer misunderstandings of your true desires if there are pictures to use for references. I have often recommended to my customers that they take a ride around town and look at houses to get ideas for color combinations, and styles. The finished design should reflect your lifestyle. Do you want the master bedroom on the first floor or the second floor? Do you even want a second floor, or do you prefer one level living? Do you want a dining room or an eating area in the kitchen? Do you like an open floor plan? How large a kitchen do you need? (Remember Harry's rule #2 is: the larger the kitchen the more often you go out to eat!) Do you want a formal living room or a great room? What about a media room, work out room or craft room? Interestingly, I read a report compiled by a large university on the question of "Why do some people live longer than other people?" After an exhaustive study, the one common factor in all of the 100 plus year old people was not drinking a glass of wine a day, or non tobacco use, but rather that they all had their bedroom on the second floor. Of course these people probably did not grow up with exercise rooms. I have built homes for several octogenarians and they were all very active people. Which brings us to the how…. with the design in mind, you need to look at the budget. How much are you willing to spend? What are the costs you have to account for? Bankers will tell you to plan on 10-15% for extras, upgrades and unforeseen expenses. Keep in mind that material costs and labor costs usually go up also during the building process, and all of these will affect your final price tag. I think this is caused in part by the length of time it takes to build a home in today's market. When I was building homes in the 1970s the average home was 1200 square feet and took two months to build. In today's market the average home is 2400 square feet and takes eight or nine months to build. Because of computer technology we are able to build much more complicated roofs and due to the demand for conveniences we are adding more wiring and larger electrical panels; not only more costly but time consuming. Being of Scottish decent, I tend to be somewhat frugal. However, the one place I would encourage people to stretch their budget is in the area of home purchases. Real estate is historically the best investment you can make. More than likely you will be making more money as time goes by and can afford the extra you may expend to get the house you really want. Our track record for the last 6 years is that the houses we have built have appraised for substantially more than they cost to build, which means the homeowner had "instant equity" in their home. Building a new home is not for the faint of heart. But with the right builder and the right attitude, building a new home can be an enjoyable, exhilarating and rewarding event. Return to top of page |