Once you've made the decision that you're ready to build a home, you really have two routes that you could take to accomplish this.
The first path is to choose one of a home builder's models and enhance it with your own upgrades. You typically will go through a production/national home builder for this option, and these properties are generally in a subdivision.
For those looking for the complete custom home building experience, the second route that you can take is to meet with a custom home builder to put your dream home into fruition from the ground up.
But which option is best?
There really is no right option. It really depends on what you hope to accomplish from the experience. If you're choosing to build your own home, you're hoping to get "more" for your money. However, "more" can have entirely different meanings depending on who you talk to.
Getting "more" from production/national home builders
There are a number of benefits when choosing to partner with a production/national home builder to create your dream home. First of all, these homes are generally located in an established subdivision, so you'll have neighbors that will typically have similar goals and priorities to yours, such as living in a family friendly neighborhood. Often, these homes will offer more square footage for the money than if you went with just a straight custom build. Also, if cost is important to you, you typically will have more control over the overall cost of your build, since most production/national home builders can provide this information to you on the front end as it's all generated from a series of templates and pre-existing designs.
With these advantages, though, naturally come some downsides. The biggest disadvantage is that since your home will not be entirely custom from the ground up, you may end up having to make some concessions. Examples could be not having the ideal location or not having the master bathroom of your dreams. More importantly though, is that though the build quality is up to standards, it isn't the most solid of construction and may require attention later in life.
Getting "more" from custom home builders
If you want the complete custom home building experience, partnering with a custom home builder may be your definition of "more" as you will have the opportunity to dream up your ideal home from scratch. People building entirely custom homes have the opportunity to choose a lot in any location and bring their builder to the site to envision what the future property will look like. These homeowners can then be involved in every step of building their dream home, from designing the perfect floor plan to selecting their preferred finishes for the home.
One compromise that people building custom homes typically will have to make is square footage. Typically, you can get "more" for your money in terms of square footage by building with a production/national home builder. However, people that choose to go the custom home route generally value "more" in terms of quality over quantity. While you may (or may not) be giving up square footage by building a custom home, you can feel good about the quality of the build and truly personal design.
So, as you can see, there is not really one right answer as to if you should partner with a production/national home builder or custom home builder to create your dream home. It really all depends on your definition of "more" and what you hope to gain from the experience.
If you have any questions about the custom home building process after reading this, please contact us at Empire Custom Builders. We offer four generations of experience in building custom homes in Central Florida.
