Questions-to-Ask-Yourself-When-Building-a-Custom-Home

Seven Questions to Ask Yourself When building a Custom Home:

Building a custom home is often the culmination of years of dreaming and saving. So where do you start when you can build a home where the sky is the limit, a home designed specifically for your lifestyle? How do you decide on the floor plan? What features and finishes to include?

Here are seven questions that will help you narrow in on your design goals and get you started on your journey to building the perfect custom log home or timber hybrid.

1. How do you plan to use the home? Building a log cabin for weekend getaways will likely result in very different outcome than one built for full-time residency. Things like outdoor living areas, storage spaces, laundry facilities and even closet sizes will differ depending on how you use the home.

2. Who will reside in the home? Knowing the number of individuals who will regularly use the home is critical to deciding things like flow between rooms, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and even things like garage and driveway design.

3. What special occasions or holidays are important to you? If entertaining is essential to you, you’ll want to factor special events into your design plan to guarantee space for everyone to enjoy. Do you have plans to host your family of 12 around the Thanksgiving table at your new log home each year? Ensure your layout includes ample space in the dining area or alternate eating spaces, like a kitchen island. Is summer barbecuing up your alley? An outdoor covered space for grilling is likely in order.

4. What is the climate around your building site? The local climes will influence your log or timber home from a structural and features standpoint. Designing a home in locales where wintry weather sticks around for months on end will mean you need to account for extra support in your roofing system, and may mean you want to add heated flooring and a fireplace (or two) to your interiors.

5. What is your building site like? One benefit of designing a custom home is that you can adapt it to your personal lot. For openers, you can orient the house to your liking. This may mean facing the front porch to the east so you can enjoy the sunrise with coffee in hand. Or, it might mean including extra windows to capture the best views in one area — and limiting sight lines in another. Keep in mind, too, that a sloping lot may allow you to include a basement level, increasing livable square footage at a relatively minimal cost.

6. In what areas of your home do you expect to spend the most time? The areas where you will spend the most time deserve an extra investment of your attention — and budget. For instance, if you love to cook, you may want to allocate a higher portion of your budget into upgraded finishes in that area. But be realistic when thinking through your daily routine. If you’ve never cooked a meal in your life, don't expect that having a chef’s kitchen in your new log home will suddenly inspire you to be the next Gordon Ramsey. In other words, plan for how you actually live, rather than how you think you ought to live.

7. How much maintenance do you want to do in your new home? Some folks enjoy keeping up with home projects; others want a more “set-it-and-forget-it” approach. Knowing which camp you fall into will direct your design and finish choices, inside and out. Incorporating low-maintenance exterior design features into your log home, like deep overhangs, composite decking, and a stone skirt around your foundation, will help protect logs, timbers and other outdoor materials from nature’s forces. Inside your home, durable, easy-to-care for materials, like vinyl plank floors and quartz countertops, will help reduce interior maintenance, ensuring you can spend more time enjoying your log home and less time cleaning it.

If you’re ready to start discussing your ideas for your log home or cabin, reach out to our team today. We are ready to help you live your best life in a log or timber home today … and long into the future.

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