Building a home is a great opportunity to create the perfect house for your family. You can bring the vision of your dream home to life alongside all the little design details that make a home useful, beautiful, and welcoming. Master-planned communities like New Park offer a great environment to build your new home, with beautiful lots and many valuable neighborhood features. With your chosen New Park builder, you can select one of an extensive portfolio of home plans or bring your floor plan and work with the River Region’s best home builders to bring your dream to life.
We have worked with many families building a new home in the New Park community and know some of the questions you are about to be asking. The most important is “How do you stay on budget when building a new home?” We’ve asked our builders and can give you the best insights for timely and on-budget new home construction.
Have a Detailed Plan
The quality of your home building plan determines the accuracy of your budget. A well-planned project can more easily avoid unforeseen costs, and expenses are more likely to meet estimated projections. While you cannot prevent things like bad weather and the occasional tile cracked on delivery, you can plan to ensure there are no avoidable cost-inflations during the project itself.
Working with an experienced builder can help you build the detailed plan you need to keep your home within budget.
Establish Non-Negotiables
When planning the budget, your builder will give you options on where you can save money and where you can’t. You will also tell your builder which features matter most to you and which design elements could be altered for cost. These are your negotiables and non-negotiables.
Your builder can help you save money and stay on budget if they know what your non-negotiables will be. For example, you might dream of a granite countertop (non-negotiable) but don’t care if the bathroom tile is ceramic or porcelain (negotiable) to save money.
Be Realistic About the Cost of Each Stage
Understand the cost of each stage of construction, including materials and labor. A good contractor will walk you through what will happen during your build and how much each part of it will most likely cost under current market conditions. This can help avoid unrealistically low expectations of the costs and help you build a realistic budget for the features you want to develop.
Choose Finishes Before Breaking Ground
Don’t give in to the urge to “add on” after the build has begun. Little extras here and there can quickly balloon outside your planned spending limit. Choose every finish before the first truck arrives on your lot, from the floors to the light fixtures. Choose carefully and lock in your details before construction, so you don’t lose your budget to add-ons or replace already-bought finishes.
Keep the Lines of Communication Open
Listen to your builder and make yourself available for updates. This will give you greater peace of mind and keep you apprised of the progress and whether the project is moving forward on budget as predicted. If your builders let you know that a change is necessary, have them write down the change in the contract details and approve any additional or updated costs.
Track Your Spending
Finally, keep track of how much the project has cost so far at each stage to know if your stages are on budget throughout. By forming realistic expectations per construction phase, you will be better prepared to track your spending as the build goes on.
Find A Community That Has Everything You and Your Family Needs
One great way to save money is to exclude amenities that your community already offers. At New Park we have amenities essential to every master-planned community like a pool, a walking trail around the lake with fitness equipment, a playground, a toddler’s splash pad, and a clubhouse. As a result, you can save on things like a pool or playset at your own home by utilizing these amenities in your community.
Why Should You Live in a Master-Planned Community like New Park?
If you are planning to build a new home, a master-planned community is an ideal location. Not only will you enjoy beautifully manicured streets surrounding your new family home, but you will also benefit from nearby amenities, a friendly neighborhood, and all the local shopping you need just a few blocks away. Master-planned communities provide residents with everything needed close to home and a balanced, rewarding lifestyle for residents. This can make building your home more affordable and easier to stay on budget because you don’t need to build every local luxury for yourself.
Ready to plan a beautiful home in a community with everything you need? Contact us today to explore New Park lot availability and find your perfect spot in East Montgomery, AL.
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