3 Things I Loved — and Hated — About Building a House

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Before you build a house, consider whether the pros and cons are worth it.

Key points

• My husband and I built a home around a decade ago.
• I loved most steps in the process, including getting to customize my house.
• There were also some big downsides to building, including facing budget uncertainties. 

Over a decade ago, my husband and I made the decision to build a home. We couldn’t find a property that fit our needs on a plot of land that we liked, so we worked with a builder and designed a custom house.

The process was largely a great experience, but there were a few things I really disliked about building. If you’re also thinking about building a home of your own, it may be helpful to know the things I liked, and loathed, about moving into a custom-built home. 

These were the things I loved about building a house

Here were my three absolute favorite things about building a home of my own. 

• Getting to customize my property: I was able to design every square inch of the property to meet my family’s needs and to fit in with my aesthetic. We got to choose everything from the color of hinges on the doors to the shingles on the roof. We even incorporated a dog bath with tiles made with my dog’s faces on them. A pre-owned home would never have been so personalized. 
• Moving into a brand new home: When we moved into our house, nothing had ever been used before. It was great to get everything brand new and to know we were the only people who had ever cooked in the kitchen or soaked in the tub. 
• Moving into a house with a warranty: Our house came with a warranty from the builder, and all of our appliances were under manufacturer warranty. I did not have to worry about anything breaking for the first few years that we lived in the house because I knew someone else would have to pay to fix any problems. 

These were the things I disliked about building a house 

And here were some of the things that I didn’t like at all about the building process. 

• Uncertainty about the finished product: It can be hard to picture what a house or a room will look like based on blueprints and stock photos of the items you’re putting into it. We spent many hours trying to make decisions about details like what lights to put in and what countertops should be in the kitchen, and there was no guarantee the finished product would look exactly like what we’d envisioned. 
• Budget overruns: It’s really difficult not to go over budget when building a house. Sometimes, this happens because you end up falling in love with items that are above the allowances the builder provided. But in other cases, outside circumstances beyond your control raise the costs. In our case, for example, our well had to be dug much deeper than planned because they didn’t hit water at the normal level and this cost us an extra $10,000. It wasn’t optional, though, if we wanted water. 
• Going through two mortgage closings: We had to get both a construction loan and a permanent loan when our home was finished. This meant paying for two appraisals and two sets of closing costs. 

Despite the downsides, I would build a home again. But it’s important for anyone building to have a financial cushion and to be prepared to cope with these disadvantages so they are not caught by surprise.