Embarking on the journey of constructing your dream home with a skilled home builder in eastern Melbourne can transform a daunting process into an exhilarating experience. With a seasoned expert, you’ll navigate the intricate maze of decisions with ease, ensuring your home materializes just as you envisioned. Leveraging the wealth of knowledge accumulated from years of building homes, you’ll sidestep the usual obstacles, making your path to a new home smooth and straightforward.
By addressing these common home-build faux pas, you can:
- Save time
- Save money
- Reduce stress and
- Ensure a successful build
Below, we examine ten things to avoid when building a home and discover why our award-winning team of home builders at Eltcon is becoming one of the preferred home builders in South Eastern Melbourne.
1. Poor planning and research
A new home requires diligent research and planning to avoid costly mistakes. While a professional builder will know the ins and outs, like local building codes and zoning regulations, the more you arm yourself with knowledge, the better you can communicate and understand your builder’s parameters and limitations, helping to streamline the building process and ensure the desired outcome.
2. Ignoring budget constraints
Designing your dream home is a joyous occasion; however, it can be easy to get swept up in the excitement, only for your joy to turn to stress as your budget starts to stray. This is one of the most common mistakes homeowners make and can be one of the most stressful aspects of a custom build.
By establishing a good report and open communication with your builder, you can create a realistic budget that covers all expenses, including:
- Materials
- Labour
- Certificates
- Permits
- Contingencies
Property owners in South East Melbourne can trust our Eltcon building team.
With our expertise and commitment to realistic planning, we can help you optimise your budget, navigate your obligations, and ensure a smooth building process.
3. Overlooking energy efficiency in design
There is no one-size-fits-all for incorporating energy efficiency in property design. There are a wide range of factors that influence a home’s energy efficiency, including:
- Insulation tailored to local climates
- Window placement and energy performance
- Optimisation of natural airflow
- The energy rating of HVAC appliances
- Internal and external window covers
- And more
By hiring an experienced local builder familiar with the climate, you can optimise your home’s energy efficiency. This can significantly influence energy costs and carbon emission contributions and potentially increase the market value of your home.
4. Neglecting natural light and ventilation
While contributing to energy efficiency, natural light and ventilation can also help optimise the quality of your home’s air and determine the general climate of your dwelling relative to the outside seasonal conditions.
You may optimise natural light and ventilation in your home’s design by choosing a more open floor plan and strategically placed double-glazed windows, for example. A professional builder can address this important factor in the design phase and ensure it’s incorporated into your budget.
5. Choosing poor quality materials
When you have a clear vision of your dream build, it can be tempting to sacrifice the quality of materials to achieve the desired aesthetic and function. However, this can come back to bite you long-term.
Selecting high-quality materials, fixtures, appliances and utilities that offer durability, longevity and performance while costing more upfront ensures years of trustworthy use and superior protection from outside elements.
6. Missing pre-construction inspections
Pre-construction meetings are crucial, as they help solidify plans and identify potential issues, such as:
- Soil stability
- Drainage issues
- Environmental hazards
- OH&S concerns
- Building timeline and trade conflicts
Investing in comprehensive site evaluations strengthens confidence, communication, and trust between all parties and helps ensure the project’s success.
7. Over or under-utilising space
Creating form and function is about balance. Avoid the trap of over-designing by having excessive square footage and unnecessary rooms and structures that inflate construction costs for minimal ROI.
However, you must also be cautious not to underutilise your space by neglecting areas that could serve practical use and enhance livability.
8. Overlooking future requirements
Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus believed that change is the only constant in life. Therefore, it is important to consider your home’s evolving requirements during the design phase to ensure you can future-proof your property for potential family expansions, lifestyle changes, or assistance in older age.
If property owners have frank and open discussions about the future before consulting the builder, there is more time to let ideas evolve, and all parties can have a clearer view of what may be required before the design phase commences.
9. Not considering resale value
While you may not intend to sell your dream property, you never know what the future holds. While building something that suits your unique personality and lifestyle is important, it is also wise to consider your home’s resale value.
Trends and preferences in real estate change more regularly than ever, so avoid overly niche or polarising design features that may compromise your property’s appeal to buyers down the road.
10. Partnering with the wrong builder
This one is so important that it has been saved for last. Good rapport between the builder, property owner, and adjacent trade professionals is the main factor in ensuring a smooth and stress-free build.
Do your due diligence and partner with a reputable builder that has a proven track record for performance and customer service.
For the duration of the build, you, the builder and trade specialists will be in close contact, and it is essential to work together so that everyone is on the same page. Building good relationships can ensure good communication, effective project management, and precision execution which are all key factors in a successful build.
Consider Eltcon when looking for home builders in South East Melbourne. We build.
South East Melbourne is a great place for building a personalised sanctuary in a vibrant, diverse community. Our award-winning team of seasoned consultants, designers, and builders has built a reputation for a customer-first approach and excellence in custom home building.
If you are looking for a home builder in South East Melbourne, find out why more people are contacting our expert team of building specialists by calling 03 8201 7125 during regular business hours or by filling in our brief digital contact form online and one of our expert consultants can call you at your nearest convenience.
