For years we have gone back and forth on if we should just buy a new house or try to build our own. There were so many questions we had for both options that when we finally agreed on a path forward we could take a deep breath and figure out how to make it work.
Here is how we came to our final decision!
Our wants and needs
When trying to determine what your overall needs for your new house are we found it helpful to make a list.
With having a growing family there were a few must-haves I have listed below. These weren’t our only needs however they were our make or break needs.
- At least an acre of land! We have two crazy boys and a great dane. To say we need space to run would be putting it lightly! We need grass, and rocks, and mud! We spend as much time as possible outside so having a yard for them to play in was a must.
- We need a 3 car garage. We are quickly acquiring bikes, strollers, yard tools and just about anything else you can think of and it is all anding up in our garage. We are at the point where we cannot load our kids into the car without backing up into the drive way first. This is time consuming and difficult if its snowing or raining.
- A playroom! Toys are everywhere! We need a dedicated space for the boys to play that is not in the main family room. We as parents needs our space too! I refuse to give up every corner of our house to toys. A playroom would give us a reserved room for all toys and storage of those toys.
- Lastly, we need an open floor plan. With our little ones running around, it’s becoming clear that I need to be able to cook and see the children at the same time. Currently, if I am in the kitchen my spidey sense kicks in when it gets quiet and I have to go search for where the boys are and what they are getting into. I would love to be able to prep meals and have an eye on everyone at the same time.
Scoping Out The Market
Before deciding to build we had been looking at homes for sale online and touring homes when we found some that seemed to meet our needs. We even made an offer on a home before eventually finding our vacant land!
In hindsight, I am thankful it was declined…
We kept an eye out for what was already available. However what we found was not what we were looking for.
The market in our area was pretty expensive and no matter what we found we knew we would need to make some pretty major changes.
Most houses were very close to the neighbors and had little to no yard. the majority of houses backed right up to multiple neighbors yard and despite having a privacy fence, the yard wasn’t much bigger than our current one.
All of the houses were built in the late 80s and 90s. This is not a terrible thing, however when you are looking towards the top of your budget and you know you would need to upgrade appliances, the furnace, carpet, and paint the dollar signs keep flashing in your mind.
We eventually took a step back and decided to postpone touring homes in hopes that something better would come up in a few months.
Finding Paradise
While we were taking a break from home searching, I found myself driving down random roads in the community trying to see where they lead to and exploring new neighborhoods.
We had only lived in Colorado for a year and a half at the time, so we did not know all of the areas in our own community.
One day I happened to turn into a neighborhood to just turn around and head back home and the neighborhood was perfect! Houses were far apart, the neighborhood was small, and each house was unique.
It wasn’t a semi-custom community. I pulled down a cul-de-sac to turn around and BAM! Mountain views were in my face!
I couldn’t believe it!
I called my husband and jokingly told him I found our perfect neighborhood. No houses were for sale but I loved it! I even drove my parents through the neighborhood when they visited. This was months before we knew it would actually become our future home.
Flash forward 6 months and I happened to pan over the neighborhood on Redfin and saw that a vacant lot was for sale. It was posted for sale 4 days earlier!
I showed my husband and we drove out to the lot. The same day we called up the realtor and put in an offer.
It happened so quick that we really didn’t even know what doing a custom build consist of…
We didn’t know any builders. We didn’t have a house plan.
However, we knew our only way into this neighborhood would be to build. There was only one vacant lot. We decided to just go with it.
Worst case scenario, we could sell it if we had to!
The Journey Begins
This site was set up to track our home building journey.
We hope that you find information to help you through your own custom build or be entertained by the many missteps and successes we are sure to have along the way.
Next up in our journey was finding the perfect builder to bring our vision to life!
