Many assume that building a new custom home is considerably more expensive than purchasing a spec home. While this can be true, there are a variety of reasons some experts believe that using a custom builder can be the better financial decision.
You Get What You Want
When building a custom home, buyers are involved in every step of the process, choosing only the features, finishes and treatments that appeal to their particular tastes and lifestyle. Unlike spec — short for speculation — homes, custom builds offer the ability to create a truly unique residence.
Spec homes tend to be more cookie cutter, designed and built with no particular buyer in mind. Rather they are put together from a menu of finishes and layouts intended to appeal to a broad range of people who may be looking to buy. While spec home floor plans often include popular features and on-trend designs, they may not necessarily match your style or needs.
High-Quality Materials
Spec home builders, even the best ones, basically build very similar neighborhoods in different communities across town — or even the state — with minor material and elevation changes to accommodate the area in which they’re built.
Bulk purchasing for mass neighborhood builds is the primary reason spec home builders are seemingly able to offer new houses at lower prices than a custom build. However, material quality can suffer.
The lower-quality materials often used in spec home communities may result in a lower initial purchase price, but can significantly increase future maintenance costs. With custom home builders, the buyer dictates exactly which materials they want based on the budget they have and the aesthetic they’re hoping to achieve. This may (or may not) cost more up front, but will almost certainly save money in the long run.
Long-Term Planning
Is your family finished growing? Do you like to entertain? Do you want space for guests, a home office or gym, media room or man cave? Each buyer has different ideas about what they prioritize in a home. Some may value a giant laundry/mud room, while others would rather have the square footage somewhere else. When building a custom home, you can address needs that aren’t being met in your current space and make accommodations for almost anything and everything the future might hold. This not only ensures you’re getting exactly what you want on move-in day, it reduces the chances of a lengthy and expensive remodeling process in the years ahead.
Avoid Bidding Wars
In today’s market, buyers in some parts of the country, including Austin and the Texas Hill Country, often find themselves in bidding wars that can drive the home prices up by more than $100k. This is especially true when buying a home that others are also looking at. Choosing to build a custom home on your own piece of Hill Country land eliminates the bidding war altogether, better allowing you to control the budget.
If you’ve always thought building a custom home was out of budget, and therefore out of reach, it might be time to reconsider. Flenn Custom Home & Remodeling will walk you through every step of your custom build experience to ensure the focus stays on creating unique, lifestyle-friendly spaces that include everything you want and nothing you don’t. With years of experience building custom homes from Austin to Temple and many points in between, Flenn Custom Home & Remodeling can bring your dream home to life in a rewarding and exciting way.