Building a custom home comes with essentially endless possibilities. As the name indicates, you are building a home that is custom to you and your family’s needs. That can be incredibly exciting and freeing. However, it can also be quite overwhelming.
While you will obviously be working with an architect almost every step of the way, you owe it to yourself to really break down and consider what you are going to need to enjoy your home completely.
So, as you continue to prepare for Building A Custom New Home, here is a long list of important things that you should consider.
Closet space and organization
This is certainly not a sexy aspect of building a custom home, but it is most definitely one of the most important. You want to make sure that you not only have ample closet space in bedrooms, but also elsewhere in the house.
Here are some great closet space and organization tips to keep in mind:
- Put outlets in several closets
- Make sure your closets have enough room for singles to hung rods to fit long clothes and double hung rods as well
- Include a full-sized pantry in your kitchen or laundry room to fit cleaning equipment
- Add more closet and linen space than you think you will likely need
- Install cubbies in your mudroom or garage
- Install motion sensor lights to pantries and closets
Bathroom
One of the best reasons to custom build your home is to build bathrooms to specifically fit your needs. That being said, there are some major things that are applicable to any family that you should keep in mind.
Here are some great bathroom tips to keep in mind:
- Add an outlet in all bathrooms specifically meant for a nightlight
- Outlets inside vanity cabinets
- Install heated towel racks
- Make use of your bathroom’s pony wall by turning it into additional storage
- If no one in your family uses bath tubs, opt to turn that area into a larger and more luxurious stand-up shower
Outdoor area
This is especially important to keep in mind if you plan on spending a lot of time outdoors in your backyard or front patio.
Here are some great outdoor area tips to keep in mind:
- Run conduit under the driveway for future plumbing or wiring needs
- Prewire your speakers both indoor and outdoor
- Ensure that you have hose outlets and power outlets on every side of your house and on top of any raised areas that you might have
- If you plan on having pets, or live in a beach area, having an outdoor hot/cold water outlet is a great idea for outdoor showers
- Motion sensor pre-wire for select exterior lights around any entrances/exits
- Install keypad on garage door
- Gas line to grill
Kitchen
Unsurprisingly, the kitchen is one of the major reasons why people decide to build their own custom home is to build the kitchen of their dreams. The kitchen is often known as the heart of a home and depending on the size of your family and the amount of times you like to host guests, it is quite likely that your kitchen really is the most important home in your house.
Here are some great kitchen tips to keep in mind:
- Install outlets in kitchen pantries for charging and for items that may end up living there like a toaster, blender, etc.
- If you install a wide island (which you should) put cabinets on both sides, while there are not all that easy to get to, they are great to store things that you do not regularly use
- Include a build-in paper towel holder
- Install custom storage organization in your kitchen drawers
- Install a warming drawer in your dining room
- Allow for pantry entrance new both your kitchen and garage for easy stock up trips
- Outlets above cabinets for holiday season and mood lighting installments
- Set up for both gas and electric appliances
- Install your pantry door on a swivel for easy access
- Pantry light motion sensor so you can easily head in and out with arms full of snacks or ingredients
- Copper tubing for your ice maker from the freezer and until it is out of the kitchen wall
- Install a drawer below the microwave
- Install a specially equipped knife drawer so that your knives to do not have take up a lot of counter space
- Install pull-out garbage and recycling and for dirty laundry like kitchen towels
- Install drawers for all lower cabinets, this allows for more efficient use of space and doesn’t force you to bend down and hunch over to reach anything inside
- Install two soap pumps near the sink (one for hand soap and one for dish soap)
- Include easy access to store frequently used appliances
- Make sure to install places to hang hand towels and aprons
Electrical and plumbing
This is certainly not all that exciting, but that does not make it any less important. The electrical and plumbing set up not only makes your home more usable, it also makes sure that you won’t have to deal with any plumbing issues during the cold winter months.
Here are some great electrical and plumbing tips to keep in mind:
- Prewire security system and cameras for easy install
- Run wire and prepare roof for future solar install
- Separate 20z circuit with outlets in your garage to plug in power tools and cleaning tools
- Pre-wire for music and speakers both inside and outside
- Install iPad controllers in the walls to control the whole house like screens, widows, lights and more
- Make sure to install a smoke and carbon monoxide unit on the wall near all bedrooms and living room areas
- Include a drain in the garage to get rid of excess water from vehicles after rain and snow
While you certainly do not have to include all of these considerations into your new home, hopefully this has helped you narrow down what you want and don’t want, what you need and don’t need!
Good luck!
